Julie Cavanagh Defends LIFO in Response to Teach for America Attempt to Silence Voice of Rank-and-File Teachers on Today's LIFO Panel

As I reported (Teach For America New York presents: A (Biased) panel discussion on the "Last In, First Out" teacher layoff policy in New York State)  classroom teacher Julie Cavanagh was tossed off a TFA panel and replaced by the UFT's Leo Casey (if anyone goes to this event please take notes on how Leo defends LIFO, it at all).

Here is what Julie would have said if she were on the panel, followed by her correspondence with TFA officials. While I don't agree with everything she has to say I am looking forward to GEM having its own panels on issues such as LIFO and teacher evaluation systems that would make sense.



Teach for America Silences Voices of Rank-and-File Teachers on LIFO Panel

by Julie Cavanagh
Special education teacher, PS 15, Brooklyn, member Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)

April 12, 2011

Two weeks ago I was invited to appear on a panel regarding seniority rights. The panel was being organized by Teach for America. I quickly accepted the opportunity to bring the voice of the rank-and-file teacher to the issue. A few days after I accepted, I received another email and was informed that despite my interest there would no longer be room on the panel for me because Leo Casey, UFT VP of High Schools, would be joining the panel. When one of my fellow GEM members informed Leo Casey, he said he would contact the TFA folks and tell them I should be on the panel. Needless to say, the TFA folks have not responded to the email I sent to them. (See correspondence in separate cover).

Since I am a 'T' in UFT, and since there is not one full-time public school educator on a panel that is discussing the pros and cons of seniority rights for full-time public school educators, I am disappointed and disturbed. I can't help but think that the removal of the only real teacher voice from the panel is intentional. Shame on the organizers of this event for silencing the teacher voice in this conversation!

I recently had the opportunity to make the case for LIFO in a debate with a member of E4E on NY1's "Inside City Hall" (http://www.ny1.com/?ArID=134963) and would have loved the opportunity to reiterate and expand on those points tonight. Here is some of what I would be saying tonight at the TFA panel were I not dis-invited:

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that many teacher tenure and seniority laws predate the right of teachers to bargain collectively by many years. (The UFT was not founded until 1960). These laws were passed due to rampant corruption in hiring and firing practices and were designed to protect academic freedom and basic constitutional rights.

1. Seniority rights protect not only teachers, but children.
Teachers are often the strongest advocates for their children, all too often coming up against their supervisors in doing so. Without seniority rights, teachers would be susceptible to arbitrary lay-offs based on a myriad of possibilities including race, sexuality, politics, or advocacy for children and/or parents. In my more than ten years in the classroom, and in policy and advocacy work over the last several years I have seen countless dedicated and excellent educators attacked, harassed, given U-ratings, and in some cases pushed out of the school system as retribution by administrators. Children benefit from the only objective process that keeps their teachers from being silenced, unable to speak out, or defend their rights and advocate for proper learning and classroom conditions.

2. I flatly reject any evaluation or lay-off system that is tied to test scores especially the inclusion of a merit pay system.
Over the last year in particular, the unreliability of test scores have been exposed. We have seen mountains of research, including the Vanderbilt and EPI studies respectively, point out that merit-pay schemes and other test-score-based performance measures do not have a positive impact on student achievement. Standardized tests often do little more than measure socioeconomic status, narrow our curriculum and turn our schools into inhumane places that make teaching and learning horrific experiences for teachers and students alike. I left the testing grade this year because I no longer wanted to be complicit in what I consider to be the systematic abuse of my children, particularly children with special needs. I say this as a teacher with a 'teacher report card' with a 99% rating. I am all for accountability, but until we develop objective and meaningful measures to hold teachers accountable, seniority rights for lay-offs is the only way to ensure both educators and students are protected. In terms of evaluations, I refuse to be forced into a scenario where we say the current system is flawed so therefore we must quickly make changes and move to yet another flawed system. If we are going to change the way we evaluate educators, let's do it the right way. Let standardized test scores be minimized, or better yet, no factor at all in any new evaluation system. Remember, assessment is supposed to be a diagnostic tool used to drive instruction, not used as a punitive measure to determine the value of teachers, children, and schools.

3. Experience Matters.
All the research shows that experience matters. If we want to make decisions about what teachers to keep in the profession, we have to look at what the research overwhelmingly shows: teachers with five or more years experience are better for children than teachers with less than five years experience. The Star Report highlights this particularly well because it does not just rely on test scores (which I mentioned already I question) but it also looks at adult income levels (not that I believe making money is the key to happiness, but it certainly is a key to survival and therefore the most basic measure of success). *(Research on teacher experience can be found at www.parentsacrossamerica.org.)

4. The attack on LIFO is quite simply union busting.
The corporate reformers who are behind the attack on LIFO and interestingly behind the two organizations featured on the TFA panel (Students First and E4E) are quite simply anti-union. A blind belief in the free market does not allow them to see beyond their own needs and benefits; it colors their lenses green with one central focus: money. Cost containment and unfettered top-down control are at the roots of the attack on LIFO and anyone who tells you otherwise either doesn't understand the issue or is engaging in misdirection. Getting rid of teacher protections is the only way that corporate reformers can continue to privatize our public education system. Unions are the only institution that can stand in their way, along with the voting public who are growing more aware of the true intentions of the corporate reformers. I believe there are well-intentioned people who support ending LIFO — dedicated teachers who inevitably have had to work with a teacher who was not as dedicated as them, as one example. But the drive to end LIFO (and the funding for it) is not coming from these teachers or from well-intentioned individuals. Rather it is born out of a national movement to change our school system into a 'portfolio', into a consumer-driven, profit margin aware, business-like entity. We are entering very dangerous territory. Just look at the number of stories emerging of abusive principals who target certain teachers who stand up to them or do not pay the proper fealty. When this happens to even one teacher it brings a cloud over the security of every teacher. Even if your current principal is fine, there are enough loose cannons out there and it takes just a change in leadership to turn a "safe" school into a school from hell. Let us remember why we have unions: protection. Let us remember why we must have these protections: a history of child labor, unsafe conditions, unfair wages, no healthcare, no pension or other retirement support mechanisms. Instead of attacking teachers for having union protections, we should be demanding that ALL workers have these protections.

5. Ending seniority rights will have a disproportionate and negative impact on our disappearing black and Latino educators.
Does racial discrimination still exist in our society? Contrary to what E4E's position paper on this issue falsely claims, under the Bloomberg Administration our Black and Latino teachers have been disappearing at an alarming rate (new hires of Black teachers dropped from 28% to under 14% over 8 years). Seniority rights is one of the last protections we have that we know for sure will maintain the tragically low number of Black and Latino teachers we have left. In a system that serves more than 80% children of color, it is unacceptable that more than 70% of its educators are white. In addition to this issue, we already have an attrition problem here in NYC, more than 40% of our teachers leave with less than six years in! Knowing the value of having Black and Latino teachers for Black and Latino students and knowing the value of experienced educators, it is quite shocking the focus is on how to get rid of teachers easier, rather than on how to attract and retain teachers in general, and particularly, teachers of color.

6. There is no legitimate evidence that seniority rights as a system-wide determinant for lay-offs has a negative impact on our public education system.
Yes, you can find anecdotal evidence to hold up a given less experienced educator next to a more experienced educator and say, given these two, the less experienced educator looks better. But system-wide the research clearly shows that is not true. When difficult decisions like layoffs must be made (which I would argue in this case are unnecessary and manipulated for political reasons) they have to be made on a system-wide basis — in the collective interest. We are moving into dangerous ground when the individual assumes more importance than the collective. The nature of our work as educators makes us very interconnected. How we value our schools, our teachers, and workers' rights are important factors in making sure we preserve our ability to build a society rather than simply a random assortment of individuals in competition with each other. Schools must be collaborative places. Schools must be places where educators feel safe to speak up and speak out.



Finally, let me talk about what I am for, and I hope that folks will join in this conversation, because if we don't propose the kinds of systems we would like for evaluations and lay-offs, the issue will be decided for us by people who have little knowledge or understanding. I will keep my thoughts very simple. Please, please share yours:

1. Lay-offs
We should maintain seniority rights for lay-offs because it is the only objective way to release and re-hire teachers in an orderly and rational manner. The research shows that system-wide this is what benefits children because experience matters. This is the only way to ensure that lay-offs are not used politically or economically in order to cleanse the system of either outspoken or experienced/more expensive teachers. LIFO also protects even fairly new teachers, assuring even 2nd and 3rd year teachers they will keep their jobs over some first year teacher with "connections" while assuring an orderly call-back in case there are layoffs (which in fact there rarely ever been in the entire over hundred year history of the NYC school system.)

2. Evaluations
We must empower school-communities. We should look at Deb Meier's work in some of her pilot schools, and consider those models. I believe in school-based boards that are comprised of parents, teachers, school staff, and administration. I believe these boards should have oversight over teacher evaluation, administrator evaluation, and budgeting. I believe evaluations should be judged based on classroom observations, student input when appropriate, parent satisfaction, and some measure of data. I would like to see a teacher evaluated based on authentic student reading levels over a period of time along with portfolios of student work showing students' individual growth and progress rather than the snapshot we get from standardized test scores.

The views expressed here are my own.
Please feel free to contact me to continue the dialogue: gemnyc@gmail.com.

SEE MY LIVE BLOGS FROM THE PANEL DISCUSSION AND FOLLOW-UPS

At TFA LIFO Panel Part 1

TFA LIFO Panel Part 2

TFA LIFO Afterthoughts -Part 1- and Response to Gotham Report

Ed Notes in Bid Against Bill Gates for Educators 4 Excellence's Sydney Morris

 

Correspondence between Julie Cavanagh and TFA LIFO Panel Organizers

Invite
Hi there,
Brian De Vale who is a principal here in New York City recommended that we get in touch with Ms. Cavanaugh regarding a panel discussion on the LIFO Teacher Lay-off policy here in New York that Teach For America is hosting for our alumni teachers and principals. It will be held at the Urban Assembly School for Design and Construction on Tuesday April 12th at 6:30p.m. Given her outspoken, grassroots work in schools and on school issues to date, we think she would bring a thought –provoking perspective to the conversation and would like to invite her to join the panel. Could you please forward this request to her? Much appreciated! The panel currently consists of the following people and will be moderated by Lindsey Christ of NY 1:

Dr. Pedro Noguera (NYU)
Eric Lerum (StudentsFirst)
Educators 4 Excellence

We imagined the success of this conversation rooted in having a voices that represent all sides of the debate around LIFO policy to create a lively and thought-provoking conversation for the folks that attend. Ms. Cavanagh would be a great addition. I look forward to hearing back from her.
Best,
Deepa

Deepa Purohit
Coordinator, Alumni Affairs
Teach For America - New York
(Email) deepa.purohit@teachforamerica.org
www.teachforamerica.org

Dis-invite:
Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for your interest in participating in our panel. We had originally invited Michael Mulgrew from the UFT and did not hear back from him till this weekend. He has a scheduling conflict but has asked Leo Casey (VP, Academic High Schools) to represent him and the UFT. So, at this point our panel is full. My apologies as we did not have this information when gauging your interest on Friday. We hope that you are still able to attend the event, however. We would love to have you. We'll also be doing more events over the year and definitely keep you in mind should you want to participate formally in the future.
Thanks,
Jeff

My reply:
Hello,
I understand the procedural dilemma here, however I do think it is unfortunate that a rank and file member of the UFT, who has much stronger views on this issue that are not represented on the panel, is being bumped off after having been invited (I didn't express interest, I was asked).
I don't intend to sound curt here, however, it is disappointing that a panel which is being billed as a full discussion including all perspectives on lifo, will not be so, as the representatives on your panel will not fully defend seniority rights, which I, and the overwhelming majority of educators in NYC and beyond, fully support.

Thank you for the original invitation.

All the best,
Julie Cavanagh

Teach For America New York presents: A (Biased) panel discussion on the "Last In, First Out" teacher layoff policy in New York State

Julie Cavanagh was invited and then dis-invited and replaced by the UFT's Leo Casey, who will not defend LIFO but argue the case against layoffs. Look for Julie's response to the organizers later today and her in depth defense of LIFO - what she would have said if she had not been tossed off the panel. So you have Sydney from E4E, a rep from Michelle Rhee's organization, a reporter who is supposedly neutral, Noguera who can be pretty good but where he stands on LIFO might be problematical and Leo Casey.

Yes, a stacked deck, but do the people running TFA really want them to hear a real classroom teacher like Julie instead of a union official, who will try to paint the union as a reasonable reformer - or deformer?  

I love Lindsay Christ as a reporter - and she is a former teacher - but she is or has to be neutral. Pedro Noguera mostly makes a lot of sense but does often run on the edge of ed deform. But it is a TFA event which they use to politicize their members to their ed deform point of view - but then TFA is all about politics rather than education.

This event came across our radar over a week ago when a principal who was invited to defend LIFO (hey, why ask a teacher?) couldn't make it and actually suggested me as a replacement. Now would I venture onto a panel with an E4E AND a Michelle Rhee-er without bringing a knife - and probably using it?

But as TFA alumna Anna Martin says in her dynamic 3 part series:

Of course, not only Teach for America teachers come and quickly leave, but it’s hard not to see fault with a two-year sell-by date. In fact, if a corps member is perceived as effective after the two-year commitment, then they are often almost immediately recruited out of the classroom to work for Teach for America or to begin funneling into the school leadership pipeline. After my fourth year of teaching in the same school, TFA realized that I wasn’t budging and stopped hinting. Something feels wrong about an organization that draws its most talented teachers out of their classrooms to help achieve its vision.

Teach For America New York
presents
Who Should Teach Our Students?
A panel discussion on the "Last In, First Out" teacher layoff policy 
in New York State 

Dr. Pedro Noguera 
Professor of Education - New York University

Leo Casey
VP Academic High Schools - United Federation of Teachers

Lindsey Christ 
Education Reporter - NY 1

Eric Lerum
Engagement Manager - StudentsFirst

Sydney Morris 
Co-Founder, Executive Director - Educators 4 Excellence

While most people agree we should try to avoid massive budget cuts to education, opinions vary on what teacher layoffs should look like if they become a reality-and many signs indicate that teacher layoffs in New York City are imminent for the first time in three decades. To date, much of the conversation has focused on the "if", but given the current reality, this conversation will examine the "how" by presenting and debating the merits of alternative teacher layoff proposals currently being considered in the New York State Assembly and Senate.

Time: Tuesday, April 12, 6:30p-8:30p

Location:  
Urban Assembly School for Design and Construction
525 West 50th Street, 4th Floor (between 10th and 11th Avenues)

RSVP here: to reserve a seat for this event now!

Why Oppose Walcott Waiver/List (in formation) of Those Who Had Accolades for Black Appointment

by Julie Cavanagh

I am wondering how many people actually do support Wolcott for Chancellor and/or think he is qualified?

I don't think he is actually qualified nor do I fully support his appointment. While it is true that he has more experience than Klein and Black, that is a pretty low bar to be setting. One and a half years in a K day care program, the Urban League, and being Deputy Mayor (and of course a BS and MS in education) does not mean he is qualified for a supervisory and administrative position overseeing the largest school district in the country. The mistake (and I am being generous calling it a mistake) that the corporate reformers keep making is that folks running education systems and schools do not need actual classroom and school-based experiences, both instructional and in leadership, in order to effectively lead our schools. This is just ridiculous and goes against any kind of common sense.

I want, and our children deserve, a Chancellor who understands the intimacies and the challenges those in education, and the children in our schools, face from the lunchroom to the classroom, to managing a school-based budget, to evaluating educators and administrators... these are the experiences that are vital to running an education system. Without them, how could you possibly understand the implications and the consequences of the policies and decisions you make!?

I understand that it is very difficult to mount a campaign to "Deny the Waiver for Wolcott"... it may be unseemly in that those who do will just never be satisfied and will always be 'against'... but, I think being against Wolcott is born out of what I, at least, am FOR: 

an education system that is run by a leader who is responsive to the communities, families, and children he/she serves and who has the experiences (and the track record) to be able to do that. Wolcott can not be (and largely has not been) responsive to the citizens of NYC because he has put his full support and faith into Mayor Bloomberg, who parents and educators are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with. Wolcott does not have the experiences of truly working in schools providing him the understanding I believe is necessary to run them.

Having said that, under Bloomberg and Mayoral Control (unless Bloomberg somehow has a moral and ethical paradigm shift), perhaps Walcott is the best we can do... but I would rather fight for what could be, than quietly accept the status quo, which clearly is now corporate reform and chancellors that require waivers.

Thanks to Leonie Haimson for this list of Black supporters:

One of the people supporting her appointment was Michelle Rhee: Joel Kein

http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/michelle-rhee-joel-klein-and-cathie-black

“I congratulate Cathie Black on taking on this hugely important role.  Her experience has no doubt prepared her well for the challenges that lie ahead."

Another: Arne Duncan.

“She's smart; she's committed; she's going to have a great team . . . I think she has the potential to be a fantastic leader."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/arne_has_black_back_4aRqzZgawmkKPcl529nbCP#ixzz1JDxMTBAj

Which just goes to prove that they will say anything that Bloomberg wants them to say.

Here are more supporters, from a DOE press release:

Former Mayors Dinkins, Koch and Giuliani;

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-11-17/local/27081594_1_schools-chancellor-ed-koch-david-dinkins

Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Sr.; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro;

State Senators Malcolm A. Smith, Carl Kruger, Andrew Lanza, Marty Golden and Craig Johnson;  

City Council Members James Vacca, Michael C. Nelson, James Gennaro, Dominic M. Recchia, Jr., and Joel Rivera.

http://schools.nyc.gov/Common/Templates/PostingTemplate/CommonPostingTemplate.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={44C73467-88EA-414F-AF17-85178DD2C223}&NRORIGINALURL=%2FOffices%2Fmediarelations%2FNewsandSpeeches%2F2010-2011%2Fletterofsupport111710.htm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

Also, the Presidents and Presidents Emeritus of Hunter College, the University of Notre Dame, Bryn Mawr College, Trinity Washington University, Occidental College, the Institute of International Education, and New York University.

http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/mediarelations/NewsandSpeeches/2010-2011/academicleadersletter111910.htm

Richard Barr:
And there was Gloria Steinem when she was appointed, and Pat Carbine lamenting her dismissal last week.  I guess they figured that if they had a good experience with her at Ms. Magazine 35-odd years ago, there was no reason why NYC's  school kids, teachers and principals wouldn't now.  Everything is transferable, after all, isn't it?

Leonie Haimson

How Ed Deform Ideology Discriminates Against Women

A much neglected critique of the ed deformers is the attack on teachers with families. One of the basic tenets of the ed deformers is the longer day. Naturally, teachers who leave when the regular school day ends are ill-considered. Thus the push for young teachers without family responsibilities - and the attacks on teachers who take too many days - I would bet that teachers with younger children have higher absentee rates. Here is a brief piece by Loretta Prisco who was home with her 2nd child for a decade - not such a great pension for women who stay at home raising kids, but then can anyone actually afford to do that today?
 
by Loretta Prisco, member of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE)

There is an inherent bias against women in an attempt to evaluate teachers based on their work in communities or joining school committees.

While it is true that more men are jointly involved as parents, most social scientists agree that women take on more responsibility for child care and caretaking. Check it out. Ask the involved Dad what his child’s shoe size is, if last year's boots still fit, or when his child is due for the next pediatrician’s appointment. More often than not, it is on the mother’s to do list.

Unless fathers are free during the day, mothers are usually running home after school to meet school buses, taking children to piano lessons or medical appointments, or attending her own child's PTA meeting.

Consider the single parent – of either sex. The after school responsibilities are overwhelming.

Take a look at caretaking. Check the visitor sign in sheet in any nursing home. Relationships listed are overwhelming female: “daughter”, “sister”, and “niece”.

While there are school committees that meet during the day, mothers of young children are using preps to do lesson preparation as there is limited time at home. And yes, sometimes they just need time to put their feet up and rest.

The responsibilities of these noble callings are demanding. Denial of tenure should not be a punishment for being a good parent or caretaker. Checking out at 3:00 should not be a yardstick against which we measure teacher competency.

IS 303 Hearing - Domenic Recchio Takes Sides

Going to charter co-loco hearings is worse than being stuck in Groundhog Day - at least he gets the girl in the end. You will always here how the co-loco is temporary and that they have their own buidling just waiting for them.

Here is the latest fiasco - the IS 303 Hearing - City Councilman Domenic Recchio has trouble remembering the location of the building for Coney Island Prep charter.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJ7wXmE5NI



I made this video of Julia Daniely, PTA President

Here's more videos made by people at 303:
http://www.youtube.com/user/justonecivoice

At the CEC March 9th meeting we were told that 'trying to keep them out of the bldg is a sad reminder of Little Rock 9"

YouTube - Coney Island Prep talking at the co-location into IS 303 Rachel Carson

More about Recchia.. its from a few years ago at a Community Board 13 meeting. Listen to it.

 

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2009/03/audio_dominic_r.php

 

 

A TFAer Who Hasn't Jumped Ship

"When a student or former student brings in their younger sibling, a toddler or 5th grader, they believe me when I talk about having them in my class someday."

- Anna Martin, A love-hate relationship with Teach for America - Part 1: The 2-Year Commitment

I'm fascinated by the ruminations of Teach for America alums who remain in the classroom (not just "education" as TFA likes to brag). My co-blogger M.A.B. is one of them.

Valerie Strauss featured an article by 7-year TFAer Anna Martin who has remained in her original placement school for the entire time, apparently one of the few TFAers to do so. As someone who spent 27 years on one school, I can appreciate the points Anna made. Teachers being rooted in the community is a no-no for the ed deformers as is the very concept of community-based schools. How would the Eva Moskowitz's of this world make any headway of there were effectively functioning community based schools?

Being the rare bird who has stayed with my placement for seven years gives me a unique, if slightly tortured perspective.
I didn’t migrate when the administrative leadership at the school changed, not once, but four times, as administrators are wont to do in the kind of low-income, high-need districts where TFA places their young teachers.
I haven’t flown the coop as all four other corps members from my year placed at my school finally did – or the 10 other corps members from later years who have come and gone during my time here. Many have stayed four or five years, itself a small miracle in terms of TFA’s teacher lifespan at placement schools. Some were forced out by weird district forces that are symptomatic of the need for change.
But why, I frequently ask myself when thinking rationally about career trajectories and multi-hour commutes, can’t I bring myself to leave?
I think the answer lies in the one issue that almost kept me from accepting TFA’s offer in the first place: my uneasiness with only committing two years to a community.
It seemed presumptuous to assume that I could come in, transform kids’ lives, and leave again two years later. I was skeptical then — and at this point I don’t think it can be done. I don’t believe two years is enough, which is why seven years later, I think my school community still needs me and other teacher leaders committed to staying and making change where change is needed most.

Even though TFAers are encouraged to stay in education, though not the classroom, as policy-makers, Anna also points out that even those who stay at the teaching level do a lot of school-to-school hopping, not conducive to setting down community-based roots.

 Interestingly, at the summit’s opening caucus, Wendy announced that over 3,000 of the 10,800 people in attendance were current corps members. Don’t try to tell me they were all just there for the free drink tickets. Nope. As the hiring booths and flyers advertising for alum to come teach at new schools attested, I believe the majority were looking for their next job prospect after finishing their initial two-year commitment.
 

If Anna stays through more than one generation she may have the pleasure of teaching her students' children (how many did I see have babies at 14?) Or their grandkids. Or ---

Read the entire series.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
--------
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.

Dee Alpert's Voice Will be Missed

The educational resistance community lost a stalwart voice yesterday when we sadly learned of the death of Dee Alpert who had been a frequent contributor to the NYCEducation listserve moderated by Leonie Haimson. I never met Dee and only had a few conversations with her but her depth of knowledge and her analysis of the issues (no matter whether you agreed or disagreed with her), along with a no-holds bar approach, made an impression on everyone on the listserve. Her no-nonsense approach and her ability to zero in on the essence of an issue was unparalleled along with her knowledge of institutional historical context. One particular area of Dee's expertise was the corrupt state education department - and if you didn't start out thinking they were corrupt, it didn't take Dee long to convince you. I used to forward some of her posts to a contact at the DOE and the comment on hearing the news was, "Sorry to hear this sad news-This was a brilliant woman." I was about to send her some information as a follow-up to the Dinappoli report on dropouts and I know she would have taken that ball and run with it. It was Dee who persistently kept raising questions about why that report was delayed. There are so few voices fighting the ed deformers and Dee will be sorely missed by The Resistance.

Leonie put up a Dee Alpert We Will Miss You blog, including a link to a 2007 interview with Dee about how she first became involved in special education advocacy and is inviting people who knew her or her work to post comments.

Here is one of Dee's last posts. I think it captures the essence of Dee Alpert:

Report of the Regents Task Force on Teacher and Principal Effectiveness April 4, 2011 -
http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2011Meetings/April2011/RegentsTaskforceonTeacherandPrincipalEffectiveness.pdf

Above you will find a wonderful Regents document - to be considered at its meeting Mon. April 4 and Tues. April 5; uploaded to the Regents web site for public review on April 4.  All 111 pages of it!
While there may well be many things wrong with this overly-lengthy document, one fatal flaw stands out:  the word "parent" is absent from it.  Apparently the fact that parents supply the children who make the NYS education go and pay the taxes to grease its wheels means nothing to these people.

NYSED and the Regents have gotten worse and worse in terms of: a) including parents in anything, and b) making materials available to the public in advance of Regents' actions on their contents since Merryl Tisch ascended to the throne of Chancellor of the Board of Regents.  This trend, however, has even worsened more since David Steiner became Commissioner of Education.

With all due respect - and absolutely none is due - you all can argue fine points of policy, decimals in school appropriations and centimeters in co-location decisions until you're quite blue in the face and ... it won't mean one darn thing because what you think is of no concern to these people at all.  You're supposed to give them your children ... and your tax dollars ... and shut up.  Want more testing?  Less testing?  No testing?  They don't care and unless something is done about this totally deplorable situation, don't have to.  Talk about high-handed arrogance!  Take a look at the rest of the meeting agenda items here:  http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2011Meetings/April2011/411monthmat.html.  New testing systems; new tests; new high school science lab requirements ... you name it, they're changing it ... without your input.  Under some rock!

I think you all should pick up your phones first thing tomorrow morning and: call Andrew Cuomo's office and your state legislators (both of them!) and tell them that you're mad as hell and have no intention of taking it anymore.  And that if every single thing on the Regents' agenda for this meeting isn't held up until their May meeting, and then only after the final version of each item has been publicly posted for at least 10 business days prior to the start of that meeting, and a similar procedure followed for every single agenda item at every single meeting thereafter, you'll pound on your legislators to vote against every single appropriation related to the NYS public education system again and again and again.  And bullet vote against any legislator who doesn't go along with you (parents, the public) on this.

It's time to get it clear:  all these people care about is money; all these people understand is money, and the only way to make them straighten up and fly right is to grab the strings to their money bag and pull 'em totally tight.

Dee Alpert

Unrest in District 14 - Is Moskowitz the Catalyst?

My old district has been popping up in the news recently as the school wars heat up, a somewhat surprising development since things seemed fairly quiet. I wonder if the aggressive entrance of Eva Moskowitz with a massive advertising campaign that has inundated the area (but only certain selected areas ripe for creaming) for her new Brooklyn Success Academy was the catalyst.

I spent my entire career 35 year (and beyond with part-time work) in District 14 (Williamsburg, Greenpoint and northern Bed-Stuy) and I could write a book on the history and political and educational complexities of the area. I recently have been spending time in the area - we are editing our film at the home of Reel - or Real - reform Studios. And I went back to my old haunts when Cathie Black came to the CEC 14 meeting on Feb. 28. (Cathie Black District 14 Town Hall: No Sex, but Pl...)
where I taped principal Brian De Vale challenged Black by supporting LIFO while holding a Teddy Bear (Teddy Roosevelt founded the civil service system over a century ago - Brooklyn Principal Challenges Cathie Black).

I put up another video (Voices of Parents, Teachers and Principals at Feb....) of that meeting where people challenged Black and another principal challenged Santiago Taveras (whose desertion of the sinking ship helped precipitate Black's firing) on whether the he actually believed the PEP and DOE actually listen to parents - Taveras was lying through his teeth. It's a half hour long but if you scroll to the last few minutes you can see that confrontation.

Saturday's NY Times had some more references to District 14 activists. In one article PS 34 principal Alicja Winnicki is quoted:

 "there is also a sense of disappointment that principals who once relied on people outside the building to make them feel connected to a wider sense of mission now correspond with education bureaucrats primarily through data and documents. We attend to our everyday instructional life and communities, and we keep submitting the documents required of us,” said Alicja Winnicki, the principal of Public School 34, a successful school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. “But I feel that with every reorganization we become more and more isolated. I hope that Mr. Walcott will make sure that he reaches out to us.”

 Good for her. I know Alicja since she was a teacher.

In another article, we hear from PS 132 parents Sarah Porter and Janine Sopp:

Sarah Porter and Janine Sopp, whose children go to Public School 132 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, signed up to speak at the hearing, but left after Mr. Walcott did; Ms. Porter said she had gone there for a chance to talk to him directly about the city’s need to control growing class sizes, so there was no point sticking around. “He says he listens to people and he talks very nicely, but he’s still implementing the same policies,” she said. Sounding equally disappointed, Ms. Sopp called Mr. Walcott “another mouthpiece for the mayor.”

Yes, Walcott may help delay things for a while, but the Bloomberg ship is still sinking.

The Wave Reports: Peninsula Prep Academy Charter Tosses 5-Year Old

The Wave of Rockaway reports on the actions of Peninsula Prep Academy Charter, a Rockaway school founded by State Senator Malcolm Smith - talk about scams -  in a front page article by Editor Howard Schwach, published April 8, 2011. (Just wait 'till you see the videos of the interviews I did with former charter school parents at a Brooklyn charter school on how kids are treated.) Howie is a retired teacher and this week alone The Wave has at least 4 articles on education - and it's not my week to publish my column - the most extensive education coverage of any weekly newspaper (other than Ed Week).

Expulsion At Five

Parent Charges School ‘Stigmatizes’ Son

By Howard Schwach

The Peninsula Preparatory Academy, a local charter school, is trying to expel a kindergarten student for bad behavior. The motto of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy charter school on Beach 111 Street is “The Future is Bright,” but for one little five-year-old kindergarten student, the future looks bleak.

The young boy, whose name is being withheld by The Wave because of his age, was suspended three times this school year by Principal Ericka Wala. His mother, Latesha Thompson is scheduled to face the school’s board of directors and an expulsion hearing later this month.

“They’ve provided my son with an unfair start to his school career,” Thompson told The Wave last week. “They have stigmatized him because the suspensions and the expulsion will be on his permanent school record forever. They have not given him a chance for a decent life.”

In a suspension letter dated March 2, Wala wrote, “We regret that we find it necessary to suspend your son for five days due to the following behavior: disrupting the educational process; being insubordinate; defying or disobeying the lawful authority of school personnel; using force against school personnel, hitting the teacher and engaging in an act of coercion or threatening violence, injury or harm to another.”

These, the mother points out, are the charges against a tiny five-year-old in his first year in a public school setting.”

“The allegations are outrageous,” Thompson said. “My son is a strong-minded little boy who is learning new things every day and he is never aggressive or threatening.”

She says that the teacher asked her son to get out of his seat and he refused.

The teacher then grabbed him hard by both his collar and his arm to get him out of the seat, his mother alleges. He swung at her to get her to let go and hit her hand.

The principal told Thompson that her son had “verbally abused” an assistant principal after the incident.

The principal also said that her son headbutted two other children, but refused to supply any details to the parent.

Thompson believes that the school gave up on her son after he was suspended for the first time in early October. He was suspended again in early March and then again on March 18.

“The school says he can’t stay because he has behavioral problems because they don’t want to deal with a kid who gives them more work than they want to do,” Thompson says. “I came forward because I don’t want any other parents at PPA to have to go through what I am going through. Schools shouldn’t treat either young children or their parents this way. I hope they get away from the harsh punishments they give out such as what they did to my son. I hope they learn to deal with children who may present a problem.”

Thompson says that she may not attend the board meeting in which she expects her son to be expelled.
I am looking for a new school for my son,” she said. “I don’t want him to have to go back there.”
The Wave’s calls to the school were referred to the Department of Education, which sponsors the school.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to comment.

A reader left this comment blaming the parent which exposes the farce of the charter schools which are touted as part of the "no excuses" ed deform movement.

The child was not expelled

Submitted by thomaskerr@mind... on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 18:57.

The child was not expelled arbitrarily. It is in the interest of the school and the folks running it to keep the students there. When I child, even one of 5 years--becomes a problem, he takes educational opportunity and valuable time away from other students having to deal with unwanted behavior.

The school's mandate is not have to deal with poor parenting, but rather educating the boy. By the looks of the story, the school made a principled and correct decision in expelling this boy. It will benefit the others in his class and the boy himself, if allowed to learn from it by the parent. Looks like this is not the case.

Using the euphemism "strong minded" to frame, unruly, poorly disciplined and violent, is laughable. Instead of pointing an index finger at the school, perhaps this parent should take note of the other three pointing back at her. The trouble this boy had started at home and can only be solved there, but by the tone of her response, that does not seem likely. Poor kid, the biggest hurdle to his educational growth is his own parent. 

This kid will end up in a local public school which cannot expel him and if he needs services, he will get them. And if he has issues, some teachers will go mad trying to deal with them. If he disrupts his class other parents will rail about how bad public education is and will consider moving their kid to a charter school. Thus the creaming process that over a decade will result in a desecrated public school system.
Charters claim to be public schools but act like private entities all the while using public tax dollars as part of a dual and dueling school systems.

GEM Statement on Cathleen Black, David Steiner, and the Appointment of Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott

Posted at the GEM blog.
(Last modified, Friday, April 8, 11PM)

It is Time to Break the Cycle

Since 2003, public school parents, children, educators, and community members have endured a dictatorial public education reform agenda that has ignored and marginalized their voices and has undermined and destabilized the schools they depend on, love, and serve. The departure of Cathleen Black highlights the incompetence, arrogance, and political nature of Bloomberg’s educational agenda; this is not about children first, but rather a blind belief in the corporate reform movement propelled by a centralized, top down system that has been destructive for our schools and our children.


It is time for a break in the power structure that has a strangle hold on our public education system; it is time for parents, children, educators and communities to have a say in the education of their 1.2 million school children.

The departure of four Deputy Chancellors in the last 100 days along with the admission by Mayor Bloomberg that the appointment of Black as Chancellor was a mistake, followed by the announced departure of the State Commissioner of Education on Thursday, makes it clear that the almost decade long mayoral control and corporate reform experiment that has ignored the voices of parents, teachers and community has been a failure for the entire educational community. The growing movements against school closings and the privatization of education have helped to expose these failures.

In the coming months our schools face severe cuts, testing is raging out of control, charter schools will attempt to expand by invading more schools, a campaign to close schools continues, dedicated educators are under attack, and our children’s education is at stake. Decisions about the lives of children, like the choice of leaders of the school system, should not be made without their parents, their communities and their teachers. We have little confidence that newly appointed Chancellor Dennis Walcott will be any more than the extension of the same policies with a different face. It is time for Mr. Bloomberg and the Department of Education to engage with parents, treat them as partners and provide the leadership and policies that truly do put children first.

The Grassroots Education Movement supports the Deny Waiver Coalition in their preference for a transparent and nationwide search process for a qualified Chancellor to run our school system. We believe that Mr. Bloomberg and our future Chancellor should fight for real reforms that will transform our public education system. They could begin with a moratorium on school closings, turnarounds, and charter co-locations. Reforms should include parent and teacher empowerment, more teaching, less testing, and the equitable funding needed to make sure our schools are responsive to, and the centers of, the communities they serve.

The Bloomberg ship is sinking. The last nine years under Mayor Bloomberg has been a sea of destructive and misguided educational policies. It is time for our children to be thrown a life raft. It is time for Bloomberg to be held accountable. It is time for a sea change.

______________
See Leonie Haimson on Walcott  posted on Norms Notes where she says:

unless Walcott (and the Mayor) change course, show that they are willing to follow the law, listen to parents and other stakeholders, and alter the policies that are damaging our kids, I do not  believe that the mayor’s abysmal approval ratings will increase substantially.  I hope that this appointment means a real shift in direction, rather than simply a PR move, but we will have to see.

AfterBurn
While I agree with the tone of both Leonie's and GEM's statement, I have a different slant and won't wait and see if it's not simply a PR move because no one changes teams in the middle of the game and Walcott is on the wrong side and will not change. I don't want Bloomberg to have a final say in choosing a Chancellor or if possible, any say at all. We need separation of politics and education. Mayoral control must end ASAP. Better no chancellor than one appointed by Bloomberg. Our old friends at the UFT, which took no stand opposing Black - as outrageous as the appointment itself from my point of view – support and will continue to support mayoral control forever - with just some tweaks added. We are fighting a 2-front war. Ed deformers on one side and the UFT/AFT at our backs. Really, a 3-front war - corporate, government and our own union. We need more air support than the Libyan rebels.

Oh, and good ridence to that Meryl Tisch suck-up David Steiner. The day he was appointed I attacked him and people chastised me for not giving him a chance. They don't get that the person doing the appointing is the key, not the appointee themselves. No one appoints someone who will change the direction they want to go in. Tisch is Bloomberg's next door neighbor and had Joel Klein ask the 4 Questions at her Passover sedars. Guess which side she is on?

Ravitch debates Canada on NY1 - Oh, what a bullshitter he is.

Andy Wolfe nails them in a piece at the Daily News.
"Bloomberg seems to believe that those who toil at the hard business of educating children are the problem. He is wrong."

____________
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.

If Bloomberg Appointed the Ghost of John Dewey I Would Still Be Opposed

LAST REVISION: Friday, April 8, 12:30PM

What a shabby start for the Walcott administration. Pulling a bunch of kids out of school for blatant political use. But as we've been saying all along, ed deform is not about education. 

At about 8 a.m. Thursday, an aide to Mr. Walcott called Laura Scott, the principal of Public School 10 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and asked her to arrange for a group of fifth graders to attend a press conference at City Hall, where they would serve as the backdrop for an announcement. The aide did not tell Ms. Scott the topic of the event — Ms. Black’s resignation.

"Dennis Walcott has been a 'Yes' man for the mayor."- Pamella Wheaton on Brian Lehrer.

Where's Opra and Whoopie who praised the Black appointment, now? 

Any assessment of the move by Bloomberg to replace Black has to be weighed against the question: Does it increase the democratization of schools?

The answer so far is “no”. The culprit is mayoral control. Our only hope is that Walcott can convince the mayor to put his ego aside and accept the fact that his educational policies are a failure. We want more stakeholder control, we want smaller class sizes, real curricular choices, assessments that are multifaceted and fair, and fixing schools to strengthen communities rather than breaking them up.

However, with mayoral control all we can do is hope our actions can convince an arrogant ego, who bought a third term, to change his mind.

Therefore, Walcott is probably only a change in style, but not substance.

John Elfrank-Dana, CL of Murry Bergtraum HS

People just don't seem to get it. The problem is not with who is the chancellor but in how the chancellor is chosen. So even though Dennis Walcott seems to be a thousand times more able than Cathleen Black, he will still be implementing a corporate reform agenda that is doomed to fail. Walcott will bring a slick and savvy look to the table and in fact if Bloomberg had any sense he would have appointed Walcott as Chancellor in 2002. Same results, but at least Walcott would have modified some of the voices of dissent increasingly emerging from the Black and Hispanic communities.

The very idea of the Black appointment, which some thought was akin to Caligula appointing his horse to the Roman Senate (HorseBlack Riding), was Bloomberg's way of dissing just about anyone who had any validity as an educator. Someone suggested on a listserve that he might as well appoint daughter Georgina's horse as chancellor. So even though Walcott has much more gravitas than Black, given Walcott's absolute and total support for the ed deform agenda, you might as well replace Black's face with Walcott's. (Get going photoshoppers.)

Former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern had "One piece of advice for Mr. Walcott: Call Diane Ravitch and Sol Stern. You don't have to do everything they say, but you should listen to them carefully. They can tell you a lot about the system for which you are now responsible. They are not bound by the mistakes of the past, and neither should you be. There are over a million children out there for whom you should be a great hope. Do everything you can not to let them down."

Sure, Henry. Hasn't Walcott been part of the process of shutting out voices like Stern and Ravitch? By the way, no matter how much I admire and like Diane and Sol, these are not the people I would urge Walcott to listen too. How about actual parents and teachers who do the work with kids? The feeling that somehow policy people know more than people on the ground is what has ailed education for far longer than the time mayoral control came into effect.

Last night, News 4 NY reported from Nutley, NJ on Dennis Walcott's appointment as Cathie Black's replacement. Why Nutley? Because that town's school board, unlike NYC's one-man school dictatorship, has been conducting a formal public search for a new superintendent of schools.

I have incorporated this small fact into my latest blog posting, "Be Like Nutley?" on the NYC Public School Parents blog. Please check it out for more at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/04/be-like-nutley.html .

Steve Koss

_____________
On another topic, check out this article. Praise and condemnation for Joel Klein.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/magazine/mag-10School-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

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.

Commentary on out with the old and in with the new chancellor- Hey Cathie, I didn't get my good-bye hug

UPDATED 5:30PM- Posting commentary and links as they come in.

Mike Bloomberg in his just-completed press conference stated that he only discussed resignation with Cathie Black this morning, implying that in the last few hours he had a conversation with Ms. Black, did a "search" for a replacement, decided on Dennis Walcott, approached him about the job, and received his acceptance.

Another snap decision about who will be overseeing the education of 1.1 million children?

Despite repeated questioning from reporters, the mayor is refusing to say much about Ms. Black -- hardly surprising. He wants everyone to "look forward," not backward. Message: "Please, everyone, please forget that I made this decision to hire Cathie Black.

A reporter on NY1 just stated that Dennis Black has spent virtually his entire life in public education. I guess that's already being sold as the conventional wisdom, when I believe it is rather far from true. A masters in education, two years as a kindergarten teacher, some time spent on the old Board of Education, never an education administrator -- hardly an entire life devoted to education.

I can't say I was enamored of Wolcott's first decision: to drag a group of Brooklyn grade school kids into City Hall and away from their classrooms to serve as nothing more than background props for a press conference. Sorry, Dennis -- kids are more than props to pretty up your image.

Steve Koss

It is nice to read your thoughtful posts, again, Steve- we've missed your insights!

The mayor and his Deputy's unabashed use a group of kids as cover, to distract away from the adults' mistakes, is so emblematic of the 'Children First'  phonies.

 It is ALL about the adults- just look at the one's jumping ship, either to get further up the privatization pipeline ( can't you just hear the loud sucking sound?)or to propagate the politics and policies imposed on NYC in other cities across the nation.

Let's hope that the media continue to carry the real stories, connecting the dots and digging for facts, and never go back to reporting by press release as they did for the first 9 years of this disastrous dictatorship.

Lisa

State Ed Commiss Steiner is going too - rats deserting: David Steiner Out as State Education Commissioner - DNAinfo.com

Check out this link for the Cathie Black video in dist 14 on Feb 28:
http://vimeo.com/21717003

South African Mona Davids:

Hmm, interesting...
Shael Polakow-Suransky is officially ACTING CHANCELLOR. It's history, the first (South) African acting chancellor.

I guess 17% rating finished Black off. All I can say is that some poor magazine will end up getting stuck with her. Can she give back the 3 million and get back on the IBM Board so she can sell ARIS versions 2 through 10 back to the DOE?

Bloomberg finally pulled the race card in desperation.

Time to start a "Deny Walcott Waiver" movement? Yes he taught kindergarten and has a masters in education, but he has been a major architect of the dismantling of public ed. See Michael's comment below - but I feel it could have been worse - a sell-out educator with real creds and a P.H.d.

Watch the UFT try to claim credit for this, along with the earth spinning on its axis. It was those whistles they blew at the Feb. 3 PEP.

Sam Anderson comments:

With Dennis, the privatization plot thickens.

Connecting dots...
(a)  Al Sharpton becomes publicly closer to Obama as Obama launches re-election. Both Obama and Arne Duncan come to NYC to speak before Al's National Action Network.

(b)  Al's been chummy with Bloomberg and Walcott for years. Hence, Al's in the key position to "sell" Walcott to the negro loyal opposition forces in the electoral, business and religious sectors as a true promoter of Black Education. Meanwhile, Walcott is a proven "good negro" to white folks by his Urban League "street creds" and his 9-year proximity to Billionaire Bloomberg.

(c)  Walcott can become Bloomberg's and his class allies' blackface to their national privatizing of public education policies.

(d)   With a potential $2billion re-election war chest, Prez Obama will need a few "acceptable" Blackfolk to -once again- convince US educators to gather their collective strength and campaign and vote for this version of EVIL. Sir Walcott will make a great surrogate for Obama and the Dems.

(e)  The last dot is that if the republicans have the upper hand on the national scale, Dennis is their man also. He would have about 18 months to work with them on their national education policies.

In Struggle,

Sam Anderson

Michael Fiorillo:

Hello All,
This is not a good development. Every day that Black was Chancellor, she further undermined Bloomberg and revealed his contempt for students, parents and teachers. Walcott will follow the same smash-and-grab agenda, but will be far more adept at it, and his being black will provide a partial shield from criticism.
After all, if people are motivated by power and greed, better for the rest of us if they are incompetent and the butt of jokes. Black was a gift from the Gods of Absurdity, which they have sadly taken back from us.
Let's all hope that this comes too late to revive people's view of Bloomberg, but it makes our job harder, not easier.
Best,
Michael Fiorillo

 Lisa Donlan on Nadelstern blames press for CB's failure! (These no excuses guys sure have a lot of excuses)

Clearly the failure was not about the lousy results of the neo-liberal union-bashing, autocratic, privatizing educational experiments, re-orgs , complete 360's and other kick-the-anthill management tricks passed off by this administration for the last 10 years as reforms.

 No,  w/o the necessary pandering by the press and the inflated edubudgets spent on the vendors, bells and whistles,  the very system is destabilized since it can stand no scrutiny and obviously hangs by a thread of PR gloss and spin. Good riddance to all the rats fleeing this sinking ship. Too bad we and our kids are going to be stuck w/ the remaining wreck for years to come.

DENY WAIVER COALITION .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, April 7, 2011 CONTACT: Mona Davids                                                    917-340-8987 Lupe Todd (for Assemblyman Jeffries)          917-202-0116 Chris Owens                                                     718-514-4874  Deny Waiver Coalition Statement on the resignation of Unqualified Chancellor Cathie Black "Mayor Bloomberg's political treatment of education is leading to disaster for our children."  Today's resignation of Schools Chancellor Cathleen P. Black closes another sad chapter in the history of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's manipulation of public education in the City of New York.  Ms. Black's departure is a clear victory for parents and all those who care about the quality of public education. After disregarding the concerns of many, Mayor Bloomberg pushed ahead with the nomination and defense of a candidate unqualified to lead the largest public school system in the United States of America.  Cathie Black's departure confirms for parents, teachers and administrators their fear that the Bloomberg administration's education track record is strong on rhetoric, hype and titles, yet weak on substance.  The Mayor has provided a textbook lesson in the dangers of unfettered Mayoral control of our education system.  In sum, Mayor Bloomberg's political treatment of education is leading to disaster for our children.  The Deny Waiver Coalition is proud to have continuously highlighted the fact that the Mayor "had no clothes" when it came to this appointment.  The Deny Waiver Coalition has never wavered in its demand that an appropriate individual serve as Chancellor -- an individual whose experience in education substantially exceeds the minimum criteria for the position.  There remains cause for concern.  The Deny Waiver Coalition called for a national search to find the best Chancellor candidate.  That has not happened.  The Coalition demanded a Chancellor with proven experience at leading public schools or school systems.  New York City still does not have that.  The Coalition advocated for transparency in the Chancellor selection process.  That has yet to happen. Accordingly, the Deny Waiver Coalition members support the immediate adoption of legislation amending the New York State education law to strengthen the minimum requirements for service as Chancellor of New York City's public schools, and to minimize the discretion allowed with regard to waivers on the part of the Mayor and the State Education Commissioner. The Deny Waiver Coalition includes individual petitioners who challenged the appointment of Cathie Black in court.  Parent Petitioners from the five boroughs are New York State Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries (Brooklyn), Democratic State Committeeman and District Leader Chris Owens (Brooklyn), Ms. Mona Davids (Bronx), Mr. Noah E. Gotbaum (Manhattan), Ms. Khem Irby (Brooklyn), Ms. Lydia Bellahcene (Brooklyn), Ms. Patricia Connelly (Brooklyn), Ms. Monica Ayuso (Queens), Ms. Mariama Sanoh (Brooklyn), Mr. John Battis (Brooklyn), Ms. Latrina Miley (Manhattan), Ms. Shino Tanikawa-Oglesby (Manhattan) and Ms. Maria Farano-Rodriguez (Staten Island).  The teacher Petitioner is Ms. Julie Cavanagh (Brooklyn).

A blast from the past, thanks to Jeff Kaufman. Check out Walcott's subcontractor pals.

November 3, 1999, Wednesday


URBAN LEAGUE GETTING $9M CONTRACT FROM BOARD OF ED.




BYLINE: SUSAN EDELMAN


The Board of Education is set to award a massive $9 million contract today to the New York Urban League in a deal aimed at getting parents to join "school leadership teams" to help run the city's 1,100 schools.


The unprecedented contract - $3 million a year for three years - is earmarked for a citywide campaign and media blitz to drum up interest in the teams and to train parents who sign up.




"This will cover five boroughs and reach parents of different racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds," said league president Dennis Walcott.


The money will pay for staff, educational forums, training sessions, an Internet site, public relations and advertising such as bus posters.


School leadership teams spring from the 1996 Governance Law, which gives Chancellor Rudy Crew broad powers over school boards and superintendents, and were supposed to be in place by Oct. 1.


Each team is to have 10 members - half parents and half school administrators and teachers. They will have input in educational plans, budgets and issues such as school uniforms and safety.


The Urban League has subcontracted with three groups for its Parent Leadership Program: the United Federation of Teachers; Aspira of New York, a Latino community organization; and the United Parent Associations.


Ernest Clayton, UPA president, said the $9 million to be spent by the board isn't enough.


"When it comes to teacher and principal development, they spend money like crazy," he said. "It's about time they try to make an attempt to treat parents well."




ORGANIZATION: UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (55%); UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (55%);


COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (90%);


STATE: NEW YORK, USA (90%);


COMPANY: UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (55%); UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (55%);


SUBJECT: EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION EMPLOYEES (90%); TEACHING & TEACHERS (90%); EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION (90%); SCHOOL BOARDS (90%); CITY GOVERNMENT (78%); SCHOOL PRINCIPALS (78%); SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS (73%); MARKETING & ADVERTISING (71%); TEACHER UNIONS (67%); RELIGION (55%); PUBLIC RELATIONS (54%);


LOAD-DATE: November 3, 1999

IS 303 - Julia Daniely, PTA President

NYCDOE attempts to shoe-horn a 4th school into an already overcrowded IS 303 in Coney Island. Excerpts from the public hearing.

Another New Generation Activist Enters the Fray

In August, Julie Cavanagh asked me what was my long-time goal, aside from laying in the sun smoking a cigar. Not one to think about things too deeply, I responded, "To find 50 more people like you." (A whole bunch of us are fighting it out over who really discovered Julie, who a year and a half ago was only known inside her school community and in some ed policy groups.) Well, it certainly has been a pleasure for "grampa" (as Julie often refers to me) to meet an increasingly large group of new gen ed activists. That they all seem so much wiser than "grampa" makes me kvell.


Liza Campbell is one of this new generation of rising stars flooding the teacher activist movement in direct opposition to groups like Educators4Excellence. While believing in dedication to the classroom, these activists also believe they must fight outside the classroom, not for a narrow self-serving political agenda like E$E but for the social justice rights for their children and the parents of their children, along with their own rights as teachers. Reforming the UFT is also in their sights (and don't think this isn't making the Unity honchos nervous - they are badmouthing groups like GEM behind the scenes).

I only know Liza, a 25 year old 3rd year teacher, for a few months but have been extremely impressed with her creative energy, organizing skills and willingness to take on any task. And she knows so damned much in such a short time.

Liza was one of the leaders of the under 5 year group of teachers passing around a petition supporting LIFO. And she has been writing some great stuff at the Gotham Community section. Her last piece was Why I Love Unions, But Not Always Their Leadership.  This is an absolute must-read.
Liza closes with

Unions, as a collective representation of working people, can be an incredibly powerful counter-force to corporate interests. Individual working people can have very little impact on policy because they do not have the financial prowess on their own to affect national policy the way those with a good deal of money at their disposal can. I am proud to be a member of a union, and I am very proud of my fellow UFT members. But when union leadership becomes too far-removed from the lived reality of their rank-and-file members and spends a significant amount of their time with the very people who are pushing the policies they should be fighting, they run the risk of losing sight of their mission. If the UFT had a leadership with a social justice orientation that viewed its role as strengthening educators’ ability to educate and mobilize against misguided reforms, then I would not only be proud of my union but proud of its leadership as well.

But you have to read it all - and leave some comments. I want to include a comment from another older gen much-admired activist, Michael Fiorillo - watching Michael and the new gen activists like Julie and Liza mingling brings a big smile to my face since I have often been the connector (which  seems to be my main purpose in all this).

Congratulations on your fine analysis of the shortcomings of the UFT leadership, but things are unfortunately even worse than you say.

The aggressive attacks against teachers and public education in NYC would not have been possible without the dictatorial powers the mayor has over the school system, and these powers would not have been granted without the approval of the UFT, and Randi Weingarten in particular.

The union had in the past successfully repelled mayoral power grabs, but in 2002 Weingarten acquiesed to it. The fragmentation, destabilization and privatization of the system started immediately, as intended. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver propsed a bill that would have given the mayor increased power over the Board of Education, but with checks and balances in place. Weingarten rejected that, inexplicably choosing absolute control of the schools by the mayor.

Worse was yet to come. The initial law granting the mayor absolute control of the schools was designed to sunset in 2009, allowing for the issue to be revisited, based on Bloomberg and Klein's actions. By that time there was widespread dissatisfaction with what Bloomberg and his factotum Klein were doing to the schools, and stakeholders began mobilizing to rein in the mayor's power. There was also strong sentiment in the union that something had to be done to limit the mayor's power.

After all, isn't checks and balances what the US system of government is supposed to be about?

Weingarten, however, had no intention of allowing that to happen, having apparently gotten used to getting rides in the mayor's private jet. So, using the craftiness that she never employed against the DOE, she impaneled a union committee to come up with suggestions for governance of the schools, in anticipation of the 2009 sunsetting of the law.

This Governance Committee, of which I was a member, worked diligently to come up with an alternative to the executive dictatorship that is destroying public education in cities across the country. Although I felt that the Committee's report did not go far enough, and participated in drafting a minority roport that would have gone farther in restricting exectutive power and giving more control to parents, teachers and elected officials, the Committee report that was eventually approved at the unions' Delegate Assembly would have been a tremendous improvement over what we have now.

But even that was not allowed to be. Acting unilaterally, without consulting the membership or the community groups that had enlisted in the fight against mayoral control, Weingarten sandbagged everyone by approving the continuation of mayoral control with just a few meaningless adjustments. Not a word was spoken by Michael Mulgrew in opposition to any of this.

And here we now find ourselves, with the DOE aggressively closing schools, enabling charter invasions, working 24/7 to undermine teaching as a career with professional autonomy and turning the education into a joyless forced march to competition for poverty-level jobs.

The story of the decline of unions over the past 35 years is in large part the story of the decline of the United States, as it has allowed for accelerating income inequality and concentration of power by finance capital. It is only the labor movement, as a self-financed working class institution, that can act as a counterweight to the immense power of employers.

This is playing out everywhere today, but especially in the public schools, since they have been targeted as a market that has yet to be maximized, and as a potential source of public wealth that has yet to be extracted by private interests. Sadly, what the oligarchs and their lapdogs propose is nothing less than the near-total destruction of public education, which despite its many shortcomings, is a uniquely American experiment in democracy. And Randi Weingarten and the one-party state that is the UFT/AFT have been the enablers of that.

Mulgrew got about the same percentage of votes as Mubarek in Egypt in the last election. Watch the deluge when LIFO goes.