Mr. Mulgrew, Tear Down This Wall

Last update, Friday, Feb. 18, 11:45AM

"Who would ever think you guys could make such a big deal out of one stinkin' dinner? It's beyond belief."- UFT lead lobbyist Paul Egan in NY Daily News

If the union refers to the PEP Bloomies as "puppets" are Unity Caucus Clones any different?

By now, most readers will have heard of the Paul Egan Albany restaurant caper. If you didn't, you can catch up on my post the other day, which I have updated with the latest links: Everyday Math: How Many Quail Does it Take to Fill a Union Leader?

I know I had a little fun at Paul's expense but before I begin, let me say that I like Paul Egan. From what I hear he is one of the more capable Unity Caucus people. When he was Bronx District 11 rep I only heard good things. He put up a great web site with a number of resources that people say was the gold standard for providing information. He has charm and charisma and that Irish brogue doesn't hurt. I'm sure he does good work as the UFT's chief lobbyist. And the unfair attacks on him for a supposed cheating scandal are extremely unfair. For the Daily News and NY Post ((DN, Post) to connect a 10 year old cheating scandal is shameless. Especially when they ignore the official and unofficial rampant cheating going on every day, cheating winked at by Tweed and the State Ed Dept. (The Dirty Secret of Regents Cheating ...).

Egan was the guy who got up to oppose endorsing Bill Thompson for mayor, saying that at most a union effort on Thompson's behalf could move the needle no more than 2 or 3 points.

See below the fold for a  defense of Paul from retired UFT Bronx District rep Lynne Winderbaum.
Now, Lynne is one of the most respected people in the union, even by the opposition. I've never heard one bad thing said about her.

But both she and Paul just don't get it.

Paul may be right about making a bid deal about a stinkin' dinner. But this is not about a stinkin' dinner. It is about 24 people going out and using COPE money contributed by the members to spend $1800. The fact that Egan makes around $150,000 a year must also be noted. As one commenter said:

Teachers who attend the UFT dog and pony show called “Lobby Day” get up at 5 A.M, travel to Albany on a bus, get a box lunch and a bag of pretzels and come back the same night. Unlike the Mul-Dew flunkies, they don’t get to spend two nights in Albany, eat three or four meals a day and put their Egan-sized bar bill on their UFT padded expense sheets

This is about the arrogance and feelings of self-entitlement of power. That is what you get when you have a one party system running the union with no checks and balances with a rubber stamp Executive Board and Delegate Assembly.

For 3 years, from 2004-2007 when ICE/TJC had 6 members of the EB, there as actually a voice of the members even though they were only 6 out of 89. But when New Action and Unity teamed up to push them out, Lynne Winderbaum was one of the Unity people who replaced them. I wasn't there all that often, but did she step up and play a public role to check the excesses of power or challenge one disastrous policy after another that has led us to this abyss? Of course she couldn't because she would have been removed from Unity.

In 2005 there was a major battle over the contract that opened the door to the massive assault on seniority (ATRs were born in that contract). Unity send out hordes of people to steamroller people into voting for that contract and stifle debate within the union, even going so far as to stop us from getting literature into teachers mailboxes so they could hear the other side. Many of us were stopped at the door, not by principals but by Unity chapter leaders. I maintain that the DOE has to end seniority rules before they could start closing schools en masse, a first step before going after LIFO 5 years later. (Remember how when ATRs complained about being forced to be subs while first year teachers had jobs and the UFT told them to be happy they still have a job?) What did Egan and Winderbaum do during that battle?

Democracy is not an abstract concept. The lack of it is why the UFT and the AFT will never be a force opposing the ed deform movement because the membership has so little voice. If the members could vote do you think the UFT would have two charter schools invading public schools? Would they have gone along with UFT policy that led to us sitting by while one school after another was closed? Signing an agreement with the State Ed Dept. on test data being used to evaluate teachers?

Until the UFT begins to function in a democratic manner, some of the most eloquent and passionate voices in the UFT will oppose Unity Caucus no matter what words they say that makes them look militant. So I say:

Mr.  Mulgrew, tear down this wall.

But that will never happen and the UFT power and influence will continue to shrink. But the leadership's prime directive is to maintain power.

If the union refers to the PEP Bloomies as "puppets" are Unity Caucus Clones any different?

Below is Lynne Winderbaum's comments to the Daily News. I just wonder where she and other decent Unity people were when Unity did a vicious red-baiting attack on ICE/TJC presidential candidate Kit Wainer in the 2007 elections.

(See Breaking News: March 29, 2007 "Randi then gave Unity head Jeff Zahler the floor to engage in another round of red-baiting, saying he was proud to have sent that out and reading excerpts in an attack on Kit Wainer. He said accusations of mccarthyism are not true ...")

They all sat on their hands at that DA.

Also see: NYC Educator

What Your COPE Dollars Buy

  Winderbaum response online to the Daily News editorial and the recent articles in the News and the Post:

First They Came...perhaps it is time - a chapter leader's opinion

Perhaps it is time to face reality.  The union today is not the union of old.  Teaching today is not the same job it was 5 years ago.  Between the demands of the city and the retreat of the union, there is less classroom teaching.  Daily attacks on teachers from city's administration, the bureaucracy at the Tweed courthouse, the administrators at the local schools, and the media go relatively unanswered.  With all the constant negative attacks, is it any wonder that some students and parents are starting to believe what they hear about their teachers?

Occasionally there will protestations from the union's leadership but it is often late, and ineffective.  What is left of the contract is eroded daily.  Duty free lunch?  Not when you hold faculty conferences during that time.  SBO votes?  What is that?  Security? Put a union member at the door.  And even though the union says these things should not be, they are.  Why do the district representatives sign off on things that violate the contract?

So now the city and state are in negotiations on how to remove non-classroom teachers.  Whether you call it layoffs, termination, or firing does not matter.  The reason for last in-first out is to prevent abuses by administrators.   Anyone that has been teaching during the many incarnations of the Board of Education during the Bloomberg years has certainly had the opportunity to view abusive behavior.  Can you imagine what will happen in schools if one of the last vestiges of seniority is done away with?  Get rid of last in - first out and you begin the death of a thousand cuts.  Think of Pandora's Box and you can pretty much divine what will happen.  It may start with the non-classroom teachers, but it wont end there.

First they came for the rubber-room folks,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't in a rubber-room.

Then they came for the ATR's
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't an ATR.

Then they came for the tenured people
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't tenured yet.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me

Wisconsin Teachers Act: Clearly, Weingarten is NOT in the House

Can you imagine a 40% sick in call with the UFT running things? With the assault in NY coming, is the Unity Caucus led UFT capable of a militant response that goes beyond snowball commercials?

Our Schools NYC

Teachers and other Public Workers Rally by the 1000′s in Wisconsin

Breaking News Coverage of Teachers' Protest in Wisconsin Right now, teachers from across Wisconsin are flooding the capitol building in Wisconsin to protest Governor Walker's proposed budget repair proposal that would strip away nearly all collective bargaining rights for most of the state's public employee unions, including the teachers' union. Yesterday, nearly 25,000 to 30,000 protestors packed Capitol Square and 40 percent of Madison's teachers called in sick.

Also Note:

Modern School

Educational Vichy Summit in Denver
 

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.

Everyday Math: How Many Quail Does it Take to Fill a Union Leader?

Last Updated: Friday, Feb. 18, 2011, 8:00AM

Updated  LINKS as of Feb. 18:
The UFT official thrown out of an Albany restaurant says portion size wasn’t the issue. (Daily News)
NYC EDUCATOR : What Your COPE Dollars Buy

The UFT is not having a good day. Officials are having difficulty COPING after it was revealed that they used COPE funds to pay - or rather try not to pay- for a $40 price fix meal for 3 tables full of union officials plus drinks (lots) that totaled almost $2000. Picky, picky, picky. I see what Egan was doing - creating a big stir as an excuse not to pay the bill and saddle member contributions to the political action fund with the cost. The guy is brilliant. Reminds me of the movie "Victor, Victoria" where they were too poor to eat but carried along a cockroach to release as a way to skip out on the bill.

City union officials were ejected from an Albany restaurant after contesting their check. (Daily News)

The UFT official thrown out of an Albany restaurant complained about its bad service. (Daily Politics)

The official, Paul Egan, was implicated in a cheating scandal as a teacher in 2000. (DN, Post)

Our sources tell us that Egan will be punished by forcing him to go on a quail hunt and must bring back enough quail to feed the entire Executive Board at their next meeting. Honestly Paul, I only ordered quail once and after I saw that little bony bird I said "never again." It cost about $22 and I could have eaten 10 of them and not feel filled. Stick to the mashed potatoes.

A Daily News editorial - which would hammer the UFT if it were run by Mother Theresa, did come up with some info:

On Monday, Egan led a delegation of 24 - count them, 24 - union reps on an Albany lobbying blitz. Then the big guy treated his troops to dinner at Marché, a restaurant in a boutique hotel near the Capitol. This was no Applebee's. No, it was expense-account heaven with a $40 prix fixe menu. Egan had the quail. Of course he did. But then he didn't like the quail. He thought the quail a disappointingly small bird, apparently having missed the part of the curriculum where one might learn that quail is, well, a small bird.

Let's change the math question: How many quail does it take to fill 24 UFT officials - probably make quail extinct.

And then there was this "insider" comment. I know all the people referred to but let's keep this Peyton Place clean.

BRENDAN BEHAN said...

FROM TODAY'S DAILY NEWS: The issue is not “Tubby” Egan or his mashed potatoes- it’s his chronic drinking and outbursts that UFT president Michael Mul-Dew has overlooked for too long because Egan protects the son of an ousted Mul-Dew/Weingarten crony-one of the top five officials in the union- who was caught taking kickbacks from a local hotel while making his subordinate have sex with him. Egan also protects a do-nothing woman who Randi Weingarten promoted even though she is totally useless but is “very close” to key male legislators. “Very” close. Egan has a history of getting soused at union weekends and in restaurants where he is known for chowing down, then whining that the “portion” was too small. Lobbying legislators? Teachers who attend the UFT dog and pony show called “Lobby Day” get up at 5 A.M, travel to Albany on a bus, get a box lunch and a bag of pretzels and come back the same night. Unlike the Mul-Dew flunkies, they don’t get to spend two nights in Albany, eat three or four meals a day and put their Egan-sized bar bill on their UFT padded expense sheets which sleazoids like Weingarten/Mul-Dew bully David Hickey ($220,000 per year) overlook. Lobbying? Why does it take 12 UFT political hacks-all tied into the Mul-Dew Unity Cult Caucus ----to lobby when there are only three people: Silver, Skelos and Cuomo who make the real decisions? The Daily News should check the bar tabs of other top Mul-Dew butt lickers who get paid $170,000 and up with unlimited food and drink and travel and parking budgets, all signed by Mul-Dew sycophant LeRoy Barr. A [UFT top oficial] drank so much at a UFT weekend in Princeton in October 2009, that she was running around the dance floor hugging everyone and saying “I love you.” She had to be carried back to her room and it was only 9 p.m. UFT members would freak out if they could see Mul-Dew’s bar bill disguised as “union business.” He gets just as nasty as Egan but hides it better- his hangover days are spent in tirades against his staff and covering up for Bloomberg as he throws the contract out the window. He is more pathetic than Egan.

Then came this news:
Principal of union-run charter school resigns mid-year

by Anna Phillips

After several years of mixed reviews and a decision by its authorizer to give it an abbreviated charter, a charter school run by the city’s teachers union is losing its principal.
Sources close to the school said that Danny Wilcox, the principal of the United Federation of Teachers’ secondary charter school is stepping down. Wilcox, who would not comment on his departure, is the third principal to leave the secondary school since it opened in 2005.  More

Hey, guess who the first principal let go from this school, which just happens to be housed - co-located - invading - George Gershwin middle school where I was in the first 3 year graduating class in 1959? No less than the son of Unity hacker Peter Goodman who blogs as Ed in the Apple. I thought that would have been an interesting factoid for the article, especially since Gotham likes to link to UFT shill Goodman so often. There's some more interesting info about the school but I ain't goin' there.

Oy vey. I'm starting to feel sorry for these guys.

Afterburn:
Mona Davids asked Gotham to do a story on her corrupt charter school but so far no dice. Here is her comment at Gotham:

Hey Anna,
As I mentioned to you last Friday, can you do a story on my charter, Equality, where the principal was fired two weeks ago. Our school has extremely low test scores (majority of kids failed the state tests), high teacher turnover, high student attrition, high board turnover, cronyism, nepotism and mismanagement.
Oh, and the fact that the school notified 8th grade parents, 3 days to the high school applications deadline that they’re no longer going to high school. Leaving parents to scrambe to find any school for their kids. I think my charter is a bigger story than the UFT charter story especially considering it’s in it’s second year and worse than Ross Global and East NY Prep put together. Like the aforementioned schools, we’re DoE authorized.
Follow the money at my school and get answers to why the principal was abruptly fired by the board.
Best,
Mona

Spoofing Rhee and TFA: Last Stand for Children First Blog - Must Read

Ran across this blog. Is Gary Babab moonlighting? Make sure to click the link to the bubble test wallpaper.

Our booth was a huge success.  We sold out of our bubble test wallpaper and nearly sold our entire stock.  Many TFAers it seems are raising the next generation of high-achieving children and wanted the wallpaper for their personal use.  We also gave away our entire stock of safety tape, which was our free give away.  After we learned that Michelle Rhee had once been horrified to find that the mouths of the class whose mouths she had taped were all bleeding, we went to work on finding a safer tape that would still stop children from opening their mouths, but would not cause physical damage.  Safety Tape does just that and is available in a wide variety of fun colors from Silent Sable to Noiseless Navy.  We are also working on a new brand of Velcro restraints that we hope to have out for next year’s TFA convention. Michelle Rhee was of course very impressed with our tape and even applied some to Myron Miner’s mouth while joking around during a panel discussion.  Rhee offered a startling statistic for the future that I am sure she didn’t just make up saying, “123,000 new high tech jobs will be coming to the United States and only 50,000 students are qualified to do them.”   

Ms. Rhee suggested that there were many ways for the remaining 73,000 students to pad their résumés and suggested that résumé padding is something that all students should be taught in school.

Joel Klein inspired us all by saying that we should make this “our Egypt moment.”  At first, I couldn’t see the parallels, but then I remembered Klein was now working for Rupert Murdoch who saw Hosni Mubarak as the hero of Egypt’s “Egypt moment”.  When I remembered that, and thought of Wisconsin’s brave Governor Scott Walker threatening to send out the National Guard to help him crush the public employee unions in the state and the way that Mubarak threatened to do similar things to the trade unions helping occupy Tahrir Square, it made a lot more sense.  When I thought back to Michelle Rhee’s comments about the DC schools falling apart without her and the way Mubarak said such similar things, I realized that we need to stand up to resistance in a way Mubarak didn’t have the courage to.  Otherwise our ruling elite will wind up like Egypt’s did.

FULL REPORT AT

http://laststand4children.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-stand-for-children-first-attends.html

Leonie says:

There is a guy who is fantastically funny and runs the website LSFC1 – Last stand for children first ( a spoof of Students first, stand for children etc. and all those orgs funded by Gates that have sprung up)  http://laststand4children.blogspot.com/

He also plays  Rep. Jack Kimble – a fake GOP Congressman from CA who is really hilarious and that some reporters have confused him w/ a real House member.  See

http://kimbleforcongress.blogspot.com/ (see http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/09/who-is-rep-jack-kimble.html )

You can also follow him at Twitter which I do; RepJackKimble  and LS4C1 

Kimble ends every night by saying Good night, America, stay free!

I discovered LSFCF at Alexander Russo's Chicago focused (even though he lives in Brooklyn) blog. Here are some serious comments I picked off. I found this comment interesting - and true: They (TFAers) often fail to recognize the positive attributes of veteran teachers, rather concentrating on the sub-par minority. 

Why we will no longer hire TFAs:
We do not want to hear any more: “ I didn’t know the kids would be so far behind, they would be so misbehaved, they would have such little parent support”, etc.
Do not want to keep going on their classrooms due to their practice of classroom management or get 5 student write-ups a day on ‘answering back’ or not doing what I told them to do…have a revolving door of subs due to TFA teachers who leave because teaching is really not for them, who (finally) get married and move on with their spouse, who get pregnant so that they do not have to teach anymore, or when that dream job finally comes to them and they leave in the middle of the year, (I’ll miss the kids though) and then we have to get subs. The help and time we gave them was a waste, learning to be a teacher in summer school was a waste, but mostly, the students are angry these teachers leave them for something/anything better. (And they take it out on the sub or next teacher.)

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/2011/02/events-tfa-at-20.html#ixzz1E5y0s8bt

TFAs like other young teachers are by and large hard workers. Unlike their "regular" peers however they do not seek advice from veteran teachers, rather huddling together and conferring with other rookies. They have a propensity to cite studies and data that fly in the face of the reality in the school. They exude an unearned confidence that belies a general lack of classroom control. They create lessons that are so "rigorous" that they are beyond the reach of most students. They believe that they are more "energetic" than other teachers and that energy and smarts are more important than realism and experience. They are in some ways idealistic, but that idealism is based on an unreality that the TFA system perpetuates. They promote themselves as "education alumni" after only a few years of work. They often fail to recognize the positive attributes of veteran teachers, rather concentrating on the sub-par minority. They refuse to be critical of the TFA program. I must admit however that as a general rule they are much more fashionable than their regular counterparts. You won't see TFAs wearing golf shirts and blouses purchased at The Gap.

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/2011/02/events-tfa-at-20.html#ixzz1E5zF2FZK

Agreed with both above--the TFAs at my school-you describe accurately, even the clothing they wear! It is trendy, but too revealing for teachers of middle school boys. And on advice-I feel sorry for two of these young girls in a tough classroom since September. They are still lost. They teach now to only 1/4 of the class, while their other students ignore them. They have no classroom control and offer lessons that are over the students' heads-so they lose them. And this is February! Their students will have lower ISAT scores from last year, since their students socialize and learn nothing. It is really sad. It is also true that two TFAs left our school because they were 'uncomfortable' with our Latino students speaking Spanish, in their classrooms, even though these students spoke and understood English well.

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/2011/02/events-tfa-at-20.html#ixzz1E5zXEOZo

Anonymous said:

It truly was an inspirational weekend. Anytime you put 11,000 TFA alumni with nearly 25,000 years of combined teaching experience, you have a tremendous amount of something. Our organization Last Stand for Children First was fortunate to be there and our booth gave away our complete supply of safety tape, which is wonderful for taping students mouths without pulling off the skin like can happen with regular tape. My report from TFA20 is located on our website at http://laststand4children.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-stand-for-children-first-attends.html

Read more: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/2011/02/events-tfa-at-20.html#ixzz1E6015GsK

The Racial School Divide in Harlem: A Public School Where Staff is Black, A Co-located Charter With a White Staff

Almost the entire staff of the public school is black or Latino/a and senior while almost the entire staff of the co-located charter is white and young. And this is Harlem where all the kids are the same color of the public school teachers. What has a greater impact on kids? Having a sign on your classroom that says your teacher went to Duke, or having a teacher who comes from your neighborhood and has similar experiences growing up?

Since I completely left the school system around 2005, there have obviously been vast changes. My view has been shaped by the teachers who have been in touch through email and blogs and through my contact with the activist teachers in GEM, ICE, NYCORE and Teachers Unite. But direct contact with rank and file teachers at the school level has been limited.

Last Friday I was invited by a chapter leader to speak at the union meetings, which covered 3 lunch hours. It was quite a learning experience for me. I was impressed with the knowledge the teachers had with many of the push-button issues, a tribute to the chapter leader, a member of GEM, who has attempted to inform the members.

Almost the entire staff is older and Black. I think I met only one younger, white teacher. Many have been in the school for years. The key issue is that the school suffers from a co-location with an aggressive charter school. Teachers talked about how to reach out to parents to tell the story of their school, which is headed for extinction with the charter continuously expanding. What was the racial composition of the charter school staff, I asked? "One hundred percent white," was the response.

And that point struck me right between the eyes. Here we are in Harlem. In a public school where almost all the teachers are of the same color as the students. Older teachers with lots of experience.

And down the hall is an entirely different school, with an almost all white, younger staff, who all come from top level colleges - they hang signs on their doors and from the hallway ceilings. I didn't see one from the CUNY colleges, where one could recruit teachers of color. I'm betting many of them are from Teach for America. And I would bet that they have a level of disdain for the teachers of the public school who look so different from them

f we look down the road, we will see the older black teachers vilified and disappeared and replaced with mostly young white teachers, many of whom will themselves be gone before long to go on to make ed policy which will lead to more elimination of teachers who look like the students they teach. What kind of message does that send to the children in Harlem?

So when there are charges that Teach for America is racist, whether overt or not, take a visit to this school and check the outcomes of ed deform policy.

More on the TFA Summit

"You ask us what we are "doing." We're teaching, every day, just as we have been for years and hope to continue to, unlike the overwhelming majority of TFAers who parade their passion, their excellence, their commitment to children and then...stop...teaching. But after all, TFA is not really about teaching is it? No, as Wendy Kopp herself says, it's about "leadership." In other words, it's really about identifying, training and grooming cadre and leaders for developing policy, managing the schools, and instituting the business model of its funders, which is by its nature anti-democratic."

Michael Fiorillo responding to comments on TFA Summit blogger

Our TFA Summit Blogger's posts on Saturday has gotten quite a response and some interesting channels have opened up. I'm trying to entice Summit Blogger to do a regular gig here at Ed Notes. The two of us are co-editors of the GEM newsletter and we work very well together.

So, here is another view of the TFA summit from another blogger. As you'll see, this blogger is a former Tweedie and a proud supporter of TFA, though she does have misgivings, which she may blog about.

Somehow through some strange Twilight Zone events, we have gotten to know each other a bit. Though I'm often rabid here on the blog, I am capable of having a dialogue and we do and hope to continue the dialogue. We may even get together for a pow wow with Summit Blogger.

Her take on the summit:

I found there was an emphasis on staying in teaching in the messages I heard and saw at the Summit. I also took a bus from New York City with mostly younger corps and I heard about how they wanted to stay in teaching.

This will be great if true and not a PR blitz from TFA to counter the charges that people like Fiorillo make. It will take a lot of convincing to make me believe that there is greater interest in staying in the classroom than in doing ed policy or other work related to "adult" work rather than the focus on children. But we'll see. I hope TFAers do stay, as Summit Blogger did - in the long run they will move away from ed deform and towards working with the Real Reformers. We certainly can use their passion and commitment in the ed wars.

I often hear people say great and inspiring things. Even Randi Weingarten. But as I always say, watch what they do, not what they say.

Here is the full post. Teach for America #TFA20 Recap and Reflections: Part 1

Where we diverge is that she looks at what TFA can bring to the educational table. I look at TFA as a political movement that in the long run will have a deleterious impact. There's a lot for us to hash out.

In the meantime, below the fold are some of the interesting comments - Summit Blogger's responses and others:

District 6 Feb. 16 Shael Suransky - the DOE operating concepts pertaining to Teaching, Learning, & Accountability: Teacher-activist Julie Cavanagh will respond

NOTE: Just heard from Julie - she is real sick and can't make it. Suransky also postponed. Even to be rescheduled in April.

Josh Karan a parent leader in District 6 (Washington Hts) has established a program to engage parents in the educational debate.


Tomorrow's session will have Shael Suransky and GEM/CAPE's Julie Cavanagh presenting.

Deputy Chancellor Shael Suransky will present the DOE operating concepts pertaining to Teaching, Learning, & Accountability, to which teacher-activist Julie Cavanagh will be responding. 

Next - March 7:

DOE Charter School Division Chief Recy Dunn will present the DOE view on the value of Charter schools, to which Mona David will respond.

Josh described the program with the hope it will be emulated in other districts:

The purpose of the program is to provide a roadmap for parents --- to enable them to see a way from here to there, after first defining what the here and there mean for them:  Examining what kind of education parents want for their children, and exploring what currently is being provided.  Presently many parents struggle to do any of this -- understand the current system, articulate what they believe the system should provide, and assert what their role should be in the crafting of a different system, operating under different structures, provision of resources, and values.

This is intended to be a pilot program in my District.  Hopefully it will continue, so that after a few years, in time for the 2015 next round of School Governance legislative consideration, there will be 150 to 200 trained and motivated parents in District 6 who will provide leadership to mobilize our community for a different direction for educational policy. 

Kudos to Josh for his proactive efforts. I can't make the event but it should interesting to see how Julie, a special ed classroom teacher in a school invaded by a charter interacts with the 2nd in command of the school system. If you go (sorry, I don't have the location) send a report.

I put up the entire program at Norms Notes:  District 6 Parent Advocacy Training Program

Leonie Haimson on GEM: "It's a very effective, powerful organization that's growing every day"

I was amused at Beth Fertig's report (see below) on Parents Across America and Educators 4 Excellence (of course, no senior teachers meet the criteria) as if an organization of parents fighting ed deform and a group of teachers paid to be organizers by ed deformers are equivalentl in some way.

Now there is a group called the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) which I helped found two years ago that is unfunded and consisting of almost all classroom teachers. A group that has held forums and rallies and built alliances with parents and community groups that gets no press. 

At the inaugural Parents Across America event featuring Diane Ravitch, a teacher asked how teachers in NYC can get involved in the movement. Leonie Haimson recommended they get involved in GEM.

Here are some reports on the PAA conference last Monday, which was basically uncovered by the press. See my sidebar for links to videos I made.

Building connections at Parents Across America forum

PAA is compared to E4E below.

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/feb/14/two_new_groups_step_into_debate_over_teachers/

Two New Groups Step into Debate Over Teachers

Monday, February 14, 2011 - 04:54 PM

By Beth Fertig

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How much should seniority matter if the city has to layoff thousands of teachers this fall? Two new groups are trying to influence the debate.

Winerip on Ronald Ferguson and Achievement Gap

This blog item ties in with the TFA Summit blogger pieces from this past weekend where "solutions" are merit pay, charters, etc - the ed deform program - where "class size" are dirty words.

I really hate the use of the words "achievement gap" but when Mike Winerip writes about it I take notice. His article on the research Ronald Ferguson has done lays down some interesting ideas that seem to undermine the basis of the ed deform movement - that poverty and race are used as excuses and it really is all about good teaching (preferably from the mouths of young Ivy Leaguers who had 6 weeks of training.) So what to make of this:

His research indicates that half the gap can be predicted by economics: even in a typical wealthy suburb, blacks are not as well-to-do; 79 percent are in the bottom 50 percent financially, while 73 percent of whites are in the top 50 percent.

The other half of the gap, he has calculated, is that black parents on average are not as academically oriented in raising their children as whites. In a wealthy suburb he surveyed, 40 percent of blacks owned 100 or more books, compared with 80 percent of whites. In first grade, the percentage of black and white parents reading to their children daily was about the same; by fifth grade, 60 percent to 70 percent of whites still read daily to their children, compared with 30 percent to 40 percent of blacks.

Ferguson also touches on a touchy subject for teachers:

He also works with teachers to identify biases, for instance: black children are less likely to complete homework because they are lazy. His research indicates that blacks and whites spend the same amount of time on homework, but blacks are less likely to finish. “It’s not laziness,” he says. “It’s a difference in skills.”

So yes, teaching can be a factor - but I always thought that being sensitized to the conditions the students are exposed to is way more important - teaching is not isolated from some level of involvement in understanding the lives of the children. Can that lead to excusing things? Guilty in my case. Did I think a child who was treated in a way at home that tore down his/her self esteem mean I as a teacher had to figure out a way to raise that self esteem or I wouldn't be able to break through and build trust? Hell yes. Did that at times lead me to not hassle kids over certain issues? Guilty again. I just didn't always have the skill set to be nurturing and demanding.

Here is some more from the Winerip piece with a link to the entire article:

He [Ferguson] is frequently quoted in the news media, and in recent months, he has played a major role in four important educational stories: the Gates study on evaluating teachers (his research shows that when kids say a teacher is good, they usually know what they’re talking about); the Council of the Great City Schools study of the widening gap between white and black boys (12 percent of black fourth-grade boys were proficient in reading on a national test, compared with 38 percent of whites); a front-page story in The New York Times last year on the effectiveness of big high schools (at a time when small schools are in vogue); and as a member of the eight-person New York State panel that decided whether Cathleen P. Black should qualify for a waiver to be New York City’s chancellor (he won’t say how he voted). 

Closing the Achievement Gap Without Widening a Racial One
By MICHAEL WINERIP
NYTimes.com | Published: February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/education/14winerip.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Evil Invades District 14 (Williamsburg)- NOTE DATE CHANGE

CHARTER SCHOOLS GOT YOU WONDERING?

  COME AND FIND OUT WHAT THIS NEW       CHARTER SCHOOL IS REALLY ALL ABOUT

           NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

              C0-LOCATION HEARING FOR

         BROOKLYN SUCCESS ACADEMY

           PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL

             EVA MOSKOWITZ, CEO

           INTO THE FORMER I.S. 33

                 70 TOMPKINS AVE.

                BETWEEN MYRTLE AND PARK

    THURS. FEBRUARY 17, 2011 AT 6:00 PM

          

       ???????? HAVE QUESTIONS FOR THE DOE ????????

           IS THERE A NEED FOR MORE ELEMENTARY

             SCHOOL SEATS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

       DO ALL CHARTER SCHOOLS RUN THE SAME WAY?

         WILL THE THREE OTHER PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN   

                   I.S. 33 BE SQUEEZED FOR SPACE?

        

       SHOULD K-12 STUDENTS BE IN THE SAME BUILDING?

                  WILL ALL SCHOOLS IN I.S. 33 BE

                 FUNDED AND RESOURCED FAIRLY?

Egyptian and Tunisian Democracy Dissidents Reach out to UFTers

The The New Times had a report today about the alliance between Egyptian and Tunisian young dissidents:

a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world — a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades.

Unity keeps back the opposition at DA

 What the Times did not report was that the leaders of the movement have been reaching out to the dissidents in the UFT fighting the Unity Caucus machine. "We heard about the torture people endure listening to endless speeches at the Delegate Assembly and were shocked," said one activist. "That Unity speakers bureau that meets the day before the DA where they map out what they will do and even give this guy Mulgrew a map of where everyone sits was copied by Mubarek to run our sham parliament. We are hoping out movement will be contagious and lead to freedom for the teachers in the UFT."

The spokesperson said, "We suggest they put garlic and vinegar in their scarves and wrap them around their faces when Leo Casey gets up and starts that awful phony whining about brothers and sisters. Personally, I would rather face the tear gas than that."

Why Won't Mulgrew Defend LIFO?

I just want to open with a cat report since our Unity/union official friend seems so anxious to get an update: no doody, no vomit. Now you can relax for the day.

I just watched Mulgrew on Diana Williams on ABC and wasn't surprised he wouldn't defend LIFO. He didn't at the DA last Wednesday and he didn't went he went to speak to E4E (I have to comment later on the E4E correct point about retirees voting in UFT elections). Instead he shifts the debate to not having layoffs at all or talks about class size. Not a bad strategy but ducking the LIFO issue when he has a platform to make a rational case does everyone a disservice. Why not bring up the Peter Lamphere case in a vast public forum? Does the fact that Peter is a long-time member of the opposition have anything to do with it? At the very least he should bring up Iris Blige.

Arthur Goldstein did a piece on LIFO at HufPo: merits of LIFO  and Peter did his own piece at Gotham: “Merit”? My Experience With Arbitrary U Ratings

Making the connection between political use of U ratings and LIFO should be at the top of Mulgrew's agenda. But it isn't and that avoidence is what puts him on the Randi Weingarten camp (see part 2 of our GEM TFA blogger's reactions to Randi's appearance yesterday for a sample of Randi doublespeak -Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 2 - Randi Weingarten).

I know people think Mulgrew is different - and later I may do a piece on my reaction to him at the DA where I also saw some differences - but more in style than substance.

Mulgrew also missed a chance to explain and defend the ATRs - which he did at the DA to the members - but doesn't really do when he talks to the public - I mean give the full case with facts and figures how these people are often covering real programs.

I left this comment at Gotham, a comment that is waiting moderation, so I'll reprint it here:

Is a democratic system of government always fair? There are all sorts if distortions. But can anyone point to an alternative. The same with LIFO. Not always fair to all but in fact is the only system that works over the long term. It is a system put in place well over a hundred years ago way before there were teacher unions  because of the corruption and patronage that went on.

Why would that change now? Just read Peter Lamphere's story in the Community section - he would be out of a job if LIFO ends. Then there's Iris Blige. But we can talk about hundreds of principals who would not make a fair and rational judgement.

Other principals I know absolutely support LIFO in spite of what it costs them.

By that I mean the fair funding formula which was designed to force principals to get rid of the highest paid teachers. I have a simple way to eliminate that as a factor - go back the old system of not charging a school for the costs of teacher salaries. There can be no LIFO modifications until that ends. But you will never see that happen because that is the very reason for the Fair funding formula in the first place and it reveals the entire intention behind the move to end LIFO.

I was at a school the other day as a speaker and a 4th year teacher told me she supported the idea of LIFO but also doesn't think it fair for her to lose her job while she can point to people in the school who don't pull their weight. A fair point.

But let's drill a bit. First, she has no guarantee that the principal sees it the way she does. I had a principal who favored people who sucked up to her - to her that was pulling the weight.

Secondly, as a 4th year teacher she already had a buffer over teachers with less seniority than she has. If she is laid off LIFO seniority rules should protect her when people are called back - though I don't know how this would work in reality. In 1975 when there were massive layoffs, most people were called back within a year or two - and in the order in which they were laid off and at the salary that were making.  Teaching at that point became a tough job to get.

In fact, you will never find everyone working to the same capacity in any job - I know young lawyers at big firms who chafe over the seniority that goes on - there are forms of LIFO in almost every profession. My wife was at a hospital and even among doctors, the longer you are there the more perks you get. There are also all sorts of politics that keep certain people around while more competent people can't get ahead. What do you think goes on the police dept - and these guys have guns - no one seems upset that a young cop might be cut to keep a vet who may not have the ability to chase someone down in the street anymore. To make teachers the focal point is just part of the general assault on public education - to ruin teaching as  career and replace them with a cheap, transient force. As Ravitch points out, there are 4 million teachers in this nation - do they think they can work on the Peace Corps idea? 

Has the uft has made any of these points amongst all the other defense of lifo arguments so many bloggers are making?

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

NOTE: See below for 4:45 added update
"6:05 PM It’s after 6. Drink tickets are now valid. Hoping to see Kaya Henderson at the bar"

Also NOTE: Another former TFA teacher video on negative aspects of TFA

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

The audience is eating this up. It sounds tough. But do our schools and children need this sort of toughness? Education is not a business, but this panel believes it is. It is unbelievable how one-sided this summit is. 

Diane, are you reading this? We need you here pronto. I’ll pay your travel expenses and help you storm the stage. 

Kaya Henderson, DC schools:

Where is the Pepto? I can’t stand this woman. She has the potential to be a more frightening monster than Rhee. (She spoke this morning in the opening brainwashing session.)

She is touting the success of D.C.’s 126 charter schools: “We have a robust charter school movement.” She claims these schools are so successful because they have the autonomy they need.

I’ll take some of that autonomy. Sign my public school and me up. Oh, I guess she isn’t offering that.  

3:10 Just arriving to session entitled, The Future of Schools Systems:

How to get through this session? Is smells like the destruction of public education in here. Check out the panel:

1. Richard Barth: President, CEO KIPP

2. Kaya Henderson, Interim Chancellor DC Schools

3. Rebecca Nieves Huffman, VP of the Fund for Authorizing Excellence, National Association of Charter School Authorizers

4. Paul Pastorek, State Superintendent of Education, Louisiana Department of Education

Moderated by Ted Mitchell, President and CEO, New Ventures Fund

Paul Pastorek begins. Says we need to “Break up the monopolies.” Why? “Because we have to define what will be a truly great school. We need the flexibility to innovate. We need the city to get out of the way.” He discusses Louisiana’s effort to decentralize the school system and how he is relying mainly on charter schools to provide the innovation LA needs.  32% children who are not on grade level, and he says charter schools are the only hope.

Yuck. How can all these people sit here and listen to this? I know there are public school teachers here, as I’ve seen their name tags. Are they not outraged? I am, but you knew that already.

Pastorek then asserts the keys to his success: “We seed, feed and weed in Louisiana.”

              Seed: Bring new schools in.

Feed: Provide support if they want it, but don’t push it.

Weed: Remove schools that do not meant the standards.

Pastorek closes with “We need to engender competition.”

The audience is eating this up. It sounds tough. But do our schools and children need this sort of toughness? Education is not a business, but this panel believes it is. It is unbelievable how one-sided this summit is. Diane, are you reading this? We need you here pronto. I’ll pay your travel expenses and help you storm the stage.

After a day of this, I’ll be lucky if I can still think for myself. It feels a bit like the Fox News studio here. So much propaganda…

LOTS MORE

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

"I ask him next about attrition. While his Houston schools seem to have low attrition, can he explain New York’s? (See KIPP chart from earlier post this morning.) He appears surprised to see the numbers in my hand, but says he is aware of this “challenge.” He criticizes the KIPP school leaders who claim 100% graduation rates even though they have had 50% attrition in their schools. He does not, however, offer any insight as to where these children go. He simply says that it is “harder” to hold on to middle/high school kids than elementary kids. He says this is why his school has such low attrition: “When we start with them young, they stick.” He does not offer a response to my question about whether or not KIPP schools counsel out kids. He says he knows the KIPP Infinity school leader and couldn’t imagine him doing this. But, he offers NO explanation as to why the attrition is so high."

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

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.

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.

HCZ=

Shana Brodaux talks about HCZ’s early childhood program and their efforts to educate the “whole child,” improve educational outcomes and “end generational poverty.”She talks about how their program starts when children are “in the womb” and offers them an education all the way through early childhood. They are then feed into HCZ Promise Academies. She says they spend the most money on their 4-year old program. There are 5 teachers in every class of 20 kids, with a focus on school readiness.

I want to ask her about HCZ’s attrition that I mentioned this morning when Canada was speaking. Everything she says sounds good on paper. Her program of Early Childhood Education appears successful in the way she is painting it, however I wonder what she is leaving out? How can this program be called “successful” if these kids are not making it through their school long term. Will try to speak to her at the end.

KIPP, Aaron Brenner:

He talks about the KIPP SHINE in Houston. He claims they started with 114 kids in a Pre-K type program. He says they were 98% free reduced lunch, 67% ELL’s. Drastically different stats than what we see in New York. He next says that 103 of these kids “made it through to 5^th grade.” He touts their successes on a whole range of standardized tests and claims they are all “at or above grade level.” But what does it mean to “make it through” ?

I wonder where those 11 students went. Were they counseled out as seems to be the practice with KIPP schools in NYC? I am surprised that there was not more attrition.

He describes his school’s approach to early childhood and stresses the importance of Kindergarten teachers, claiming they are the “most deserving of our admiration.” The first thing I’ve heard all day that made me feel just slightly good. He mentions the importance of song, play and free time in early childhood education and even goes as far as to say that it should be a part of middle and high school education.

I wonder what his KIPP colleagues who work in middle and high schools would say about this? KIPP has been exposed for its use of authoritarian practices in many of its schools.  What to believe? I would love to ask him, but will have to attempt when the session is over, or try my luck with a note card. Again, in this session, we are required to write questions down on note cards and pass them to the front. No face to face contact between the panel and the audience. I guess that would be too personal.  

There are no public school teachers or leaders on this panel. TFA is painting charter schools as the only organizations that are doing anything to change education. This panel shared a lot of good information about the importance of early childhood education, and as an early childhood educator I appreciate the affirmation of the importance of my work.  Yet, TFA is offering a narrow perspective to its alumni—why isn’t this discussion about how to make Pre-K universal?

Question from the audience (via note card): Is the work of HCZ/KIPP scalable?

KIPP response: “We believe our approach is scalable” and that “we can silence our critics” with our success. He does not, however, explain how it is scalable.

HCZ response: Talks about the need to partner with public schools and share best practices. Says that charter schools cannot shoulder all the burden and that public schools need to be able to expand their Pre-K programs. This is the first acknowledgement of the day that charters may not be the panacea, and from an HCZ staffer. It’s not much, but I’ll take what I can get today. 

2:45 Session ends and I race to the panel to try to ask Brenner from KIPP some questions. He’s very receptive to my questions and speaks frankly.

I ask him about KIPP’s “drill and kill” reputation, which he mentioned as something he does not want happening at his school in Houston. I ask him how he perceives KIPP schools in general? Do they use the drill and kill? Are they authoritarian? He says that his school in Houston is not and that the reason he took the job there was to have a chance to do something different than what KIPP generally does. (KIPP mainly operates middle and high schools. In Houston he started an elementary.) But, he admits that KIPP schools are characterized that way because many of them have a history of being that way. He claims it is all “in the past” and that each KIPP school is making efforts to be more nurturing, less controlling. I’m not so sure I believe him, but he is quite convincing.

I ask him next about attrition. While his Houston schools seem to have low attrition, can he explain New York’s? (See KIPP chart from earlier post this morning.) He appears surprised to see the numbers in my hand, but says he is aware of this “challenge.” He criticizes the KIPP school leaders who claim 100% graduation rates even though they have had 50% attrition in their schools. He does not, however, offer any insight as to where these children go. He simply says that it is “harder” to hold on to middle/high school kids than elementary kids. He says this is why his school has such low attrition: “When we start with them young, they stick.” He does not offer a response to my question about whether or not KIPP schools counsel out kids. He says he knows the KIPP Infinity school leader and couldn’t imagine him doing this. But, he offers NO explanation as to why the attrition is so high.   

I rush out to head to my next session, which guarantees to enlarge my current ulcer—its about the future of school systems and its bound to be a charter party!

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.