Catching Up

With the breaking news about Chicago (still little press coverage over a youthful caucus taking over the union in the heart of Daley/Obama/Duncan territory - the very people who confronted Duncan on a regular basis while the union leadership was mute) I've had trouble keeping up with events and news.

I spent last week up in Manchester, NH at meetings with the FIRST LEGO robotics crew. People come to these partner conferences from around the nation and even from other countries - New Zealand and Israel were in the house.

I drove up there with a bunch of people, including two teachers at some of the most elite NYC private schools. Their school year ended early last week. I always gain a lot of insights when I talk to private school teachers. One of them taught in a public school for a few years where I first met her through robotics. Her classroom was a wonderland. She left over high class size, a lack of resources and most interestingly, the arrival of a new principal, who no matter how good you were, wanted her own people. Since this principal has arrived many of the talented teachers there (I knew a whole bunch of them) have left.

So much for all the sturm und drang about giving principals the major role in deciding on teachers layoffs. This teacher and her colleagues would make a good poster for seniority.

By the way, these private school teachers, both fairly young are the people the DOE is supposedly looking for. Not. They have tremendous progressive educational concepts and would never tolerate the public school crap. Maybe that says something about a lot of things here in NYC (more than we like to think about).

They agree with much of what we all have been saying and if they were in the public schools they might very well be part of a movement to fight back against the ed deformers. But they just want to teach in a supportive educational environment. I know, I know, they are teaching kids of people who pay upwards of $30,000 a year. And they have small class sizes - the schools won't accept kids if they have to push beyond a certain number. And they do counsel kids out. They offer lots of scholarships - of course the parent has to apply. Hmmmm, looks like charter school-ville territory.

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After burn

There were lots of highlights to my trip. I hung with a long-time buddy retired NYC high school robotics teacher, a retired engineer who taught for a few years. Also a current high school teacher who was given 2 days off to attend and an engineer for a major NYC company. Both volunteer a lot of time. On Weds, we were invited to the founder of FIRST's home for dinner. He is a major inventor whose house is as unique as can be. Level after level of interesting stuff. Chess playing machines and all sorts of goodies to explore. A media room, a full machine shop, a lighted baseball field outside - we couldn't take pictures so I can't share much. We had lobster dinners for over a hundred people in the helicopter hanger. I'm still wiping the lobster goo off myself. I've got to start using those bibs.

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I've been involved with putting on these robotic events in NYC almost since the first day I retired in 2002. This program is worth every penny as a team concept beyond sports. I handle registration and team recruitment and can provide any info needed. If your school is interested in FIRST LEGO League robotics, registration is open at https://gofll.usfirst.org/. You can also check my robotics blog: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/. Or contact me. Last year we had 150 teams in NYC from all parts of the city -public, private, community-based, home schooled. We hold an event in each borough in January, 80 teams make the finals at the Javits center in March and the champion is eligible to go to St. Louis for the World Festival in April.

CORE Core Values and UFT/Unity Caucus: NOT

Note the CORE core values - most are completely opposite from where UFT/AFT/Unity Caucus stands. Norm

Susan Ohanian Notes on CORE Victory:

Hardworking, idealistic teachers have shown that even within the AFT, change is possible. They may show us that revolution is possible.

From the CORE web site:

We support:

• Capping CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months.

• Limit standardized tests. Ban using test results to punish, label or denigrate schools, students or teachers.

• Repeal mayoral control of schools and restore our right to collectively bargain class sizes, counselor loads and stop school closings and reconstitutions.

• Lead legislation to fund all schools equitably and return all TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funds to each school taxing district.

CORE ran a smart, idealistic, grassroots campaign. If they can stick to their principles, they will have a powerful impact on public schools across the country.

For starters, let's hope they can take this spirit to the upcoming AFT convention in Seattle.

Let's hope Randi Weingarten is shaking in her shoes. And NEA is watching.

Susan

George N. Schmidt: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1472&section=Article
The acrimonious campaign saw Marilyn Stewart's supporters in the union's United Progressive Caucus spending in excess of a quarter million dollars (if one includes union staff time that was used to try and re-elect Stewart), but the CORE slate won handily.


Sharon Schmidt reports:
Lewis thanks supporters at June 12 press conference

6-12-10 Karen Lewis, CTU President-elect. Election Acceptance Speech

I want to thank everyone who made today a reality – the CORE members who worked tirelessly for this day, the CTU members who voted for us, and the thousands of teachers, parents and students who stand up each and every day to improve and defend public education, often against some very powerful forces. On behalf of CPS students, I want to personally thank my fellow teachers and paraprofessional educators for the long hours you work off the clock every day under increasingly challenging circumstances. Thank you. We will work night and day to deliver on the trust you have placed in us.

Today marks the beginning of the end of scapegoating educators for all the social ills that our children, families and schools struggle against every day. Today marks the beginning of a fight for true transparency in our educational policy -- how to accurately measure learning and teaching, how to truly improve our schools, and how to evaluate the wisdom behind our spending priorities.

This election shows the unity of 30,000 educators standing strong to put business in its place – out of our schools. Corporate America sees K-12 public education as 380 billion dollars that, up until the last 10 or 15 years, they didn’t have a sizeable piece of. This so-called school reform is not an education plan. It’s a business plan and mayoral control of our schools, and our Board of Education, is the linchpin of their operation.

Fifteen years ago, this city purposely began starving our lowest-income neighborhood schools of greatly needed resources and personnel. Class sizes rose, and schools were closed. Then, standardized tests which, in this town alone is a $60 million dollar business, measured that slow death by starvation. These tests labeled our students, families and educators failures because standardized tests reveal more about a student’s zip code than a student’s academic growth. And that, in turn – that perceived school failure -- fed parent demand for charters, turnarounds and contract schools.

People thought it must be true, and it must be the teachers’ fault, because they read about it every week in the papers. And our Union that has been controlled by the same faction for 37 of 40 years didn’t point out this simple reality – what drives so-called school reform is a singular focus on profit. Profit, not teaching, not learning. Profit.

In Chicago, we’ve seen CPS close 70 neighborhood schools and open 70 charters that do no better. 6,000 Chicago Teachers Union members have lost their livelihoods – their jobs – their dignity – in the process. Countless children have lost their friends, and families have lost their schools that, for most, are a source of pride, tradition and safety.

Of course, just as our city’s social conditions must improve, many of our schools must improve too. But we have hundreds of thriving schools filled with dedicated, loving, and professional educators and administrators who are wise enough to empower teachers to lead.

Outside of the classroom, we need society to recommit to bettering all communities. We also need our parents to recommit to the education of their children. But inside the classroom, the only people who can improve our schools are professional educators. Corporate heads and politicians do not have a clue about teaching and learning. They have never sat one minute on this side of a teacher’s desk. But they’re the ones calling the shots and we’re supposed to accept it as “reform.”

As a Union of 30,000 united educators, we have a lot of work to do … and we know we can’t do it alone. We need to work together and rethink education policy here in Chicago. I am asking that Mayor Daley and Mr. Huberman line up their allies in Springfield, and we’ll line up ours, to stop this annual ritual of “crisis budgeting”. Once and for all we need to change how Illinois funds its schools -- 60% from property taxes and 30% from the state. We need to reverse that, flip it on its head, so ALL children, no matter the value of their family’s home, have equal access to quality education.

And while we’re in Springfield together, let’s make sure that the average CPS teachers’ retirement – just $39,000 a year, yes, that’s the average, $39,000 and that’s WITHOUT Social Security – is safe and sound. The law says our pension fund has to be at 90% … it’s about 60% now. We need to follow that law together.

Now, back home here in Chicago, we need to put ALL the financial details on the table, because teachers got pink-slips THIS week – and yet Chicagoans have not seen a clear, transparent and detailed CPS budget. We don’t KNOW the details behind this claimed 6 hundred million deficit, that’s just what we’ve been TOLD. It’s time for the Board to give citizens all the specifics – how CPS spends our money, on what and to whom. How the 250 million in TIFs that should go to schools each year are really spent. Chicagoans need to know how charters spend their taxpayer dollars because to date, we have not seen one charter school’s financials, not one.

CORE ran a clean campaign calling for a clean government. We called for budget transparency and a clear read on how social ills outside the schools impact our classrooms on the inside. Then we can start to change the conversation. Not what or who to cut, but how to save money and lower, yes, lower classroom sizes. Not whether yet another one-size-fits-all policy – the latest silver bullet – will work, but how each school can rebuild itself into a responsive learning environment. And certainly not whether open access for ALL children to high-quality public education is a luxury society simply cannot afford, but rather that true public education – great schools with great teachers – is the most important civil rights battle of our generation.

And we will change that conversation because the Chicago Teachers Union is now unified. Our teachers and paraprofessionals are poised to reclaim the power of our 30,000 members and protect what we love – teaching and learning in publicly-funded public schools.

At the GEM Blog: Video of Bronx Science Protest at Bloomberg's Home

Bronx Science Teachers Tell Bloomberg: Stop Harassment and Abuse

Michelle Rhee to NYC Teachers: Be More Like DC,

D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee says New York must learn from her groundbreaking union deal

I've been getting emails from teachers today who read the Michelle Rhee piece in the Daily News, where she has this quote, which needs no comment from me:

Use Randi Weingarten. I don't like to get in the middle of someone else's negotiation and I know that there is a long and complicated history between Weingarten and Klein. However, based on my experiences negotiating with Weingarten, she is very much able to see the direction the nation is heading in and the fact that unions need to be a part of the solution. Both Klein and Mulgrew should lean on her.

I posted it on Norms Notes:

See Accountable Talk: Rhee-Ductio Ad Absurdum

Perdido Street School: Much Ado About Rhee

Chaz' advice:
Michelle Rhee - Worry About Your Own Failed Administration And Schools. Mind Your Own Buisness When It Comes To Negotiating Our Contract.

Taking a Trip Through Cheating Land

When do we get the Ed deformers saying they're just shocked cheating has been going on? I've seen it since I first started teaching in the late 60's. Using old tests that were repeated was the way sophisticated people did it (collecting them did not always work as people had time to make notes for future ref even during the test). Others just erased.

From the Daily Howler: http://www.dailyhowler.com/

GABRIEL GETS IT RIGHT (permalink): Even as Steinhauer muses on hair, Trip Gabriel gets it very right on the front page of today’s Times. “CHEAT SHEET,” part of his headline says. “Pressed to Show Progress, Educators Tamper With Test Scores.”

Decades later, the New York Times is catching up with the problem of cheating on high-stakes tests in the public schools. (And yes, we’re talking about outright cheating, not about “teaching to the test.”) In the following passage, Gabriel describes a high-scoring school where the principal and assistant principal simply erased wrong answers and filled in right answers, after the students went home:

GABRIEL (6/11/10): Educators ensnared in cheating scandals rarely admit to wrongdoing. But at one Georgia school last year, a principal and an assistant principal acknowledged their roles in a test-erasure scandal.

For seven years, their school, Atherton Elementary in suburban Atlanta, had met the standards known in federal law as Adequate Yearly Progress—A.Y.P. in educators’ jargon—by demonstrating that a rising share of students performed at grade level.

Then, in 2008, the bar went up again and Atherton stumbled. In June, the school’s assistant principal for instruction, reviewing student answer sheets from the state tests, told her principal, “We cannot make A.Y.P.,” according to an affidavit the principal signed.

“We didn’t discuss it any further,” the principal, James L. Berry, told school district investigators. “We both understood what we meant.”

Pulling a pencil from a cup on the desk of Doretha Alexander, the assistant principal, Dr. Berry said to her, “I want you to call the answers to me,” according to an account Ms. Alexander gave to investigators.

The principal erased bubbles on the multiple-choice answer sheets and filled in the right answers.

This sort of thing has gone on for a very long time, ever since standardized testing began getting tied to “accountability” around 1970. We’ve been speaking to journalists about this sort of thing since the early 1970s. We started writing op-ed columns on this topic in the late 1970s, in the Baltimore Sun. We started discussing this topic in THE HOWLER in1999.

For decades, the mainstream press corps simply refused to come to terms with this problem. In recent years, the Times has been coming around quite smartly, doing serious work on this topic. About its “Cheat Sheet” series, the Times says this: “Articles in this series will examine cheating in education and efforts to stop it.”

The analysts whistled and cheered.

Gabriel’s piece is very much worth reading. We’ll note two omissions, skipping a third:

States can cheat too: This morning’s piece discusses the way teachers and principals can cheat on tests, driving up the passing rates of a particular classroom or school. But in recent years, something like cheating has sometimes occurred on a statewide basis. There is little doubt that some states have made their statewide tests easier over the years, without informing the public. This is an artificial way of driving up passing rates on a statewide basis. This may seem more innocent than the practice described in that excerpt from Gabriel’s piece. But when states drive up passing rates in this way, that’s basically “cheating” too. (It wouldn’t be cheating if the public was told that the tests had been made easier.)

In praise of security measures: Gabriel quotes John Fremer, an expert in this kind of cheating. “Every time you increase the stakes associated with any testing program, you get more cheating,” he sensibly says. At the end of his piece, Gabriel quotes a second expert who has “called for refocusing education away from high-stakes testing because of the distorted incentives it introduces for teachers.” But annual testing is very important; in its absence, school systems are free to tell the public any damn thing about student progress. Cheating could be greatly reduced by improvements in security measures—for example, by having unaffected proctors administer the tests, rather than affected teachers. (And by keeping the answer sheets away from affected principals.) This would cost money, and it would require planning. But it would be an obvious way to deal with this ongoing problem.

When it comes to issues like these, the mainstream press corps has been virtually ineducable down through the years. (Meanwhile, liberal journals walked away from black kids decades ago. We liberals don’t dirty our hands with such topics; we’re too busy calling conservatives “racist.”) In a very constructive way, the New York Times has been getting up to speed on cheating issues in recent years.

Today, Gabriel authors another top-notch piece. The analysts whistled and uttered a cry: May “Cheat Sheet” long prevail!

MORE CHICAGO HOPE AS CORE SWEEPS

I'm throwing it up as it comes. (I'll fix typos later).
Watch how the major and minor (NY Teacher) press deals with this election.

Last summer in LA when I hung with the CORE crew they figured they had a chance to make the run-off but I don't think even they thought they could come this far this fast. There are dangers inherent in trying to run a union without consolidating their supporters into a cohesive force, especially when the enemies are out there - the press, the political forces and most dangerously from the AFT/UFT union hierarchy, though watch the Randi/Mulgrew phony words of support for Lewis, who they will try to coopt and split from her CORE supporters. Lewis has to beware the Debbie Lynch effect who won in 2001 but lost enough support to lose by a hair in 2004 (though that was questionable too). What we will see is 150 CTU AFT delegates go to Seattle next month.

It is interesting that all the political parties within the union united behind CORE- some of the electeds are from PLP and others from ISO. So far trying to do that in NYC has not been successful, with certain factions closer to TJC and others closer to ICE. Maybe things will change now and some CORE-like caucus will emerge in NYC.

For those 9% dissenters in NYC, Stewart won overwhelmingly in the 2007 elections.

Norm


Kenzo Shibata sent a message to the members of C.O.R.E.-The Caucus of Rank and
File Educators.

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Subject: CORE Wins!


From Substance News (http://www.facebook.com/l/3d1df;substancenew.net):

CORE, led by Karen Lewis, wins CTU election in landslide, with Lewis defeating
Marilyn Stewart 12,080 to 8,326

George N. Schmidt - June 12, 2010

Karen Lewis has been elected president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and CORE has won the leadership of the 30,000-member CTU by a landslide. Lewis, a Martin Luther King Jr. High School Chemistry teacher, headed the slate of candidates from the caucus called CORE (the Caucus of Rank and File Educators) and won a landslide victory on June 11, 2010, in the hotly contested Chicago Teachers Union runoff election. CORE not only won the top four offices in the union, but the other nine citywide offices, and all of the vice presidencies for high schools (six) and elementary schools (17). By the time the final vote counts were announced in the early hours of June 12, it was clear that CORE had completely defeated the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) and the six-year CTU president Marilyn Stewart.

The CORE victory, the size of which became clear early in the evening during the counting of the votes at the headquarters of the American Arbitration Association at 225 N. Michigan in Chicago, was a landslide. Karen Lewis defeated Marilyn Stewart by a vote of 12,080 to 8,326, with the other three CORE candidates for officers in the 30,000-member union each receiving more than 12,000 votes to fewer than 8,300 for each of CORE's opponents. The final vote
tallies were certified by the American Arbitration Association at 3:00 a.m. on the morning of June 12, 2010.

Senn High School history teacher Jesse Sharkey was elected vice president by a vote of 12,000 (to 8,233 cast for his UPC opponent Mark Ochoa).

Displaced elementary teacher Michael Brunson was elected recording secretary by a vote of 12,016 (to 8,200 cast for his UPC opponent Mary Orr).

Eberhart Elementary School Special Education teacher Kristine Mayle was elected financial secretary by a vote of 12,032 (to 8,191 cast for her UPC opponent Keith VanderMeulen).

All six CORE candidates for trustee were elected. They are: Jackson Potter, Jay Rehak, Lois Ashford, Eric Skalinder, Sara Echevarria, and Albert Ramirez. Their margins over their opponents' were roughly 11,900 to 8,000.

The three CORE candidates for area vice president were elected. The are Carol Caref (Area A), Jennifer Johnson (Area B), and Norine Gutekants (Area C).

All 17 CORE candidates for elementary functional vice president were also elected. They are: Beverly Allebach; Jeffrey Blackwell, Brenda Chandler, Susanne Dunn, Nathan Goldbaum, Alexandra Gonzalez, Francine Greenberg-Reizen, Lara Krejca, Garth Liebhaber, Joseph Linehan, Cielo Munoz, Annette Rizzo, Wade Tillett, Kevin Triplett, James Vail, Cassandra Vaughn, and Terri Wilford.

King High School chemistry teacher and CORE presidential candidate Karen Lewis (above) at the May 25 protest outside Chicago's City Hall. Lewis promoted an aggressive strategy of direct action by CORE and the CTU for more than two years, including the May 25 action, which was originally brought about by a motion from Jackson Potter, CORE co-chair. Substance photo by Garth Liebhaber.The acrimonious campaign saw Marilyn Stewart's supporters in the union's United Progressive Caucus spending in excess of a quarter million dollars (if one includes union staff time that was used to try and re-elect Stewart), but the CORE slate won handily.

Observers estimated that a total number of about 20,000 votes would be cast. The voting ended in the schools on the morning of June 11, and the counting began at the headquarters of AAA by 2:00 in the afternoon as hundreds of ballot boxes were delivered. The number of eligible voters in the 30,000-member union is approximately 27,000 (retiree members of the union were not allowed to vote). The union refused to provide Substance with an exact number of eligible voters
at the end of the campaign.

Above: Senn High School history teacher Jesse Sharkey (who is CORE candidate for vice president of the CTU) tried to get CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman to answer questions about the Board of Education's budget at the May 26, 2010 Board meeting. Huberman refused to "opine" in response to Sharkey's specific questions. For two years, CORE members have studied the CPS budget and challenged Huberman's claims about the budget, but CPS has refused to be specific. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Because each candidate gets a
unique number of votes, but votes for caucuses generally fall in the same range, the number of votes for the presidential candidate generally reflects the success or failure of the rest of the caucus slate.

The CORE officer candidates elected with Karen Lewis were:

Jesse Sharkey, a Senn High School history teacher, who was elected vice president.

Michael Brunson, a displaced teacher currently working as a substitute teacher, who was elected recording secretary.

Kristine Mayle, a special education teacher at Eberhardt Elementary School, who was elected financial secretary.

Other CORE candidates who won citywide offices in the June 11 voting were six candidates for trustee (Jackson Potter, Jay Rehak, Lois Ashford, Eric Skalinder, Sara Echevarria, and Albert Ramirez) and CORE candidates for "Area Vice Presidents" (Carol Caref, Area A; Jennifer Johnson, Area B; and Norine Gutekanst, Area C).

The voting was also determining the 17 elementary school "functional vice presidents" and vice presidents representing school clerks and school community representatives.

The runoff election was held in all of the schools on June 11, 2010. The runoff came following a five-way race, the voting of which was held on May 21. In the five-way race, Stewart was opposed by two of her former supporters — former Vice President Ted Dallas and field representative Ted Hajiharis — and by former CTU President Deborah Lynch. Stewart had first defeated Lynch for the presidency in 2004, winning a second term in 2007, in a race organized by Dallas.

CORE candidate for recording secretary Michael Brunson (above at microphone during the April 28 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education) won handily as part of the CORE slate in the June 11 runoff election. At the time of his election, Brunson was a substitute teacher because he had been displaced from Aldridge school. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

Some executive board seats had already been decided in May 21 voting.

In each category, the winner is the individual with the majority of the votes. Since the voting is for "functional vice presidents" for each of the major groups within the union, that means that some executive board members were elected prior to the June 11 voting. According to the CTU website, the CORE candidates for high school functional vice presidents won a majority in the May 21 voting, and the UPC candidates for teacher assistance and audiometric technicians won a majority in the May 21 voting. Although the high school vote totals are available on the CTU website (http://www.facebook.com/l/3d1df;www.ctunet.com), the union never published the complete totals for all PSRP candidates.

The union website was stating the following from the May 21 voting: "The winners for the High School Functional Vice president group are Sean Barrett, Valerie Collins, Lois Jones, Joseph McDermott, Adria Mitchell, and Zulma Ortiz." All are members of CORE.

The union website was stating the following about the PSRP results from the May 21 voting: "The winners for the Teacher/School Bilingual Spanish/Montessori Program/Educational Sign Language Interpreters/ School Social Service/ Instructor Assistants Functional Vice president group are Gloria Higgins, Myra Johnson, and Linda Williams." All are members of the UPC.

Kristine Mayle, who is CORE's candidate for financial secretary, one of four elected offices in the CTU, has spoken at Board meetings and hearings more than 30 times since she became active in CORE in 2008. Above, she is asking questions about the Board's revised policies for special education staffing at the May 26, 2010 Board of Education meeting. At the time of the June 11 CTU election, Mayle was a special education teacher at Eberhardt Elementary School in Chicago.
Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The union website was stating the following about the PSRP results from the May 21 voting: "The winner for the Vision, Screening & Audiometric/Audio-Visual Technicians, Speech/Language Pathology Paraeducator, and Bilingual Assistants and Hospital Licensed Practical/ Health service Nurses Functional Vice president group is Arlene Williams." Williams is a UPC candidate.

Two other groups of PSRPs are being contested in the June 11 runoff.

After the CTU failed to publish the complete vote counts from the May 21 election (as of June 11, the vote totals for the PSRP candidates were still not up on the CTU website), CORE observers and canvassers on June 11 were prepared to demand that all observers and canvassers be provided with digital copies of the information before leaving the offices of AAA.
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Chicago Hope - UPDATED - 9am

The victory was so overwhelming, Randi and the AFT won't be able to help Stewart steal this one. Hopefully CORE will make use of people like George Schmidt (who declined to run with them to focus on making Substance a tool in the election) and former CTU President Debbie Lynch who finished third but endorsed CORE in the runoff. Keep checking Substance for details. Analysis on what it mean for all of us in the next few days. (Remember, there is no sell-out like New Action that will support the party in power no matter what to split and drain off votes from the opposition. See After Burn below for a touch of analysis.)

Substance Reports:

CORE, led by Karen Lewis, wins CTU election in landslide, with Lewis defeating Marilyn Stewart 12,080 to 8,326

Fred Klonsky Says:

Chicago teachers elect new leadership, sending a message to teacher union leadership everywhere.

June 12, 2010

It’s a stunning rebuke of business as usual. And it sends a message to teacher union leadership everywhere. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union overwhelmingly voted out the old and turned to the new, progressive, fighting leadership of the CORE slate.

Among CORE’s issues were: Capping CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months, limiting standardized tests and banning the use of test results to punish, label or denigrate schools, students or teachers. CORE has promised to work to repeal mayoral control of schools and restore the right to collectively bargain class sizes, counselor loads and stop school closings and reconstitutions.

But beyond their specific platform, teachers responded to CORE’s aggressive response, so untypical of so many teacher union leaders today, to the teacher bashing, union bashing politics of politicians at the local, state and national level, from Democrats and Republicans both.

Teachers are tired of the go-along, “sit at the table” politics that passes for teacher union leadership today. Chicago’s vote yesterday is the clearest sign of that.

Substance background report:

Marilyn's Merdy Mess... The UPC ends itself with the dirtiest campaign in the history of the Chicago Teachers Union

After Burn
The CORE story does not begin with its founding a little over 2 years ago. Having had their own media outlet that reaches so many Chicago teachers did not play an insignificant role. George Schmidt's Substance played a role in Debbie Lynch's election in 2001 and in this result.

I am planning on writing about the differences between NYC and Chicago soon but one major dif is our not having a Substance around. (The print edition of Ed Notes from 2002-2004 had this idea around it, especially after George's visit to a meeting I held at my house in the summer of 2002 but there seemed too many competing groups around - New Action (still viable as an opposition), Teachers for a Just Contract and Progressive Action Caucus. All 3 groups had a great dislike for each other and Ed Notes attempts to broker some kind of united front were rebuffed.)

I wonder what the New Action sell-outs will be saying - probably claim their example of "suck-up to the leadership under the guise of we all must stick together when under attack" was an inspiration to CORE.

Pakter Vs. NY Post/NYCDOE: Supreme Court June 16 Hearing at 9:30 AM before Justice Cynthia Kern

We know how teachers feel about the NY press, but they have a particular feeling about Rupert Murdoch's NY Post. For those who can make it to this hearing, the big UFT rally at City Hall is the afternoon of the 16th so make it a twofer.- Norm



On March 21, 2010 The NEW YORK POST printed a story that included the statement that Mr. Pakter had been removed from the NYC schools system for quote "sexual misconduct"- a knowingly false statement since the paper had previously written about Pakter in another article about NYC Teachers in March of 2007.

The newspaper attempted to retract the false and Libelous statement one week later on March 28, 2010 by publishing a "Correction" Notice in a later Edition that included the words that the newspaper had, quote:

"incorrectly stated the allegations against David Pakter. The Dept of Education only alleges that he was insubordinate. Pakter claims he brought in a plant and offered watches as honor-roll incentives".

_______________________________________________________________

Mr. Pakter has already filed a $ 10,000,000 (Ten Million) NOTICE OF CLAIM against the NEW YORK POST newspaper as well as the NYC Dept of Education for the publication of false, libelous, defamatory, slanderous statements".

Both the NEW YORK POST newspaper as well as the NYC

Dept of Education have been served with papers to appear in

NY State Supreme Court

on June 16, Wednesday

at 80 Centre Street, Manhattan,

Room 328, at 9:30 A.M.

State Supreme Court Justice, the Hon. Cynthia Kern, Presiding

Friday News- Fightbacks, Excessing and Moving of ATRs to New Schools

I've been out of town since Tuesday so a bit out of touch. Returning later today. Lots of stuff today. Here are a few items but check Norms Notes for articles and info I've been throwing up there this week.

• Fight back Fridays continues at many schools and will continue through the end of the year.
• 
  
• Today at least 3000 students according to reports are supposed to leave their high schools at 1pm, go to Tweed and then march over the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the Metro card issue - see sidebar.
• 
  
• Today is the election in Chicago - look for major attacks on CORE if they win. Look for AFT Randi/Duncan buddies/ politicians/press to do what they can to undermine CORE. See how NY Teacher reports this where a group that touches base with the anti-Unity forces in NYC. Also look for Gotham Schools which will report on any young teacher who trashes unionism continue to ignore these young Chicago teachers standing up for unionism. Looking for that funding gig from another hedge fund does not lead to fair reporting. They will have 10 trashy pieces from the NY Post and ignore Substance as a legit news source.
• 
  
• David Pakter reports all charges dropped - see post below this.

• A press release from Peter Lamphere, CL of Bronx High, who led a protest yesterday at Bloomberg's home: See GEM for pics and details:
  

  Bronx Science Teachers Tell Bloomberg: Stop Harassment and Abuse

And these 2 emails -

Norm
IS THE DOE CHANGING SCHOOLS FOR THE ATRS? ATRs are reporting that they are being reassigned to new schools.

Jeff Kaufman has info at the ICE blog,
Change to Open Market Screen Hints of Lay-offs which had some comments:

"Jeff - You are RIGHT. I am and ATR and for next year I am supposed to report to a different school. This is outrageous. I think they are trying to get rid of us. I work in Brooklyn and if I am not mistaken-- they are sending me to The Bronx."

James Eterno had some advice:
"They have to keep ATRS within their districts. You should not be sent from Brooklyn to the Bronx unless you are in a citywide district."

Then this from a para:
Norm
As of yesterday 5 teachers have been excessed from my school. Its starting to get scary, larger class sizes 3 more possible layoffs and today I received this e-mail from the UFT ! Goodness what are they doing? I believe Paras are special ed are next on the cutting block.

Look what the pathetic UFT is asking people to do when they should have been asking to have every member of the corrupt State Board of Regents hung by the neck or water boarded in public.

UFT E-mail

Protect special education services for kids!

Dear colleague,

The State Board of Regents is voting in June on several cost-containment proposals (also known as “mandate relief”) that will directly affect your jobs and the students with disabilities that you serve.

On the table are three dangerous proposals:

1. To allow schools to place more than 12 students in integrated co-teaching classes;
2. To eliminate minimum service requirements for speech services; and
3. To relieve schools of the legal obligation to give teachers and service providers a paper or electronic copy of their students’ IEPs.

These changes are being proposed to save money, not to help kids.

Let the Board of Regents know what you think of its plans for special education before the changes are voted on. You can personalize the letter by adding your own message based on your experience and viewpoint as a paraprofessional.

Go here to send an online letter to each member of the Board of Regents.

Sincerely,

Shelvy Young Abrams
Paraprofessional Chapter Leader

Carmen Alvarez
Vice President of Special Education

Charges Against David Pakter Dismissed

Breaking News: For Immediate Release

Charges Against David Pakter Dismissed



After A 6 Year "David Versus Goliath" Contest,

A New York State Impartial Trial Arbitrator

Has Dismissed the Absurd NY State Education Dept. Charges Made Against A Former NYC "Teacher of the Year"

A Major Victory for Every Teacher in America




_________________________________________________________________________________


David Pakter, A NYC Whistle-blower, Decorated by Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for "Exceptional Achievement" in Education, has fought for years to be vindicated of the Retaliatory, knowingly bogus Charges brought against him after he wrote a letter to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, on Oct. 2, 2003, alerting him to serious Federal Civil Rights Violations in New York City Schools.

_________________________________________________________________________

In a crushing blow to New York City's Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who had sought for years to have Mr. Pakter fired, the Hearing Officer dismissed such preposterous charges against the Educator of Medical Illustration as the charge he had brought a plant to school, allegedly without getting official permission and awarding fashion watches to high achieving students, something Pakter had been doing for three decades.

He was also charged with giving a gift to a school aide and showing the film, "El Mariachi" by Robert Rodriguez, an Internationally known Director, to one of his High School classes. The film has been the recipient of a multitude of Cinematic Awards around the world and launched the career of Robert Rodriguez.

The charge that Mr. Pakter stopped reporting to a small, windowless, so-called "Rubber Room" after years of being ordered reassigned to such punitive assignments, where Teachers just sit all day, was not considered in today's verdict.

Mr. Pakter was a Lead Plaintiff in a Federal Lawsuit to shut down these teacher "Gulags" which New York City has announced will cease to exist after this school year ends.

These so-called "reassignment centers" were widely seen as a means to punish Teachers as well as instill fear in those who spoke out and reported wrongdoing as well as corruption and unethical behavior within the 23 Billion dollar NYC schools system.

The charge that Mr. Pakter had allegedly tried to influence a Dept of Education employee to furnish him with a printout of his personal work history on an expedited basis was also not considered in today's decision.
______________________________________________________________


For the past several months the NYC Dept of Education had been attempting to pressure Mr. Pakter to resign by offering to drop all the absurd and contrived charges made against the Award winning Educator- all of which offers were rejected by Mr. Pakter who insisted on a verdict regarding the pending charges alleged against him.

Mr. Pakter has brought Federal Lawsuits against the New York City Dept of Education seeking tens of millions of dollars in Damages.

At one point the City attempted to remove Mr. Pakter from his position for a year claiming he was not Medically "fit for duty", by having Dept of Education doctors intentionally suppress and alter their own Test Results reflecting Mr. Pakter's stellar results of fitness.



That decision was challenged by Mr. Pakter and he eventually was awarded a year of back pay plus interest. Most of the City doctors who were responsible for knowingly Railroading Mr. Pakter have all since left the the NYC Dept of Education Medical Office including the Medical Director who personally signed the letter that falsely claimed Pakter was not "fit for Duty". One year later that same Medical Director recanted that knowingly false and erroneous conclusion in a signed statement.

On March 21, 2010 The NEW YORK POST printed a story that included the statement that Mr. Pakter had been removed from the NYC schools system for quote "sexual misconduct"- a knowingly false statement since the paper had previously written about Pakter in another article about NYC Teachers in March of 2007.



The newspaper attempted to retract the false and Libelous statement one week later on March 28, 2010 by publishing a "Correction" Notice in a later Edition that included the words that the newspaper had, quote:



"incorrectly stated the allegations against David Pakter. The Dept of Education only alleges that he was insubordinate. Pakter claims he brought in a plant and offered watches as honor-roll incentives".

_______________________________________________________________

Mr. Pakter has already filed a $ 10,000,000 (Ten Million) NOTICE OF CLAIM against the NEW YORK POST newspaper as well as the NYC Dept of Education for the publication of false, libelous, defamatory, slanderous statements".



Both the NEW YORK POST newspaper as well as the NYC Dept of Education have been served with papers to appear in NY State Supreme Court on June 16, at 80 Centre Street, Manhattan, Room 328, at 9:30 A.M. before State Supreme Court Judge, the Hon. Cynthia Kern.
____________________________________________________________


The David Pakter Charges


Please note my response to each charge appears in CAPITAL LETTERS.

_______________________________________________

OFFICIAL NYC DEPT OF EDUCATION CHARGES AGAINST DAVID PAKTER

SPECIFICATIONS

( Important Note: Virtually all of the following charges, (except the charges relating to attendance at the small windowless Rubber Room located in Harlem), were shown and proven at Trial to be either outright lies or distortions of fact to such an extreme degree as to make the charges little more than knowing falsehoods.)

NOTE ALL MY RESPONSES & COMMENTS ARE IN UPPER CASE/CAPS

_____________________________________________

Below is a Verbatim Copy of ALL NYC DOE Charges against David Pakter

DAVID PAKTER (hereinafter referred to as "Respondent") is a tenured teacher, under File # 407530, Social Security # XXX-XX-XXXX, formerly assigned to The High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan. During the 2006-2007 school year, Respondent engaged in misconduct and was neglectful of his duties as follows:

In Particular:

SPECIFICATION 1: In or about October and/or November of 2006, Respondent promoted his and /or his family's watch business during school hours. DISMISSED



I INFORMED STUDENTS (AS I HAVE FOR 3 DECADES) THAT ANYONE WITH A 90% AVERAGE WOULD EARN A WATCH DESIGNED BY PAKTER

___________________________________________

SPECIFICATION 2: In or about October and/or November of 2006, Respondent gave watches as gifts to students during school hours. DISMISSED

YES, YES AND YES- LIKE JOEL KLEIN GIVING OUT CELL PHONES

______________________________________________

SPECIFICATION 3: In or about October and/or November of 2006, Respondent gave a watch to School Aide during school hours. DISMISSED

ABSOLUTELY YES- I GAVE A WATCH TO A SCHOOL AIDE DURING MY LUNCH BREAK

ISN'T THAT MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OR DO I NEED THE PERMISSION OF THE NYC DOE EVEN TO GIVE SOMEONE A GIFT.

The official New York City Ethics Charter states I violated no Rule or Regulation but I was charged despite that fact.

____________________________________________


SPECIFICATION 4: In or about October and/or November of 2006, during class time, Respondent:

(a) Talked about his and/or his family's watch business.

DISMISSED

(b) Provided the watch website address.

DISMISSED

(c) Showed students a book and/or a brochure and/or a catalog of watches.

DISMISSED

(d) Said words to the effect that he would give a watch to any student who achieved a gradepoint average of 90% or better.

DISMISSED

(e) Showed two watches to students.

DISMISSED

(f) Talked about his personal life.

DISMISSED

(g) Said words to the effect that he was fired from The High School of Art and Design for being a whistleblower.

DISMISSED

I STRONGLY ENCOURAGED STUDENTS TO STRIVE TO GET ON HONOR ROLL AND PROMISED THEM FASHION ACCESSORIES AS AN INCENTIVE AS I HAVE DONE FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS TO THE DELIGHT AND DEEP APPRECIATION OF COUNTLESS NYC DOE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS.



ALL ABOVE FALL WITHIN MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS RE FREE SPEECH.

______________________________________________

(h) Showed the class an "R" rated movie.

DISMISSED

FILM WAS R-RATED EXACTLY FOR THE SAME REASONS AS "SCHINDLER'S LIST", "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN", "THE PIANIST", ETC ETC ARE, R-RATED AS WELL AS THE DOZENS OF AWARD WINNING FILMS I HAVE SHOWN TO CLASSES FOR 37 YEARS WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF PEERS AND COUNTLESS NYC DOE PRINCIPALS I SERVED WITH DISTINCTION WHO RESPECTED MY GOOD JUDGEMENT TO SCREEN FILMS THAT CONTAINED STRONG LIFE LESSONS.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ABOVE ABSURD CHARGE ALSO BRINGS UP POSSIBLE CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS PERTAINING TO CENSORSHIP. ALSO TARGETTING TEACHERS BY ACCUSING THEM OF SHOWING A FILM IS AN OLD AND TIRED TACTIC OF THE NYC DOE.



THUS SUBCHARGE (h) VIOLATES AND GIVES RISE TO AT LEAST TWO CLEARLY SERIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS CHARGE WAS WITHDRAWN BY THE CITY

_____________________________________________

SPECIFICATION 5: In or about November of 2006, Respondent had two trees delivered to the school despite being previously told by Assistant Principal Giovanni Raschilla to wait until he discussed the matter with Principal Hilda Nieto. DISMISSED

THE ABOVE TOTALLY AND INTENTIONALLY DISTORTS FACTS

- I HAND CARRIED TWO SMALL ARTIFICIAL PLANTS IN WICKER BASKETS TO SCHOOL ON MY LUNCH HOUR WHICH I PLACED OUTSIDE DOORS TO THE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM WHERE EVERYONE AGREED THEY LOOKED TOTALLY GREAT AND VASTLY IMPROVED THE AMBIANCE OF THE SCHOOL LOBBY.

VERY INTERESTINGLY NO WHERE IN RICHARD CONDON'S SPECIALLY PREPARED SCI REPORT PREPARED FOR CHANCELLOR JOEL KLEIN IS IT MENTIONED THAT ON THE SAME DAY I PLACED THE TWO PLANTS OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM I ALSO HAND DELIVERED A LARGE BEAUTIFUL SILK PLANT, ALSO IN A WICKER BASKET TO PRINCIPAL HILDA NIETO'S OFFICE AND GAVE THE PLANT TO HER SECRETARY, MS. TUCKER REQUESTING SHE GIVE THE GIFT TO THE PRINCIPAL TO DECORATE HER OFFICE.

THE PLANT GIVEN TO THE PRINCIPAL WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN THE SCI REPORT AND I WAS NEVER CHARGED WITH GIVING PRINCIPAL HILDA NIETO A SILK PLANT BUT I WAS CHARGED WITH GIVING A GIFT TO A MINIMUM WAGE SCHOOL AIDE.



NIETO NEVER THANKED ME, VERBALLY OR IN WRITING BECAUSE SHE KNEW THAT IT WOULD PREVENT ANY PLANT CHARGES FROM BEING MADE AGAINST ME.

ALSO THE SCI REPORT TO KLEIN DID NOT MENTION THAT I BOUGHT AND HAND DELIVERED MYSELF, SEVERAL PLANTS IN BASKETS TO THE MAIN SCHOOL OFFICE WHERE I HAD TO SIT ALL DAY WHEN I WAS NOT COVERING CLASSES AS AN ATR SUBSTITUTE TEACHER.

ON THE DAY I WAS REMOVED, THE PLANTS I HAD PERSONALLY PURCHASED, PAID FOR AND PERSONALLY DELIVERED AND INSTALLED AT THREE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN THE SCHOOL WERE STILL THERE EXACTLY WHERE I HAD PERSONALLY PLACED THEM



NOTE THAT THE PLANT GIFTS TO THE PRINCIPAL'S PRIVATE OFFICE AND ALSO TO HER MAIN SCHOOL OFFICE ON A DIFFERENT FLOOR IN THE SCHOOL BUILDING, WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE 3020-a SPECIFICATIONS.



THINK ABOUT HOW EVIL AND MACHIAVELLIAN THAT MAKES THESE PEOPLE AND THE NYC DEPT OF EDUCATION IN GENERAL.



BUT IN ANY EVENT ISN'T IT MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BE TREATED IN THE SAME FASHION AS ANY OTHER TEACHER IN NYC WHO DECIDES TO DECORATE HIS/HER CLASSROOM AND/OR SCHOOL.

IN SHORT WE ADDRESS HERE THE CONCEPT OF EQUAL TREATMENT AND EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW AND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION



SHOULD SOME TEACHERS BE ALLOWED TO BRING A PLANT TO SCHOOL AND NOT OTHERS?

NOTE: THE WEEK I WAS REMOVED I WAS ABLE TO GET GIOVANNI RASCHILLA, MY A.P. ON TAPE ADMITTING TO UFT CHAPTER LEADER JACK SANCHEZ THAT HE, RASCHILLA, KNEW THE WHOLE PLANT BUSINESS WAS ILLEGAL AND THAT HE WOULD REMOVE THE PLANT LETTERS FROM MY FILE IMMEDIATELY AS UFT SANCHEZ DEMANDED.

________________________________________

SPECIFICATION 6: Respondent's actions caused widespread negative publicity and notoriety to the High School of Fashion Industries and the New York City Department of Education in general when his unprofessional behavior was referenced in the UFT Newspaper.

THIS IS THE FAMOUS CHARGE THAT RANDI WEINGARTEN ORDERED NYSUT TO WRITE A PROTEST TO CHANCELLOR JOEL KLEIN ON OCTOBER 24, 2007 TO WHICH KLEIN NEVER RESPONDED BUT WHICH THE NYC DEPT OF EDUCATION LATER WITHDREW RATHER THAN BE FORCED TO FIGHT THE UFT IN COURT OVER A FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUE.

WITHDRAWN



SPECIFICATION 7: During the 2006-2007 school year, Respondent was absent ninety-eight (98) times from work. (Rubber Room)

SPECIFICATION 8: During the 2006-2007 school year, Respondent worked a partial day fifteen (15) times. (Rubber Room)

HARLEM RUBBER ROOM WAS A VERY SMALL ROOM ON 125TH STREET, WITH NO WINDOWS, NO IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE DRINKING WATER, BARE WALLS UNTIL I TRIED TO HANG A FEW PICTURES AND WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO AND THE MUSEUM PRINTS REMOVED.

AND WORST OF ALL THIS SMALL ROOM CONVEYED TO THE PEOPLE HOUSED THERE A SENSE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA AND INCARCERATION

A UFT HIRED AIR SPECIALIST, HIRED BY UFT SPECIAL REP-KLAUS BORNEMANN, USING SOPHISTICATED AIR TESTING EQUIPMENT WROTE IN HIS AIR QUALITY REPORT THAT THE CEILING VENTILATORS AT TIMES WERE BLOWING AIR OF SUBSTANDARD AIR QUALITY INTO THE ROOM.



THE ABOVE AMOUNTS TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT UNDER THE US CONSTITUTION AND IS THE REASON I STOPPED REPORTING TO THE SMALL WINDOWLESS RUBBER ROOM IN HARLEM.

________________________________________



Please Note: The fact that the DOE would certainly deny that any, or all of these charges do not violate any of my Constitutional and/or First Amendment rights, (which is to be totally expected), does not make such an assertion and/or position true. It is only by challenging established customs and perceptions of what does and does not violate the Laws of the Land, that "old" laws are struck down, and new Laws and new legal precedents- established.



David Pakter

_____________________________________________
Posted by A Teacher In The Bronx at 5:04 PM
Reactions:
Labels: 3020a, David Pakter
1 Strong Opinions:

Anonymous said...
Rubber plants and watches? The kids that win city track meets get gold watches. Who the heck cares? Should we charge the track coaches? This is a completely bad faith operation. This is the most ridiculous 3020a I have heard of and it is so ridiculous DOE is probably afraid to drop it knowing that is tantamount to admitting they never should have charged David in the first place. Nothing about his teaching and nothing about misconduct.

Washington Post Attacks Rhee Critics: From DC- themail

Self-Dealing

Dear Complainants:

Let’s review. Chancellor Michelle Rhee negotiated millions of dollars of grants from foundations that were given to the DC Public Schools on the condition that the leadership of DCPS not be changed — in other words, that she remain employed as schools chancellor (themail, April 28). Civic activist Robert Brannum, president of the DC Federation of Civic Associations, believed that it is self-dealing and a conflict of interest for a government official to negotiate grants from foundations to government that are conditional on her continued employment. He filed a complaint with the Office of Campaign Finance, seeking a ruling on the propriety of her actions, and the OCF found sufficient grounds in his complaint to open an investigation.

In response, the Washington Post published an over-the-top, shrill editorial that is nothing but a personal attack on Brannum for daring even to raise a question about Rhee who, it asserts, must not be questioned,http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060703784.html.

The Post’s editorial board asserted that, “It’s hard to think that anyone could conclude that Ms. Rhee sought these monies to ensure her continued employ [sic] as schools chancellor.” Since the letters of agreement all make the donations conditional on her continued employment, it is hard to think that the editorial board really finds that hard to think. It is much more reasonable to believe that the Post is simply protecting one of its favorites from having to live up to the standards of conduct that it would apply to other public officials. The Post gives Rhee credit for soliciting these funds for DCPS, while at the same time pretending to believe that Rhee had nothing to do with them— with seeking them, with negotiating their terms, or with accepting them under those terms. The Post correctly notes that the foundations’ letters of agreement were not given directly to DCPS, but were in fact given to a nonprofit organization, the DC Public Education Fund, with the express purpose that it would funnel them to DCPS. The DC Public Education Fund was set up by Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee to advance their educational plans and interests and to raise money for their programs. The only purpose of the DC Public Education Fund’s involvement in the grants is to shield DCPS from the legal ramifications of accepting the grants directly and from the open public scrutiny that would ensue. The pretense that the Public Education Fund is independent of DCPS and Rhee, when it operates in their interests and at their direction, may be enough to provide a legal smokescreen to allow Rhee to deny self-dealing, but it is far from clear that that pretense is good enough to succeed. That is a question that can only be answered by the kind of thorough investigation that the Post seeks to discredit in advance.

The Post accuses Brannum of making “half-baked allegations,” and it prejudges the investigation at the end of its editorial by saying that, “it’s disheartening to see this kind of small-minded hounding of those who seek to better reward teachers who do a good job helping children learn. There would seem to be no better way to discourage public service than to turn the District into a place where no good turn goes unquestioned.” That’s bad enough, but in the past three years we’ve become used to the Post’s judgments about local politics being based purely on its being a cheerleader for the Fenty-Rhee-Nickles administration rather than a fair and disinterested observer. What’s worse is thePost’s actions since. After it denied Brannum the opportunity to reply to its editorial, Brannum sent the E-mail printed below. As a result, the Post published (online only, and not linked to from the editorial) the item athttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/06/good_reason_to_investigate_mic.html. The online item purports to be by him, but in fact was drastically rewritten by someone at the newspaper. The paper has so little confidence in its judgment and reasoning that it has denied him an opportunity to reply in print and in his own words to an editorial that attacked him and his motives personally.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

###############

Post Declines to Print Editorial Reply
Robert Vinson Brannum, rbrannum@robertbrannum.com

On Tuesday, June 8, The Washington Post published an editorial (“School Daze,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060703784.html) reacting to my request for an investigation of DC Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Michelle Rhee. The editorial was critical of me for requesting a DC Office of Campaign Finance investigation of Chancellor Rhee for possible conflict of interest in the tentative contract agreement (later ratified) between DCPS and the Washington Teachers’ Union.

My request for an investigation was not motivated by politics, but rather by a public citizen’s desire to promote a principled public policy, which the Office of Campaign Finance determined to be credible. It was deemed a “cogent statement of facts alleged to constitute a violation,” with a “reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred.” Moreover, DC Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi, previously praised by the editorial board and others in the media as impeccable, alluded in testimony before the council these private donor funding conditions were unacceptable and he could not certify the tentative agreement.

Most reputable newspaper editorial boards, after singling out someone for editorial rebuke, particularly a private citizen, would print a response. Not so with the new reform-minded editorial board of The Washington Post. The editorial board of The Washington Post not only declined to print an initial response from me, it also has declined to print a shortened rewrite. Rather than permitting me to express my thoughts in my own words, the editorial board offered to print its own shortened rewrite expressing my thoughts of its rebuke of me. I believe I should be able to speak for myself. Even Ms. Katharine Weymouth, Publisher; Mr. Andrew Alexander, Ombudsman; and Mr. Howard Kurtz, Media Critic, should find this refusal unacceptable. [Finished online athttp://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-06-09.htm#brannum]

###############

Civic Activism
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

As someone who, over the past twenty years, has closely monitored the work of the DC Board of Elections and Ethics and the Office of Campaign Finance, and who has filed numerous complaints with both bodies, I could not let the current controversy concerning the complaint Robert Brannum filed with the OCF on June 2 regarding School Chancellor Michelle Rhee go by without comment. Bill Turque reported in Tuesday’s Washington Post,http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060703046.html: “The District’s Office of Campaign Finance will investigate a complaint, filed by an outspoken critic of Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, alleging that Rhee violated the law by soliciting donations from private foundations that reserved the right to pull their funding if there was a change in the school system’s leadership. Cecily E. Collier-Montgomery, the office’s director, told Robert V. Brannum on Friday, in response to his complaint, that there was ‘reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred’ and that ‘a full investigation is warranted in this matter.’”

The media response has been troubling. Jonetta Rose Barras wrote in her June 7 column in The Examiner, titled “Slaying the Chancellor, Sacrificing the Children,” http://tinyurl.com/2532rzb, that DC residents should “question the competence” of OCF for investigating Brannum’s complaint. She went on to write that “it’s all politics,” and to argue that Brannum’s complaint aims “to derail Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s reelection, including discrediting his education reform platform and sullying Rhee’s reputation.” JoAnn Armao, in her June 8Washington Post editorial, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060703784.html, writes, “it’s disheartening to see this kind of small-minded hounding of those who seek to better reward teachers who do a good job helping children learn. There would seem to be no better way to discourage public service than to turn the District into a place where no good turn goes unquestioned.”

Under District law, a citizen has a right to file a complaint with the DC Office of Campaign Finance if and when they believe the District’s campaign finance and/or ethics laws have been violated. After an initial review and inquiry of the complaint, the OCF’s director and general counsel only then make the determination as to whether to launch a formal investigation. Under OCF’s process, frivolous or unfounded complaints do not result in a full investigation. In the past, I have filed complaints involving public officials with the OCF and, indeed, in the past the Washington Post has always welcomed “independent” investigations of public officials by the OCF (especially Marion Barry). I am truly concerned that, if the media chooses to ridicule citizens who file complaints, however motivated or justified those complaints may be, it may have a chilling effect on the willingness of citizens to come forward and report violations of the District’s campaign finance and ethics laws.

Picket Bloomberg's House Thurs: Stop Harassment of Teachers - Justice for The Bronx Science Twenty

[***Please forward and use the Facebook invite***]

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 Teachers 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 harassment 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.

On Seniority

When The Indypendent's John Tarleton asked me to do an article in defense of seniority, I starteded tossing in all the things I wanted to say, starting with a complete history of Joel Klein's use of the issue, from his early years to claim the "best" - senior teachers - were not in the schools most in need because of the UFT transfer policies - to the fair funding formula that made senior teachers an economic liability to the schools. The bullshit the ed deformers throw around would fertilize a small nation. Shill, baby, shill!

I had been leaving comments on various blogs with bits and pieces of ideas and also had been reading some of the comments Michael Fiorillo and many others made at the Diane Senechal piece on seniority at Gotham. When I stopped writing I had 2200 words, well over double the space John had given me.

John was the editor on the piece and we had a few very long conversations that revealed the complexities of the seniority issue. I found it a very rigorous exercise to go through a process like that with someone who was very astute but not tuned into all the details that boil up when you start drilling. John took my scattered thinking (see yesterday's front page article in the Times on the distractions of the internet to see why) and focused things in a way that makes sense, to such an extent that I hesitate to take total credit for the article.

The article is at http://www.indypendent.org/2010/06/03/teaching-under-assault/
and is called:

FIRST PERSON: Teaching Under Assault: Two visions of education clash as Bloomberg prepares to lay off 6,400 teachers

I had to leave out a bunch of stuff I wanted to say. If you have anything to add leave a comment at the Indypendent and here so I can track them and add them to a more comprehensive piece. We have to do this ourselves since the UFT/AFT is unwilling and unable - because they are in tune in so many ways with the ed deformers.
--------
Add-on
No time to add links. Heading up to Manchester, NH for my yearly trip with a carload of teachers, engineers and other parties working on robotics here in NYC. There will be reps from all over the nation and the world. The amount of time and effort put into making these tournaments run is almost astounding, especially since it is just about all volunteer driven. We even get to go to dinner at the home of the founder of the robotics program (the helicopter hanger is turned into a dining room for a hundred) - his house is one of the most spectacular I've ever been in, built around a giant Sterling engine. I will try to get pics.

Chance of Losing? Just don't hold an election: Randi Weingarten Ally Follows Course in DC

Typhoid Randi

[Washington DC teacher union president] George Parker REFUSED to provide the necessary information so that the elections committee could proceed with union elections. Now that's a way for Parker to stay in office.

Now if you New York teachers think this doesn't apply to you - after all Mulgrew, one of the 12 most effective labor leaders, [according to City Hall News] - won 91% of the vote because he talked like he was effective - the same type of shenanigans will take place if there is ever a contested election here. After all, Randi Weingarten is involved on Parker's side. She was quick to have the AFT intervene over a relatively minor issue on the constitution of the election committee, using that as an excuse to postpone the elections to give her pal Michelle Rhee time to get a vote on a new contract before Parker opponent Nathan Saunders could win an election and use his pulpit to campaign against the contract.

Randi won that round but then there was this pesky thing called an election that was SUPPOSED to still take place. A pro Saunders slate was elected to the NEW election committee.

Randi and Parker have to engage in these tactics because they don't have their own pet phony opposition like New Action to endorse the incumbent (like New Action has done in here in 3 straight elections and will continue to do forever) and create a distraction for the members. But I'll write more about how NYC differs from other cities in a future post.

See Candi's Peterson's Post:

No WTU Elections For You: If President George Parker Has Anything To Do With It

Now with the Chicago runoff between the Unity-like UPC and the chief opposition, CORE due to take place this Friday, observers are keeping an eye out for the kinds of procedural games the AFT (which has a full-time staffer assigned to work with the UPC) and the UPC might play. I would bet that they already have a procedural protest planned and all written up and ready to go just in case CORE, which ran a dead heat with the UPC in round 1 and has been endorsed by the caucus leaders of the next two finishers, might win on Friday. In round one over 30 ballot boxes were not picked up by the AAA and instead delivered by UPC staff people. This is Chicago. So CORE might have done even better.

Guess where such a protest goes? Why to Randi at the AFT. In 2004, the AFT clearly supported the UPC even though there were some serious doubts. So if there is a protest of Friday's election by the UPC people will be watching what the AFT does very carefully. Since CORE has a real base, unlike so many opposition parties which are heads with no bodies - see NYC for example - and if the election is stolen watch for a massive explosion in Chicago.

The election also has some impact on the AFT convention in Seattle on July 7-11. If CORE wins and sends 150 delegates - I know this pales in comparison to the Unity 800 - but if they start linking up with delegates opposed to Randi's taking the AFT down the ed deform road, there will be national implications.

But of course the real national implications for a CORE win would be for the Obama/Duncan program. Coming right from the belly of the ed deform beast of 16 years of mayoral control, having a group consisting of a lot of young, activist teachers take power would shake the tree. CORE has stood up over it's two plus years of existence against school closings and battled the charter school influx which has reduced the number of Chicago teacher union members from around 34,000 to 28,000. CORE stands firmly against the Race to the Top crap that the AFT is dishing out to help get laws changed.

Note how the press and the blogs have ignored this story. Anti-union "reporters" like Mike Antonucci who will expose a union leader for sneezing without using a handkerchief, seems to have forgotten where Chicago is despite the lovely reminders I send him.

And Alexander Russo, who writes the TWIE blog (which I don't read regularly but have not seen any reports on the Chicago election) along with the District 299 blog about Chicago education even though he lives in Brooklyn, also has precious little about the election on that blog. Living in Brooklyn must make it tough to cover. He should read George Schmidt's Substance so he would know what's going on. And all of you should too to see what the Unity-like UPC is willing to pull to hold onto power, with the support I might add of the Chicago power structure and behind the scenes, the AFT.

And here in NYC? We seem to be at least 3-5 years behind, but if you watch what Mulgrew has done in the two plus months since his 91% victory, you can see what is coming.

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About the graphic:
The other day, Michael Fiorillo branded Randi Weingarten "Typhoid Randi" for spreading toxicity through union compliance with the ed deform agenda. Just a few words to David Bellel and "Voila!"

Rubber Souls

They are true nowhere men and nowhere women. People who were in the rubber room and released back to the schools after being found innocent or fined for some infraction. Forever marked. Living in fear. Walking targets. Many become ATRs. Given the lowest level assignments. Forced to grovel for any crumb.

A lot of them are older - in their 50's. Many are second career people with not enough years in the system to retire, even if offered a buyout.

Then there are ATRs in this same age and pre-retirement status category. They go from school to school begging for a permanent job. I met one woman in her 50's who told me she was treated with a lot of suspicion by her younger colleagues when she got to the school, given a chance by a sympathetic principal – for teachers looking for jobs these people begin to seem like gods. She admitted she wasn't up on the new terminology at first, but learned fast. She was a jack of all trades and offered to do anything - even move people's cars when needed, giving up her lunch hours and preps, hoping the principal would hire her permanently for next year.


City Hall News chose UFT leader Michael Mulgrew as one of the 12 most effective labor leaders. with his 91% victory being the single thing they could point to (do you wonder what the results would be if the election were held today a scant 3 months later?)

Ask these nowhere people just how effective the Mulgrew/Weingarten UFT leadership has been.

Report of CEJ/AQE UFT political action day on Saturday June 5, 2010

Special to Ed Notes by a 10 year teacher

I attended the CEJ/AQE UFT political action day on Saturday June 5, 2010.

First person I saw, and was surprised I did, as I got up the stairs on the second floor was Michael Mulgrew. He was talking with some senator and a few people were gathered around.

It was a bit after 2pm so as always when I arrive late I ask someone if they could fill me in and if I missed anything important. I was told I had not missed much-----while glancing over the refreshments- they served fruit, chocolate cake and drinks.

When I entered the event room I was also surprised to see so few people ---- maybe 60 - 100 people there tops. (Roughly about what we had turn out at Tweed June 4,2010).

What really perplexed me was seeing so many UFT staff. Along with the UFT President was the Treasurer, Assistant Secretary,VP from Middle schools,VP for educational issues and many other representatives.

It felt strange. Mostly because I have been bothered by the fact that this event was not posted on the UFT website. But I guess I should have realized with important senators expected there it would only be natural the UFT officials would be too.

I mingled a bit and when I was introduced to the Queens reps Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Smith I asked them about why so little publicity on such an important event with all that is going on in public education.

Mr. Smith wanted to know how I found out about the event and he said they deliberately did it the way they did. I had no doubt it was deliberate but I wanted to know why. Why wouldn't you want to post on website and invite everyone? I never did get an answer as to why. I also asked which senator was there to represent Far Rockaway. I was told Malcolm Smith had already been there and left. I asked if there were people from his district to talk with him. The two reps said yes but oddly I never did get to meet anyone from the district. I guess these folks left along with the senator.

Ok so---the event itself had its weirdness. There was no agenda. People were offering personal stories and it became apparent most were parents and very few teachers-----as senators one by one would arrive they would announce who and what district and send those folks out to a room to talk and ask questions.

After a while of this-- the room became quite empty ---when about a dozen people were left I asked if anyone knew why International HS in Bensonhurst had so much money and were able to have such small class sizes ( I had 16 HS students in the Gym) but PS 104 in Far Rockaway was desperately struggling to get by with 23 kindergartners in a class and lost positions last year including their librarian. And why a public school would have a board of directors. ( see for yourself:http://www.internationalsnps.org/about-us/board-of-directors-and-principal-advisory-board.html )

Hoping to raise the issue of vast discrepancies across the city depending on area, neighborhood, what have you etc...Aminda Gentile said International HS is a model school throughout the country and they get some sort of grant funding.This I knew---- what I wanted to know was why such vastly different scenarios from one school to the other-- and what does this mean for NYC----- she said that this International school type of funding is not what you want.

This next part is where it really got interesting:

After awhile the room filled back up because senator Sampson was introduced by President Mulgrew.

The senator began with and repeated several times----Please don't let one vote determine our relationship. Sampson apparently voted no on budget. Then twice he said he was happy to be here to hear from the rank and file. Of course--I'm confused here looking around knowing there were few to none rank and file in the room---I guess he just assumed he'd be talking with the teachers and UFT school staff. Mulgrew, I guess, knowing the rank and file were not invited, quietly interjected and said communities are here too. But Billy Easton (AQE) who was MC for the day repeated we have people from the community as they opened the floor for questions for Senator Sampson. A sweet spoken elderly women stood up and introduced herself as Mother Edith Davis who works on Title 1 committee--Region 2-- she first commented on

#1) the fact that she had just found out about this meeting last night
#2) she and her committee had been traveling to Washington to advocate for title 1 parents (mr frier?) they are very upset that the parents are not being put in the November bill Blueprint for Reform and wanted to know what the senator would do to help.

I watched as Mulgrew said into his mic to please keep it short since the senator had to leave for a meeting with the public (at this comment I began scratching my head I thought I must have been imagining this but it seemed as if he was mocking the women) as I found it difficult as to why he would say that at that time --she really did not say too much or speak very long-- it was as if he was jumping in anticipating she would go on and on.

The next guy wanted to discuss the proliferation of charters and how they are hurting the union.The senator said he had previously spoke to the gentleman and said we can talk anytime. He said he wanted to give someone else a chance to speak. The man insisted on making his point though he did not get the senator to respond much publicly. I have his contact info he's a community organizer. I also met 3 teachers, chapter leader and delegate from 332. One of the schools on the closings list.

The UFT staff were becoming frustrated at the line of questioning at this point and asked folks to focus their questions on the budget cuts. Then a teacher, who was sitting with UFT special representative asked the perfect budget question and they ended the Q and A.

Well, that's my summary of the day --I'm wondering if Anyone knows Mother Davis or suggestions how to reach her-- I was on my way over to say hello and as happens at these events got held up talking and never did get the chance, but would love to make that connection.

HENTOFF SLAMS UNIONS, LAUDS CHARTERS

By Brian D’Agostino
bdagostino@verizon.net
www.bendag.com

Here’s a conundrum. How many Village Voice writers does it take to screw the teachers’ unions? Answer: one, but only if he or she was a trade unionist in a previous life. In the June 2-8, 2010 issue of the Voice, Nat Hentoff joins the chorus of hedge fund managers, union-busting politicians, Eva Moskowitz-type social entrepreneurs and other custodians of public righteousness who are championing “school reform.” Before doing so, however, he makes a point of saying he organized fellow students working in a candy store during the “so called Great Depression” and was a shop steward at a radio station in Boston. From this lofty position as a champion of labor, Hentoff then confesses that he is “plain disgusted at the low point that the union crusade against charter schools has reached.”

To be sure, “some charter school managements are engaged in old-fashioned self-dealing and arrant unethical behavior that require strict accounting,” and some do discriminate against English-language learners and other students with special needs. But “a growing number of charter schools have opened their doors and are demonstrating that such students need not—and must not—be marginalized,” at least according to the New York Post (5/10/10), a credible authority on such matters for all thoughtful observers of public education.

Meanwhile, do the “leaders of organized labor” think black parents that want their children in charter schools are “stupid” or “gullible?” Well they’re not, Hentoff says—just look at the long waiting lists and superior test scores of charter schools in Harlem, at least according to the Post. Black parents want a quality education for their kids, unlike Michael Mulgrew, who doesn’t care about poor black children and only wants to use charter schools as a “punching bag.”

Some non-charter public schools, the author concedes, “create lifelong learners and future college students.” Rebelling against “the assembly-line teaching-for-tests imposed by No Child Left Behind,” they have students “charting their own academic paths with personalized student learning plans—electronic portfolios containing information about their learning styles, interests, skills, career goals, and extracurricular activities.” This should be the norm for charter schools as well, Hentoff opines, “no matter whether organized labor finds charter schools guilty of that.”

Now, I have to admit I’m having trouble following this. Hentoff says it’s the quality public schools—which are unionized—that are doing the portfolios and personalized student learning. Then he recommends this to the charter schools—which are not unionized—presumably because they’re doing too much “assembly-line teaching-for-tests?” So why would organized labor object to charter schools starting to do what unionized schools are already doing? Whatever.

Oh, and another thing. The example of state-of-the-art, personalized education that Hentoff cites was from a predominantly White and Asian, middle class secondary school in North Brunswick, New Jersey, having only 12 students for every teacher. No problem getting under-funded, inner city school districts to provide that kind of education to every minority child trapped in poverty, right? Especially now that the Post has assured us that charter schools will no longer be creaming the easiest-to-teach students. All we need is for the unions to get out of the way. But wait a minute, isn’t the school in North Brunswick unionized? Whatever.

Actually, the author realizes that poor communities can’t get the same educational opportunities as the middle class without an infusion of additional resources and services. He ends his article discussing just such a program, for which the UFT and some community groups (including Harlem Children’s Zone) are seeking federal funding. Which brings us to the moment of truth. Would Mike Mulgrew and Bill Perkins oppose this “Community Schools” program, Hentoff asks, if it chose not to have union teachers? Now there’s a knock-out blow against selfish labor leaders and misguided elected officials who don’t care about the needs of poor, minority children! What was that about a “punching bag?”

Brian D’Agostino is a former New York City public school teacher and UFT chapter leader. He is an adjunct instructor in education at Empire State College.