Is It That Obvious?

This (Failing Schools) continues to be one of the best written, incisive teacher blogs out there.
--- Leonie Haimson

Isn’t It Obvious?

August 8, 2010
by mariasallee

August 8, 2010

by mariasallee

I recently finished reading Diane Ravitch’s book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. I am pleased and grateful that she shares so many of the opinions I have long held about how we’re going down the wrong path in “reforming” our educational system.  Moreover, she provides research to support her views and, of course, she has years of experience working as a policy-maker, things that make her voice carry a bit more weight than mine.  To a teacher, much of what she is saying is obvious. Those of working us in the country’s urban schools have seen a great deal of truly needy families, squandered opportunities, punitive action against teachers, and woeful mismanagement.  While I was reading Ravitch’s book, I realized that it is probably not obvious to people on the outside looking in.  Like any insider, educators get so accustomed to the way things are that we take the truths we live with for granted.

Read this great piece in full at: http://failingschools.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/isnt-it-obvious/



Ed Notes commentary:

When I started reading Diane's book I also thought: Isn't it obvious? And why wasn't it obvious to as an astute observer as Diane? And maybe it is mariasallee's point -

 I might liken it to working in the trenches: you can’t know what it’s really like unless you’ve been there and those of us who have been there will never have the same perspective on the world again.

But by being in the trenches she means for a significant amount of time. I think that is one of the ideas behind Teach for America - be able to make the claim you were in the trenches but not long enough to "never have the same perspective on the world again." In other words, get them out of the trenches and into policy making ASAP before they are contaminated. One of the very best people working in GEM is a TFA alum and those that stay in the trenches will become anti ed deform.

One of the issues not being touched in the blog post is the insane attempt to make everyone accountable and the fear that to challenge this concept is a blasphemy.

I was a the Yankee game last week (more important than seeing Alex' 600th was getting $5 senior citizen seats and getting seated in the lower grandstand between third and home - seats that go for $250 - but I almost spend that much on food.)

I went with a teacher who I met a few years ago when he saw a copy of ed notes. He is a 10 year teacher on his 4th career - a senior citizen. He is an a school that is closing and has been an ATR for a few years. He also went off on the accountability kick- maybe it was his other careers.

I told him how in my early career when it came time to make a decision on a child - leave back or not , etc. the teacher had a role to play - our judgement counted. The supervisors - all of whom had to do a stint of teaching  and had experienced the trenches - and the teachers - were often on the same page. He got all excited and insisted I should have to show empirical data to make my case. I kept saying, "What about the judgement of a pro? Why isn't that good enough? Are people in every job being held to the same type of measured accountability as being asked of teachers? I don't believe it."

Things began to change way before BloomKlein - actually with the advent of the local districts where a political system of choosing principals - akin to today - replaced the old civil service system. I won't try to make a case for that system - but old timers will say that schools have not been as effectively run since then. But then again you have that accountability thing - there were many problems with students in certain populations.

The BloomKlein and ed deform business models squarely place the blame on the educators for  failures. We need to hold people accountable - except for the ed deformers of course. So we are in the third iteration of management and this is proving to be the worst.

What will be the next step after a generation? Bob Herbert - who has supported ed deform while lamenting attacks on workers (teachers don't count) talks about the drop in college grad rates (when are the colleges going to be held to that metric - close them down and open charter colleges?)

Rather than real solutions with money going to support students and teachers instead of accountability, very unlikely in an increasing economic downturn (see Krugman today and check out Gary Shteyngart's novel "Super Sad True Love Story") we will end up with a privatized school system where no one except teachers are accountable.

How to stop this? Join the resistance.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 2 - The Chicago Experience

Part 1: Unity

Part 2: The Chicago Experience
Building a democratic union and building a democratic caucus go hand in hand


I am trying to piece things together from afar so I may not be totally accurate but here is my sense of things.

When Debbie Lynch won the Chicago Teachers Union election on a reform slate in 2001, she had a few problems. More than a few. She had a caucus (PACT) but from what I can gather it was somewhat limited in reach. How did she win? Personal reputation, the worsening conditions in the school and a Unity like leadership (UPC) that was  incompetent. I mean of you want to rate Unity vs UPC on a scale of ability to manage the members - Unity was a 10 and UPC was a 3. Maybe.


So Debbie is in power. She is saddled with a staff hired by UPC that she can't get rid of because they are in the Teamsters union and have a contract (the same situation faced today by CORE). They do all they can to undermine her. She also doesn't have control of the House of Delegates which is still controlled by the UPC. Her caucus is not really strong enough to fend off the attacks by the UPC, which still continues to function to win back power. And she also makes some mistakes which I won't get into now.

I'm guessing here, but I have a sense she worked on building the union - CTU - and possibly neglected on continuing to build her caucus.

Still, in the 2004 election she almost wins without a runoff but falls short and it ends up with PACT vs UPC. And there are some irregularities and the AFT rules against her. And the UPC is back in power. In 2007 she gets smashed by the UPC.

Now stuff begins to happen. UPC's Marilyn Stewart who defeated Debbie in 2004 and 2007 goes after people in her own caucus, even having the guy who ran her campaign thrown out of the union and splitting with a person elected as an officer on her slate. Eventually, two caucuses will emerge from this split in the UPC.

In the meantime, Debbie Lynch rebuilds her caucus for a run at the 2010 elections, figuring she has a real chance with the UPC splits. But out of the grassroots, another group starts rising.

Caucus of Rank and File Educators
We found out from new CTU president Karen Lewis when we heard her speak to a CTU party in Chicago that CORE started out as a study group – things were so bad in the schools and in the union that a group of people started getting together to try to figure out what was happening. "We had no idea of getting involved in the union the way we did," Lewis said. But with the charter influx, the closing of schools and the numbers of teachers losing their jobs, they had no choice. More activist oriented than the other caucuses, they began to grow quickly. When I met with a group of CORE members in LA last summer they told me they felt they had a chance to get into the runoff and then "anything is possible."

The year since has been momentous. CORE influence kept growing as quickly as UPC ineptness and indications were coming in that the prediction of last summer would come through - that with 5 caucuses running, the UPC would not get a majority in round 1 and they had a shot at squeaking into the runoff. To show you how clueless Marilyn Stewart was, as late as the first round election she was sure the UPC would get over 50% and a runoff wouldn't be necessary.

The shocker was that CORE and UPC ran neck and neck with around 32% of the vote each, with the other 3 caucuses splitting the rest. Debbie Lynch got about 15%. A few days later all 3 of the groups out of the running endorsed CORE. Word is that Debbie truly delivered her vote into the hands of CORE, which had about 60% of the vote in the runoff.

Analysis shows that though some people in CORE are claiming an overwhelming victory, the reality is that the UPC still had about 40% and the other 3 caucuses might hold a balance of power in the future. It all depends on whether CORE learns from the past and continues to build the CORE caucus at the same time as rebuilding the devastated Chicago Teachers Union while trying to maintain democracy at the caucus level and within the CTU. (How tempting would it be to treat the UPC the way they treated everyone else all the years in power?) And let's not forget that a reform movement that refuses to cooperate with the ed deformers as Randi and Mulgrew do is a major threat to the political and financial forces arrayed against them and to the power structure in the AFT/UFT.

Some say it is never too early to win power when you can. But there are pitfalls if you are young like CORE and if you have not consolidate the organization into a cohesive force while at the same time maintaining a good relationship with the other non-UPC caucuses that supported them, in particular Debbie Lynch. They seem to be making moves in this direction. This was posted on their blog on Aug. 4:

CORE owes a debt of gratitude to the PACT team for their efforts to promote democracy in the CTU and defend the rights of all members to campaign. We are grateful, as well, for their far-sighted support (along with CSDU and SEA) of CORE in the runoff election to move the CTU forward.

 That they took the time in the midst of the enormous challenges they face is a good sign.

CORE seems to be in the tween faze - it grew real fast and seemed to keep control over things as they grew. Can they continue to grow while also trying to run the union and battle the forces of ed deform?

CORE certainly has its work cut out for it.


Read more at Substance


 Part 3 will address how NYC differs from Chicago and the chances of seeing a CORE-like group here in the near future.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 1 - Unity, NYC

Why the need for a caucus?
I'm not opposed to the concept of a caucus – a political party – inside a union. I think it is important for people to get together over ideas they agree on and whether in power or not fight for those ideas to be union policy. When there are two or more caucuses in a democratically run union with open discussion, the result would be better decision making and better policies.

But when you have a one party system with a caucus that has no interest in a debate on policy - even within the caucus itself - whose major focus is on maintaining itself in power - then you get distorted policies. Policies that are not decided upon in the cauldron of debate but from the very top that are then forced down on the members of the caucus in power to be further forced down on the rank and file they reach in the schools.

Of course I am describing Unity Caucus. Now things are not as simple as this. Most Unity Caucus members come to agree with the policies - they are convinced through selective arguments that don't give the kind of full picture they would get through an open debate. Those who don't agree - and these often come from the school level Unity people - mostly remain quiet due to a bunch of reasons: selfish (no jobs, no trips to conventions, no protection if attacked by supervisors) or in fear that they won't be able to service their members by being shut off.

It is important to point out right here that the people running the UFT have always paid the most attention to maintaining and building Unity caucus, even at the expense of the larger entity - the UFT. This is a true legacy of Albert Shanker (he is given too much credit for the wrong things) who was a genius at managing power.

One of Randi's real impacts was on how she changed Unity Caucus from a narrow invitation only to one where they invite everyone (even me at one point). That was her genius. Open it up to all, especially potential dissidents and coopt them into the caucus. We've actually been meeting some great, smart people who are in Unity - people who might have been part of an effective opposition. In fact, if there was a serious opposition that had a real chance of challenging for power, some of the people not happy with the direction of the union might go in that direction.

Randi's other genius was in making a deal with the leading opposition, New Action.  While not in Unity, they might as well be. Eight Unity endorsed New Action members are on the Ex Bd. She gave New Action leader Michael Shulman his own little empire where he controls a batch of jobs - where a Unity person and a New Action person go into schools supposedly to help them organize. These jobs are coveted by retirees.

Unity tries to make sure they have top people running the caucus. And no matter what you read about the attacks on Jeff Zahler from within the moles at Unity, he was/is extremely competent at doing this. (I don't know his exact status now - Randi sent him to Wash DC as AFT staff director while she was still UFT Pres but he got sick and came back. But I bet he is involved in some way.)

Building caucus vs. building union?
Since we have been under the yoke of Unity - if you're not Swedish you might pronounce "yoke" a different way - we don't often think of what would happen to a caucus that actually won power. You now run a union. How does your caucus relate to the larger entity, especially if you don't want to be another Unity?

Events in Chicago over the last decade provide serious food for thought. I'll address that in Part 2, which I'll publish later tonight.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 2 - The Chicago Experience

Parsing Inside Unity Info - Part 1- Does Klein Have A Mole in the UFT?

Well, reporters have been calling about some of the Inside Unity stuff appearing in the comments section of this post Is UFT Bronx Leader Vargas Going Rogue? - Updated. We started hearing from Da Moles (there are definitely more than one) while in Seattle and posted the July comments here.

Now some of the stuff seems "out there" but within all there are many grains of truth. We have confirmed that staffers are unhappy with Leroy Barr and Jose Vargas. As to whether Barr and Vargas are at war we have not confirmed. Lurking behind the anonymous info was the hint of racial issues. Is Vargas setting up a Latino/a only operation? Is there resentment on the part of some black Unity people? When in Seattle we had some contact with some black members of Unity who told us they secretly read and supported many ed notes positions and expressed some unhappiness at the way jobs were being given out.

This Mole comment on July 24th was interesting:

FORGET THE CONVENTIONS AND THE PERKS AND THE DO- NOTHING JOBS AT 52 BROADWAY.
RANDI LEFT MULGREW IN CHARGE- THEN KLEIN SENT HIS GUY BRIAN GIBBONS IN TO KEEP MULGREW ON A SHORT LEASH 

Gibbons used to be the spokesman for the principal's union, which doesn't necessarily condemn him to being "Klein's" man. But who knows?

There was more in the July 24th comment of interest:

RANDI HAS GIVEN UP ON UNIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SHE WANTS TO BE A PLAYER IN D.C.
SHE AND MULGREW WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIND UP ON THE RIGHT SIDE- THE RIGHT SIDE BEING GATES, BLOOMBERG, ET. AL., AND BOTH OF THEM COULD EASILY BE AT D.O.E. SO SHE GUTTED THE CONTRACT, LEFT THE RUBBER ROOMERS IN LEGAL LIMBO FOR TEN YEARS AND STARTED PROTECTING HER FRIENDS IN D.O.E AND GREEN DOT AND SHARPTON AND THE OTHER MISCREANTS.
THIS IS ABOUT DESTROYING TEACHERS UNIONS AND DESTROYING PUBLIC EDUCATION AND RANDI AND MULGREW ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS A DISTRACTION.

This is pretty on target. I think there is more to it. I don't look at personalities as causal - what Randi/Mulgrew want, etc. There is policy and I see it as more of a direct line of consistency over 30 or more years than just as Randi's wishes. (GEM has set up a UFT/AFT study group to delve deeper into this issue.)

One thing is noticeable. Randi had her finger on every single button and jumped in at the first sign of trouble. Clearly she monitored the blogs for those signs and any rumblings coming out of dissidents in schools. She jumped in early and tried to coopt or even buy people off (see one New Action Caucus).

Mulgrew just doesn't have the chops Randi had to manage all this. Someone called yesterday and said, "Randi jumped ship just in time and left Mulgrew holding the bag." I used to disagree with this analysis since Randi's power base at the AFT was totally dependent on the UFT and behind that Unity Caucus. (I'm going to do a follow-up on why the management of Unity Caucus is of a higher priority than managing the union itself and will compare it to the Chicago situation.)

But maybe the combination of buying off the leading opposition for 20 years and the ineptness of the current opposition in making a dent (and yes, I play a role in that ineptness)  have made Randi so confident of not having to face a Chicago style revolt in NYC for a very long time, if ever. (More on this in follow-ups too.)

Another thing has emerged: One of the moles seems to be trying to redirect suspicion by giving clues to other people. I have some ideas as to who these people may be. Some are lower level school based and others are in 52 Broadway. Are they just people with grudges - didn't get a job, jealousy, etc -  or are there serious cracks showing up?

One of the more intriguing pieces of information is that there are deals between Klein and Mulgrew for UFT people to be placed at Tweed. We'll delve into some historical aspects of the UFT at the old BOE and what might be occurring. Key words: Aminda Gentile and teacher centers.

See part 2: Parsing Inside Unity: Does the UFT Have Backroom Deals for Jobs With BloomKlein?

--------------
Afterburn1

Some of the latest info tells us that Brooklyn/SI high school district rep Charlie Friedman was forced into retirement. Charlie was one of the many Unity crew that enjoyed a cruise to Alaska after the AFT convention - they paid their own way we hear. His replacement is rumored to be closing school Maxwell's chapter leader Jeff Bernstein. At one time I heard Bernstein was going to replace Mulgrew as Vocational HS Veep supposedly Bernstein and Mulgrew are close). Berstein, on the surface a nice guy, used to have me deliver Ed Notes and then throw them away. And when I went in and put them in boxes he and Distr rep Charlie Turner made sure they didn't stay there. They both went after a GEMer at their school who dared to call out during Randi's farewell speech.

Maxwell by the way had 22 people excessed. ATRville here they come.

--------
Afterburn2

Our ICE pal Julie Woodward's daughter Lisa, who performs under the stage name Lucy Woodward, made a fabulous appearance on the CBS morning show this morning, performing 2 songs from her new jazz album. I've seen her perform as a rock singer a few times but now she is going back to her jazz roots. Her mom is an accomplished music teacher so we know where it comes from.
I put up Lucy's last email newsletter to fans on Norms Notes. From Lucy Woodward
Her web site is: http://www.lucywoodward.com/

I loved this piece:

The Pizza Sessions:
After a recent gig in NYC, I ended up in a pizzeria (naturally) on Bleecker street with my friend, Heather. It was a stormy night, 3 am. Six stoned, english laddies walk in and on the spot, we bonk them over the head with a couple of my songs convincing them to beatbox to 'Babies' and 'He Got Away'. It was a classic New York moment and we got it on videotape here....(viva Flipcam!)...

DEFEND DIANE RAVITCH FROM JOEL KLEIN'S MINIONS!!

New Tweed hack supremo Natalie Ravitz goes after Ravitch - could be a song. Where's our pal David Cantor when you need him? Here Steve Koss issues an appeal on Leonie's listserve.



This call to everyone on the listserv who supports REAL educational reform (not the Bloomberg/Klein kind).

Yesterday, Klein's new Director of Communications (P.R. hack), Natalie Ravitz, posted her first "column" on the Huffington Post website. Why she merits this forum and why HuffPost gave it to her is beyond my understanding, but she nevertheless chose for her debut performance a scurrilous attack on Diane Ravitch's recent writings concerning the new NYS exam standards and cut scores and the sham those changes have made of Bloomberg/Klein's claims of staggering educational improvement under their watch. Ms. Ravitz conducted her attack in a manner eerily similar to Andrew Breitbart's recent "outing" of USDA's Shirley Sharrod, by taking a three-year old article of Diane's and quoting it completely out of context. She also made numerous remarks suggesting that Ms. Ravitch regards NYC public school children as "slackers," that she disparages any progress students might make, that she revels in students' failures, that she is inconsistent in her assessment of the NAEPs, and that "everything they [NYC public school students] have accomplished thus far is meaningless."

Her best and most ironic line: "It is easy to hurl insults from the sidelines." Yes, Ms. Ravitz, you certainly proved that in your first major effort on Joel Klein's behalf. Hurling insults and using Breitbart tactics to suggest that a woman who has devoted her entire career to public school education actually enjoys seeing children fail -- coming from someone who is likely clueless about public education and is certainly clueless about it in NYC.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. IF YOU CAN SPARE A MINUTE, GO TO THE HUFFINGTON POST WEBSITE, READ MS. RAVITZ'S RANT, AND POST A COMMENT. THERE ARE ALREADY 16 COMMENTS AS OF THIS MORNING, 100% OF THEM IN SUPPORT OF DIANE. LET'S MAKE IT 100 OR MORE!!

HERE'S THE LINK ADDRESS:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-ravitz/

IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, JUST GO TO www.huffingtonpost.com and do a search on Kravitz. FROM THERE YOU CAN CLICK ON HER ONE AND ONLY "COLUMN."

I tried submitting a comment questioning HuffPost itself -- why did they give Ms. Ravitz, clearly a rookie in her position, such an undeserved platform, and aren't they ashamed to have one of their "columnists" debuting" with a dishonest personal attack on someone with far, far, far greater credentials and reputation than she (who appears to have ZERO background in education). The moderator wouldn't post it.

Steve Koss

Seeing Alex Hit Number 600

As proof to my Unity friends who are so concerned that I am not enjoying my retirement, I offer this ditty.

I got a call from one of the Ed Notes contacts last week. A guy around my age, he is still in the system, having taught only 10 years. Ugh! He has been an ATR over the last few years. Double Ugh!! Now he is being harassed by his principal - in a closing school yet. Give him a triple Ugh!!!

Well anyway, he figured a good way to catch up would be at a $5 senior citizen afternoon game at Yankee Stadium. Now I missed all 4 Yankee games when we were at the AFT convention in Seattle in early July. (Unlike so Unity people, many of whom went to at least one Yankee game, I actually was busy - processing video of all their shenanigans.) So I jumped at the chance. I told a former colleague who just turned 80 last week that I would treat her to a Yankee game and dinner afterward. Who would a thunk that Alex would go almost 2 weeks trying to hit number 600 and we would have a shot at seeing it? "He won't do it today," my friend said. "And if he did, we will be so far away for $5 he will look like a speck."

So, I took the subway up to her at her place in the city to meet her by 10 am on Wednesday. What do I care about getting on and off the subway? I have the golden senior citizen half fare card. But when we get back on the subway I realize I still have a free transfer and my card is not charged. A buck and change saved. I am my father's son.

We get to the stadium by 10:45 and meet my ATR friend and by 11:15 we're in. Now to find the seats - I'm ready with a tissue to control the nosebleed. But when we get in and take a look at where we were sitting.

Holy Cow! - as our old pal Phil used to say. Section 124 grandstand, row 25 (just inside the shade zone) between home and third right behind the visitor dugout, with a direct view of the pitchers mound. Just look at the map and weep.

We checked the prices. $245 seats - for 5 bucks a piece. Let's see now - saved a buck and change on the free subway transfer (plus the alta cocker half fare card) and got $245 seats for 5 bucks. What could be bad about this? Okay, maybe the $6 Nathan's hot dogs and the other hazari I was eating - at least $25 worth. And the fact that we were in "foul ball hitting us in the face territory." But I had my hat ready to snag anything coming my way - sorry I didn't drag out my 50 year old glove. Probably shrunken to the size of a mitten by now.

We're 10 minutes into the game and Alex does it - a monster over the center field wall into Memorial Park (which we didn't get in to see due to massive lines). I got so excited I hit my friend in the cheek. No way I was going to get away with dinner at Nathan's.

Then the game got pretty boring as Yankee pitcher Phil Hughes looked like he was sleep walking - working so slow - even though he only gave up a few hits. I mean you could see the grass grow between pitches. The game didn't pick up until he was taken out. Alex did nothing more though Jeter had 4 hits.

Oh yeah. And dinner was at a French restaurant on Lexington Ave. across from where Bernie Madoff used to live. Quadruple ugh!!!! And I'm not talking about the food. But at least the bulky wallet I came with was no longer bulging out of in back pocket on the subway ride home.

 Today I get a call from a teacher friend who says, "You saw the 600th home run." "How did you know," I said? "I saw you on TV," she said. Hope I wasn't picking my nose. Or scratching in funny places.

Is UFT Bronx Leader Vargas Going Rogue? - Updated

Ed Note: A batch of comments from insiders at Unity Caucus and rank and file Bronx teachers have been coming in on this post. None of it is vetted but lots of leads for enterprising investigative reporters so I am reposting and will put a tab up top if more info comes in so the info can be easily found.

Original post: Weds. Aug. 4, 8 am

We've been getting complaints about Jose Vargas from Bronx rank and file teachers over the way he was running the Bronx UFT office. Lack or response, lack of interest, etc. There were charges he was tied into the Bronx Democratic party machine in unhealthy ways. Principals connected to the Bronx machine being favored over teachers they were harassing. Calls and complaints to UFT leaders were to no avail. They almost seemed to fear reigning Vargas in.

Now a new level of complaints have started emerging about Vargas, this time from within the belly of the Unity beast at 52 Broadway. That Vargas has set up his own machine and power base independent from the leadership. Word of friction between Vargas and Leroy Barr.

Was he taking advantage of the transition from Weingarten to Mulgrew before Mulgrew could consolidate his control? Was Vargas placing key operatives into position for a power play? Some tell us that it has not gone as far as to be a threat to Mulgrew but may be positioning himself as a Mulgrew successor. At any rate, some people at 52 are concerned. As for the Bronx rank and filers, some of whom were actually considering a protest rally at the Bronx UFT office last spring, the beat of lack of service will go on.

UPDATE: CTU Pres Karen Lewis: US SCHOOLS FACE PERFECT STORM

"We have to stop thinking of school buildings as magic castles where the real world doesn't penetrate." Lewis talks to Paul Jay at The Real News. 

There are so many good quotes here that I won't even try to list them. Let's just say these are the kinds of things we in NYC have been hoping would not only be said, but backed up with action. Sorry to say- won't happen here with this Unity Caucus leadership.

Read the transcript: Karen Lewis Defends Teachers

See the video
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5463

MORE:

Corporate Media and the

Pillage of Chicago Public Education

To view on bliptv, click here:

 http://blip.tv/file/3958149

In the weeks following the election of Karen Lewis as the new Chicago Teachers Union President, we see how Chicago's corporate public relations world attempts to spin the story of new union militancy in the face of layoffs and 35 students per classroom. Exclusive press conference scenes and analysis. Interview with Carol Caref, new CTU Region A Vice President, as we watch her and Karen Lewis spar with reporters. George Schmidt, Editor of substancenews.net, provides valuable insights into the media scene in Chicago. Also footage and commentary by substancenews.net reporter John Kugler who describes his question that shut down a press conference put on by Mayor Daley and the head of Chicago Public Schools Ron Huberman. 27 min.

Karen Lewis with the media shortly after her election as CTU President

Photo: David Vance / Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video, YouTube, or blip.tv and search "Labor Beat".

Visit Labor Beat's YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MiloWolf

List of our schools-related videos:

To receive a Word file describing our 14 videos on public schools struggles in Chicago,

send request for "Struggles in the Chicago Public Schools" to: lduncan@igc.org

To order a dvd:

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(Put title of DVD, "Corporate Media and the Pillage of Chicago Public Education" in Description box. Put $15 in Unit Price box.)

Elena Kagan Brothers Take Stands as NYC Teachers

Some take more pride in the work of Irving and Marc Kagan than their sister. Count me as one of them. At least they leave a public record. From what I read about Marc in particular, he is much needed on the front lines of the resistance to the ed deformers.

With Elena Kagan due to be appointed to the Supreme Court as early as today, let's take a look at the tale of Kagan's two brothers, Irving and Marc, both NYC high school teachers.

Hours after the principal’s address, a committee of Hunter High teachers that included Ms. Kagan’s brother, Irving, read aloud a notice of no confidence to the president of Hunter College, who ultimately oversees the high school, one of the most prestigious public schools in the nation.

The above quote is from today's NY Times front page article on the lack of diversity at Kagan's alma mata, Hunter College High School, where Kagan's mom taught, as does her brother Irving. The article delves into the tensions between the school's faculty and the Hunter College president Jennifer Raab and how the teachers at the school are the ones pushing the most to diversify the school which currently is 3% black and 1% hispanic. It is Raab who has resisted which I find interesting given that the State Ed commissioner David Steiner comes out of the Hunter College top admin ranks - where did he stand? Steiner along with his boss at the State Board of Regents Meryl Tisch, are two of the bigger hypocrites around.

Good for Irving Kagan for taking a stand.

Also in the article is an important discussion on the Hunter admissions test.

The events fanned a long-standing disagreement between much of the high school faculty and the administration of Hunter College over the use of a single, teacher-written test for admission to the school, which has grades 7 through 12. Faculty committees have recommended broadening the admissions process to include criteria like interviews, observations or portfolios of student work, in part to increase minority enrollment and blunt the impact of the professional test preparation undertaken by many prospective students. 

As has happened at other prestigious city high schools that use only a test for admission, the black and Hispanic population at Hunter has fallen in recent years. In 1995, the entering seventh-grade class was 12 percent black and 6 percent Hispanic, according to state data. This past year, it was 3 percent black and 1 percent Hispanic; the balance was 47 percent Asian and 41 percent white, with the other 8 percent of students identifying themselves as multiracial. The public school system as a whole is 70 percent black and Hispanic.

When Justin Hudson, 18, stood up in his purple robes to address his classmates in the auditorium of Hunter College, those numbers were on his mind. He opened his remarks by praising the school and explaining how appreciative he was to have made it to that moment. Then he shocked his audience.

See after burn following this post for the statement made at graduation by Justin.

 How I found out Marc Kagan ran on the ICE/TJC slate for AFT/NYSUT Delegate

I never made the connection until it was pointed out to me by a reporter from the AP who called the ICE phone number listed on the election blog.

She was calling to find out more information about Marc Kagan.

"Who," I said?

"Elena Kagan's brother, a teacher at Bronx High School of Science," she said. "His name appears on your web site as a candidate for some kind of union election."

I recognized the name from the slate but had never made a connection. The reporter proceeded to fill me in on Kagan's background as an activist in the transit union. How he was elected to the leadership on a reform slate with Roger Toussaint, had a falling out with him and ended up becoming a teacher as part of the Teaching Fellows program in 200

I was intrigued, but cautious. I didn't know anything to tell her (later I found out who in ICE had asked Kagan to run and the dots started to connect).

Sensing my reluctance, she prompted me to give her more info. "Marc Kagan's background is sure to come up in the Senate hearings [it didn't as far as I know] and it all might as well come out now."

I envisioned a southern senator drawling as he questioned Elena:

"Is your brother's running with ICE-TJC an indication that you might be in opposition to sell-out dictator-like Unity Caucus leadership, without the cooperation of which the Obama/Duncan/BloomKlein assault on education could not be successful?"

Darn, I would have paid to see that.

I did share with the AP reporter the situation at Bronx High School of Science where numerous people had been harassed, including Peter Lamphere the chapter leader and much of the math department. I speculated on where Kagan stood in this battle. A few months later I heard he attended the rally by Bronx High teachers at Bloomberg's house.

The Marc Kagan story did emerge later on in these articles in the Village Voice and the NY Times:

Elena Kagan and Family: Best of the Upper Left Side, with a Pro-Union Brother

The Kagan Family: Left-Leaning and Outspoken

Here's hoping we see more of Marc Kagan in the movement to save public education.


After burns

Here is part of the Voice piece on Marc:

Then there's Kagan's brother, Marc, who was a transit worker and union reformer in Transport Workers Local 100. Marc Kagan was one of former Local 100 leader Roger Toussaint's top aides until the two had a falling out in 2003. That's par for the course for the Upper Left Side, where if you can't launch two feuds before lunch, the day's a waste.
Marc Kagan became a teacher and he's no less a fierce supporter of union rights in his new union. In a letter in last week's Chief-Leader, he takes a swipe at schools chancellor Joel Klein's notion that seniority rules shouldn't apply to upcoming teacher layoffs. He goes on to offer a full-throated defense of unionism, one that's likely to light up the eyes of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell as he looks around for something to throw at the new White House nominee.

Here is Marc Kagan's letter to the Chief:

A Larger Issue for Unions


I write in response to your editorial, “Klein’s Imperfect Logic” (April 30 issue). Of course, I agree with your conclusion, that Teacher layoffs should be based on seniority. But I am troubled by part of your rationale. It seems to me a symptom of how unions — and supporters of the idea of unionism, such as The Chief — have ceded ground to our opponents.


You correctly write that the Bing-Diaz bill is flawed because Teachers would be subject to victimization, particularly those at higher rates of pay. I would add that many would have little chance of finding new employment at the DOE, since each Principal essentially now has an NBA-like “salary cap” that militates against hiring senior staff.


But you also suggest that the DOE proposal is simply no better at determining who is a good Teacher than the seniority system. That’s dangerous ground; what if it was better, or claimed to be? As Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Soon enough the DOE will start to churn its data machine to “prove” that younger teachers teach to the test better, or teach 8th grade Earth Science better, or spin on their heads better. They’ll send Post and Times reporters scurrying after this or that second year Teach for America superstar. [Disclosure: I was hired as a Teaching Fellow, a program for which I personally am very grateful].


Moreover, I don’t care if it’s a “better” system. Here’s a heretical thought: the actual purpose of unions is to improve workers’ lives by challenging the free market: to win a higher than “market” wage, to make it hard for the employer to change working conditions or fire the higher-paid worker. We shouldn’t hide these ideas under a rock like we’re ashamed of them; just the opposite. When unions won the 8-hour day, or the weekend, or pension plans, unions defended the idea that working people’s lives and rights were socially more important than employers’ profits and rights. And we said that those victories would tend to spread, even into nonunionized sectors, and generally make people’s lives better. And that was true, for decades.


Today we are playing this movie backwards. As people in the nonunion sector have faced big roll-backs in wages and benefits, we hear them complain that unionized workers should also “give back.” It’s an indication that we have, at least temporarily, lost the battle of ideas in this country, that we can’t successfully explain to our fellow workers that it is in their interests too if we are able to hold the line somewhere, rather than engage in a frantic race to the bottom.


In some ways, we have been reminded in recent months that unregulated free markets can make a handful of people money at the expense of the larger society. In 12th-grade Economics class we have a term for this: Negative Externality. The classic example is the polluter who saves a few bucks by fouling the drinking water for the whole town.

Goldman Sachs is a Negative Externality. And we should make the case that so are Joel Klein and Jonathan Bing. It’s morally and ethically wrong to take away the jobs of people who have worked hard for decades simply because a cheaper body can be found. It is a spiritual pollution of the values that we should uphold. It is another step away from civilized behavior toward the idea that only might makes right. If we can make this case to the public we can win; otherwise, scratch and claw as we will, we will be fighting an ultimately losing battle.< Finally, I would just add that if the “for the students” mantra is successful, it will open up the door for attacks on every public union in the city that has some kind of seniority pay grade. I’m sure the city can “prove” that 23- year-old studs make better Sanitation Workers than 38-year-olds. Or that 42-year-old Firefighters have lost a step or two compared with their first year brethren.


We all tend to fight our own battles and try to preserve our resources otherwise; my union, too. In the short run, this makes complete sense. We’re all concerned about what we need in the next five minutes or the next three months or, at the longest in our own next contract round, even though we are all stuck in this pattern-bargaining contract system where wages are largely pre-ordained before the bargaining begins.


Management, whether private or Mayor Bloomberg, thinks hard about how its labor strategy will unfold over the next 10 or 20 years; if we could learn to do the same, we might have a brighter 2030. And that would be a really good thing.


MARC KAGAN
UFT member

Here is some great stuff on Marc Kagan from the June 20 NY Times piece:

WHILE a student at Princeton University, Elena Kagan made reference to her older brother’s “involvement in radical causes” as an inspiration for her senior thesis on the Socialist movement in New York.
After attending two of the nation’s most exalted educational institutions, the Dalton School and Yale, Marc Kagan appeared to purposefully descend the class ladder. It was as if he needed to join the proletariat in order to raise it up.

In 1984, he became a mechanic at the 207th Street subway yard in Upper Manhattan, operating a forklift, among other responsibilities. “We did not know he was a Yale graduate,” said Joe Fernandez, a former co-worker who still works at the yard. “He was very low key.”
A former colleague of Gloria Kagan’s, Robert E. Mason IV, said that “she was wondering how long he would do that.”

Mr. Kagan’s union involvement grew during the 1990s, and he joined a movement called New Directions that was challenging the leadership of the Transport Workers Union local. When one of its leaders, Roger Toussaint, was elected union president in 2000, Mr. Kagan became his special assistant, or chief of staff.

But Mr. Kagan, now 53, had misgivings about the 2002 contract that he had helped negotiate, said Alan Saly, director of publications for the local, and he let some of his former co-workers know it. Among other issues, he objected to the fact that the contract relied on a bonus of $1,000 in the third year, rather than a raise, so it would not count toward workers’ pensions or future salary increases.

Mr. Kagan was fired from the union, as were several associates. “Roger didn’t like dissent,” said Mr. Saly, who was later forced out himself by Mr. Toussaint, only to return. “His opinion was that a deal is a deal and you should get behind it.”

Mr. Toussaint, who now works for the national transit workers’ union, denied that Mr. Kagan’s departure was related to “issues or differences around the contract,” but he would not elaborate, citing the family’s privacy. Mr. Kagan, who had married his Yale sweetheart, LeeAnn Graham, and has two children, became a teacher, working at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem before moving to the prestigious Bronx High School of Science.

Students say he is devoted and demanding in his course on world history, which spans 8,000 years. Mohammad Nauman, a senior, recalled Mr. Kagan trying to find ways to energize the class, like ordering students to run up and down stairs when they studied the concept of horsepower.

But others, like Aja Colon, a 16-year-old junior, saw a stricter side of Mr. Kagan, who also serves as a disciplinary dean. During an event last fall called Freshmen Fridays, Mr. Kagan tore stickers off students’ shirts that bore labels like “fresh meat” and other inappropriate phrases. “He yells,” Ms. Colon said. “He definitely yells. He’s a fan of that.”

Mr. Kagan has also pressed the Bronx Science administration to make sure teachers have time for professional development, said a colleague, Gary Hom, a physics teacher who described Mr. Kagan as “always on the side of teachers.”

This spring, in a letter to The Chief-Leader, a civil service employees’ newspaper, Mr. Kagan compared the attempts by Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, to end teacher seniority protections to Goldman Sachs’s alleged misdeeds. The letter had the crusading, poetic feel of a lawyer making closing arguments. “It’s morally and ethically wrong to take away the jobs of people who have worked hard for decades simply because a cheaper body can be found,” he wrote. “It is a spiritual pollution of the values that we should uphold. It is another step away from civilized behavior toward the idea that only might makes right.”

Justin Hudson at the Hunter College HS grad

Then he shocked his audience. “More than anything else, I feel guilty,” Mr. Hudson, who is black and Hispanic, told his 183 fellow graduates. “I don’t deserve any of this. And neither do you.” 

They had been labeled “gifted,” he told them, based on a test they passed “due to luck and circumstance.” Beneficiaries of advantages, they were disproportionately from middle-class Asian and white neighborhoods known for good schools and the prevalence of tutoring. 

“If you truly believe that the demographics of Hunter represent the distribution of intelligence in this city,” he said, “then you must believe that the Upper West Side, Bayside and Flushing are intrinsically more intelligent than the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Washington Heights. And I refuse to accept that.” 

The entire faculty gave him a standing ovation, as did about half the students. The principal, Eileen Coppola, who had quietly submitted her formal resignation in mid-June but had not yet informed the faculty, praised him, saying, “That was a very good and a very brave speech to make,” Mr. Hudson recalled. But Jennifer J. Raab, Hunter College’s president and herself a Hunter High alumna, looked uncomfortable on the stage and did not join in the ovation, faculty members and students said. 

Wasn't Raab and Hunter also involved with Joel Klein in trying to take over the site of the Julia Richman complex where many schools co-exist in peace? Let's hope Raab continues to look uncomfortable.

More on Leonhardt Piece and No More Social Promotion from the Womb

We met long time friends for a movie and dinner Sunday night - both retired teachers. We talked about the Dave Leonhardt NY Times business section piece the other day on paying certain kindergarten teachers $320,000 the other day? Our friends thought it was a positive piece, though there were things that made them a bit quesy.

Most people - even s lot of teachers - viewed that as a positive article. But I saw it as an ed deform piece that endorsed the Rhee firings and totally downplayed the real import of the Tennessee study - that class size was a major determining factor in making teachers better. Leonhardt mentionned class size in passing. Note that a major mantra if ed deform is that class size is irrelevant. I wrote about it in this piece:

Does NY Times' Leonhardt Distort Tennessee Class Size Study?

Today's Times had a gaggle of letters, all it seems critical of Leonhardt. How nice to be right.

The venerable Richard Rothstein, whose work forms the basis of the anti-ed deform movement, was the lead letter. Rothstein closes with:

Policies based on exaggerating school reform’s ability to ameliorate inequality leave most working families and their children unprotected. We need educational improvement, including better kindergarten, but also economic reforms — more job creation, greater protection of union organizing rights, higher minimum wages and more generous earned income tax credits — if we want disadvantaged children to have a fighting chance.

Edward Miller wrote:

But what makes for highly effective teachers?
Another important study may hold the answer. The HighScope Preschool Curriculum Comparison Study followed children randomly assigned to different preschool programs through young adulthood, with striking results. The children who learned mainly through playful activities fared much better at their work and social responsibilities than those in an academic instruction-oriented class.
Social and dramatic play in kindergarten develops patience, self-regulation, empathy and perseverance — the critical “skills that last a lifetime,” as Mr. Leonhardt puts it, but aren’t measured by multiple-choice tests. Yet teachers in thousands of schools are being told not to let children play in the classroom. That’s a recipe for long-term failure. 

Gail Rosenberg, one of our old colleagues wrote:

Our future adults should be expected to communicate with creativity and humor, as generous, thoughtful, caring learners and human beings. The development of these attributes must take precedence in early childhood. Test prepping and academic focus in the early stages of learning will never create the kind of citizens we want to embrace our future world. 

Anne Mackin says

Many thanks for this article, although I wish it had not played down other contributing factors, like class size. After all, we have more control over class size than the elusive “teacher quality.”

 Ashlee Tran said:

You grazed over the fact that early interventions for long-term benefits start even earlier than kindergarten — they begin in preschool. Notable longitudinal research has been done (like the Perry Preschool Project and the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program) on the effects of high-quality preschool programs. 

 Sorry Ashlee, they haven't figured out how to give a multiple choice test in the womb.


 No social promotion for your future child
Answer the questions correctly or you will be left back – in the womb.

Report: When/why progress in closing achievement gap stalled

"These areas are important, the report says, because student achievement is related to family, demographic and environmental factors."

DUHHHHHH!

Sing a song to VALERIE

The authors discuss various issues that could help explain why progress stopped, including some sensitive ones such as inadequate care in early childhood, the decline of communities and neighborhoods, the explosion of single-parent families, the employment plight of black males and stalled intergenerational mobility out of seriously disadvantaged neighborhoods.

These areas are important, the report says, because student achievement is related to family, demographic and environmental factors.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/equity/the-achievement-gap-when-progr.html#more

What is the job of an AFT convention delegate?

The top-down structure of the AFT appears to allow for the “locals” to choose roughly 15-20% of the resolutions, while the leadership gets 90-95% of its chosen resolutions passed.
Susan Zupan for Substance

AFT CONVENTION: Resolution on school closing, charters required hard work, some compromises

Introduction of AFT delegate's job... A first look at the national union convention of 2010

Having just been elected on June 11, with less than one month to make all the traveling arrangements and attempt to do their union homework, 104 newly elected CTU delegates from the CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) Caucus along with 4 veteran CTU delegates from the UPC (United Progressive Caucus) Caucus attended the convention. For most, it was a crash course in national unionism. Although the total number of delegates Chicago could have sent was 150, only 108 were in Seattle for the convention.

More than a dozen delegates from CTU Local 1 took the floor during the debates over the resolutions presented to the convention. Above, Karie Hogan of Little Village High School School of Social Justice is projected on to the big screen during her remarks. On many occasions, Chicago's delegates were speaking in opposition to New York City's massive United Federation of Teachers delegation, which frowned on Chicago's independence from Randi Weingarten's political machine. Chicago delegates quickly came to know that members of Weingarten's "Progressive Caucus" were looking over their shoulders throughout the convention. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.


Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis spoke many times during the convention, both during the debates in the general sessions and at the daily breakfasts of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. One of the highlights of the convention for Chicago was when Lewis received the second highest number of votes for AFT vice president (one of 43 vice presidents elected to the AFT executive council) in the election. The majority of the members of the Chicago delegation refused to join the Progressive Caucus, but Lewis and Michael Brunson (CTU recording secretary) did, so Lewis could be slated for an executive council seat. Above, Lewis speaks to the breakfast while Geppart looks on. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.

Jim Vail

Thank you Susan for writing a clear and excellent analysis of the AFT convention. We the first time AFT delegates learned a lot about how to shape future national union politics under the threat of total destruction by the business community and presidential administration.

Newsweek: Shouldn't staff salaries be merit-based and depend upon sales, revenues and readership?

Reality Based Educator Nails 'em again in his post:

Newsweek To Be Sold For A Dollar

He concludes with:

I mean, fair's fair.

If that "turnaround" and performance-based strategy is good enough for the Central Falls, Rhode Island school and other schools that Newsweek urges be shut down for "failing," isn't it good enough for the hypocrites at Newsweek?

Newsweek's headline for the famed "Fire Bad Teachers" story was "In No Other Profession Are Workers So Insulated From Accountability."

Oh, really?

What about journalism?

What about at Newsweek?

Read it in full: Newsweek To Be Sold For A Dollar

And Paul Moore has this advice for one of the few lights at the Washington Post in his  

Love Letter to Valerie Strauss in D.C.:

 Ms. Strauss, you are such an earnest and able defender of the public schools, but I wonder if in times of quiet reflection you realize that those driving this blitzkrieg against universal public education in the US don't care what you write.

You can and have constructed a series of reports that are reasoned and rational and backed up by whatever honest research has actually been done in the field. And it's water off the backs of these ducks with all the money. You see the people with the money have decided it's time for the public schools to go! (Check the Venture Philanthropy Partners $5.5 million gift to KIPP so the charter chain can better serve its true mission: to discredit public schools).

On the monied attackers side the truth is of no concern, rationality holds no sway, and they laugh at your stinking research. You've got a charlatan like Gates but the rankest absurdity that comes out of his mouth is treated like a gem from an oracle because he's the world's richest man. It's repeated by all the politicians he owns, up to and including a certain President of the United States and in the case of the District a certain Mayor, until total nonsense is accepted as gospel. And then the complete sociopaths, like Michelle Rhee, are sent in to slay the heretics, read any sane person who dares to stand up for public schools.

You have my undying respect and admiration Ms. Strauss. You're one of the good people. But understand that if you were ever to write something that actually threatened to derail the rich folks, the venture capitalists, the hedge funds campaign to shutdown the public schools, your column would disappear from the pages of the Washington Post the next day. And I pray that's the worst thing that would happen to you.

I too love Valerie.

UFT COPING Very well

I get email from people telling me they withdrew from COPE. But clearly the major UFT effort to push their CL's to get people to sign COPE checkoff cards is paying off.

Anna Philips at Gotham reprises Kim Gittleson's July 20 piece. Anna raises the golden question: "It’s unclear where the sudden infusion came from and what the union plans to do with it."

I can tell you that the membership will have zero say in where this money goes.
 

August 2, 2010

Teachers union’s political funds grow and some migrate south

by Anna Phillips

New York City’s economy is still suffering, but the teachers union’s political coffers have grown, as have union members’ donations.

An analysis of the United Federation of Teachers’ political activities, done by Kim Gittleson, shows that contributions from union members to the union’s political action committee are at their highest level in 10 years. The amount of money in the fund, called COPE, has increased from an average of $124,000 in the earlier part of the decade to $1.35 million in July of 2009. It’s unclear where the sudden infusion came from and what the union plans to do with it.

High Stakes Tests: Die by the Sword

Last Update: Monday, Aug. 2, 2010, 8:30am

Results not good for UFT middle school charter. But so what?

I wish we'd take these new scores with the same skepticism we should have had toward the old ones.  They do not tell us what and if our children are learning.  We need to teach parents how to assess their own children in more common sense ways that doesn't leave them at the mercy of mercenaries!  Otherwise we are all subject to the latest political norming of tests. 


For low stakes or no stakes purposes they can give us a rough sense of how things stand--but as soon as we attach importance to them--above all for individual children!!!! we're  back into the same cesspool.   Let's use this occasion to undermine our reliance on such instruments for judging children or teachers or schools.   Let's also use them in ways that can prevent such abuse: like using sampling that allows us to have better and more in-depth understanding as well as making it much harder to misuse.   The tests are built on sampling, but used beyond their capacity for a very different purpose.  But that means we need parents and teachers to be more expert at judging the "real" thing.

Deb Meier on the NYC Education News listserve

When BloomKlein bragged about high test scores, guess who was standing there right next to them? Good ole' RW.

When they won the bogus Broad award guess who was there again?

We had a number of disagreements with Randi Weingarten through the years over the UFT's slavish adherence to the use of test scores for all sorts of nefarious reasons. I know, I know. Every so often we would hear her blab away about the negativity of tests while at the same time agreeing to merit pay schemes based on the very same tests or claiming teachers deserve raises when test scores go up. I repeatedly warned our union leaders that what goes up must go down and if you try to tie money to test scores this will backfire one day.

When the UFT decided to start a charter, I and others in ICE were opposed. Hoping against hope that the UFT charters would be run on progressive school principals instead of test prep - we asked if the school would be run differently from the other schools that run on the basis of the tests? They responded that the use of tests were the rules. How has that turned out?


The NY Times reported as part of the state test fiasco over the past few days:

"The charter school run by the local teachers' union, the UFT Charter School, showed one of the most severe declines, to 13 percent of eighth graders proficient in math, from 79 percent."

Now since I often discount tests as the sole basis for judging schools, who can tell if the UFT charter really has declined? But since the UFT decides to play by these rules we have to ask: Could UFT nepotism have played a role in the results? Long-time District 22 rep UFT mouthpiece Peter Goodman's (Ed in the Apple) son Drew was made principal of the UFT middle school charter after a supposed nationwide "search" that cost more than a few bucks. (Drew Goodman's mom Joan was also a UFT district rep for many years)

Javier Hernandez wrote the story about Goodman's situation in the Times, Dec. 2008: “At School Union Runs, Principal Steps Down

Drew D. Goodman stepped down last week as principal of the union-run school, the United Federation of Teachers Secondary Charter School in East New York, Brooklyn, after union leaders grew dissatisfied with his handling of brewing teacher dissatisfaction.

How did Randi defend the school at the time?

She pointed to high test scores among students at the union’s elementary school — this year, 81 percent of third-graders passed state English tests and 98 percent met math standards — as evidence that the schools were succeeding.

Nothing else to say, Randi? Only those darn tests?

Hernandez delved into the UFT elementary school too:

Mr. Goodman’s resignation mirrored a shake-up last spring at the union’s elementary charter school, also in East New York, when the principal resigned amid complaints by teachers and parents of heavy-handed governance.

The UFT solved more than one problem in this case by appointing UFT elementary school VP Michelle Bodden as the principal of the elementary school. Bodden for years had been the assumed successor to Weingarten as UFT President until she was moved out to make way for Mulgrew, thus allowing the killing of 2 birds with one stone. Bodden had become very popular not only with teachers but had lots of fans within 52 Broadway. But she no longer had the big enchilada in her corner.

Some commentators had a bit of fun with the Goodman story at the time:

Weingarten defends the school by pointing to its high standardized test scores, even though, as we all know, using standardized test scores to evaluate teachers and students “distorts and constricts our understanding of quality teaching and learning.”

Gee, Randi talking out of 2 sides of her mouth on testing? Shocking.


We agree with Deb Meier's quote with which we began this post and do not think schools should be judged solely as successes and failures based on one test given a year - I don't even like to use these words because things are so much more complex. This concept is being discussed within groups like GEM and on Leonie's NYC Ed News listserve, where heavyweights like Diane Ravitch and her blogging counterpart Deb weigh in regularly.

For those who don't know about Deh, I first heard of the work she was doing as far back as the early 70's when I wanted to try an open classroom and Deb was considered the master. I had read Herbert Kohl's "36 Children" and was trying out open classroom ideas in my class in 1971 - with somewhat disastrous results.  I should have tracked Deb down for advice but I never got to meet her until I went to a panel at NYU about 3 years ago where Deb appeared as one of the few people allowed to challenge the Kahlenberg Shanker book (Tough Liberal). Boy did she take a poke.

One of the original key backdrops to the Bridging Differences blog where Diane and Deb have their dialogue is Deb as a defender of progressive education and Diane as a critic (favoring a traditional approach, which by the way is where Shanker was coming from. Since they started there has been a whole lot of bridges breached when it comes to the ed deformers. And who knows? One day we might even see some more agreement on fundamental ways of reaching kids. But of course, Diane is a researcher and Deb comes from the classroom so there is a lot of room to roam.

How the hell did I get from there to here in this post? Can it be the heat?

Reactions

UPDATE:

So what's the story? Have NYC schools made progress in test scores or not....see Leonie's analysis at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/08/so-whats-story-have-nyc-schools-made.html

Chaz's School Daze

The New York Daily News Editorial Board Is Simply A Propagana Outlet For The Bloomberg Administration When It Comes To Education 


C Public School Parents

Er-r-r, Um-m-m, Well, Hm-m-m: Mayor Dissembles in Blagojevichian Style

NYC Educator
 

ICEUFT Blog

NEW YORK TEST SCORES PLUNGE 

Plus I hear Leo Casey has some nonsense defending the actions of the UFT at Edwize. Just ate so won't go there, but maybe after I get back from movie/dinner and before Madmen. But they again reading Leo.....

Norm Does History at the AFT Peace & Justice Meeting in Seattle

I was asked to provide some historical context to the current state of resistance in NYC at the AFT P&J committee meeting on July 9, 2010. Lisa North (ICE/GEM) chaired the meeting.

"You not only have to deal with charters, you have to deal with charters that are like a cancer in your own building."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLPrWrcAGk&feature=player_embedded


Want more of my drivel?

I was asked to cover for a guest too chicken to appear by Bronx Teacher on his penetrating weekly internet radio show (every Tuesday night at 9pm).

"The union has consistently been giving back since 1968." Well, psychologically at least. There was one more contract with gains and then in '72 it was all downhill.

He asked some great questions and I had a chance to get into issues in terms of historical context of the UFT - the '68 strike, the '75 massive cuts to schools and other issues to help prove my point that Randi Weingarten DID NOT CHANGE DIRECTION but continued and amplified the policies set in motion by Al Shanker.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2010/07/28/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher

Randi and Rhee: Firings in DC Aided By AFT Subversion of Union Elections

I was on the phone the other day with a long retired teacher I worked with for many years - she is 80 years old today so I sent congrats (and flowers) to her. She has had little interest in education issues for many years. "Oh, those firings in Washington," she said. "They must be crazy."

Yes, the Rhee in DC story has captivated people's attention. I've noticed lots of our buddy bloggers have castigated Randi Weingarten for screwing the teachers in DC by negotiating the contract with Rhee that allowed for these firings.

What they haven't touched on is how Randi helped subvert the DC teacher union elections which were supposed to take place sometime in May. In essence Randi functioned as Michelle Rhee's agent. Is she a Manchurian Candidate?

As chronicled by Candi Peterson, the current president of the union, George Parker, has run the union into the ground. But he was more amenable to the contract than his opponent in the presidential race, Nathan Saunders, who currently is the VP. Except he isn't since both he and Parker's terms expired on July 1.

Now follow this bouncing ball. If the election had been held in May and Saunders were elected, the chances of the Rhee/Randi contract being voted up might have been jeopardized. I know, I know - it passed overwhelmingly. But if all the information as to repercussions had been distributed with a new union admin coming in, who knows what would have happened? Randi could not take that chance.

So when Parker did not submit the legally required petitions to enable him to run in time for the deadline, Randi was aghast. In essence, Parker has handed the election to Saunders at a crucial time when Rhee and Randi were about to seal the deal. Getting this done was very important to Randi as this would help seal her reputation as an ed reformer when in reality we know she is an ed deformer.

Now the Washington DC teachers union election is in the hands of an AFT committee and no matter what they say and do we know one thing- Randi does not want Saunders, a version of Karen Lewis in Chicago (who just called for the cancellation of Teach for America contracts as one example of someone with union moxie) to win.

At the AFT convention in Seattle a few weeks ago, I had a chance to do a brief interview with Nathan Saunders at the Chicago Teachers Union party and the next day filmed Candi Peterson as she made a presentation on the DC situation to an AFT Peace and Justice Committee event. I'll let them speak for themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4wo0viVzT0&feature=player_embedded

And here is the latest info from Candi:

Norm
Please take a look at this survey, designed by AFT - no doubt. I have never seen anything like it. Have you? Surveying our union members about the upcoming mayoral and DC City Council chairman race when we have a political arm of the WTU. My guess is that George Parker, WTU President and AFT President, Randi Weingarten may want to throw their support to Mayor Adrian Fenty . Another term with Fenty would guarantee Chancellor Rhee and company will stay at the helm. This is absurd when every other union in DC is supporting Chairman Vincent Gray for Mayor. Wonder why? because Fenty believes in firing everyone in this town.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this survey?

Candi

(See Survey at Norms Notes)

AFT Survey for DC Teachers

 

 

Oh, What a Show - Four days left to See "Heavy"

I got home late last night after seeing "Heavy Light the Weight of a Flame," the one man show by Ernie Silva, my former 4th grade student from over 25 years ago (facebook, Ed Notes, Huffington Post review).

I know the major stories of the day are the test results, the story breaking just as I was leaving to head into the city yesterday afternoon. I managed to get something up before I left. Many bloggers have been out there - check the blogroll for NYC Educator, Leonie on the parent blog, Perdido, Chaz, Accountable Talk, Queens Teacher, etc. I'm not sure I have much to add but there was so many great comments coming through on the listserves, I'll try to get a few up later.

But I want to talk about Ernie's show. I was joined by Yelena Siwinski - the chapter leader of PS 193K who organized that great video I shot at her school of the teachers singing and dancing to the words of a Grease song they rewrote – her friend and Frank Caiati (who I know from the Rockaway Theatre Company), an actor, director and teacher - I am starting my 4th acting class with him this Sunday.

I had seen the show twice in April when Ernie was the winner of The One festival. Ernie's friend Dino, another one of my former students had been telling me there were changes – the show was tighter and funnier, so I was really looking forward to it.

Last night La Tea theater was packed to capacity. I was somewhat surprised - as was the theater manager who commented on the number of people showing up on a Wednesday night. The show ran an hour and 15 minutes. Ernie on stage for every second. And wow, what a performance. I looked around the audience and people barely moved throughout. I don't believe I've seen such rapt attention focused on one person for such a length of time in any one man/woman show.

I have no ability to review a show like this - I just watched and enjoyed. I was reminded of Asilda Sun's wonderful "No Child Left" in the way Ernie took on the persona of so many different characters. I just loved the southern security guard who began to look like Don Knotts playing a cop as Ernie kept switching in and out of one character after another.

Look, I may be prejudiced and would have liked it under any circumstances. But I could tell from the reactions of Yelena, her friend and Frank that they were very impressed. Frank, a member of Actors Equity and SAG, for a guy not even 25 yet, has as deep seated an understanding about acting as anyone. He picked up on so many of the insights coming out of Ernie's coming of age comedy/drama.

I've been telling teachers that this is a special show for them. How Ernie was disparaged for reading too much and told his fate was drugs. How he lost 8 of his friends to aids, drugs and murder by the time he was 17. I feel this show lays lies to so much of the ed deform crap - Ernie was a good student yet still had to go through so much shit. Unless we as a society figure out how to help tackle the shit kids have to go through we will be pedaling backwards.

Ernie even managed to work my name in - Hey mom, l got a hundred on Mr. Scott's science test.

Must have been a test prep for a science test as that was all my principal was interested in. She tried to keep me from getting that top class because she felt I didn't concentrate on test prep and took too many trips - she even took away my double sized classroom as punishment for threatening to grieve if I didn't get the top class because it was my turn - but I grieved her taking away my room and actually won.


If you are in town and want to see a unique show - you can't get more for $10 - then go see "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame." You don't need advanced tickets if you get there 15 minutes before.

I'm going back this Friday night when a whole bunch of former students who I haven't seen in 25 years will be there. Contact me if you are interested in going. There are quite a few good restaurants in the area, so let's have a party.

	Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 29-31) at 8:00pm - Sunday, Aug 1 at 3pm
	Teatro La Tea (LA Tea Theater) 107 Suffolk St. 2nd Floor New York, NY