Educators 4 Excellence Update

Oh, where to start? Maybe with South Bronx School:  The Two Faced Ramblings Of E4E'S Ruben Brosbe.

I won't be as comprehensive as SBS but just look at a few of Ruben Brosbe's comments in this post on the Gotham Community:

Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions: An E4E Take on EDUSolidarity

Shocked that Ruben and E4E support unions? You should be.

But you know E4E is all about children - when they're not all about adults - E4Eers wanting to make sure they are not laid off - for the sake of the children, of course.

Ruben tells us:

When I think of one of the most vital roles of the union however, I think of the protections that allow me to advocate for my students. At a school with more than 33 percent of students requiring special education services and an even larger number who are considered English language learners, I understand how crucial it is that I can speak up for these students if they aren’t getting legally mandated services. This is arguably the foremost job of a teacher, to speak up for his or her students. By protecting teachers who do this, the union is protecting the city’s neediest children. The union is at its best when it is in this role.

This caused me to roll around the floor laughing - since Ruben lifted this idea word for word from GEM's Julie Cavanagh who used the exact words when she debated an E4Eer on NY1. E4E loves to tell the people on its email list about the press they are getting. In their update that week they seem to have left out the NY1 debate with Julie kicking ass. (Julie tells me Evan and Sydney were in the Green room coaching their rep and cheering her up after the debate. Bill Gates' money is being well spent.)

Here is the link to the debate so you can see exactly how well Ruben can copycat:
http://www.ny1.com/?ArID=134963

What the E$E spinmeisters are doing is trying to co-opt the Real Reformers' message about the union. Maybe one day they will actually mention low class size as being good for children. But that might affect their funding from Gates who doesn't believe it - unless for his own children.

But then comes this winner from Ruben:

I know I don’t see eye to eye with the UFT on every issue. I don’t agree with LIFO.

So let's follow Ruben's logic. Or illogic.

A teacher advocates for their children. Who does that teacher advocate with? Most often the principal. Who most often gets pissed off at advocating teacher- with threat of U rating to follow if teacher doesn't stop advocating for children. Ruben's answer? Fire that teacher.

Jose Vilson, one of the most highly respected ed bloggers and an organizer of EDUSolidarity comments:

from everything I've seen from E$E (appropriate because when you hit shift+4, you get $), you really want to take down the union, not actually help it progress.You and your group have made it so a discussion proliferates between younger and older teachers would rift, not amend, the tenuous relationship between younger and older teachers in our system. As a younger teacher, I'm disappointed that your group also aligns itself unabashedly with anyone willing to corrupt our (albeit not perfect) union.

To which Ruben responds:

I don't think that the relationship between senior and newer teachers is strengthened by the current layoff system. In fact, I think when newer teachers look around and see that senior teachers are protected regardless of performance, it breeds resentment, rather than respect. Meanwhile, I have nothing but respect for the veteran teachers who continue to work hard and refine their craft. I have benefited immensely from the help of veteran teachers in my short time in the classroom

Again, a misleading lack of logic on Ruben's part. In fact LIFO protects newer teachers as much as senior teachers. A third year teacher gets priority over a first year teacher. And gets called back in the order of layoff. E$E is trying to exploit the vulnerability of newer teachers through the Gates/DFER funded political, having nothing to do with education) campaign and if we give Ruben the benefit of the doubt, he is a tool.

If Ruben has such respect for vet teachers "who continue to work hard and refine their craft" he must be talking about vet teachers who do not work hard and continue to refine their craft. Where are these people? Does he know them from his own school? Or is he talking from theory - that they must exist because Bill Gates and Bloomberg tell him they exist. And where are their principals (or principles)? Where is Ruben's principal if these vets exist in his school? Here is where Ruben won't dare go - his own school because if he is a true advocate for the children he so cares about why doesn't he campaign in his own school to remove these people? Think embarrassing the principal might have repercussions for Ruben?

There's a lot of proof out there that newer teachers who have an intention of making a career out of teaching support LIFO. Witness groups like GEM, Teachers Unite and NYCORE. Check out my co-blogger MAB and GEM's Liza Campbell (Anticipating Fight Back Friday), who also blogs at Gotham Community, as examples. Plus the people like Julie and Brian Jones who are a decade+ in the system.

In fact if you attend this Saturday's NYCORE conference (Whose Schools? Our Schools) at Julia Richman HS (67th St and 2nd Ave) Campus you will see hundreds of younger teachers there who I will bet support LIFO and seniority rules.


E$E coming to your school?
I reported on Sunday night (which you may have missed- E4E Invitation to Lunch n' Learn May Violate More than Rules of Ethics) about a principal inviting E$E into school to speak during a lunch hour. It turns out it was not an L&L but voluntary. I raised the issue of whether Tweed was working behind the scenes to help E$E gain access during the school day. Wouldn't surprise me at all. E$E has paid organizers. All our teachers actually work, so only Angel and I are available to come visit.

A contact spoke to lawyers at the CSA (principals' union) and they were not happy since the CSA supports LIFO. My contact at the school said the E$E rep misrepresented herself and the organization when she came in. I sent the contacts at the school Jeff Kaufman's pieces on E$E published on the ICE blog and they were preparing a reception. (“White Paper” on a Roll: How Ed Deformers Distort the Record on Seniority Layoffs and Up Close and Personal With An Opposition.)

They are also asking the principal if I can come in and rebut but the guys at the school seemed to have the situation pretty much under control (they sent out a mass email to the staff before the meeting.)

E$E is holding happy hours - a free drink if you sign their pledge - so if you hear of any let E$E watch central know and we might send some GEMers over to join them.

Before I go, here is a comment left on Gotham on E$E:

What I am amused at by the E4E and anti-seniority based layoff crowd is their own assurance that they will not be discriminated against and verily believe they are the "best" teachers (or most effective as they say). Unions, seniority and the civil service system developed in our history to meet a very specific need in our democracy... providing a fair and equitable way to terminate employees in the face of economic crisis. Public employers also saw advantages in using seniority since they could not be accused of discrimination or arbitrariness and at the same time keep the most experienced employees... employees who have a track record of performing their job satisfactorily. The job displacement that seniority based layoffs would create is not different from E4E proposals as allegedly poorer senior teachers would still have to be replaced... replaced by less senior, less experienced teachers. Lets face it any layoff scheme would impact our students negatively. I submit that the current retention policies including hiring teachers who have no intention of becoming senior teachers has had a much greater negative impact on students than any layoff scheme. The heart of E4E anti-seniority based layoff scheme is anti-union. The agenda is driven by the belief that the (or any) union does not belong in the workplace. In their world everyone will earn what they are worth and only the best will survive. Sounds a bit social darwinistic...or maybe they think that's a good thing.

Link to comment: http://disq.us/1ci1c3

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When will we start talking to charter school parents?

by M.A.B.

Through my work with GEM and our efforts to counter the movement to privatize education in New York City, I have come across a common theme when my fellow activists talk about parents who choose charter schools for their children. While we challenge the existence and necessity of these schools, we often say that we understand why parents send their children to charter schools. While I of course respect charter schools parents and I do not want to draw a line in the sand—I think some revision of this position is necessary. The argument often made by charter school supporters is that parents choose charter schools because they are dissatisfied with their neighborhood public schools. They allege that our public schools are failing and that charter schools provide a better alternative to families.

I worry that by simply saying we understand why these parents choose charter schools that we are also, in a way, condemning our public schools. By saying we understand, I fear we stop ourselves from actually dialoguing with these families. When we say we understand, I believe we are sending the wrong message.

I argue that we need to change our position to this: “We understand why parents think they need to send their children to charter schools.” Let me explain…

Since September, five of my Kindergarten parents have approached me asking if they should send their children to charter schools. They showed me numerous mailings they received in the mail and appeared quite confused. Many thought they were required to fill out the paperwork, but didn’t have a true interest in sending their child elsewhere. One parent actually had a letter that claimed her child had been accepted to a charter school, yet she had never heard of it, much less applied for admission.

Parents across the city are being bombarded with similar advertisements, while the media continues to condemn and criticize our under-resourced public schools. The message many parents receive is oversimplified—“public schools are failing and you should get out while you can!” The reality is that many of our public schools—particularly those that serve low-income and high-poverty communities—are not receiving the support or resources they need to be successful. It isn’t that they are failing—it’s that they serve the most difficult populations and are expected to deal with the challenges of poverty all on their own. Rather than actually addressing the causes of poverty, our mayor and other corporate education reformers are creating a system that encourages people to ignore and avoid societal realities. They have vilified the schools that serve the highest needs students and are encouraging parents to enroll in privately managed charter schools.

When parents opt for charter schools, I often wonder what has actually transpired to lead them to that point. There are those who have actively sought out charters schools, but I wonder how many others are enrolling their children simply because they have been overwhelmed by the million dollar advertising and messaging machines at work.  

While I know that many of our public schools need more support, resources and attention, and that the system needs a serious overhaul, most of the charter schools in New York City are not actually providing children with an education they deserve. Instead, they have been able to market the perception that they are doing what is best for children. 

I recently discovered that Success Academies (Eva Moskowitz’s charter chain that currently operates five charters in Manhattan and two in the Bronx) was going to try to edge its way into District 14 where I live. A few months ago a woman approached me on the subway platform. She asked if I would sign a petition to help a new public school open in district 14. I was curious, so asked to see the petition.

The Success Academy logo was right at the top. I handed her back the clipboard and attempted to explain why I could not sign. I crossed my fingers that their plan to invade my neighborhood would fail. A public hearing was recently held in an attempt to co-locate an 8th Success Academy here. Within days of the hearing announcement, bus stops lining Graham Avenue (one of the neighborhood's busiest streets) were outfitted with large, colorful Success Academies’ advertisements. A beaming child’s face was surrounded with the words, “Next Stop, College.” Next, the subway station was home to these ads and finally Success Academy flyers hung on every doorknob in District 14. Many of these ads began with the phrase, “Better schools are coming to your community.”

As a resident of District 14, I know of a great number of high-performing public schools and I would be proud to send a child of mine to one of the public schools near my house. Moskowitz’s declaration that our district is in need of her schools in order to improve is misleading at best. A large part of her marketing campaign is selling the message that the schools we already have are not good enough. While Success Academies likely spends the most on its advertising (sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats), other charter operators use the same deceptive and divisive tactics.

When exploring the Success Academies website I came across a section titled, “Why choose Success Academies?” It listed many of the claims I have seen on their advertisements:

• We hire only the best teachers.

• Our public elementary schools have proven track record of success.

• Our schools are joyful and promote a love of learning.

 When we look closely at what actually goes on inside the doors of Success Academies, it is quite apparent that they are not, in fact, providing their students with the kind of education they claim.

The best teachers?

Success Academy schools hire mostly young, novice teachers and show a high rate of teacher turnover. My partner works at a public school that has the misfortune of co-locating with a Harlem Success Academy. HSA’s teaching staff struggles no differently than any other teaching staff that is predominately made up of rookies. They struggle to maintain focused connections with so many children simultaneously and find it challenging to keep order in their classrooms and hallway. Like many new teachers grappling with how to lead a group of children, some HSA teachers rely on threats and give out checks (their version of demerits) when dealing with discipline. Parents are routinely called in to either supervise their own children or take them home early from school. It is not easy or simple work guiding a group of young children during a long school day. It requires great skill—skill that is not a taught in school, learned over the summer or developed in just a year. Mastering the art of teaching takes commitment, dedication, humility and most of all, experience. Success Academy teachers are much more ordinary than Eva Moskowitz wants us to believe.

 A track record of success?

While Success Academy students do often score well on standardized tests, this is not a true measure of success. Success Academies have a track record of counseling out students who have behavioral or academic difficulty. When examining their enrollment data one sees stark drops as students get older. Large groups start in kindergarten (usually around 80 to 100 students), but by 3rd, 4th and 5th grade these numbers are between 30 and 60 students. My public school experiences some degree of attrition, but we never see enrollment fluctuate to this degree. Public schools that share space with the Success Academies schools frequently report former Success Academy students enrolling in their schools. Often these students were asked to leave or the parents withdrew them out of frustration with the school's punitive practices. In The test scores gains that the schools tout are less significant when one considers how many students the schools failed to educate along the way.

Success Academy schools also seem to equate success with a test score. Instead of teaching their students to be thoughtful, self-motivated learners, they are teaching their students how to recall information at the most basic level. Instead of teaching their students to be independent learners, their students are completely dependent upon their teachers. Both the New York Times and New York Magazine have published articles about the structure of the day at Harlem Success Academies. The routines are so regimented that students are actually timed while using the bathroom and putting away their coats and bags. What will happen to these children when someone isn’t threatening them with a check or holding a timer in front of their heads? Children need to be taught to control, manage and be in charge of themselves.

A successful school would also be a place with a low turnover rate for teachers. Low turnover rates are a good indication of a stable school environment. Success Academies schools have higher turnover rates than all of the public schools with whom they share space. At Harlem Success Academy 1, 50% of the teachers left after the 2008-2009 school year. Not only do teachers turnover quickly, but principals do as well.  Moskowitz routinely removes and replaces her schools’ administrators, often in the midst of the school year.

Joyful schools?

Success Academies teachers tend use very controlling and authoritarian measures with students. “Checks” are dolled out by the minute as punishment.  When students are not meeting expectations, the teachers yell out “that’s a check!” What does this empty attempt at discipline teach students? It certainly doesn’t seem to send the message that school is a joyful place.  

Students seem to be kept in check with fear and intimidation. And it doesn’t stop there. Parents of Success Academies’ students are required to sign very detailed contracts. Moskowitz has a harsh approach when it comes to working with families, “Our school is like a marriage, and if you don’t come through with your promises, we will have to divorce.” What about marriage vows that say, "Through sickness and health, for richer and poorer ‘til death do us part?" Do we want schools that can “divorce” our children and parents, or ones that are faithful and do their best to educate and provide for our children and families, no matter what?

When students are late or come to a Success Academy school unprepared, Saturday detention is often the consequence—for both parent and child. Parents are also required to attend various functions to promote the school. Recently, I attended a Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting where a motion regarding Success Academies was on the agenda. Moskowitz bused in hundreds of parents and students to testify and cheer at the hearing. Instead of asking her parents to speak about their experiences, they were given detailed scripts and told what to think and what to say.

The motion on the PEP agenda proposed co-locating yet another Success Academy school in an existing and fully functioning public school building. Moskowitz has never opened one of her charter schools in her own building. Rather, she works her way into public school buildings and little by little takes space away from the school that is there. She overtly recruits their public school students and takes their classroom space—all the while claiming that her schools are revolutionizing education. But what message is she sending to her students? Isn’t she teaching them to take what they want without regard to the feelings or rights of others?

Success Academies is just one of many charter school networks operating in New York City. While charter schools currently serve fewer than 5% of our city's children, they garner substantially more support than our deserving public schools. These schools are not the reform our city and our country so desperately need. Rather, they are a distraction. Instead of investing in the reforms proven to impact student learning (class size reduction and maintaining an experienced teaching force), our mayor and President are promoting charter schools as the cure-all.  Until parents begin to understand the realities of what is going on in these schools and the inaccuracies of their advertising, this ineffective model of education reform will continue.

Starting the dialogue?

At the PEP meeting I attended, I was sitting near some Harlem Success Academy families. One parent seemed quite annoyed by our comments and began to question our position asking us, “Why are you so angry?!” Two of my fellow GEM activists responded and were able to start a dialogue. They explained the reality of co-location and the devastation it has had on our public schools that have been forced to share space with a Success Academy school. The parent was quite shocked. Our perspective was completely new to him and by the end, he seemed to appreciate our struggle. While he certainly did not storm over to Eva Moskowitz and demand change or threaten to remove his child, I could tell that when we left him, the wheels were churning in his head. He had more questions.

When I had been standing in line to get into the meeting, I was next to a group of Harlem Success Academy parents/teachers. I desperately wanted to engage with them, but I hesitated. What if they got upset? What if they thought I was disrespectful and wrote me off? Instead of asking these “what ifs,” I should have just tried to start a conversation.

This past week I attended an informational session for Brooklyn Success Academy and attempted to dialogue with the parents there. I found that the majority of the parents in attendance were there simply because they had received multiple mailings advertising the event--they were not necessarily interested in leaving their public schools, nor did they have a true understanding of what a charter school was. The Success Academy spokesperson called their charter school a "public school," and presented a compelling (albeit inaccurate) case for why parents should enter their lottery. While I know many of the parents there will likely enter the lottery for this school, I did have some promising and fruitful conversations. If we do not begin to engage with parents in this way, then they will be left with only the destructive and disingenuous messages they receive through advertisements and the media.  We need to bring people the truth, even if it is done one conversation at a time.


M.A.B. has been a New York City public school Kindergarten teacher for 5 years. Previous to this she worked in a charter school and a Montessori Preschool. She has been involved with the Grassroots Education Movement for the past 2 years.  
 

Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions: The Awakening

by Norm Scott

Today is EduSolidarity Day. Many bloggers are posting on the theme "Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions." (Facebook link). Coming  home after working on my taxes I didn't feel all that solidarity-like, but then again I'm no tea party anti-go'ment/Walker supporter and am proud to pay my taxes ¬– so they can be turned over to millionaires and giant corporations instead of supporting education. Today is also "wear red solidarity day for Wisconsin." So to get in the mood, I'm wearing my red jammies with the dropseat flap and I'm raring to go. Read the other excellent posts at http://www.edusolidarity.org


I grew up in an ILGWU home but not with a great deal of union consciousness on the part of my parents. My mom got off the boat from Poland in 1920 at the age of 15 and went right to work as an operator. My dad, who was much younger, got a job at my mom's brother-in-law's factory in Brooklyn as a presser before leaving for higher paying job in the city. There was a strike in the early 50's and my dad came home wearing a "picket captain" armband and I remember being proud - my first consciousness about unions. Even though we never lived very high, my dad made a good enough salary with benefits that my mom didn't have to work after I was born - she had already put in 25 years. My 93-year-old dad still gets a modest pension and if he wanted to go into the city, has access to a union-sponsored health center.

Basically, other than studying about unions in high school and college, that is it for me in terms of unions – until my first day on the job as a teacher at PS 16 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in Sept. 1967 when all the talk is about a coming strike. As a fugitive from the draft with no intention of teaching for long and scared to death of facing a classroom of kids, I am thrilled. I have my deferment. I hope the strike lasts the entire year.

Out of 55,000 teachers, 44,000 go on strike in over 900 schools. The majority of the staff at PS 16 goes out and David Dicker, the principal, seems to be in support, so I join them. (I wonder what I would have done if the majority had gone in.) I show up every day for the next week and walk a picket line - very self-consciously. Some woman is in charge of organizing the picket line. She turns out to be the chapter leader. She gives me some stuff to fill out and "Voila" I'm a union member for the first time.

A year later comes the massive '68 strike. This time the entire school system is shut down – almost all the supervisors support the strike because they deem Ocean-Hill and community control as a major threat, as does the UFT – except for pockets of schools opened and staffed by mostly radical teachers. I know nothing about them and am barely conscious of the strike issues but I buy whatever I am told by the union.

Again, I am happy the school is closed. I spend an hour or two on the picket line and head off to play basketball. This goes on for weeks - on and off 3 times. At some point another teacher at my school tells me she has a job for me – a church has opened up a half-day program for 7-9th graders and needs teachers. I teach 3 classes of middle school social studies and take home a hundred dollars a week, $2 more than I was taking home from the Board of Education. This strike is turning into a dream. (Only later did I realize that I didn't have to walk past a picket line to be a scab.)

So, the strike ends eventually around Thanksgiving. I've been so adept at avoiding any responsibility for really teaching, I am still being used as a daily sub (believe it or not, I was an ATR). But I'm only going to teach the rest of the year and hopefully get a good draft number so I can go back to grad school and finish my MA in history and go on to a PhD and college teaching. Or to the Foreign Service where I have just gotten a great grade on an exam. The union is so irrelevant to me.

Coming back from Xmas vacation, a teacher of a horrible 4th grade class announces he is leaving at the end of January. He's a pretty lousy teacher who doesn't give a rat's ass for the kids - from an Ivy League law school on leave who actually scabbed the '68 strike - no radical he - not for moral reasons but because he says he would be breaking the law and was worried about his legal career. Many years later I would think of him whenever I see Joel Klein.

He's absent a lot and I cover his 4-8 class where most kids are reading at first-second grade level. And they are big for 4th graders - some are almost my size, particularly some of the girls. I am trying hard not to give a shit. I've learned enough to manage them but these are not pleasant days, especially since we are making up strike time with an extended day that goes from 8-3:15. Actually, I'm no longer as stressed as I was and can actually do this subbing thing. So much so I am getting bored.

After much angst, in an act of lunacy, I go to the new principal and offer to cover the class for the rest of the year and he says "yes (to the objections of the AP who thought of me as a total loser). I break into a cold sweat and a sinking feeling grows within me as I realize I have violated my golden rule - avoid being responsible for a class of kids under all costs. The sinking feeling doesn't go away until my last self-contained class - in 1985. (Just joking.)

I throw myself into the work with every ounce of energy I have, fall in love with the kids (and them with me), succeed far beyond my wildest imagination (even have that AP kvelling) and by June feel like the king of the world. I am hooked on the high - for a life sentence. Grad school be damned.

In year three I feel like a pro. Early on, I really miss my kids from the year before but I am rewarded with a 4-3 class and these kids are only a year or so behind and I have a real shot at moving them. And I do. I fall in love all over again and think about them every minute of the weekend and can't wait to get in on Monday mornings.

I get some visits from my kids from the year before who have gone onto 5th grade in a new middle school. Many are not doing too well and I begin to think that no matter how hard I work they will still get screwed - by what and by whom I am not so sure.

I start poking my head out of the sand during the last third of the school year (spring, 1970), noticing that the political appointee principal who took over for David Dicker, who I admired immensely as a principal, was a nice guy who liked me but couldn't manage a school. I begin to attend UFT chapter meetings for the first time. The union rep seems somewhat manipulative and inept and I actually entertain the thought of running for chapter leader. (Oh, the arrogance.) But I decide I want out of a school that seems going down the tubes.

Let's put the times in some sort of context. There is still a war going on. We've been though assassinations and massive demos and closings of colleges over the last few years. The school system is in the turmoil of the new decentralization law.

Marty Needelman, my best friend growing up has graduated from law school and gets a deferment by working for the urban Peace Corps as a lawyer. He has to work in a poverty community and live there. In the small world department - and probably what turns out life-changing for me - he is assigned to Williamsburg and he and other lawyers organize the community to take over the school board amongst other rad actions (he's still there as head of Williamsburg Legal Services). Marty invites me to a meeting and I meet a middle school teacher named Lew Friedman. He tells me he is part of a group of teachers at his school who support the community and tells me most of them broke the '68 strike. I'm a little shocked but tell him I will contact him in the fall of 1970.

I'm at a new school in the fall and getting acclimated and feel very strange. I may have made a mistake. I speak my mind and people are turned off by the new rad Norm. Marty tells me about a sit-in it the District Superintendent's office that has been going on for months. They are sleeping in - I go over there one night and meet Lew Friedman again. A few days later the principal calls me into his office - very intimidating and starts to talk about the sit-in. He clearly has been told about my visit to the sit-in. Yikes, I'm not tenured. I just don't react. Lucky he will retire in a few months and be replaced by the milquetoast AP who I will be able to intimidate. I can feel the power of the union.

I contact Lew and join the group based at IS 318 called "Another View in District 14." They meet once a week and talk about amazing stuff, including the union. They are rabid unionists but very critical of Albert Shanker and the UFT over the support for the Vietnam War, their position on community control, lack of democracy, etc. I come out of each meeting with my head ready to explode.

We all take May 1, 1971 off and do a demo in front of UFT HQ protesting the stance on the war. My first demo ever. (I'm still self-conscious.) We meet people from around the city through this action. I start bringing people I know from other schools to the meetings. We become a force (and threat) in the district to both the UFT/Unity Caucus crowd which controls so many schools and the people in power. We also are involved in the community, going to school board meetings. It turns out that the local UFT has taken control of the school board, which is almost all white in a district where 95% of the population is people of color. We work with and support the people who are fighting the UFT machine. I am getting more involved in the union every day but from a very different perspective. In the three plus years since I entered teaching somewhat timid and unconscious, I have turned into an activist and advocate.

And thus it begins. Forty years of deep involvement in the union. Fighting for a strong, democratic union based on rank and file activism. When the NEA comes calling in the early 70's trying to get us to start a beachhead of dual unionism in NYC, we let them take us out for an expensive meal and then send them packing. When the custodians go out on strike, I am the only teacher in my school who doesn't cross the picket line - my principal covers for me. And so does my AP when both the District Superintendent and UFT District Rep come calling to suggest he give me a U rating. In the 1975 strike when we have 13,000 layoffs, I stand outside Madison Square Garden with 20 others entreating people to vote down the settlement and hold Al Shanker to his promise, "We won't go back until we all go back." We don't win. The school system is devastated and the effects are felt for decades.

I am in Toronto at the 1974 AFT convention when Albert Shanker takes over the AFT from Dave Selden partly because he was opposed to the war. And in Hawaii a year later (Unity Caucus sure knew how to do it up) where we gave out a pamphlet called "The Case Against Shanker." Over the next few decades I am a delegate and a chapter leader. I put out Education Notes for 15 years, continuing even after retiring. No matter how I view the leadership, none of this is possible without the union.

It is not always easy to define the border between support for the union while opposing the people in power. But I always believe the struggle makes for a better union – a union that provided me with a sense of security to stand up and fight for the children and the community they come from in front of all the powers that be - school boards, superintendents, chancellors and even union officials.

I have been involved in a 40-year struggle with the people who have run the UFT/AFT. To make a better union. A union that even today still has enormous potential to be the major bulwark to fight off the ed deform attacks on parents, children, teachers and public education. Without the union, all would be lost and there would be not much left worth struggling for.

Why There's No Money for Schools While We're Fighting Over Crumbs

Before you read on, think about whether you see the UFT/AFT make any connections to lack of money and the kind of information below. Actually, don't waste your time. You won't find much. In fact, the UFT/AFT has generally been war hawks - UFT definitely since the 60's and AFT from the time Shanker took over in 1974 (I was at that convention in Toronto). Now of course there were denuded resos against the recent wars - well after popular opinion began to turn - when they broke out there were resos of support.

Maybe I'm hanging around with lefties too much, but it is hard to refute the analysis that a major role union leaders play in this country is to be severely anti-left (Leo Casey was throwing around the Trotsky/Rosa Luzemberg names to disparage UFT opponents at Saturday's Left Forum) and make sure left ideology never gets an airing within the halls of the union.

Now you will hear Unity Caucus leaders say that it is pointless to raise the issue of defense or the war budget because that is not winnable so why raise it? (Casey also talked about the need for "wins" though I can't imagine what UFT "wins" he can bring up.) How about using the bully pulpit to educate the membership and the public? How about running an ad with the info below? Oh, horrors, no!

From Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish:

The United States fired 110 missiles on Saturday at Libya, at a cost of $81 million or about 33 times the amount of money National Public Radio receives in grants each year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the House of Representatives wants to de-fund in the name of austerity. 

Michael Moore tweeted:
MMFlint

We fired over 100 Tomahawk missiles into Libya this weekend @ over $600K-1M a missile. Each missile would pay for 12-20 teachers in US.

From www.uslaboragainstwar.org

ARE YOU FACING JOBS CUTS AND SLASHED SERVICES BECAUSE OF A STATE BUDGET DEFICIT?

WE NEED NEW PRIORITIES

Stop Funding Wars

Move the Money to Save Jobs and Services

Check Out and Join the New Priorities Network

(www.newprioritiesnetwork.org)

Compare the Cost for War for Each State

with its Budget Deficit in 2011

(All amounts are in billions of dollars for 2011)

          Paid for Iraq and Afghanistan*                    Deficit

          California:            $21.8                                   $19.7**

          Florida:                   $9.5                                    $4.7

          Indiana:                  $2.6                                    $1.3

  Iowa:                       $1.3                                    $1.1

          Maine:                   $0.5                                     $0.9

          Michigan               $4.6                                     $2.0

          Mississippi:           $0.7                                      $0.7

          New Jersey:          $7.9                                      $10.7

          New York              $15.5                                    $8.5

          Ohio:                      $6.0                                      $3.0

  Pennsylvania:        $6.6                                      $4.1

          Wisconsin:             $2.7                                      $3.4***

*    amount of federal taxes residents of the state paid in 2011 that went to war

**  other estimates of CA’s deficit run as high as $25.4 billion

         *** Wisconsin deficit is for a two-year budget cycle

Sources:

Spending on the war: National Priorities Project 

<http://costofwar.com>

Deficits: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

 <http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711>

Table prepared by the Center for Study of Working Class Life

State University of New York at Stony Brook

www.workingclass.sunysb.edu

www.uslaboragainstwar.org

Email: info@uslaboragainstwar.org

1718 M Street NW #153

Washington, DC 20036

Check out Norms Notes for Former US Rep. Alan Grayson makes some important points on the US position on Libya—

Chicago Teachers Union Takes on Issue of Money Diverted to Wealthy

We reported on this story last night (Chicago Teachers Union Member Arrested After Leading Protest Over Tax Issues). 

I'm following up below with the more in depth report from George Schmidt and Substance. A member of Chicago's CORE is expected to be at the GEM meeting today. (Next GEM Meeting March 21: From Wisconsin to Puerto Rico to New York).

When the staff director of a major teacher union is arrested protesting the shifting of money intended to go to poor communities into the hands of wealthy businesses that is news. I mean it is not news that massive amounts of money go to the wealthy - it is news that a union is taking this issue head on.

Actually, this gets to the heart of why the UFT appears so toothless. Other than recently when Mulgrew called for taxes on Wall St., the UFT has kept a line drawn between where the money really goes and the money for public services. Wisconsin and other attacks seems to be pushing even the reluctant warriors into action.

The rally at City Hall and march to Wall St. this Thursday (Mar. 24) at 5PM ought to make a splash.

I guess I am stoked a bit from spending all day Saturday at the Left Forum, especially enjoying the response to Leo Casey's presentation - and redefinition of public schools to suit UFT policy. I'm waiting to process the video before commenting further.

SUBSTANCE REPORT

Two protest leaders arrested at Grossinger Cadillac after peaceful protest... Chicago Teachers Union and allies launch campaign to return TIF money to schools

Garth Liebhaber and George N. Schmidt - March 20, 2011

More than 250 people, from teachers and hotel workers to community activists and public school students, rallied and marched on March 19, 2011, protesting the fact that Chicago's TIF money has been going primarily to the city's wealthiest corporations, taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the public schools (and other millions from other public institutions).

At the time Barack Obama appointed Arne Duncan to export the Chicago Plan for corporate education reform to the entire USA, Chicago had more than 160 public schools without libraries for the children. The cost of testing during one of the last year's of Duncan's regime could have equipped every Chicago public schools with a library and expanded libraries in every existing schools. Above, the sign listing CPS schools without libraries in 2011 couldn't hold the names of all the schools. In the background in the above photo, Jen Johnson of CORE leads chants using the bullhorn while Al Ramirez takes a brief break from the videotape of the event as it moves north on Clybourn Ave. Substance photo by Garth Liebhaber.For more than a quarter century, under two mayors, Chicago has generated hundreds of millions of dollars from "Tax Increment Financing" (TIF) programs that were supposed to benefit blighted communities — but most of the dollars went to some of the city's most powerful corporations, leaving the inner city communities further behind as the national and local economy weakened. The March 19 protests were aimed at bringing the truth about the TIFs to the corporate centers where the TIF dollars were directed, according to CTU sources.

In a surprise, near the end of the two-hour peaceful rally and march, Chicago police arrested two of the leaders of the march, disability rights activist Amber Smock of ADAPT and Chicago Teachers Union Staff Coordinator Jackson Potter. Both spent four hours in the 18th District police lockup two blocks from the Jenner school before they were released on their own recognizance late in the afternoon.

READ MORE: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2114&section=Article
  

NOTE: COMING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23: co-blogger M.A.B.on talking to charter school parents

Remember Mulgrew Telling us to send thank you letters to Cuomo?

Click below for full story on norms notes.

The contributions from Mr. Koch and his wife Julia to the Cuomo campaign totalled $87,000; In comparison Koch only spent $43K on Gov. Scott walker of Wisconsin.

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

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.

Liza Campbell Captures the Spirit of Fight Back Friday

At the Left Forum yesterday I heard a teacher tell all about how Fight Back Friday in her school brought the staff together in a way they hadn't seen before. Almost the entire staff wore black - "to take their school back" (I've even heard of some principals wearing black in unity). It turns out this is the same school that in a piece at Gotham's Community Center (which many people do not read due to Ruben irritation) GEM/NYCORE's Liza Campbell talked about. One of 3 on a campus, they have reached out to the other schools and things are moving toward actions taken by the entire building. Let me point out that these are mostly young teachers far from the madding ME4ME slugs.

Links to FBF: http://fightbackfridays.blogspot.com/ and www.grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com

Liza wrote a fab piece. Here is a short shot:

Tenure protects teachers who defend their departments from harassment, inform parents or DOE officials about negligence in their school, or who have personal or political disagreements with principals. Protections and contractual agreements make schools better places to work, which means lower teacher turnover, happier teachers and thus happier students in turn. A sign outside the capital in Madison, Wisc., last week made the case for teacher protections clear: “My Working Conditions Are My Students’ Learning Conditions.”

In response to the relentless attacks, Sam Coleman, a member of both the Grassroots Education Movement and NYCORE came up with the idea of supporting schools in organizing school-based actions for educators, parents and students across the city who wanted to push back. He named his intitiative Fight Back Friday. The idea also developed because there was an urgency for more actions at the local level, yet the UFT leadership seemed unwilling or unable to take on organizing of that kind.

On Friday, Jan. 21, members of my school community participated in our first Fight Back Friday. We joined parents, school staff and community members across the city to raise awareness about, and stand in solidarity with, schools facing closure and co-location votes at upcoming Panel for Educational Policy meetings. The theme for the day was “Wear Black and Take Our Schools Back.” Nearly all of my colleagues wore black on that day. It was an incredibly unifying experience that was better for staff morale than anything I could have anticipated. Over 30 schools have participated in Fight Back Fridays since the movement began last year. Each individual school’s action takes on a different tone depending on the particular concerns that are most pressing for that school, but they all heighten dialogue and raise awareness about critical issues facing education right now.
The next Fight Back Friday is planned for March 25, and it will focus on some of the most pressing issues facing public education. These include the devastation that would be caused by layoffs and budget cuts, plus the importance of teacher protections like tenure and seniority in making schools stable and rich environments for children. The message for the day is, “We are all Wisconsin! Same Struggle, Same Fight.” I have heard this sentiment, which refers to the battle against union rights started by Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker, expressed repeatedly from teachers in my school, and we have decided we don’t want to wait any longer to start educating our communities and mobilizing ourselves.

READ IT ALL:
Anticipating Fight Back Friday

----------
AFTER BURN: WHAT IF?
What if Bill Gates or DFER made an offer to Gotham to pay or subsidize the salary of the reporter they are looking to hire to replace Maura Walz? Of course they will say, "We're not looking to influence the reporting in any way." But maybe they follow with, "I have the perfect person in mind." Well, whatever, you get a picture of how the press can be subverted - but I can't imagine Gotham going for such a thing.

Now, Accountable Talk has thrown his hat in the Gotham job ring

I don't know if you've heard, but GothamSchools is hiring! This is huge news for a small time blogger like me--my chance to make the big time! I hope you, my faithful readers, won't mind if I audition right here? I know the three of you are skeptical. I can hear you thinking: "Mr. Talk writing for Gotham? Why, he's pro-union, anti-Unity, and borderline socialist!" Never fear. I'm willing to be employed by a hedge fund manager for a price, which is one of the main qualifications for this gig.

MORE AT: Mr. Talk Shoots for the Big Time

Hey, ya never know.

Chicago Teachers Union Member Arrested After Leading Protest Over Tax Issues

UPDATED: March 21, 7AM
I got to hang with CORE's Jackson Potter in LA a few years ago when the idea of taking over the Chicago Teachers Union was just a glimmer. It was Jackson who gathered the original group together that became CORE and he is a major organizing force along with having amazing political savvy. He and Karen Lewis were the co-chairs of CORE (think of a non-evil Unity Caucus until the election when CORE elected 2 co-chairs who are classroom teachers. Imagine having Unity chaired by rank and file teachers instead of the Jeff Zahlers of this world.

Currently Jackson is the Staff Director of the Chicago Teachers Union - the same position people like Tom Pappas and Leroy Barr occupied(y) in the UFT. Ok, OK, you can stop laughing at the very thought that they would engage in the kind of action Jackson led.

CTU Protest Of TIFs Leads To Arrests Of Teachers and Activists

http://progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2011/03/19/ctu-protests-tifs-leads-arrests?utm_source=twitter

Jackson Potter, a Little Village High School of Social Justice teacher and member of the Chicago Teachers Union, and another woman identified as Amber Smock from ADAPT were both arrested after leading 150 to 200 people -- about half of them teachers -- to march and rush in to Lincoln Park's Grossinger City Cadillac dealership as part of a rally for tax increment financing (TIF) reform. The two were arrested for misdemeanor criminal trespassing and were taken to the Near North police district.

The rally Saturday afternoon started at Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts in the Gold Coast neighborhood, gathering teachers, students and parents, and multiple community organizations, including Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, UNITE HERE Local 1, and the Albany Park Neighborhood Council.

The group then marched up North Clybourn Avenue, making a pit-stop at a Bank of America branch, where 20 people went inside as Potter tried to negotiate for the banking giant to sign a pledge to return TIF money.

The group then continued on to march in full force into the Grossinger car dealership. Within minutes, police arrived to usher the protesters back outside. Potter, who had tried to speak to a deskful of employees at the dealership amid the rally cries to ask for the same pledge, was arrested moments later as a leader in the rally and march.

The group targeted Grossinger because the luxury car dealership got $8 million in tax increment financing, according to CTU spokeswoman Liz Brown.

Sources tell Progress Illinois reporter Sally Ho that the dealership is already in talks with the police to drop any charges. Keep checking back for further developments.

--------

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. Here are some of the latest:

Give threatened Bronx middle school one more chance, supporters say
 
ARIS is 80 Million Dollar Sinkhole

NOTE: ARIS=IBM, IBM Board member=Cathie Black, IBM gives Black recent 3 million dollars after she leaves Board. Does 2 and 2 = 5?

E4E Invitation to Lunch n' Learn May Violate More than Rules of Ethics

How is this putting children first? How interesting that it is so easy for E4E to use time that is supposed to be for teachers collaborating together. Think I could get into schools during those times to push GEM's message? Hey, if E4E is coming to your school, ask for equal time. I received this email from a contact.

In my anger, I just wanted to share this with you.
 
One of teachers at my school invited a woman to meet our Principal, she claims to be part of an organization that encourages teacher dialogue and a fair exchange of ideas.  Sounds great.  This is just what the doctor ordered at this time.  We need to have a place for open dialogue, that doesn’t turn into a personal shouting match.  So we invited her to talk at one of our “Lunch and Learns”. 

I received an email from her, and looked at their organizations beliefs and policies.  It was “Educators 4 Excellence”.  I called her back and cancelled her meeting with us, told her that she was deceptive by not mentioning their beliefs in LIFO, and Merit Pay during our initial meeting.  The principal wants her back, and I told her that I would be the first one protesting and heckling any attempt by her or her organization to talk with my staff. 
 
The weird part is, as I confronted the young lady, she still insisted that her organization is open to dialogue and change of ideas.  I told her that’s crap because they have a statement of beliefs that say otherwise.  She didn’t see a contradiction.
 

IT gets worse. That evening a friend tells me that Educators 4 Excellence was sponsoring happy hour drinks at the local bar for her school (with the Principal joining them of course).  They were given a voucher for a drink in exchange for their signature (that they accept the principals of the organization.)  I realized how dangerous and insidious this has become.  They are actively recruiting, using almost cult-like methods, appealing to the young teachers whose rights and futures we are trying to protect.

Naturally, some principals love the E4E message - we predicted that the DOE through the backdoor would aid and abet and promote them. I have no hard facts but why not given the political climate - if they are using Parent Coordinators to organize pro-Bloomberg parents why wouldn't they use principals to get E4E into schools to undermine the union? Kudos to my contact for standing firm.

-----

AFTERBURN

Diane Ravitch in Newsweek:  Obama’s War on Schools: The No Child Left Behind Act has been deadly to public education. So why has the president embraced it?

More evidence of a shift in the MSM, with Diane given space in Newsweek to tell the truth!  Before Newsweek was completely controlled by the deformers. If we get equal time, I think we have a real chance to save public education, because we have research and the views of teachers and parents on our side. - Leonie Haimson http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/obama-s-war-on-schools.html

The Resistance Grows: Actions this week- GEM Meets Monday and FIght Back Friday

Reminder: GEM meeting tomorrow -

There's a busy week coming up for The Resistance Fighters fighting the ed deformers. I'm having trouble keeping up.

Fight Back Friday: We are all Wisconsin!  Same Struggle, Same Fight!
I was interviewed by a reporter on Friday who was asking about what we hope to accomplish with Fight Back Fridays. I told her this was a rank and file led movement coming directly out of the schools and not led and promoted by the UFT leadership as March 22 is (we support that too.) But in order to build a union from the bottom up these kinds of actions touch base with people - staff and parents and community who might not be fully informed. So far pockets of activity in long dormant schools have been activated. FBF is a grassroots movement that if it ever reached a couple of hundred schools could begin to have an impact both on the DOE and more importantly, push the UFT towards a stronger defense of public education. Interesting that the reporter didn't seem to like it when I used the term "defense from the attacks on public ed" and tried to put words in my mouth. I haven't seen any article quoting me yet - I think this was the Daily News - the reporter was covering 3 Queens schools FBF actions -Jamaica HS (see the video I posted yesterday), PS 30 and another school.

A FBF tooklit for schools to use with ready made leaflets has been created. So even if all your school does is have people wear black to take your school back or have a lunchtime teach-in on Wisconsin, sign on to the list by email Sam to get your school on the list and get the toolkit: Sam_p_coleman@yahoo.com

One other thing developing: some of the activists are turning FBF into after school Happy Hour meetups with neighboring schools. I'll keep you posted as they come in so you can pop in if one's in your area - or better still, let me know of your school happy hours so others can join.

Events this week
I had a busy last couple of weeks and have not had much time to do much blogging. I was at the Left Forum all day yesterday taping 3 panels, including our standing room only viewing of our filmed response to Waiting for Superman (The Inconvenient Truth Behind WFS) Here is what I have so far for this week. Ed Notes will try to cover as much as possible with video and commentary.

• Monday, Mar. 21: GEM Meeting at CUNY, 5PM: 34st and 5th ave, rm 5414. See the GEM blog for meeting agenda and updates. (Fightback Friday
• Tuesday, Mar. 22: EDUSolidarity- bloggers
  
  As we all know, teachers and our unions, along with those of other public sector employees, face unprecedented attacks in the national media and from local and state governments. It is easy for politicians and the media to demonize the "unions" and their public faces; it is far more difficult to demonize the millions of excellent teachers who are proud union members. Those of us who are excellent teachers and who stand in solidarity with our unions are probably no stranger to the question "Well, why are you involved with the union if you're a good teacher?" It's time for us to stand up and answer that question loudly and clearly. http://www.edusolidarity.us/
  Citywide actions in schools - Wear red
• Weds, Mar. 23: PEP meeting at Brooklyn Tech
• Thurs, Mar. 24: Day of Rage Against City Budget Cuts, Rally-5PM @ City Hall, March to Wall Street @ 6PM
• Friday, Mar. 25: Fight Back Friday - school level actions plus press conf at Tweed at 4:30
• Saturday, Mar. 26: NYCORE conference all day at Julia Richman HS campus

Did I leave anything out?

Here are some details on the GEM/NYCORE promoted actions :

***More than a dozen schools already signed on!!

To all Educators, Students, Parents and School Workers of NYC Public Schools:

 PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!! 

FIGHT BACK FRIDAY IS BACK!!

For information, or to get the Fight Back Friday tool kit, email:

Sam_p_coleman@yahoo.com

NYCORE and GEM are sponsoring actions at schools across the city.

Fight back Fridays have been happening since last June and have been growing in strength!

Next Friday, March 25, Schools all over the city will be taking actions to make our voices heard!

 We are all Wisconsin!  Same Struggle, Same Fight!

• Teacher Protections, Protect Children
• Layoffs Hurt Children
• Budget Cuts Hurt Children
• Let's Put Children First

A Fight Back Friday action can be as simple as having folks wear black and wear a sticker.“Wear black, take our schools back!”.

Schools can have informational pickets, where just a few people are out fliering about the cuts and layoffs and other attacks. Other schools will have full blown pickets before or after school, with staff, parents and students.

WHAT WE ARE OFFERING TO SUPPORT YOUR ACTION:

We will send you a “tool-kit” either by email, or you can come pick up material from mid-town on Monday. The tool kit will have fliers in 3 or 4 languages that talk about the cuts, the layoffs, the attacks on seniority etc. We have stickers that people can wear with various messages, petitions you can get signed, chants you can use and other goodies. We can send someone to meet with your staff and help you plan.

We will be sending out press releases to announce our actions as well as holding a press conference on that day at 4:30 at Tweed. We will be collecting pictures and video to spread awareness of our actions.

These actions will continue to build the base of teachers and community members willing to stand up for justice in education.

We will push our union to become more militant in the face of these attacks.

We must stop being afraid to take action. We must build a fighting union that works WITH the families we serve and that FIGHTS for justice.

WE WILL LEARN FROM EGYPT, TUNISIA AND WISCONSIN!

Email: sam_p_coleman@yahoo.com to get information or to get the tool kit.

--------

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.

Tony Avella Joins Jamaica HS Fightback Friday Video

Join other schools around the city next Friday, March 25 with your own Fightback Friday event. Wear black to take your school back. Email Sam Coleman with your school info.

Thanks to GEM's Gustavo Medina for the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ETfEHT_tv8


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.

Upcoming Events: Friday Happy Hour, Weekend Left Forum, Monday GEM Meeting

Happy Hour - Bronx UFTers - March 18 - 4PM @ Bruckner Bar & Grill

Click on pic to enlarge

Left Forum: Friday, March 18th - Sunday, March 20th

Consider Registering for the Left Forum and Check Out Two Panels Featuring Friends of CAPE!

3/19:  Showing GEM's film, "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman"
Session 1:  10:00-11:50
Panelists:  Brian Jones, Leonie Haimson, Monda Davids, Sam Anderson, and Julie Cavanagh

3/19:  Building Resistance in NYC to the Neoliberal Restructuring of Public Education
Session 4:  5:00-6:50
Panelists:  Jitu Weusi, John Tarleton, Leonie Haimson, Sally Lee, and Julie Cavanagh

Full Left Forum Schedule Here:  http://www.leftforum.org/2011/full-schedule
There are many great panels concerning the fight for public education!





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.

OFIAGATE: Maura Breaks the Big One - Who's Going to Jail?

OFIA staff encouraged parent coordinators to bring “Happy Harry” parents to citywide meetings, according to the parent coordinator’s notes, rather than “Angry Sally” parents.
- Maura Walz at Gotham Schools

The DOE views and uses parents the same way so many charter schools view and use parents.  Harlem Success Academies take the cake in this department.  They use them like political pawns, tell them what to say, when to say it and how to say it.  This is the corporate reformers model for parent involvement.  The more and more our schooling system becomes privatized with charters, the more we are going to see this abuse. - comment at Gotham

Soon to be new "House of Tweed"

 
How long have we been waiting to get the slickers at Tweed caught in an out and out illegality that if fully investigated can bring down the Bloomberg house of cards? Kudos to Gotham's Maura Walz for taking the ball and running with it.

One of the first things BloomKlein did upon taking office was to put a parent coordinator in each school. Think of the cost for 1500+ schools? Now in theory it is not a bad idea but people at the time were commenting that 1500 PCs who owe their jobs to BloomKlein could be used as a potent political force to push the Tweed agenda to parents rather than pushing the parent agenda to Tweed.

As we reported here the other day (Tweed Trying to Use Parent Coordinators As Shock Troops to End Seniority) Tweed has been caught trying to use the very same parent coordinators, who are supposed to function as liaisons between schools and parents, to get parents to sign petitions ostensible to oppose budget cuts but also to end seniority/LIFO rules. Looks like abuse of power, illegal use of personnel, etc. The UFT's Mulgrew sent a letter of complaint listing the illegalities to Investigative Commissioner Richard Condon. Naturally Tweed hitwoman Natalie Ravitz (where are you David Cantor, this woman is a zombie) foisted the blame on a lower level employee.

The story came to me first back in January from a chapter leader who reported her PC was livid after attending a borough meeting organized by the Office of Information and Action (OFIA), the parent engagement arm of Tweed - it used to be called the Office of Family Engagement (OFE - or something like that under Martine Guerrier who is now working for Bloomberg at City Hall - and hopefully hanging her head in shame for what she hath done).

They were they told to look for pro-Bloomberg parents and organize them to come to PEP meetings (where other than charter school parents bused in there is nary a parent to be found supporting them). I handed the story off but nothing came of it - until Tweed swung and missed again by sending out petitions to be signed ostensibly opposing budget cuts but slipped into the petition was a call to end seniority.

The UFT caught it right away and district reps sent out a call to chapter leaders to reach out to the PCs. One of those CLs sent me an emergency email early Tuesday morning and I got the story up right away and it caught the eye of the press and I started getting calls. (At the same time, the UFT was squawking to the press.)

What intrigued some reporters more than the petition story was the little tidbit I dropped into my story about those borough meetings (Tweed held parent coordinator borough meetings and urged them to find the parents most sympathetic to Bloomberg.) Gotham's Maura Walz wrote the petition story yesterday (City renounces effort to use DOE employees to lobby on LIFO) and actaually gave me credit for breaking the story. She wanted to dig into the borough meeting story. And so she did with this blockbuster that is a must read.

staff focused on asking the coordinators to build relationships with satisfied parents who would be willing to show support for the DOE at Panel for Educational Policy meetings. “I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, honestly, and I didn’t really trust my own ears, so I wrote things down,” the parent coordinator said.

Instead of going through this charade, Tweed should do what Khadafi does to get out supporters. Just pay people outright to attend PEP meetings to cheer for Cathie Black.

There is no question that this will go right up to Bloomberg. Out and out misuse of DOE employees for political purposes. Who knew what and when did they know it? I predicted that one day Klein would be removed from Tweed with his coat over his head. Smart guy. Got out just in time. OFIAGATE, here we come.

In honor of OFIAGATE, Lisa Donlan commented and then penned a ditty:

At the very least Ms. Hall must take responsibility for this series of inappropriate events taking place on her watch.

I say at the very least, because I have no doubt the directives at Tweed come from above. That said, under her leadership OFIA has been the most embarrassingly ineffectual and incompetent of all of the many iterations of the oxymoronic "Parent Support" functions since Mayoral control destroyed parent engagement.

Quite a hit parade that has been, too:

OFIA Mambo No 5- 

sing it with me now:

A little bit of Karen in my life

A little bit of Jemina by my side
A little bit of Tom is all I need
A little bit of Martine is what I see
A little bit of Ojeida in the sun

A little bit of Parent Support all night long

A little bit of OFEA is my refuge
A little bit of OFIA makes me your stooge!

------

And parent activist Noah Gotbaum added this:

OFIA, like every department of the DOE, is simply a partisan political extension of the Mayor and his Chancellor.   It has nothing at all to do with education nor with parent engagement, and everything to do with promoting the Mayor and the Mayor’s agenda, and quelling any dissenting or independent viewpoints. 

Thus, OFIA, while under contract to support parent involvement and to provide legislated training and support to the City’s elected parent representatives including CEC’s, and SLT’s, has not held a single CEC training session or meeting this year, nor provided an iota of guidance or basic information to these groups.  They also refuse to provide CEC’s the contact details of the PA and SLT’s reps that we, not they, are charged by New York State law to support and to oversee.  Kinda makes it tough to do our jobs.  And although Ojeda Hall has been in her position as head of OFIA since August, I don’t know of ANYONE who’s even MET her.  

It’s now more apparent than ever that the “O” in OFIA stands for “obstructionist.”  Neither OFIA, nor the DOE, nor the Mayor, should have anything to do with oversight or “support” of the parents and parent groups that they clearly disdain.  If our legislators truly are serious about increasing parental input and involvement in our kids’ schools, they will remove the DOE and OFIA from any formal involvement or role in “supporting” parent engagement.  Instead, and as agreed by the State Senate, they should replace OFIA with an independent parent training academy and support organization run by NYU or another credible educational institution/contractor.

noah

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.