Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 2 - Randi Weingarten

 When I joined back in 2006, I didn’t think TFA was about privatization, but there is no debate now. How is it that the people in this room have been tricked into believing that education reform is as simple as getting rid of bad teachers? 

Conclusion: A strange session overall. Weingarten was apologetic for her opinions and Hess was painted himself as possessing the “right” opinions, and the crowd seemed to side with him.

---GEM TFA Alum at the Summit
 
On Saturday, Feb. 12, a Real Reformer member of the Grassroots Education Movement went down to DC for the TFA 20th Anniversary Summit. The blogs came through all day with extensive coverage from the perspective of someone who is not a true believer. Let me say that Summit Blogger is still teaching a self-contained elementary school class years after most TFA's have gone on to other things. Here are links to each segment.

Part 1: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit
Part 2: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit - Randi Weingarten
Part 3: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, - Afternoon Session
Part 4: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, With Closing Plenary

11:45 Breakout sessions begin. There are sessions on everything from school leadership to segregation in our schools to workshops on teaching practices.

I chose to go to:

A Discussion with Randi Weingarten on the Role of Teachers’ Unions in Education Reform

The session begins with us all being given note cards. We are told that we can write our questions on these cards and pass them to the middle. There will be 20 minutes at the end for questions and they will read as many as possible. I hope this isn’t the trend in each session, but I have a feeling it will be. Sort of takes the power out of the question when the person asking it doesn’t get to attach their face and voice to it.

Moderator is Rick Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He also writes for a blog “Rick Hess Straight Up,”

Randi begins. She gives a little history of herself and why she was drawn to teaching/labor issues. She says she thought  the labor movement was the way to change society, education is the way to change society. “The union is an empowering organization for teachers….most of us don’t have individual power…we need to create structures that create this power…we need you to be part of that.”

Waiting for Superman=she is talking about the contract signed with a GreenDot school in New Jersey. 97% of the kids are on track to graduate. 100% passed their math regents. She points out that this is a unionized school, so Guggenheim should have acknowledged this.

Hess: He says…In NY state, you and the union fought to keep student performance out of teacher performance evaluations and you fought against charter school cap being raised. He asks why she fought against these agents of change. 

Why is this the man moderating this? The TFA agenda is so clear to me know. It's disappointing to see. When I joined back in 2006, I didn’t think TFA was about privatization, but there is no debate now.

Weingarten: Responds that the data system was flawed. Then goes into a discussion about how large school systems are like factories. She tells the crowd to email her if they see union problems:

Rweingarten@aft.org.

Hess:  “How come you haven’t been more vocal about calling out management?” He is referring to management  (school leaders) not getting rid of “bad” teachers.

Why are we so focused on placing blame? It’s always about blame.

Weingarten: She says something about the budget crisis. “I stopped calling them out when the recession hit…” She refers to the fiscal crisis of the 70s. She says “you are right,” referring to Hess’s claim that we need to “call out” management.

“When the union leader does it (calls out blame), then it turns into a fight…it takes us away from the true problems…conflict makes great headlines…but it doesn’t help reform systems to help kids.”

 “Let’s have 360 degree accountability. Lets not just have top down, lets have bottom up. Shouldn’t teachers have a chance to evaluate principals…We gave Joel Klein an evaluation. What was interesting…70-80% filled out the evaluations. They want a voice.”

Not a bad sound bite.

12:00 I’m looking through the TFA handbook for the summit. Big companies sponsoring this event: Chevron, Fidelity, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Coca-Cola, Fed-Ex, Google, and the list goes on.

*This discussion is quite disjointed. Somewhat hard to follow. Doing my best to convey its tone/content.

Weingarten: ATR’s! Let’s see where she takes this. She is talking about the shift to allow free transfers. Now, she’s moving on to excessing, and how she cautioned against it when the DOE wanted to do it.  

She is telling a story about someone who worked in two failing schools.

“We have to get to a different system where we figure out who can teach and who can’t…a system that is fair.”

Hess: “We understand that the union has to protect its members, but it seems like the union is more concerned with protecting teachers’ due process rather than helping teachers who have to shoulder the burden of working in a system with so many bad teachers.”

There is a strong applause, loudest of the session. How is it that the people in this room have been tricked into believing that education reform is as simple as getting rid of bad teachers? 

Weingarten: Responds by saying, “Any union that does that, shame on them.” Then, she goes on to explain how she isn’t about protecting “due process” as her central goal. She is walking a fine line here, definitely trying to win over the crowd, which seems pretty split on their opinions of her.

Hess: “Last in, first out…AFT has stood by this… WHY?”

The questions are so leading. Paints the union as the enemy as well as Weingarten. Not that I’m a huge fan of hers, but still…this room is full of young teachers, though, who don’t want to lose their jobs, and who have been told (both directly and indirectly by TFA) that they are the best teachers—that they are the only hope for change in education. It is scary what this ignorance is doing.

Weingarten: “I’m not saying that seniority is the best way to make layoff decisions…the magnitude of the cuts to schools across this country are devastating…that’s what we should be fighting against. These cuts are devastating for kids. I am fighting to stop the magnitude of these layoffs.”

Hess: “School spending for 3 generations has gone increased. We’ve added adults to the system at twice the rate of students.” He’s gone on to talk about tax increases and how Americans don’t want to spend more on education.

Weingarten: “The American public wants to invest in education…I think there is wasteful spending in our system. We waste $ 7 billion on attrition. In Finland, you have almost no attrition with new teachers.”

Hess: “Let’s talk about the labor market…” Accusing that her wasteful spending claims don’t add up.

Weingarten: She’s been doing a great deal of apologizing on the stage. Why? When she says very pointed things, she concludes with a pitiful, “I’m sorry.” She is pleading to the audience, which is that last thing she needs to be doing. Speak with confidence, woman!

“My job is about public education…”

Why is she going around helping charter schools sign contracts?

Hess: School pensions in New Jersey. “We don’t have the dollars to afford these…they are being offered generous packages at the expense of the students.”

Weingarten: “600 dollars a month is what teachers in New York are getting.” She is pointing out how it isn’t really as “generous” as Hess just alleged. “We need to actually use pension funds to do things about infrastructure….my point is this…there are a lot of new things that need to happen in American…how do you become a fair society.”

12:35 PM

Question and Answer session begins, questions are read by Hess, not by those who have them. Is he choosing the questions to ask?

Question 1: How can teachers who are dissatisfied with unions do anything?

Weingarten:  “Get involved. We need you and we want you.

Question 2:  Oakland teacher who is his union rep wrote:

“Our kids are graduating at a high enough rate. When I raise this at meetings, no one wants to talk about teacher quality. What can I do to help them see this connection?”

Weingarten: “You can’t point fingers...regardless of what you think the problem is you have to engage with your colleagues…We can’t do it alone.”

 I think she is trying to hint at how teacher quality isn’t the only factor and that perhaps other things in our education systems need to change, but she doesn’t really come out and say anything specific. Again, she is walking that fine line all of us in New York saw when she was in charge of the UFT.  She changes her story for her audience. She clings to general statements that can be spun to her liking.

“I hate the status quo. I am not here to defend the status quo.”

Question 3:  Starts with a compliment to her for being her and a criticism of the head of the NEA not being here. The question is about her opinion of NEA.

Perhaps the NEA isn’t here because TFA doesn’t want them here? I’m not sure but I wonder what their president would be saying to this crowd?

Weingarten: “I’m not going to trash the NEA.” She doesn’t say much.

Question 4: “As states like CO, LA, roll out new evaluations for teachers and schools, what are the 3 key things to keep an eye out for?”

Weingarten:

1. We cannot reduce education to a test score! (applause)

She doesn’t give two others, but explains this at length.

Conclusion: A strange session overall. Weingarten was apologetic for her opinions and Hess was painted himself as possessing the “right” opinions, and the crowd seemed to side with him.

Only 4 questions were allowed. There are at least 300 people in this room. This is a not a very interactive

12:45 A hunt for lunch ensues. Corralling 11,000 people into a cafeteria is not easy work. Rushing to make the next session, I get stopped by a TFA film crew, asking if I want to be interviewed. Pushing down my great fear of cameras, I agree. I ‘m asked about my perceptions of the achievement gap and I talk about how TFA uses this as such a buzz word. I’m also asked why I came to the summit, which gives me a chance to talk about my concerns about the current positions and direction of TFA. I talk about the privatization of public education, TFA’s blind support of charter schools and the strong anti-union sentiment I feel at the summit. The interviewer seemed surprised by my responses, and luckily I’m wearing my GEM button, so my message cannot be mistaken. Well see if they use the footage! Doubtful, as it seemed they were looking for some “Rah! Rah! Go TFA” clips.

1:15 Found a box lunch. Making my way to my next session and run into two people from my corps year. They are both working at charter schools (Achievement First and Girls Prep). Gave them some GEM literature, had a brief chat with both.  It’s a challenge to figure out how to talk to people who work in charter schools in a way that I can explain my perspective while still being respectful. But, these conversations are crucial.

1:40 Arrive at my Lunch session twenty minutes late. Need to eat. More soon.

From Cradle to Kindergarten: The role of early childhood education in ending educational equity.

1. Aaron Brenner, KIPP Houston

2. Shana Brodaux, Senior Manager of Early Childhood Programs, Harlem Children Zone

3. David Johns, Senior Education Advisor, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

*I missed David Johns piece, and came in while Shana Brodaux was speaking.

Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 1

A GEM TFA alum is in the house.

NOTE: Some people have been confused thinking I wrote this - note I'm a bit old to be a TFA alum.


Diary of the Summit by Summit blogger

On Saturday, Feb. 12, a Real Reformer member of the Grassroots Education Movement went down to DC for the TFA 20th Anniversary Summit. The blogs came through all day with extensive coverage from the perspective of someone who is not a true believer. Let me say that Summit Blogger is still teaching a self-contained elementary school class years after most TFA's have gone on to other things. Here are links to each segment.

Part 1: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit
Part 2: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit - Randi Weingarten

Part 3: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, - Afternoon Session

Part 4: Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, With Closing Plenary

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Teach for America 20^th Anniversary Alumni Summit

8:00 AM

Arrived at the convention center to register. This is a seriously huge event—11,000 alumni (and some current corps members). At check-in we received a bunch of literature along with our name badges and tote bags—drink tickets for the evening reception (!), a Village Academies water bottle and brochure, as well as two flyers about LEE (an organization that claims to foster public sector leadership for TFA alumni.)  Village Academies is a charter school operator with two schools open in Harlem. Interesting (but not surprising) that TFA is promoting this school—they donated serious cash to TFA for this event (as is stated in the program brochure). I recently looked up Harlem Village Academies on the DOE website and found some interesting information about their enrollment. Their schools enroll students in grades 5 to 10 but not in equal numbers. As their students get older, the enrollment numbers drop drastically. What accounts for this attrition? Are they counseling out their students? Or are they simply leaving of their own volition? Either way, its clear they are not keeping their students.  Their brochure conveniently doesn’t mention any of this, and talks only about how great it is to work at their schools.

Village Academies, as well as many other charter school operators have booths set up here. Perhaps later, I’ll have to go and ask them myself. There are over 100 organizations tabling here at the summit, including: PAVE Academy, KIPP, Achievement First, Noble Network Charter Schools (whose teachers are all here in full uniform—their t-shirts are emblazoned with “BE NOBLE”), Success Charter Network, and the list goes on.  There are a few public school districts (D.C., L.A., Boston) here with tables too, but not nearly as many as are here to promote charters.

9:15 AM

The Summit has opened with a rousing performance by a high school marching band. Got to get the troops inspired and energized.

Opening remarks by Kaya Henderson, interim DC Chancellor and’92 TFA corps member. She’s well-received and calls DC the “hottest city for education reform.” Then she goes on to explain how DC’s education department is filled with TFA alumni, and that DC’s highest performing charters are run by TFA alumni. She claims that soon the person in the White House will be a TFA alum.

“DC’s school are tearing it up. We went through a bloody battle to get here.” Is she referring to Michelle Rhee’s tenure and inappropriate firing of teachers? I wasn’t aware that DC schools were now suddenly so successful? Did I miss something? I think the bloody battle is still going on and it sounds like she is planning to continue it. But the only people being hurt are those she is claiming to help.

She’s really going for it here. She closes with a “Let’s do this” mantra, followed immediately by the marching band again.

9:35 AM

Wendy Kopp takes the stage to a standing ovation, minus myself and my two friends.  51 people are here from the very first corps of TFA, 1,000 from the 2008 corps. And 3,000 from the current corps. 1500 of the alumni here are teachers. ONLY 1500?! That doesn’t include the 3,000 current members, but that is still 1500 out of 8000. 18%? Is that really success? Our education system needs people who stay and work in the classrooms.  

Her comments are quite generic. Sounds pretty much like what I heard here say when I was a corps member in training. She’s talking about how people “used” to think that ones socio-economic background determined ones possible educational outcomes. She is now telling a story about a Bronx teacher who got her 117 9^th graders to pass the Biology Regents test.  She then explains how there are not that many teachers like this one. “We can foster the impact of successful teachers by creating transformational schools.” She calls out three charter school leaders as playing a crucial role in education in our country. She is now talking about North Star Academy Charter School in Newark. Is this what the whole weekend is going to be like?! I expected some charter plugging, but this seems like a charter school summit completely.

“North Star’s leader has embraced a different mandate….she is working to put students on a different socio-economic path. She obsesses over hiring great teachers…and does whatever it takes to meet the end goal.”

Does that include firing teachers and/or students? What does it mean to do “whatever it takes”?

“We can provide children facing poverty with an education that is transformational….We don’t need to wait to eliminate poverty. We can provide them with a way out…”

She then claims that DC and New Orleans are home to the fastest improving school systems. Wow! I guess creating a two-tier educational system is what TFA is all about? There is such great inequity in education in these two cities. But almost everyone here is just nodding along with Kopp. I heard from another alum that last night at the New Orleans regional reception, people were talking about how TFA had single handedly helped the New Orleans schools recover after Hurricane Katrina.

She claims to know what we need to fix education in this country. She is talking about “transformational leadership” as the key in schools and school systems. What does transformational leadership mean? Is it such a vague statement, but it sounds powerful, so everyone is clapping.  

“Incremental change is not enough, we need transformational change.” She is now explaining how she wants to expand the program, but mentions only pushing people into leadership roles. No mention of the role of the classroom teacher.

10:00 AM

FROM TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE TO RADICAL CHANGE!

Next up, Walter Issacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute, a leadership/social entrepreneurship organization. He is up here to welcome the panelists to the stage. Rock music welcomes them:

1. Jon Schnur, Chairman of the Board, New Leaders for New Schools (moderator)

2. Michelle Rhee, former DC Chancellor

3. Joel Klein, former NYC Chancellor

4. Geoffery Canada, Harlem Children’s Zone

5. John Deasey, superintendent, LA Unified School District

6. Dave Levin, KIPP co-founder and superintendent of NY KIPP

*Klein is speaking now. “Is this our Egypt moment? Will we seize the moment? We will talk to each other and go home. I challenge this group to seize the moment. We no longer believe that poverty is permanent…Education…this is America’s issue. What will change it? Each one of you must insist that each school out there is one that you would send your kids too.” He takes it to a new level. He says “transformational change” isn’t enough—we need “radical change.” More empty statements from the former chancellor.

*Dave Levin is now speaking, with a KIPP shirt on (many KIPP teachers here are in full uniform as well). At KIPP, he claims to have quadrupled the graduation rate of kids from high poverty neighborhoods. But, just like Harlem Village Academies, KIPP has a history of high attrition. If you achieve 100% graduation but your class is only 30 kids when it should have been 100, are you really doing the true work of educating our children?!  I think not.

Michelle Rhee is up, and she seemed to have forgotten her masking tape. She is giving a speech pretty much on par with her usual--We need to be aggressive, some people might not like us, controversy will arise, opposition will arise, but we have to push past it. Meaning, we must squash it and cover it with masking tape.

Canada’s turn. He talks about this “revolution” and claims, “We can really win!” Everyone cheers. “As a nation we have become soft in terms of fighting for what we believe in.” He forgot to mention how our educational leaders, especially those in NYC, are working so hard to silence the voices of public school parents, teachers and students. He closes with “we need to ratchet it up.” So many vague statements from all of those on stage.

John Deasey. “This is an issue around courage. We have the skill. How courageous are we going to be? What if 11,000 people descended on LA to demand change.” Hmmm, didn’t LA teachers recently take to the streets to demand what they wanted? Maybe their message isn’t what he wants to hear.

He is now talking about how he needs people to come to LA and work?

Klein is speaking again. He is so well received by this audience. Every time he speaks the crowd responds. Where am I?!

Moderator: “How important is it to drive success in this country, to change parents, educators conception of this fact?” His questions are just plain confusing.

Canada: He is talking about how some people in our country simply accept that some children don’t learn because of poverty. He says he rejects this notion. All from a man who kicked out an entire class of students! The pure arrogance on the stage is hard to stomach. My palms are sweating. How do we counter this? “When any kid comes to me they are going to get an education.” I refer back to my previous statement—his schools also have serious issues with attrition. But this crowd doesn’t see it. How do we bridge these gaps?!

And why don’t his schools fill the empty seats in their schools?

Rhee: “The only issue isn’t parents lack of involvement.”

Moderator: “We see reasons for hope…Joel, what is is going to take to go from the KIPP schools and district school successes to system wide success?”

Klein: “It’s is going to take teachers who understand it isn’t just about good teaching. We cannot have the unions be the monopoly for teachers voice… Teachers need to have their own voice. “ Is he serious? Teachers need to use their voice? Clearly, he means if their voice is the same as his. We in NYC know how little he cared about teacher voice. How many PEP meetings did he preside over where he blatantly ignored the voices of teachers? He silences people who do not agree with him. He does thank the teachers from his new teacher group for speaking up. People are clapping for him again.

I think I have an ulcer.

Deasey: “I am tired of going to schools and hearing people say this is what I need and I am not being heard.” Wow, in just 10 minutes he has completely contradicted himself. He previously said he wanted teachers to have a voice.

Rhee: “ I have not demonized the teachers union. I have been trying to show people that the teachers unions are doing exactly what they are supposed to do.” What planet does she live on? Maybe it’s not really her? Nope, it is. We’ve just moved into the part of the session in which all the speakers are going to contradict themselves

She is plugging Students First, her new organization now, as the solution to the teachers union.

Candada: “ The union’s job is to stop innovation….”

Klein is offering his solutions. Here is what he says:

“First, We have to professionalize teaching and make it respected. We treat teachers like widgets and that isn’t going to work. Last in, first out is a huge problem. Excellence in teaching is the hallmark not senority in education…Second, we must stop monopoly providers. We must insist on choice…Third, we need innovation.”

Respect teachers? When has Klein ever done that? Widgets? He wants teachers and students to be cogs in a machine.

Moderator:  “KIPP schools don’t have the constraints of public schools. How scalable is your approach?”

Dave Levin” “This is the hardest work on the planet…the unit of change for an individual kids life…starts and ends with school…we need as many committed teachers and school leaders as we can get…”

He didn’t answer the question. Perhaps because even he knows that his isn’t a sustainable approach to education.

Moderator: He is closing with a “Ra! Ra! Let’s praise the people on stage. Join their schools and organizations.” These people are creating more educational INEQUITY in the name of equity. I need to redeem my drink tickets stat. 

NEXT SESSION: Randi Weingarten - my ulcer is pulsing in anticipation

Diary of a Mad Retiree, Part 2

If you read my post yesterday, Diary of a Mad Retiree, you are aware that I am in the midst of an insane 5 day period of activity that perfectly coincides with my wife's trip to Cancun. Friday was a blur.

I was awakened this morning to the sounds of cat vomiting - all over the kitchen. Pinky is 19 and a half years old and bowel movements are an adventure - my wife left me strict instructions on how to spike her food to encourage her - we don't want more of those $250 enemas. Now I have to race out to Williamsburg for a final weekend of editing our movie, "The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman," so this will be brief.

I was truly dead tired when I got home from last night my first Knick game in at least a decade and the follow-up with cousin Danny in a bar. Dan just couldn't seem to understand why a 65 year old guy isn't keeping up with a 27 year old, "But I want you to have fun," he said. I passed on the strip club and went home, falling asleep on the train.

I had left my car parked on Clarkson Street where the Peter Lamphere fundraiser/party was taking place. (Make sure to read Peter's piece at Gotham Schools - see post below this for links). I was so pressed for time I was only able to stay for a short time and just as I was leaving a big GEM crew arrived. About 1 minute into the Knick game I realized I should never have left. I won't be back for another decade.

This was my second trip of the day into the city from Rockaway. I left before 9AM to head up to Harlem to speak at an elementary school that has been invaded by a charter. I met with teachers through 3 lunch hours and then took a tour of the building, seeing first hand the charter/public school mix. This visit requires a separate post all of its own.

After I left the school, I headed downtown to Teachers Unite where we had a great discussion on teacher organizing. So I didn't get back to Rockaway until 4:45, only to have to leave again an hour later for the evening adventures.


____
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Peter Lamphere on U-Ratings at Gotham

NOTE: See Arthur Goldstein at Huffington on the merits of LIFO

“Merit”? My Experience With Arbitrary U Ratings

by Peter Lamphere

As Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Cathie Black are pushing to be able to lay off senior teachers on “merit” grounds, my experience at the Bronx High School of Science raises questions about how teachers’ ratings are handed out.

The national education debate has centered on how to increase “teacher quality.” New York City Chancellor Cathie Black, for example, has called for first laying off teachers who were given “unsatisfactory” (U) ratings (along with those in the Absent Teacher Reserve pool). But there are more than a few cases in New York City that make clear that U-ratings are not always an indication of teacher quality, but sometimes are a result of retaliation against whistle-blowers and union activists.
The recent disciplining of Fordham School of the Arts principal Iris Blige for ordering her assistant principals to U-rate teachers whom she had never seen teach reveals a few important things about the DOE’s process of determining merit. First, U ratings can be arbitrarily ordered by a principal. Second, the penalty from the DOE for doing so is a slap on the wrist — a $7,500 fine for Blige, the same amount charged to teachers who used sick days when they were actually on vacation.

I was unfortunate enough to have witnessed this process firsthand at the Bronx High School of Science. In the fall of 2007, the math department welcomed a new assistant principal, Rosemarie Jahoda. Soon, however, we found that the newer teachers in the department were being subjected to a level of scrutiny and paperwork that was excessive. As soon as I spoke up about the issue, which was my responsibility as a member of a UFT consultation committee that met with the principal, I immediately began receiving unjustified disciplinary letters.  These were quickly followed by groundless unsatisfactory lesson observation reports. I had had a spotless teaching record for my entire previous career, including at Bronx Science.

 MORE

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Diary of a Mad Retiree

When I took my wife to the airport early Wednesday morning for her trip to Cancun - where she reports she spends the day laying by the pool sipping every kind of tropical drink she can lay her hand on and getting massages while I clean up cat vomit and diarrhea, I figured maybe I would spend some time hanging out at home trying to finish "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" so I could begin the new LeCarre novel. But NOOOO! Trying to match her mini-vacation is turning into as frenzied a period as I've seen all year.

Right now I'm getting ready to leave (I'll have to finish this post when I get back home - if I get back home later) to head up to Harlem where a chapter leader has asked me to be the guest speaker at his union meeting- during all 3 lunch hours which go from 10:30- 2. I'm supposed to talk about the attacks on public school teachers and what we can do about it. I'm just going to tell them to retire. Actually, I have no idea what I'm going to tell them - if anyone actually shows up. I'm not sure people want to give up their lunch hours to listen to me so I'm bringing a book if no one shows. I'll report back on how it went.

From there I have to head back downtown to drop off the stack of cards with every chapter leader in the city - a stack I paid $10 for from the UFT during the elections last year. They make sure not to give you an electronic version, mind you - on purpose of course - but hard copy. But a teacher organization is interested in the info for outreach purposes and has offered to put the names into a spreadsheet. I am glad to get them out of my basement.

Then it's off to Peter Lamphere's fundraiser at 6 in Brooklyn. I wrote about how important this case is and connects to a defense of LIFO:  Support Bronx High School of Science Teacher Harassment Law Suit.

And then surprise of surprises, my wife's cousin Danny called and has an extra ticket for tonight's Knick-Lakers game, my first Knick game in about 10 years. Danny is 27 years old, good looking and single - he joked about dragging me along after the game for fun and frolic. That will be a good excuse for grandpa to head home for some sleep to wake up in time to head to Williamsburg for a weekend of film editing.

Later, I'll go into more detail about my other 4 "mini-vacation" days.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

South Bronx School Charter Will be the Cadillac of the Charter Ed Deform Movement

Some love him, some hate him, but no matter where you stand this tour de force piece by SBS captures almost every nuance of the charter ed deform league and will leave you rolling around the floor howling. This school sounds so exciting, I'm coming out of retirement to work there. My job will be to make sure all the parents show up every weekend to clean the floors with toothbrushes and to set up a spy system to make sure there will never be a Parents Association in the school. SBS has given me the additional job of being in charge of Masking Tape. Following the popular Michelle Rhee model of using tape to keep the little buggers from making noise, we expect masking tape to be our most important item, with duct tape as a backup.

I'm cross posting in case they put out a hit on SBS and delete his blog. (And yes I'm jealous that I no longer seem to have the time or energy to put into doing this kind or work.) I just can't understand why we have to wait until Sept. 2012 for this exciting new venture. Can't David Steiner just rubber stamp this and fast track it like he does everything else?

South Bronx School Opens A Charter

When you can't beat them, why not join them?

I have decided that it is time for me to open my own charter school. Why am I doing this? First a little background.

I recall a conversation, or at least it was my dad lecturing me doing my best to tune him out, when I was 13 or 14. I had just gotten in trouble for the umpteenth time in school and he had some words of wisdom to me. He said, "You will never be able to work for someone. You need to be your own boss." Dear old dad was right and that is why I am taking this major step. So come September 2012 I will be running my own charter school.

I have chosen a name for my charter school. It will be known as The South Bronx Academy for Implied and Perceived Excellence. The school will start in the Kindergarten and first grade with 100 students, and eventually go up to fifth grade.

There will be only one "teacher" per grade. The reason for this is I want to model a setting in which all the great colleges have. A lecture hall. A study was done in the early 70's at SUNY-Geneseo that students in colleges in which offer classes in which a large amount of students sit in a large lecture hall with one instructor improve their grades .00567834%. It will also allow me to save money on staff and more of the outside funding and Title I money can find a way to my pocket.

Each classroom, or lecture hall will be named after the colleges of the teachers, or as we will say at SBAIPE, "lecturers." This will boost the self esteem of the 5 and 6 year old children and prepare them for college. And I forgot to mention. My students will be not known as students or scholars, but rather as drones. Since I have already hired two staff members, the names of the lecture halls will be Mercy College and Monroe College.

I am planning to co-locate the school and once we find space every conceivable action will be taken to keep the troglodytes of the school we are taking over, ooops, I meant, the school we are sharing, to have any interaction with the wonderful boys and girls of my school. Thanks to a grant from the Walton Foundation I have already hired XE Services, formerly known as Blackwater to head up security.

There will be armed guards at the steel reinforced doors that lead to my charter school. Also, Jersey barriers will be put in place and a secondary system of barbed wire. Not to worry. The guards will be instructed to shoot on site any violators that try to infiltrate SBAIPE.

The typical day will begin at 7 15 AM. At this point the drones will be taken, by force if necessary, from their parents, or rather as what we will call them at SBAIPE, suckers. At this point all drones will stand at attention in the outside common area and await my entrance on the balcony. I will festoon the drones on how wonderful a person I am because while I could have gone elsewhere and made a salary of $855K, I decided to be their leader for $450K. After my speech to the drones in praise of me our venerable headmaster, who will be no older than 25, will be required to give high fives and elbow bumps to each and every child.

At 8 15 in the morning the drones will report to the reeducation center, not a lecture hall, where they will be shown slide shows of how they are expected to act, along with the accompanying subliminal messages, while Wagner is playing loudly on the speakers. During this hour, the lecturers will be preparing and deep in conference with one another ready to drill the students, getting them ready for the day when their state exams come in 3rd grade.

Drone will be taught to walk in line in a cadence or goosestepping. At no time will the students be allowed to walk off the line. In class, drones will be outfitted with blinders on so they can keep their eyes on their lecturer at all times.

There will be no play time, or independent time. All it will be is test prep straight through until the end of the day at 6 PM. Once at home, the drones will turn on the specially installed home monitoring cameras so I can make sure that their test prep homework is being done.

If a child acts out of line, or worse, shows independent thought, a rapid response team from XE Services will repel into the "lecture hall" and remove that child from class and be sent to the behavioral study center in which an obedience chip will be installed insuring ever lasting conformity.

There will be no desks. Desks cost money. There will be no lunch provided. Lunch must be provided by the suckers. Pencils, paper, and other material also must be provided by the suckers. This is a for profit school.

There will be a dean of students to assist me and the headmaster. In all probability, and if he lives until 2012, it will be my 81 year old Uncle Sol. Uncle Sol, will be assisted by a staff of 5, including he wife, Aunt Sylvia.

My mission is to have outsiders think that my school is the best school ever. That I am to be thought of as some type of deity.

So why am I doing this? Why will I be making the ultimate sacrifice? Isn't it obvious? Who else but a white, Jewish, male from the NYC suburbs lead little boys and girls of color? I, just by my pedigree, know what is best and know that I am the example they have all been waiting for.

From Parents Across America - New Orleans Nightmare

Choice really means: 

"Schools choose [students] and parents and children lose. We really don't have choice."

PAA's Karran Harper Royal at the inaugural PAA event on Monday night share her experiences with the ed deform privatization scheme in New Orleans where choice turns out to be between KIPP and KIPP.

"Charter schools' solution to school improvement is to change our students."
"The principal became a CEO and her salary went from about $80,000 to $250 thousand."

See our future under ed deform, when public schools only exist for students unwanted by charters, in all its glory.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7-an30xLS8




Afterburn

Fascinating experiences of TFA novice in the Bronx  at EdWeek.

A must see! Make sure to watch the video as well as read the transcript.

http://bit.ly/fJq1LI

Friday, February 11th, 6pm - Support Bronx High School of Science Teacher Harassment Law Suit

THIS CAN BE A SIGNIFICANT LAWSUIT.

YOU CAN'T SEPARATE THE PETER LAMPHERE CASE FROM THE BATTLE OVER LIFO.

Unfortunately, the UFT doesn't go there.

AS LONG AS ONE EVEN ONE TEACHER IS U-RATED FOR POLITICAL REASONS ALL U RATINGS BECOME SUSPECT. DOE POLICY SUPPORTING ANYTHING EVERY PRINCIPAL DOES MAKES IT HARDER TO REMOVE TEACHERS WHO MIGHT BE INCOMPETENT.

HOPE TO SEE YOU FRIDAY OR SEND A CONTRIBUTION

Former Bronx High School of Science chapter leader and math teacher Peter Lamphere received U ratings as retaliation for the role he played as union rep. Outrageous one would say. I was told by a teacher who was mentored by Peter that he is one of the best. That teacher was also forced out of Bronx High but landed at one of the top schools in the city. Peter should be the poster boy for why Last In First Out should be defended with every ounce of energy. He is suing the DOE and I hope the Principal of Bronx High. Peter is holding 2 fundraisers, today in the Bronx and next week in Brooklyn (I'm going to that one.) If you can't make it you can donate online.


I'll keep my mouth shut about a union allows chapter leaders to be attacked which undermines the union at its root level and instead works out deals to arrange a transfer to a small school, thus in the process also removing an opposition chapter leader from a large school. Ooops! It slipped out.

Defend Teachers Against Harassment

A teacher holds a sign at a June 2010 picket near Mayor Bloomberg’s house about the Bronx Science case

Help raise funds for a lawsuit to reverse Peter Lamphere’s unfair U rating. Come to one of two fundraising parties:


Friday, February 11th, 6pm
40 Clarkson Ave., Apt. 4K, Brooklyn (B/Q to Parkside)

On April 16th of last year, fact finder Carol Wittenberg found that the teachers of the Bronx Science math department were harassed by their supervisor. These twenty teachers (in a department of twenty-two) filed a special harassment complaint in 2008, because of repeated incidents in which the Assistant Principal had reduced teachers to tears, criticized them in front of their students, and even at one point called a teacher “disgusting” in a meeting. This bullying was combined with unjustified disciplinary actions against the staff—all the untenured teachers who signed the complaint were forced to leave within a year—and now only seven of the original twenty still teach at Bronx Science. Nevertheless, the Department of Education continues to defend the indefensible actions of its administrators, sustaining a retaliatory unsatisfactory rating in 2008 against then UFT Delegate (and later Chapter Leader) Peter Lamphere.

Join the struggle against arbitrary and capricious decisions by supervisors.

While the national conversation focuses on questions of “teacher quality”—the actions by principals retaliating against whistle-blowers and union activists goes unscrutinized. These actions lead to high turnover and difficult working conditions at our schools, even at nationally acclaimed institutions like the Bronx High School of Science. A legal victory in this case will send a message to teachers everywhere that their rights can be defended against abusive management.

Checks to assist with legal actions can be made out to the Teacher's Defense Fund, and mailed to 305 E. 140th St. #5A, Bronx, NY 10454. Donations are not tax-deductible.
Donate online at http://defendteachers.bbnow.org/

Mulling IT Over: To Go to Delegate Assembly, To Not Go to Delegate Assembly

ALERT:

GEM Teach for America alums will be live blogging from the 20th anniversary in DC this weekend. We will be spending the weekend doing semi-final editing on "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" for our sneak rough cut preview on Feb. 17 and will be transmitting the blogs to the GEM blog.

Today's Diary:
Goal- Do long awaited analysis on Moskowitz/Mulgrew strategy on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3 in bringing out hordes of people to the respective PEPs.

8:30AM
I got up at 5AM to take my wife to the airport for her trip to a fancy resort in Cancun with her former co-worker gal pal, a celebration of sorts on her first anniversary of retirement. How did I feel driving in the dark in 14 degrees? (&*(***). That leaves me and Pinky to hold down the fort and eat cat food together. I think I'll head over to hot yoga to warm the old bones.

11:00AM
Ahhhh, back from yoga. An hour and a half in 100 degrees. I'm warmer than my wife will be in Mexico. There's a UFT Delegate Assembly today. Maybe I'll skip this one and stay warm at home. But then again I have to go over to my 93 year old dad in Brooklyn and take him food shopping. He's gained 5 pounds since he got half a set of teeth. He consumes tubs of Bryers ice cream. Can't wait till I hit real old age instead of semi-old age and can eat all day and all night.

Once in Brooklyn, I'll make a game-time decision. I have nothing to give out at the DA. Expect a wild afternoon with so many dislocated shoulders from all pats on the back from the Unity Caucus faithful over their semi-disruption and walkout at the February 3 PEP, there will be emergency medical personnel on the premises.

I expressed a bunch of reservations about the walkout, (Debating UFT Strategy on PEP Walkout as a A UFT Leadership Member Declares: "We're Going in a New Direction"), though not the rally and demo which I think should have continued throughout the meeting until the PEPSQUEAKS walked off in frustration.

I was thinking as we all were screaming "puppets" at the Pathetic PEPpers: How different are the Unity Caucus clones than the Bloomberg PEPers? Both sets follow the orders of their leaders mindlessly. I considered putting out an Ed Notes today for the DA to address these issues, but who am I really talking to other than a majority of Unity people who will walk off the cliff if told to. If I go to the DA I might get riled up enough to expand on this point. Well, off to shower after that hot yoga class.

Here is a piece I wrote for this Friday's edition of The Wave:

PEP Votes to Close More Schools, Including Beach Channel

by Norm Scott, Education Editor

A raucous crowd of 2000 students, teachers and parents organized by the UFT, the Coalition for Educational Justice and the Urban Youth Collaborative

shouted, blew whistles, and booed throughout Chancellor Cathie Black's speech at the February 3 Panel for Educational Policy meeting, the 2nd meeting that week.

After an hour of disruption, most of the body left in a pre-planned walkout, leaving a sparse crowd to observe the Mayor Bloomberg dominated Panel complete its major order of business, which was to vote for the phasing out of an additional 12 schools and to allow co-locations in eight more public schools, including Queens high schools Beach Channel and Jamaica, with a new small high school to be opened in each.

Two days earlier, the PEP had voted to close ten schools and co-locate five more. Both meetings generated an outpouring of politicians, mostly from Brooklyn and Manhattan, who are opposed to the drastic DOE policies, but no politician connected to the Rockaways showed up to defend Beach Channel.

While most people supported the UFT-led walkout, some organizers opposed to the closing and co-location policy of the Department of Education were critical of the decision. Julie Cavanagh, a teacher in Red Hook, Brooklyn and a member of the Grassroots Education Movement, a group of NYC teachers organizing and fighting the school closure and co-locations said, "I didn't feel right about the walk out and didn't participate in it. To me, it would have been much more powerful if everyone there either a) stood in solidarity with the parents, students, and teachers who came out to speak for their school, b) we all participated in a vigil of some kind or c) if instead of walking out, we walked forward and really took the needed steps towards a revolution (which, in a dictatorship is not that radical).  The messaging of a walk out is 'nothing matters'- that is fatalistic and serves no purpose. I doubt any political capital was gained from the action."

Jeez, can Julie nail an issue or what? Where was she hiding all these years? I don't think I've ever seen someone go from zero to a 160 in a little over a year. Well, maybe not exactly zero. - I had to say that since we'll be editing the film this entire weekend and she'll probably kill me.

And you  must check out Paul Moore's commentary on the Michelle Rhee controversy over her claims she radically raised test scores, which retired Wash DC teacher and blogger GF Brandenberg proved was bogus. (His blog is on my blogroll-GFBrandenburg's Blog- How Teach for America Could Have Been Useful – But Wasn’t.) 

Rhee shill Jay Mathews acknowledged the work Brandenberg did but Moore won't let him off easy.

Well Mr. Mathews, your death bed confession is on the record. But you must count heavily on the most merciful of gods. For the monster you helped to create still roams the land. One day standing beside the teacher-hating Governor Christie in New Jersey, the next day visiting an Opa-Locka charter school with voucher loving Governor Scott in Florida. One day sitting before Oprah Winfrey's national TV audience and being lauded as a "warrior woman", the next collecting the checks of the oligarchs and the Wall Street bankers for her teacher's union busting cult.

I'm at a loss to understand the distinction you make between lying and memory lapse. I got the distinct impression you were a proponent of "data driven" education. Data is precise. Test scores are there or they are not. But I'm going to give your new take on this a try. When they come to rate me as a teacher on a value added basis, no matter the scores, I'll tell them that I clearly remember teaching my students those test taking skills.

Wish me luck and may God have mercy on your journalistic soul.

And just for old time sake, one more time, "The Fable of Michelle Rhee" by Jay Mathews.

Once upon a time, there was a young Ivy League missionary with a couple years to kill before getting on with her life's work. Rather than backpacking through Europe or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro after a safari in Africa, our intrepid heroine plunged into the mean streets of Baltimore where children who live in poverty test poorly.

One day the Ivy League princess was struck down like St. Paul on the way to Damascus. Sit the poor children in a circle, the voice told her. And sit them in a circle she did.

They forevermore scored like rich children on tests. Just take my word on that. I swear its true. And they all lived happily ever after. No, no really, stop laughing. How rude. Ok, that's enough, get up off the floor. Geez, its a fairy tale. You know like Pinocchio?

Paul A. Moore

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Harlem Success to Co-Locate at Rikers?

Jeff Kaufman sent along this item:
The UFT chapter at  Island Academy brought this information to D.79's attention  and nothing happened.
 

Are the Guards in the Rikers Juvenile Wing Allowing Inmates to Police Themselves? -- New York Magazine

Thanks for the info Jeff. Reminds me of the movie "Escape from New York" where they turned Manhattan into a massive prison and blew the bridges and left the prisoners to fend for themselves. True negligence on the part of all, including the DOE.

I wonder if there are any charter schools that wants to take some of these juveniles?

Any charters looking to co-locate at Rikers? Harlem Success Academy at Rikers?
--------------
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

UPDATE Parents Across America

Last Update - Weds, Feb. 9, 9:45PM
NOTE UPDATED BROAD LIVING DEAD POSTER TO INCLUDE MORE TWEEDIES:

I found last night's PAA event organized by Leonie Haimson and parents from, well, across America, a powerful experience and a sense that the resistance to ed deform is growing.

Diane Ravitch, introduced by Leonie Haimson: 38 strong minutes:
http://vimeo.com/19755379

Here is an excellent 5 minutes from Julie Menin, chair of Community Board 1 in lower Manhattan with some comments from Leonie Haimson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieAYxCIC2I

More videos in this space as they are processed. I have to leave Diane Ravitch till tomorrow because it is almost 40 minutes and take hours.

I extracted some stills from the video.

Sharon Higgins, of awesome Perimeter Primate blog, Oakland

Karran Harper Royal, New Orleans

I am processing the video as fast as I can and will put up links in this post over the next day or two - I'll put a link at the top of the sidebar. I forgot to mention that our pals from Rochester who are battling former Klein slug and Broad Academy grad Jean Claude-Brizard were in the house last night - I met a bunch of them when they came to town on July 5 to protest mayoral control and held a demo at Malcolm Smith's Queens office. This time they were joined by teacher Mark Friedman who blogs at the Colorado-based Failing Schools blog.

And guess who was in the house? Remember that great blog Chancellors New Clothes? Both of them were there and it was to nice to see them. They are thinking of restarting the blog. Hope they do.

As I was watching one parent after another present the horror story of ed deform going on in their city, I felt I was watching a version of the Night of the Living Dead, starring graduates of the Broad Academy. A quick email to David Bellel and Voila:

New Orleans Wasteland and Seattle Stuff

UPDATE: Midnght
 Just back from the city - had dinner with Leonie and 6 other amazing parent leaders from around the nation, including a few I knew or knew of: Caroline Grannan from SF, Sharron Higgins from Oakland, Dora Taylor and Sue Peters deom Seattle, Karren Harper Royal from New Orleans. They are up for the battle with the ed deformers through building Parents Across America.


Charter school operators talk about choice. Karran Harper Royal just told us about the New Orleans nightmare where you end up with no choice - but KIPP.
She was followed by a wonderful Sue Peters presentation as a neighbor to the Gates foundation. She pointed to Broad polution nationwide.
Chicago's Julie Woestehoff from Pure is up now. More ed deform horrors. It's like watching tales of the Night of the Living Dead Ed Deformer zombies. In 3-D.

Cheers
Norm Scott
Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Grassroots Education Movement
Education Editor, The Wave
www.rockawave.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Ravitch Rocks

I'm taping the Parents Across America event at PS 89 in Tribeca. Much of the NYC edurati resistance seems to be in the room along with out of town visitors. Sharron Higgins is here from Oakland and Mary Adams from Rochester among others.

Ravitch doing a fabulous presentation and this one nails every single issue. She just slammed Chicago Renaissance. That's 16 years of mayoral control. Even the business community slammed them. But all this is ignored by the privatization pushers (like drugs). "We need to do what works. Early childhood. Parenting workshops. Lower class size. For teachers more professionalization not less. Teach for America cannot be the solution for a nation that has 4 million teachers. We need principals who have been educators....send teams of educators to low performing schools where they stay and analyze how to solve the problems ....sooner or later the corporate strategy will fail....most hope is pushback.....national teacher march on Washington in July not org by nea or aft but teachers...parents are sleeping giant. If sleeping giant awakens we can take back education. "
Cheers
Norm Scott

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Grassroots Education Movement

Education Editor, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sue Peters: Satus Quo = Ed Deform, Plus Some Real Reforms

I am co-posting this piece by Sue Peters of the fabulous Seattle based blog "Seattle Education 2010" because it is so right on and goes beyond criticizing the ed deformers and goes into the Real Reforms. A must read. Sue was at some of the events in Seattle during the AFT convention this past summer and she is part of the Parents Across America group that she helped start with Leonie Haimson to battle the ed deformers. Sue will be at the PAA event tonight with Diane Ravitch. I'll be there to tape it.

If you agree that our nation needs a new vision for public education, I invite you to join a forum of parents from across the nation who are launching a new organization, Parents Across America, in New York on Feb. 7. Our keynote speaker will be education historian Diane Ravitch. The event is free and open to the public. It starts at 6 p.m. and will held at: PS/IS 89 – Liberty School, 201 Warren Street, New York, N.Y. 10282.

Why I am not a defender of the ‘status quo’ in education — because the ‘status quo’ is failed ed reforms

Posted on February 4, 2011 by seattleducation2010| 7 Comments
 

The current crowd of ed reformers like to dismiss any of us who disagree with their agenda as “defenders of the status quo.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am not a defender of the status quo in public education – because the status quo is currently “No Child Left Behind” and its insidious spin-off, “Race to the Top.”

Conspiracy Theories: Let Discipline Go to Undermine Public Schools

Note: Check Ed Notes for live blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary celebration in Washington DC next weekend, February 12-13 as a GEM TFA alum goes undercover - lots of ed deform guests of honor, including Randi Weingarten. We look forward to getting reports on how Randi sucks up - if hookups are available for our spy.

Teacher complaints about the deterioration of discipline and the mantra of school leaders who don't support teachers when students are disruptive with the charge that there are no discipline problems, only poor teaching practices is highlighted at An Urban Teacher's Education where Frank Beard, a TFA alum, tells it like it is. I left a comment that this is part of the subtle and not so subtle conspiracy to undermine and privatize the public schools by making conditions so intolerable for parents of the kids who do not disrupt that they will jump at the charter school option as a safe haven since charter schools can counsel out the very students that are disruptive or at least keep their numbers to a minimum. Also note that charter schools can insist on parent involvement - Harlem Success penalizes parents who bring children to school late by making them come in on Saturdays. Here are some excerpts from Frank:

When people ask me what I believe was the number one barrier to student achievement at my school, I always offer the same answer: the failure of the school and district to address chronically disruptive students. It was a problem created by negligent leaders who willingly allowed a free-for-all environment that was conducive to chaos instead of learning.   

           

I’ll never forget the first day of staff development my second year. During the “welcome back” talk, my principal handed out a sheet which detailed the number of discipline referrals submitted by each teacher the previous year. We were informed that it is wrong to submit a lot of them because discipline is a classroom-management issue and therefore must be addressed within the classroom. Sending students to the office, she said, is simply not acceptable or allowed.

Nearly ever discipline referral sent to the office was returned with a polite reminder to please contact the students’ parents. Clear and consistent consequences simply did not exist—even though they were mandated by the district’s code of conduct.  

Once that realization spread, the school effectively went from quality to chaos overnight.

When students are subjected to a toxic environment that prevents learning, all other education concerns—curriculum, standards, integrating technology, etc—become totally irrelevant. Unfortunately, this is something rarely ever addressed in both local and national media. And education reformers—whether from watching Freedom Writers one too many times or just understanding that blaming teachers is politically expedient right now—repeat until they’re red in the face the idea that a teacher with leadership skills and high expectations can fix everything short of the conflict in the Middle East.

So what did our school leaders focus on, if not the toxic atmosphere in the schools? The superintendent—a product of the Broad Superintendents Academy—was concerned mostly with “right-sizing” the district, preparing to implement standards-based learning at pilot schools, and token efforts towards “community involvement”. the chronically disruptive atmosphere was by far the most significant and destructive. It’s a problem that’s conspicuously absent from successful suburban schools—which don’t tolerate outrageous misbehavior—and is usually never mentioned by education reformers, policy experts, consultants, and the other people who pretend to know what’s best for our schools.

Perhaps my expectations are too high. After all, how can I expect them to understand the seriousness of this problem if they’ve spent little or no time working in the very schools they pretend to be experts about?

Read the entire piece and comments:  TFA Alumnus Describes Barriers to Student Achievement

Labor Notes links:

Julie Cavanagh on billionaire school reform.
Mark Brenner on the big public moneys that the privatizers are going after.
Howard Ryan on the teachers unions' partnership strategy.
Julie Cavanagh New York City's heated-up battle over school closures and charter schools muscling in.

Check out new blogger- NYC parent and community activist Susan Crawford: http://susanink.com/

Afterburn:
Neutral on Superbowl. Would normally root for Pittsburgh as AFT team but hard to root for Ben the rapist.

Debating UFT Strategy on PEP Walkout as a A UFT Leadership Member Declares: "We're Going in a New Direction"

Is Mayoral control and the PEP the UFT's Rosemary's Baby?

Yesterday I received a call from an upper level UFT member of the leadership. After hearing me do my usual "Ed Notes was warning you about mayoral control, the entire PEP process is the UFT's Rosemary's baby, yada, yada, yada for at least a decade I was told, "You may have been right but now we're going in a different direction."

We'll see. Based on history and the analysis below and some follow up stuff I want to do based on what Mulgrew didn't say at the E4E appearance (no real defense of LIFO or ATRs)as reported at Gotham, I don't think so.

When I wrote my Wave column Wednesday morning (Poison Pep Pills) for the print edition I blacked out my last sentence for the blog because I didn't want to give anything away.

By the time you read this you might be hearing about a major disruption of the PEP at that meeting to attempt to stop the vote to close the schools. Or not.

It turns out the "or not" was operative. You see I was actually fooled again. I really thought the UFT might stop this meeting cold so they couldn't conduct business, just like the CEJ-led August 16 PEP meeting when the PEPsqueaks were driven off the stage.

If you were roaming around through the grim looks of the DOE officials before the walkout and the look of relief after the walkout you would know exactly what I mean. They were really worried that they wouldn't be able to have a vote and would have to reschedule the meeting. And I believe the UFT and their partners in the event, the Coalition for Educational Justice (more on this relationship soon) and the Urban Youth Collaborative could stop every single PEP meeting if they have the will. But do they? (CEJ was involved in that $10 million that Bloomberg gave the schools to help struggling kids, something CEJ lobbied very hard for, though critics say that money is going for Saturday test prep academies.)

Now, I was as caught up in the evacuation as anyone and since then I was on the fence on the walkout. I got an earful from parent Lisa Donlan (who had a discussion - which I may have mischaracterized in my post yesterday as "in the face"of Michael Mendel but Lisa cleared up as a nice talk - about how upset she was) and teacher Julie Cavanagh at a bar when we left the meeting.

Yesterday, the debate raged all day on the NYC Education News listserve (run by Leonie and the most influential ed listserve with both Diane Ravitch and Debbie Meier commenting frequently). Before I jump in with more analysis of UFT strategy and tactics in a follow-up here are some of the comments I culled. I will add more as they come. Weigh in with your own.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Bar Von Clausewitz wrote a little book, On War. It is still used in military strategy classes in the USMC and at Sandhurst. These are three primary rules on war.....

*Never underestimate your enemy.....or, s/he ain't half as dumb as you would like her/him to be.

*Never arm the enemy.....or don't leave ammunition lying around

and

*Never abandon the field in the face of your enemy.....or don't walk out.

Although I understand the frustration of watching a preordained vote, leaving was a mistake,

Or

Another strategy is being developed.

If the latter is true, it's time for the troops to know something about the strategy. No one will follow a leader(s) who keep secrets. And, if there isn't a new strategy, WTF?

Ellen

-----------------

I am glad you returned to support the co located schools that were left alone w/ ERN and their astroturfed bussed in parents with scripts, as the text below documents.

 Of course it was all decided- and the majority of mayoral appointees have the votes to perpetuate the sham, voting as ordered.

That is the definition of Mayoral control- the DoE and its controlled  PEP do not have to listen, they do not have to follow the law, as the last 9 years has demonstrated.

My question is a sincere one- 

What was accomplished by the walk out?

Lisa Donlan

All we have is right now is to try to exert more public pressure on Bloomberg  through the media; watching NY1 last night (I didn’t see the other channels) it appeared to me that the walkout and the interviews w/ students and others who walked out made a powerful point.

Leonie Haimson

-------------

I didn't feel right about the walk out and didn't participate in it. To me, it would have been much more powerful if everyone there either a) stood in solidarity w the parents, students, and teachers who came out to speak for their school, b) we all participated in a vigil of some kind or c) if instead of walking out, we walked forward and really took the needed steps towards a revolution (which, in a dictatorship is not that radical). The walk out left a very bad taste in my mouth because it was very much political staging on the uft's part; that kind of staging usually leads to some kind of sell out deal which will not benefit the majority of stakeholders in education. It also upset me bc the messaging of a walk out is "nothing matters"- that is fatalistic and serves no purpose. I doubt any political capital was gained from the action and sadly, even if it generated some, the uft has no desire or will to stop the drive to privatize- which at the root, is what this all is really about. I understand the catharsis of walking out, but having been in the position of the PS 9 families that were there; even though you know it most likely doesn't matter, when its YOUR school- you hold out all hope against hope that something you say will make a difference and it feels so good to have a room of people there with you, I am sure it did not feel good to them that everyone was gone by 7:30. . To marginalize their opportunity to be heard just made me feel sad. It should also be noted that yes, the youth collaborative was a major player in the action, and I admire those kids so much, but the action was planned and implemented by the uft- to me the role of teachers should always be to support parents and kids, not bend them to your will. Uft grandstanding will not get us anywhere. Ask them if they are going to fight, now, to end this dictatorship. The answer will be no. They need to do something real, or not bother. Unpopular opinions here I am sure, but my two cents. 

Julie Cavanagh

--------------

My understanding is that the idea of the walk-out came from the students first, not the UFT.  And I entirely sympathize w/ how they felt.   There is huge frustration from sitting for 6-8 hours, sometimes at multiple hearings,  and being entirely ignored.

We can differ on tactics; and what makes more of a difference, either politically or in the public eye.  It is very hard to say at this point which tactics may be more effective, but  I don’t think it’s helpful to criticize other people’s motives or intentions.

Another thing….it was clear from the message sent around that even if you chose to join the group and walk out, no one was discouraged from coming back if they wanted to speak later or show support for other parents or groups afterwards.

Leonie Haimson

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I did not hear that the idea came from the students first, that is not how the UFT sold it, branded it, etc.  It changes the political part of my feelings about the walk out some certainly if that is the case.  Just to be clear, every email I received that was written by the UFT messaged this walkout as their own, and in fact, they tried to encourage members to come promising they would only have to be there unit 7:30.  It is true people could have walked back after the walk out.  Some did.  But certain UFT emails also did make clear that walking back in was not on the agenda.

As I stated, I admire the students and the work of the Urban Youth Collaborative, and understand (to the greatest extent that a non-student could) their feelings of frustration. 

I am not trying to be critical of those who chose to walk out.  I was simply sharing a different opinion on last night in a strand of emails, knowingly (and I stated) that it was probably not a popular opinion.

What I am being critical of is the lack of authentic action on the UFT's part.  Historically I have pushed back against those who have been critical of the UFT.  I do think it is important however to question and criticize any power structure when I disagree, especially when I am paying the dues and more importantly when the magnitude of their action is disproportionate to the severity of the situation, namely 25 of our public schools being closed, not to mention charter takeovers. Further I think sometimes this kind of criticism can be helpful.  I am not just going to agree w/ something or keep quite about something I disagree with when it comes to the union that represents me.  Disagreement is healthy. Maybe that discourse moves one side or the other and maybe we just agree to disagree.

I was uncomfortable with the walkout for two reasons:  one because, again, I have sat w/ the parents and their children whose schools are being destroyed (including my own), I know what it feels like and I know how much you need to look over and see a friendly face or have folks there standing in solidarity with you.  That comes from my very specific subject position, it doesn't mean the alternative is wrong, but it was wrong for me.  Second, I don't agree with the tactic and I think it is helpful to discuss tactics that are employed, that is how we learn what is effective and what is not, what can be improved, what comes next etc. 

When it comes to UFT action what I have seen over the last year is obfuscation and capitulation.  The UFT has not provided the truth to its members about the destructive policies of this Mayor and those we see nationally, as my friend Sam Coleman said at a rally last week (paraphrasing), 'I couldn't wait for my union to educate, organize, and mobilize me... it didn't happen.'  We have also seen questionable concessions such as the backroom deals that happened after last year's school closings lawsuit, which allowed the change in utilization process to be usurped in order to place schools in the buildings of the schools that would no longer be closed, undermining those schools that the UFT claimed to be saving.

Again, I am not the person to go after the UFT and I have long said, I don't think it is helpful for union members to attack their own union... but I am growing tired of inaction.  The UFT is, at this point, the only organizing body that has the resources to take action that might meaningfully bring us changes that would stop these unfair and destructive policies.  I understand that the UFT has to spend their political capital and their organizing power wisely, but what is more important than mobilizing your masses to fight back the attacks on our schools and our kids?  A walkout does not accomplish that.  Maybe this is a prelude.  I certainly hope so.

Julie Cavanagh

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As a UFT member I support the walk out, but believe the correct tactic would have been to not allow the PEP to go on. We should have all stayed and continued the disruption.  For me, it was a let down to walk out.  For once WE had control, not them!  Yes, I know that they would meet another time and still do what they did, but WE need to take the power back from them.  I think that would have been empowering.  Everyone should have stayed until there was a real treat of arrest, which I am not sure would have happened with all the media there.  I stayed to support the PS 9 people.  It was very depressing listening to the charter people totally control what went on for hours afterwords.The PS 9 parents were left mostly alone against the charters...and there were LOTS of them.  I totally understand the closing schools not coming back as they poured their hearts out last year and  were still closed.  The problem with the UFT is that the walk out IS the UFT strategy.  I think they will move on to the budget cuts ( which does need to be organized around), but nothing will be done about these closings now and next year there will be more closing schools....and we will do the same thing.  Perhaps there will be a walk out again and the schools will be closed again. The UFT, students and parents need to say that  NO PEP will continue doing business..or perhaps one or more of the closing schools need to do a sit-in at the school.  This can NOT be the end of what to do about school closings.  

Lisa North