Gotham Schools Involvement in Ed Deform Panel Controversy - Teachers Protest E4E Faux Teacher Sydney Morris Inclusion - Ravitch Resigns From Panel

• Storm of Protest over City Hall News/Gotham Schools ed deform event. 
• Ravitch withdraws.
• Gotham Schools protest of innocence and neutrality comes into question

SEE GOTHAM ANNOUNCEMENT WHERE YOU CAN COMMENT.

We've been tracking this story since word came through Thursday morning when Leonie Haimson came across the announcement (see original announcement at end of this post) that City Hall News and Gotham Schools were co-sponsoring an ed deform panel next week. Leonie added this comment: "Strangely constituted and lately announced."

Strange indeed. Gotham Schools, a supposedly independent source of school news was co-sponsoring an event stacked with ed deformers. NYC State Regent slug Meryl (I'm not a crook) Tisch, Evil Moskowitz, non-entity Bill Thompson (Bloomberg's hand-picked opponent in the last election) and best of all, faux teacher Sydney Morris of E4E. No real teacher. No real parent. But Diane Ravitch was on the panel as the lone Real Reformer. Not good enough for many of us.

The blow back was fast and furious.

To City Hall News:

Dear Sir or Madam,
I write to express my feelings concerning your inclusion of Ms. Sydney Morris in your On Education breakfast of August 25 who is there, presumably, to represent teachers. Please understand that I speak for tens of thousands when I tell you that as a teacher I find her selection nothing short of appalling and grossly offensive. Ms. Morris is a part time employee of the Department of Education which have egregiously granted her and her fellow Educators for Excellence co-founder something called F status which allows her to work one day a week in the profession she so arrogantly claims to represent and even lead. It has been documented in the New York Times and elsewhere that Educators for Excellence is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and represents less than one percent of New York City teachers, the overwhelmingly majority who find their views astoundingly ignorant and abhorrent. In short, Ms. Morris is an employee of Bill Gates working for a union busting front group. In no way can she be considered an authentic voice for NYC teachers.

In the name of decency and fairness I strongly urge you to reconsider your choice or failing that at the very least counter the presence of Ms. Morris with a real teacher representing the real views of other real teachers. I would happily assist you in this quest.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely

Patrick Walsh
NYC Teacher

Other teachers sent private letters of protest to Gotham asking how E4E gets on the panel but no reps from Real Reform groups like GEM, NYCORE or Teachers Unite are not considered.

Word from Gotham quickly filtered out along the lines of "Who me? We're just moderating and had no say in the panel." Gotham furiously began to back pedal and word seeped out that the old standby, UFT VP Leo Casey and Tweed top level official Shael Polokaw-Surnansky had been asked - to create balance? I may have made peace with Leo at SOS but he is far from a Real Reformer.

Question: Gotham wasn't sensitive enough in the first place to see this stacked panel would create a storm and question their credibility?

Well, I as a trusting soul gave Gotham the benefit of the doubt. They weren't partnering with City Hall News but just moderating - until I saw the revised announcement.Well, apparently there was some lobbying going on and Gotham blogger and legit teacher Stephen Lazar was added to the panel to balance Sydney Morris, causing a bit of joy in the Mudville listserves.

Sorry, folks, I'm not appeased. While I am glad Lazar is on the panel, I don't see him as representing any of the Real Reform groups - GEM, NYCORE, Teachers Unite _ that counter the E4E paid for ed deformist line. Appeals to Gotham were unheeded to lobby for an official rep from these orgs just as Sydney is advertized as the founder of E4E (why is she always representing an org with supposedly over 3000 members - a number dwarfed by the number of people supporting Real Reform orgs. Why not show us some of those faces? Or maybe another one of the 6 people employed by the Gates/DFER funded E4E?

But then again we know how much love the press and Gotham (by linking to every scrap of E4E press coverage) has shown to E4E over its brief existence. Evan or Sydney blow a bubble and FOX, the NY Post and the Wall St. Journal have an article on them. E4E is Rupert Murdoch's dream organization - and there are other E4Es around the nation which I will post about next week.

Sydney Morris is clearly on the panel to push the E4E 5th column line. Why should E4E which has less influence in the schools than the real reform groups like GEM, NYCORE and Teachers Unite be represented and they excluded? So E4E could put out press releases that they are at a level to sit on a panel with Tisch and Moskowitz, creating another layer of false legitimacy?


There is an anti-Gotham sense amongst a sub-set of some teachers and parents that Gotham is biased toward charters and ed deform in general - the idea that the biggest money gets you what you pay for. No one in that camp has convinced me yet, though I have hammered Gotham over the attention paid to a faux teacher group while mostly ignoring Real Reform groups like GEM, NYCORE and Teachers Unite.

Gotham, by originally seeming to have few qualms about participating in an ed deform event with a faux teacher representing a faux organization, has harmed some of its credibility in my eyes. I would go down and protest - If I didn't have to do my hair Thursday morning.


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South Bronx School imports a guest commentator to compare Ed creds of an E4E and GEM leader.
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I don't buy into the opinion of bias by Gotham - the have responded to pressure to give the Real Reformer groups some coverage and have featured RR writers in the community section. But in the interests of fair and balanced, here is an alternatative viewpoint.

Some comments on Gotham bias and E4E from NYC Educator

The Audacity of Corporate Nonsense

And Good Morning to You, Too

Like, Thanks, Gotham Schools!

Holy Grail of the "Reformers"

Charters 4-Union 1That's the score at Gotham Schools

NY Post, Fox News, and Gotham Schools

The original announcement below. The updated one here.

It has been a tumultuous summer in the education world, full of budget fights and labor showdowns. Heading into the new school year we are sitting down with a panel of leaders and influencers in the education field to better understand how the past year’s fights will play out in the school year ahead and how these events will impact education policy, city politics, teachers and parents for years to come. MODERATED BY: Andrew Hawkins Managing Editor at City Hall News Philissa Cramer Managing Editor of GothamSchools.Org THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2011 8:00 a.m. Networking Breakfast 8:30 -9:30 a.m. Panel Discussion Followed by Q&A Location: Con Edison Building4 Irving Place (@14th Street) New York, New York TICKETS: EARLY REGISTRATION: $30 for individual tickets/ $250 table of 10 AFTER 8/24: $40 for individual tickets / $350 for a table of 10 PURCHASE TICKETS BELOW *$20 ticket for government and non-profit employees FOR MORE INFORMATION or sponsorship opportunities call 646.442.1662 or email us here. PANELISTS: SYDNEY MORRIS Co-Founder of Educators 4 Excellence EVA MOSKOWITZ Former City Council Member & Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Success Charter Network DIANE RAVITCH Research Professor of Education at New York University & Former Assistant Secretary of Education BILL THOMPSON Former President of the NYC Board of Education & Former NYC Comptroller MERRYL TISCH Chancellor of the NY Board of Regents JOSEPH P. VITERITTI Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College

PEP POP III: Diary of a Mad Parent

I'm outta here…once again amazed at politics in NYC. I think I'll look for a bar. There's a reality at the bottom of a glass that makes more sense than this.

Posted by a parent activist on the NYCEd listserve, it captures the PEP ambiance perfectly:

530 PM on August 17: streets crowded with Verizon workers in red shirts; police, lined up, hands on hips, staring into the crowd, whistles and loud speakers, honking car horns, disgruntled pedestrians…New York in the midst of a strike. It looked like Lindsey era turmoil. This time though, the strikers have a lot more to lose. This is an era of big business that would make Gould, Carnegie and Rockefeller bust the buttons of the vests over their very prosperous bellies. New barons wear LL Bean or $2000.00 suits

We walked along Pearl Street, past barricades and protesters to Murry Bergtraum High School, yet another high school shrouded in scaffolding and netting… like a widow staring stoically off into space while a beloved was buried. It was time for the PEP meeting. Jeez Louise, these meetings have become so depressing!

Getting into the auditorium took a bit of maneuvering; we went up a few steps to go down a flight of stairs. I couldn't help but think of Dante's inferno..which level would we be at when we stopped? The place was a sea of red shirts…for a moment I thought St. John's was holding a B-ball rally. But no, once the chanting began I knew we weren't at a college campus rally. Organizers handed out flyers, independently people began chants….Verizon sucks!. The people united will never be divided!….Do the right thing! Kids were there, some so young their mothers carried them in their arms. Workers were there. Parents were there.

The air was electric, but the PEP wasn't. Half of them weren't there yet and DOE staff was milling around on the stage…putting out water bottles seemed to be the most that anyone was doing. More security stared out at the crowd. I am not sure what was funnier, their stares or the crowds chants.

It's 6:20 and the PEP comes to order. We begin, as usual with the Chancellor's report. The Chancellor swings into action….grabbing a mike and jumping into the well of the auditorium. It would have been impressive except for one thing….he's being ignored. He starts his report with the opening day of school, September 8th, and the place erupts. People are shouting "We know that!" Unperturbed, he moves on to sex education producing cat calls and laughter from the audience. ELA and Math scores were next. A giant screen with facts and figures hung above the audience. Shael Suransky began to intone the DOE mantra…we had an increase. ELA 1.5%. Math 3.3% The house came down! Whistles, hoots, hollers, sneers, you name it people used it. Everyone in that room knew that these numbers were a sham and a shame. Fingers were pointed at the PEP. Shouts of "Shame on you" were long and loud. Suransky's presentation, such as it was, was drowned out in the ruckus.

The PEP Sec'y droned on and on. There were changes to Chancellor's regs 670 and 755
The crowd waited expectantly. Robert Jackson of City Council was already at one mike. Others had lined up at a second mike. Signs came up. People shifted and shuffled. And then bang, there is was: the proposal to okay the estimated budget. A wave of noise swept over the audience There were 14 items in the budget proposal. Jackson wanted to know which item was the Verizon proposal? Where was the proposal? Did anyone see it? Read it? Understand it? Other speakers had questions and comments.
The contracts included money for consultants, technology and testing. Why not revise your spending priorities and put the money back into the schools? 250 principals have appealed their proposed budgets. They are facing teaching staff cuts, program cuts. Why are we paying for consultants when students are going without teachers?

The Special Investigator had found Verizon to be guilty of swindling the DOE out of millions, yet a Verizon spokesman had written to the DOE insisting that Verizon was not part of the theft committed while Willard Lanham was a tech consultant for the DOE. Verizon made millions and was accused of stealing more and now the DOE should pay them? Why not call it a wash? Verizon provides the DOE with the service, the DOE doesn't go after them for over 120 million in suspected thefts? Shouts of "Raise test scores not corporate profits" were coming fast and furious.

The noise was overwhelming the speakers. PEP members were unable to hear the budget presentation. The Manhattan Boro President rep wanted a postponement. The Queens' rep agreed. The Verizon contract which had expired in January was never rescinded by Verizon. Yet, as the Manhattan rep pointed out, Verizon could back out of the contract if the strike prevented them from acting in accordance with the agreement. So, here we are, agreeing to pay money to an organization under federal investigation for theft. Is this crazy? You bet! Is it even crazier that the PEP voted to accept this contract? Nope. Insanity means you have lost your ability to recognize reality. The mayoral appointees, all of whom voted for the contracts, were adept at ignoring reality and acting politically. They were never supposed to be real, just vote. I wonder where they keep their rubber stamps?

I'm outta here…once again amazed at politics in NYC. I think I'll look for a bar. There's a reality at the bottom of a glass that makes more sense than this.

 =================

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.

PEP POPS II

Things are still buzzing over last night's PEP. What people on our side miss when they call rubber stamp PEP meetings a waste of time and money is that these meetings are opportunities to bring and solidify the forces of opposition to BloomBloodSucker. The ed deformers in their open flouting of morals, ethics, law are the creators of a movement that will one day bring them down. So we lose every vote, but we gain strength in those losses.

Make sure to check out my earlier PEP Pops I which takes the UFT leadership to task for poor turnout at the pre-PEP rally and zero turnout at the PEP itself. But luckily there were powerful voices from the UFT rank and file to pick up the load.

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"When will this administration put children first?"
Julie Cavanagh express R and F solidarity with Verizon strikers and expresses hope they will be back at future PEP meetings before lambasting WalSlick and crew for wasting enormous sums of money. Video by my new top notch assistant Pat Dobosz.

And what do you think of Julie's new hairdoo?



 Here is a link to Pat's video of the final vote.

Julie and Verizon new superstar Verizon striker and parent Amy Muldoon, who galvanized the PEP, will be at a rally for Verizon workers. (See below for details.) Here is a letter from Amy.

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My video with Leonie and Peter and Mulgrew speeches
Here is my 18 minute video (using my shaky flip-like camera) of the Verizon workers coming off the Brooklyn Bridge and marching en masse over to Pearl Street where the rest of the mass was waiting for them. GEM/ICE people were stationed on the route to hand them signs relating to the PEP which they were grabbing like crazy. Thanks to David and Pat Dobosz for all their hard work in making them up and to Joan Seedorf, Yelea Siwinski, Lisa North and Vera Pavone for handing them out along with Pat and David.

UFT rank and file teachers join with Verizon strikers for a rally before the PEP planned to vote in favor of a $120 million Verizon contract which has come under attack for fraudulent past practices. The Brooklyn contingent marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and met up with the Manhattan strand and marched over to hear the speeches across the street from Verizon HQ and the school the PEP was meeting at. Symbolic? This video is the rally part only with a few of the speeches by Class Size Matters Leonie Haimson, GEM's Peter Lamphere, the UFT's Michael Mulgrew and a few others.

Tomorrow I'll put up some of the footage from inside the PEP - like Walcott in a hysterical sex ed rant - tell people of color to wear condoms.
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Karen Sprowal,whose son, Matthew, was kicked out of Harlem Success charter school in Kindergarten, speaks for Class Size Matters about the devastating school budget cuts and the harsh effect on class size at last night's Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

Below this video is another of the audience shouting "Shame" after the Panel vote to approve the $120 million contract with Verizon.

 http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/08/karen-sprowal-talks-about-school-budget.html

 
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Here is a video from GEM's Gustavo Mejias

Verizon and PEP mtg [HQ]

Rally at PEP meeting of the DOE in support of Verizon Workers and Against the DOE dealing with Verizon Executives http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2238887968149

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SOLIDARITY WITH VERIZON STRIKERS!
A Fight For Us All!

Saturday, August 20
4:00 PM
Musicians local 802322 W. 48th St

JOIN a PANEL DISCUSSION with:

• Amy Muldoon, Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1106
• Vincent Galvin, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
• Ron Spaulding, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
  
• Julie Cavanagh, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)
• Member of the Transportation Workers Union (TWU)

*organizations listed for identification purposes only

SOME 45,000 workers at Verizon are on strike across the Northeast, in one of the largest labor actions in years. If they lose, employers across the country will be emboldened to sharpen their attacks. But if they win, they could galvanize working people to pick up where the struggle in Wisconsin left off.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256645951021736
More info/to endorse: 646-421-2035; To request free childcare: julerro@gmail.comEndorsed by: The International Socialist Organization, Grassroots Education Movement

================
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.

PEP Pops I - Updated with video and links to coverage

Here are some links to coverage:

GEM's Gustavo Medina has video:
Verizon Workers on Strike Pearl ST NYC
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2238572200255

Leonie Haimson:  My take on last night's PEP meeting on Verizon contract and its electric "Norma Rae" moment:  ttp://t.co/QPuVHmLL

Media coverage of the meeting from the Times, Daily News, Post, NY1.  None of it really captures the intensity of the evening, though the NY1 video comes closest with Lindsey Christ at NY1 doing her usual bang-up job.

Fox 5 NY:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/NYC-OK-Verizon-School-Contract-20110818-APX

International Business Tribune:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/199901/20110818/verizon-strikle-2011-contract-school-new-york.htm

Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/controversial-verizon-phone-and-internet-contract-approved-for-new-york-city-schools/2011/08/18/gIQAPbzGNJ_story.html

GothamSchools:

http://gothamschools.org/2011/08/17/remainders-amid-protest-pep-approves-verizon-contract/

Michael Solo took stills at the rally and posted them at the Fight Back Friday blog.
http://fightbackfridays.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_17.html


Back story links at Ed Notes:

• Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give ou...

• Patrick Sullivan Warns on DOE/PEP Violations on Co...
• UFT Officially Joins PEP/Verizon Aug. 17 Protest
• Catless
• A Midsummer Night's Scream - Picket PEP Over Veriz...
• Verizon: Corporations Are People Too - Mitt Romney...

There is a Members Relief Fund.  It is a Solidarity Fund that other union members can donate to. If you would like to make a contribution, you may do so online at
www.cwa-union.org/hardshipfund <http://www.cwa-union.org/hardshipfund> <http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ziooN8QM91JNw9BsD1JCF1%2BeiKI2mOZl>

This is especially important as the video testimony of a mother on strike below highlights, these folks will lose their healthcare at the end of the month.




Ed Notes Report
I'm sitting here in the middle of the night with a noisy fan whirring and making a sound that sounds an awful like "What's didgusting union busting," a common refrain we heard throughout the evening.

Aside from the fact that the Panel for Educational Policy Bloomberg rubber stamps would vote up the Verizon contract there was much significance in the events today where thousands of striking Verizon workers joined with teachers and parents in a rally outside Murry Bergtraum HS followed by attending the monthly PEP meeting of the rubber stamps. Seeing them come off the Brooklyn Bridge en masse was thrilling. And what guts to strike in these times against one of the most powerful corporations. And so many workers all over the city. I ran into a whole bunch on 34th St. at 12 noon. I just cannot conceive of the UFT doing anything that could come close.

Just a few points in this post - I'll supplement later with some video I took.

1. Educating CWA members on the disastrous ed deform policies of Bloomberg
What these members of the Communications Workers of America, many of them parents of students attending NYC schools, witnessed was what we ed activists have been
witnessing for almost a decade - a corporate agenda that ignores the voices of parents and teachers - and the public at large. We couldn't have done more to raise the consciousness of a significant and influential group of people than the PEP and their increasingly slimy shill Dennis Walcott accomplished for us. Let's hope the CWA and Verizon workers remember last night when mayoral control comes up for renewal.

2. Building grassroots rank and file teacher/Verizon worker alliances
Lots of wonderful interactions between the mostly GEM/ICE/Teachers Unite people and rank and file CWA workers. This was not between union leaderships (more on that below.) GEM, TU and NYCORE reps joined picket lines over a week ago to show support.

3. The organizing/initiating role GEM played
Yes, the very idea to team the strike and the PEP Verizon vote came out of the GEM internal listserve 2 weeks ago and caught on with other groups like wildfire. There were many groups that signed on but only a few actually turned out people. Between GEM and ICE I counted at least 15-20 people, a nice showing for such relatively tiny orgs.

One thing I noticed was how stoked some of the people who started working with GEM recently were over the ability of the group to make things happen. (I haven't written about it but the high stakes testing meeting on Monday attracted quite a crowd and got an amazing amount of work done.) Sometimes I am amazed myself since my experience in ICE has been so much more think tank than action. There is some need for both I guess and the most action oriented people in ICE have been attracted to the work in GEM, which after all started out as an ICE subcommittee.



4. The UFT - almost rising to the level of being pathetic
You know I am trying my best not to bash the UFT but how can I pass after yesterday's shameful performance? Even I had been fooled when I heard they had signed on - or at least Leroy Barr sent out a letter urging people to join in. (UFT Officially Joins PEP/Verizon Aug. 17 Protest.)

By the way, soon after, New Action signed on too - but I saw only one NA person there - but now they can brag about how they took part- by the time they massage the story they will have organized the whole thing.

So Mulgrew spoke outside and he spoke well. Hr made sure to bring a photographer and a NY Teacher reporter and a few people who work at the UFT. I expected hundreds. I counted maybe 10. But worst of all, when it came time to go into the PEP and fight it out with the Bloomscum, the UFT totally disappeared. Not a one. Whereas GEM went in with a strategy and organized speaker signups for people from all the groups, there was zero UFT presence. Shouldn't someone from the leadership of the UFT have spoken at the PEP instead of just outside?


I did whatever video I could with my flip-like camera 'till I ran out of battery power. Even though I had some good news today about my broken wrist, it was a long day in the city for me and my wife has been picking me up at various subway stops so I had to leave at 7:30 just as Julie Cavanagh was raking them over the coals - I think someone else may have caught it. I'll put up some videos of first the rally outside and then the PEP itself later.

Day 3: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Weds, Aug. 17

The debate continues between Julie Cavanagh and Ben Boychik. Follow this to see exactly the kind of manipulative game parent trigger plays in the hands of the ed deformers.

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to the debate so far:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.

Check Ed Notes' previous coverage:

Gem's Julie Cavanagh Debates Parent Trigger online this week in Manhattan institute Sponsored Event starting Monday at 12 noon

Day 1 Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Monday Aug. 15

Day 2: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Tuesday, Aug. 16

Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give our schools back our money? BE AT THE PEP Wed.

"Verizon has sent the PEP members a letter asking us to approve the contract.  It blames CWA for the campaign against the contract.  It attempts to completely misrepresent the SCI [Special Commissioner of Investigation] report which clearly states Verizon concealed billing information and knew of inappropriate arrangements.   Rather than CWA, it was SCI who asked that all funds be recovered from Verizon and that external auditors be brought in to examine Verizon's books."

Laura,
Special Commissioner for Investigation Condon recommended that the DOE require that all funds from the Lanham consultants be returned from Verizon.
When will you give our schools back our money?  We have severe budget cuts and we need those funds.
Have you opened your books to our auditors as he also asked?

Patrick Sullivan
Manhattan member,
Panel for Educational Policy

 GEM started this ball rolling less than 2 weeks ago by teaming the Verizon contract with the strike and lookee at what's happening. The CWA is coming out strong tomorrow and so is the activist ed community - all the groups are on board. Don't expect much press at a mid-Aug. PEP.

Verizon is feeling the heat. Verizon's Laura wrote a letter to all the PEP members and Patrick responded above.

Memories: Bridge Project Brings Them Back

I loved the article at Gotham Bridge-building no metaphor at engineering-themed high school.

It brought back memories of a project we did at my school 18 years ago where we won $1500 (which I used to buy more computers- actually, one sort of souped up Mac to run a nascent network) and all kinds of national and even international accolades because a group of girls built a bridge. My principal was so annoyed she threatened not to allow entry to Matthew Wald (then a young reporter who still writes for the Times, covering aviation and transportation). I told her we would do the interview on the sidewalk  in front of the school and embarrass the hell out of her. She relented. She told me I was getting the glory while she did the nuts and bolts. i looked at her like she was an idiot. "Don't you know the entire bridge is built with nuts and bolts?"

Wald did a great job on the article, only mis-labeling the neighborhood - it is Williamsburg.

Due to the exposure, the girls were feted in a  number of places, being the guests of honor at a breakfast full of celebrities at the Mus. of Natural History where they gave me a blown-up framed copy of this article - which has to be somewhere in my house but I can't find.

The Academy of Science  had us over for dinner and the engineers at the George Washington Bridge invited us for a day.

A few months later they were invited on the Sally Jesse Rafael show with a limo sent to pick us all up. They sat in the audience while Gloria Steinem was interviewed and were on camera for about 30 seconds. Steinem didn't give them  the time of the day- seemed downright nasty to me. My wife and I invited the girls to stay over the night before to make sure everything went off on time. Think of it - 5 7th grade girls who spent most of the night having pillow fights while we huddled in our bedroom with the 3 cats thinking, "Cats seem so much easier than children." Those two days were really memorable.

Think of it - because girls built a bridge which seemed revolutionary less than 20 years ago, showing you we've come a long way baby.

The girls would be in their early 30's now - except for Bonnie Resto who was killed in an auto accident at 18. One of the saddest moments - seeing her in a coffin. Jean Ng went on to Stuyvesant - her older sister was a doctor - so I imagine she has done well. Jean was brilliant but had the most aplomb about the whole thing, telling reporters she had no intention of being an engineer just because she built a bridge.

How did I hook up with Meccano, a French company that bought Erector from Gilbert? See below for that story.

For some reason the archives don't have the great photo of the girls holding the bridge, sort of modeled on the Bayonne Bridge.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/nyregion/prize-for-school-project-bridges-old-gender-gap.html?scp=1&sq=&st=nyt

Prize for School Project Bridges Old Gender Gap

By MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: December 20, 1993

The five engineers on the winning team in the nationwide design competition were celebrating their victory, partying hard on Haagen-Dazs and Nestle bars in their top-floor headquarters, standing around the soaring creation that had absorbed so much of their time and imagination, and boasting that no one else could have done the job.

"Especially not boys; boys are too picky," said 12-year-old Melissa Rivera. Boys want everything their own way, Melissa said, and they don't make good team players. Girls, simply put, can do just as well, maybe even better, she said.

Day 2: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Tuesday, Aug. 16

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to the debate so far:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.


See Julie nail Ben again and Caroline Grannan hit him again as he tries to get off the floor.
Boychuk says:

where parents are routinely dismissed or where their involvement is answered with condescension and suspicion—then the “parent trigger” is indeed “real parent choice” and genuinely empowering.

Now we know ed deformers don't really want to empower parents and Julie exposes them:

Stating that parent choice increases involvement, let alone empowerment, is not entirely accurate.  What is parent choice? Are we ensuring choices that are authentic and meaningful or are we giving the illusion of choice? What is involvement? Are we ensuring parents are given the power to demand the programs and services they want for their children or are we giving them a voice, but ignoring their choices? Parent activist Karen Harper-Royal often points out, in the world of school choice, “schools choose and parents and kids lose.”
The “parent trigger” is an illusion of choice and an impediment to empowerment. True choice and empowerment would include parents having a genuine seat at the table; preparing the menu, gathering the ingredients with administrators and educators, and together cooking the meal, setting the table, and enjoying their collaborative educational feast. Policy such as the “parent trigger” leaves parents with one option: clean up after all of the wrong ingredients have been purchased and the meal is burnt. If the goal is to cultivate parent choice and empowerment there is a simple solution: give parents what they want.  In parent surveys across the country, and every year here in New York City, parents demand one reform consistently: small class size. 

You go girl.

By the way, for those of you educators out there who pay lip service to parent involvement and in fact believe parents should have as little say in schools as possible (and at time in my career some thoughts have run through my head along these lines) let me say that Julie is not just blowing smoke. When she says she is passionate about empowering parents she means it - one of the most articulate spokes persons on this issue I've met - and she has influenced me. Now if you don't think Julie's position is not diametrically different from where the UFT has always come from (explaining why they are for mayoral control) you are smoking something.

Below is Caroline Grannan, an expert on the Parent Trigger responding to Boychuk's lauding McKinley as a model.

Is the Evil Meryl Tisch Even Eviler than Eva?

Michael Winerip wrote Monday on the evil and the good at State Board of Regents which ostensibly should control the absolutely evil NY State Ed Dept but even eviler (out eviling Eva) Regent boss Meryl Tisch has taken all power for herself.

Regents Pay a Political Price for Their Free Advisers, Dissenters Warn

By MICHAEL WINERIP

In December, the chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, Merryl H. Tisch, announced a new program: 13 research fellows would be selected to advise the education commissioner and the 17-member board. The fellows would be paid as much as $189,000 each, in private money; to date, $4.5 million has been raised, including $1 million donated by Dr. Tisch, a member of one of New York’s wealthiest families.
The chancellor sees the program as a way to add resources and expertise at a time of severe budget cutting (state financing of the Education Department is down 35 percent since 2009). She said the fellows would help ensure that the $700 million federal Race to the Top grant New York was awarded last year was properly spent.
“People in the department were burning out,” Dr. Tisch said. “This was a great way to enhance our capacity.”
As Dr. Tisch put it, what’s not to like about free fellows?
Plenty, according to several current and former board members.
Public education has never been so divided, between those like Dr. Tisch, Commissioner John B. King Jr. and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who support the Obama administration’s signature Race to the Top initiative and its emphasis on standardized tests and charter schools; and dissenters on the board, who call it a Race to the Bottom and put their faith in teachers as well as traditional public schools. The Race to the Bottom folks warn that the supposedly free fellows come at a stiff political price.

Good for The Bottoms. Read it all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/nyregion/free-advisers-cost-ny-education-dept-critics-say.html?_r=1&ref=michaelwinerip

There was another article in the same edition by Sam Dillon detailing state ed departments fighting back against NCLB and opposing the Obama administration attempts to offer waivers if they sign onto their oppressive regs - teacher evals by test score, lots of charters, etc. 

State Challenges Seen as Whittling Away Federal Education Law

Some education officials and experts see signs that years of federal dominance of public school accountability may be drawing to a close.

Of course you won't find the evil ones on this list.

-------

Steiner and Tisch hostage photo

Some Ed Notes greatest hits on Tisch:

Education Notes Online: Dishonor Among Thieves: Merryl Tisch Wrote ...

May 15, 2011

Ed Notes has learned that the letter Governor Cuomo supposedly wrote to Merryl Tisch and the State Board of Regents calling for a change from weighing teacher evaluations based on state tests from 20 to 40% was in fact ...

Education Notes Online: Tisch Family Connections to K12 Board and ...

May 04, 2011

Don't be so mean: Ms. Tisch is simply offering a compassionate helping hand to convicted felon Michael Milken (the force behind the privately-owned Learning Group LLC), who served time in federal prison for insider ...

Education Notes: Steiner and Tisch: Race To The Top Hostage Photo

Aug 26, 2010

Meryl Tisch - yes that family - owns Giants and all kinds of stuff. Also Bloomberg next door neighbor - we picketed her too at our January '10 demo a Bloomberg's house. She also does Passover with Joel Klein. ...

Education Notes: Tisch, Tisch, Meryl

Apr 07, 2009

This one is about the outrageous puff piece in the NY Times on Meryl Tisch, who now heads the NY State Board of Regents which must rule on waivers for "do no nuttin bout education" chancellors. Look for a follow-up piece ...

 =================

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.

Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Monday Aug. 15

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

If you saw this post this morning:

Gem's Julie Cavanagh Debates Parent Trigger online this week in Manhattan Institute Sponsored Event starting Monday at 12 noon...and lasting through Thursday

Starting today, Julie will be debating Ben Boychuk on the Parent Trigger, an ed deform wolf in sheep's clothing at the Manhattan Institute's Public Sector.

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to today's debate:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.

------------
Parent Trigger supposedly allows parents at a school perceived as not functioning effectively to vote on a number of options, most of which could lead to some level of privatization. On the surface Boychuk's arguments may look attractive to some parents. But the reality in a time of of big money charter/voucher supporters what we will see is they will hire some front group to find a few parents (maybe even pay them) to organize other parents - you know the drill - innundate  the community with flyers, ads, glossy posters, etc while the public school is left defenseless to fight back. And Voila - you have another  public intitution disappear into the mitt of privatization. Why are the investing so much money in this endeavor? I don't think you need me to answer. Despite Boychuk's list of options we know this is the more likely outcome.

I should point out that Manhattan Institute is generally a pro-business right wing think tank. But this debate is possibly a sign that the weaknesses of ed deform are leaking through the cracks.

---------
Leonie Haimson asks Why No Parent in the debate?
I posted Leonie's question to MI in the posting of the press release from MI this morning. Of course MI could just as well have gotten a parent to debate each side of the issue. But given they are using Boychuk who is associated with MI, Julie as an educator works out fine.

Julie responded to Leonie's question:

For the record, so folks on the Ed News list and PAA are aware, I raised this issue with he Manhattan Institute when I was first asked to participate. I felt uncomfortable as an educator being the voice, which I figured would be the 'opposition' voice, on the parent trigger. I was well aware of the strong opposition from many individual parents and groups across the country. I was told that they asked me because I could speak to the issue from the school level.

Now, we/I can hypothesize as to why a teacher, rather than a parent was asked (in the middle of the project is probably not the best time for me to do this), but I figured accepting the invitation was better than allowing it to go to someone else, who clearly would not have been a parent either.

I want all of you to know that I have heavily sought the input and advice of several parents including Leonie (and members of paa) and Mona and will be linking almost exclusively (if not in full) to parents'  work and writing in my posts  including paa, class size matters and ny charter parents.

Parent empowerment, true empowerment, has always been of paramount importance to me, which is precisely why I do oppose the parent trigger (in its current forms), and why I agreed to this forum/debate.

Best,
Julie Cavanagh

GEM High-Stakes Testing Committee Meeting Today (Monday) at 5PM

Below is a tentative agenda for today's committee meeting on high-stakes standardized testing.

As a reminder, we will be meeting in room 5414 at the CUNY graduate center at 5pm. Please bring ID and any updates you have about anything that might have been accomplished over the past month. We will spend a good portion of our time building strategy and outlining some concrete goals.

Proposed Testing Committee Agenda
Monday, August 15th

5-5:15 Welcome, Settling In
5:15-5:20 Introductions
5:20-5:35 Go around with updates from last meeting
5:35-6 Strategy Building Discussion
       Identifying goals and objectives more precisely, determining clear and concise next steps
6-6:50 Action Groups
6:50-7:00 Wrap-Up/Share Out 


GEM High-Stakes Testing Committee Meeting
Monday, August 15th, 5pm
CUNY Graduate Center
Room 5414
5th Ave and 34th St.
1/2/3/B/D/F/M/N/Q/R to 34th St.



MORE

Gem's Julie Cavanagh Debates Parent Trigger online this week in Manhattan institute Sponsored Event starting Monday at 12 noon

Follow daily coverage on Ed Notes

TUNE IN! PublicSectorInc.org Online Debate Begins Monday August 15, 2011 at 12 p.m. ET

THE PARENT TRIGGER:

A POSITIVE STEP OR A DISTRACTION FOR IMPROVING OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In 2010, California enacted education legislation known as the “parent trigger.” The legislation empowers parents of children at schools that have failed to meet annual yearly progress for at least four years to change the administration, convert the school to a charter, or shut it down completely if they gather signatures from at least 51% of parents at the school. Similar legislation exists in Mississippi and Connecticut, but has failed to become law in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, and Maryland.

In the first PublicSectorInc.org online debate, Ben Boychuk and Julie Cavanagh will examine the arguments in favor and in opposition to this reform, focusing on the experience to date in California and developments in other parts of the country where similar legislation is being considered.

Many school reformers believe that this law puts the interests of children ahead of teachers and helps to save children in failing schools before the clock runs out. Many education professionals, among them the president of the California Federation of Teachers, view the law as a “lynch mob provision,” intended to dismantle the public school system. The politics of the “parent trigger” are confusing, with the lines between conservatives and liberals often blurred.

The debate will go live on August 15^th at 12 p.m. ET at http://www.publicsectorinc.org/online_debates. Over the next four days Ben Boychuk and Julie Cavanagh will have an opportunity to respond to the opposing view, with final remarks posted at 12 p.m. ET on August 18^th.

If you would like to schedule an interview with Ben Boychuk or Julie Cavanagh, please contact Kasia Zabawa at (646) 839-3342 or by email at kzabawa@manhattan-institute.org.

Ben Boychuk is associate editor of City Journal, where he writes on education and California politics. Previously, he served as managing editor of the Heartland Institute's School Reform News and the Claremont Review of Books. He is also a former editorial writer for Investor's Business Daily and the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California. Boychuk writes a weekly column for the Sacramento Bee and Scripps-Howard News Service. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the New York Post, National Review Online, the Korea Times and newspapers across the United States.

Julie Cavanagh has been a special education teacher for more than ten years in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  She currently serves children with intellectual disabilities in grades first through third and previously served children with learning differences in grades four and five. Julie received her BS in special education from Indiana University, her MS in curriculum and teaching from Fordham University, where she was an Ennis Cosby Scholar, and her advanced degree in administration and supervision from Brooklyn College. She is a member of Grassroots Education Movement; advocating for equity and real reform in our public education system. Julie is also the co-producer of the documentary The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman.

PublicSectorInc.org is a one-stop-shop for the latest news, analysis and research about the issues facing the public sector and the American taxpayer. It provides a national forum to probe problems and develop solutions at the state and local level. With a critical focus on the urgent topics of pension reform, employee compensation, bargaining and retirement health benefits for public employees, PublicSectorInc.org is shaping the national debate unfolding in state capitals and city halls across America. PublicSectorInc.org is published by the Center for State and Local Leadership at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

The Manhattan Institute, a 501(c)(3), is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas
 that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.

www.manhattan-institute.org

Leonie Haimson to MI

question to Manhattan Institute; why no parents involved in debate re parent empowerment?

Dear Kasia: re http://www.publicsectorinc.org/online_debates

Julie’s a great advocate, but Kasia,  do  you have a comment for our NYC education list or our NYC Public School Parent blog about why the Manhattan Institute didn’t ask public school parents to discuss the issue of parent empowerment? 

Is it that the Manhattan Institute doesn’t know any public school parents, or is it that you don’t trust or respect them to be able to intelligently debate this issue?

Don’t you think it would have been appropriate to include one of us in the discussion?

There are many parents throughout the country who have analyzed and have views on the Parent Trigger. 

See for example Parents Across America’s position paper here:

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PAA_Parent_Trigger-position-fin

 

Teachers Unite 3-Day Summer 2011 Organizing Institute - Aug. 23-25

I'm going to try to make as much of this workshop as i can. Yelena Siwinski and I are scheduled to do a UFT 101 workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 23 in the afternoon.


http://teachersunite.net/node/660

Welcome!

Teachers Unite is a membership organization of public school educators building power so that our union (UFT) fights for educational and social justice for the low-income communities served by New York City schools. TU organizes teachers around human rights issues that impact public school communities, and supports teachers to build strong chapters that put social justice first. We believe that a strong organization of activist teachers, working in coalition with parents and students, will transform our city, and its schools, to best serve all New Yorkers.

TU Members receive discounts from our partners: Corrugated Films, Indykids, Panade Cafe and Bakery, Punk Rope, and Rethinking Schools

Home ›

Summer 2011 Organizing Institute

How can we improve working and learning conditions? Organize!

We are thrilled to offer teachers, youth and parents the opportunity to learn the skills that will help you build power to win justice in your school community.  

Learn from labor and community organizers using Midwest Academy and other social justice organizing approaches.    

Bring colleagues, students and parents from your school community; build your chapter's strength and make an organizing plan together for the fall.

The Organizing Institute will take place:

August 23-25   

from 9am-4pm

Judson Memorial Church

239 Thompson St. (between West 3rd St. and Washington Square South)

Closest subways:

A/B/C/D/E/F/M at W. 4th St.

N/R at 8th St.

6 at Bleeker 

Click here to register now!  

Click on "Read More" for the daily schedule below

****************************

Summe 2011 Organizing Institue Overview

Each day will begin at 9:00am and end at 4:00pm. Participants will provide their own lunch.   

DAY 1 Overview: 9am-4pm

• Plenary: Social Justice Organizing: An Approach to Building Labor & Community Power

• Lunch (The Revolution Will Not Be Catered! Participants will provide their own lunch.)

• Afternoon Workshop Options:
  • How School Staff, Parents and Youth Can Organize Together Within a School. Hear from youth organizers, parent organizers from the Bronx and Community Education Council members about how educators can work with youth and parents to build democratic schools. This session will also include a short overview of School Leadership Teams as a site for building educator, student and parent power.   

• Understanding the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Local 2 and Building Community Through Chapter Organizing. Learn strategies for building active and strong school-based chapters from experienced UFT chapter leaders and rank and file union members. 

DAY 2 Overview: 9am-4pm

• How to Conduct Organizing Conversations. This workshop is a great opportunity for new and experienced educator, youth and parent organizers to learn and practice strategies for talking with colleagues about getting involved in school-based campaigns. We will learn how to hold one-on-one conversations and develop fellow activists.

• Lunch (Participants will provide their own lunch)

• How to Identify and Build a School-Based Campaign. This workshop is an opportunity to learn and practice the Midwest Academy model for building local campaigns to build educator, student and parent power. 

• Building Power in Your Borough I. Organizing Institute participants will meet in borough breakout groups to identify and develop fall campaigns organizing plans for their school sites and chapters. 

DAY 3 Overview: 9am-4pm

• Developing Strategy and Choosing Tactics for School-Based Campaigns. Building on Day 2's introduction to campaign development, we'll learn and practice how to further develop winning campaigns. Borough breakout groups will also meet to further develop their organizing plans for their school and chapters.

• Lunch (Participants will provide their own lunch)

• Tactic Workshops. Learn how to develop public relations skills and creative actions from experienced New York City labor and community communications and event organizers. Workshop topics include: press releases, online media, using theatre and art as a tactic, flash mobs, and more!  

• Building Power in Your Borough II. Organizing Institute participants will meet in borough breakout groups to share tactic ideas and further develop fall campaigns organizing plans for their school sites and chapters.  

• Celebration!

Patrick Sullivan Warns on DOE/PEP Violations on Contracts as Walcott openly Flouts Law

UPDATE: Daily News on Verizon $60 million contract

Verizon Scam and DOE $60 Million Contract

This letter to parents from Manhattan PEP member Patrick Sullivan outlines many of the issues which are sparking a rally/protest at Bergtraum HS this Weds. at 5pm preceding the PEP meeting. If you missed the background briefs we posted read these firs in reverse order:

• UFT Officially Joins PEP/Verizon Aug. 17 Protest
• A Midsummer Night's Scream - Picket PEP Over Veriz...
• Verizon: Corporations Are People Too - Mitt Romney...
• Support Verizon Strikers: NYC Teachers From GEM an...

Read the report detailing Verizon's theft of money that should have gone to our children.http://www.nycsci.org/reports/​04-11%20Lanham%20Rpt.pdf www.nycsci.org

How is Patrick's insistence that law be followed under Walcott the snake regime? Where is the press on outright violations of the law? A teacher sneezes on a kid and it makes the front page of the NY Post.

I was on the Contracts Committee when we started with the new law.   I fought to get access to the actual contracts.   It was only with sustained pressure from Stringer and a letter from AMs Nolan and O'Donnell that they relented. 

Under Walcott we've lost all that ground and then some.  The contracts are not drafted until after the PEP approves them.

When I complain loudly they say I am "inappropriate" and ask Stringer to remove me.

Monica -yes, they have the votes so they figure nothing matters.

Dear Parents,

I have received many emails with inquiries or concerns about the contracts agenda for the Panel for Educational Policy meeting on Wednesday the 17th.  I'd like to update everyone on my understanding of these issues based on my discussions with DOE:

First, one comment on process.   When the PEP was first granted approval authority over contracts we established a committee to review the contracts in detail.  The Contracts Committee met publicly to question DOE staff and discuss contract specifics.   Recently, Dear Parents,

I have received many emails with inquiries or concerns about the contracts agenda for the Panel for Educational Policy meeting on Wednesday the 17th.  I'd like to update everyone on my understanding of these issues based on my discussions with DOE:

First, one comment on process.   When the PEP was first granted approval authority over contracts we established a committee to review the contracts in detail.  The Contracts Committee met publicly to question DOE staff and discuss contract specifics.   Recently, the chairs of the Contracts Committee, mayoral appointees selected by the PEP chair, have refused to hold the public meeting.  The Committee has not met at all under Chancellor Walcott.   The DOE has also begun asking for PEP approval before contracts are drafted.  In effect, rather than ask for approval of a contract, we are asked for blanket pre-approval of a potential contract based upon an outline of what's envisioned.  This reduction in transparency has hampered the PEP's ability to assess the contracts and carry out our responsibilities under state law.

Verizon Contract

The DOE has explained that rather than conduct a procurement for a provider of fixed line and data telecom services, they've decided to piggyback on an existing city contract with Verizon.  My concerns with this contract are two-fold:

First, there has been no resolution of the overbilling issue stemming from the alleged fraud perpetrated by a DOE consultant.  The Special Commissioner for Investigation's report explained that Verizon, through it's silence facilitated the fraud.  Verizon has agreed to return any inappropriate profit but has not yet done so.   I don't believe we should enter into a new agreement with Verizon until they resolve this issue to our satisfaction.  The sums involved are considerable, especially compared to the significant budget cuts to the classroom.

Second, Verizon and the unionized workforce of the landlines divisions that would deliver services to our classrooms are engaged in a protracted labor dispute.   I have concerns about whether Verizon can actually provide the services we need given this dispute.  I am skeptical that with limited staff to maintain landlines and data services that our schools would get appropriate priority compared to Verizon's commercial customers.   A failure of telecom services would present a considerable risk not only to the smooth functioning of our schools but a safety risk to our children.

Given these issues, I have asked DOE to defer consideration of this contract and instead initiate an procurement exercise to identify the best provider of the needed services in the present circumstances.

EPO Contracts

The Chancellor has announced his intention to outsource management of a limited number of schools to Educational Partnership Organizations.  The Chancellor has this ability under Ed Law 211-e.   That law requires the relationship with an outside entity to be strictly delineated in a contract.  DOE procurement staff have asked the PEP to vote on these contracts without actually seeing them.  Citing a lack of time, they have told us no contacts will be available before Wednesday's vote.   This excuse is not acceptable.  The DOE needs to draft the contracts, come to terms with the EPOs and then provide them to the PEP for approval.  I will not allow our children and staff to be placed under the leadership of outside management without the DOE and their partners demonstrating absolute adherence to the terms of the law.


Borough President Stringer's office and I will continue to engage the DOE on these issues and I hope to have a more encouraging update in the near future.

Patrick J. Sullivan
Manhattan Member,
Panel for Educational Policy / NYC Board of Education 

A History of the Grassroots Education Movement

The genesis of GEM 

GEM emanated from a committee established in Jan. 2009 by the Independent Community of Educators, a caucus in the UFT that has been challenging the leadership since its founding in late 2003. This committee was charged to organize around three principles: school closings, high stakes testing that drove school closings and the resulting creation of a pool of teachers from these closing schools who were left to fend for themselves looking for a job on the open market.

At that time, some people in ICE had joined a high stakes testing committee called Justice Not Just Tests established by the NY Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE). The two committees merged and  held an all-day conference around these issues at the end of March which attracted participants from other activist groups around the city.

Even before that conference took place, a 4th major issue was rearing its head: the growth of charter schools and their co-locations within public school buildings. Rather than expand the conference to include this issue, a separate event was held a few weeks later. It was the still unnamed group's tackling this issue head on and taking a stand against not only co-locations but the very idea of charters as undermining public schools that began to get noticed.

Meetings were held every week or two and began to attract people but not having a formal structure or a name was confusing. Finally, Grassroots Education Movement was chosen. GEM was no longer a committee but had taken on a life of its own, still operating conceptually as a coalition of activist groups in NYC.

In late May, 2009 GEM held a march from Battery Park to DOE HQ at the Tweed Courthouse, stopping briefly at the UFT HQ to register opposition to the UFT favorable position on charters, along with its refusal to make a stand on school closings and the way the seniority rights of teachers being forced out of these schools were given away by the union.

Through the summer of 2009 GEM's focus turned almost solely to charter co-locations in Harlem and Red Hook Brooklyn. Parents and teachers at Harlem schools being invaded by Eva Moskowitz's Success Charter network asked GEM's assistance in organizing opposition to the most aggressive charter school operation in the city. At the same time GEM and the Red Hook group (CAPE) based at PS 15 which was invaded by a charter run by the son of a billionaire who was a contributor to Mayor Bloomberg's educational initiatives joined forces.


The 2009-10 school year
During the 2009-10 school year GEM activities were focused less on the union and more on school closings and charter co-location battles, reaching out with whatever limited support GEM could offer. A series of Toolkits to aid schools in fighting back were created along with a widely distributed pamphlet, "The Truth About Charter Schools in New York City." GEM built alliances with other activist groups, the highlight being a Jan. 2010 rally/demo across the street from Mayor Bloomberg's home (and peripherally, his next door neighbor, billionaire Meryl Tisch who heads the State Board of Regents.) Towards the end of the school year GEM helped organize Fight Back Fridays where a number of schools take local actions on certain Fridays followed by some concerted actions.

In early 2010 GEM also began to address the structural issues involved in trying to build a democratic grassroots based organization, establishing an interim steering committee and beginning to move towards a membership based organization. Those efforts continue today.

2010-2011 school year/summer
GEM continued its work on on school closings and charter co-locos throughout the year. GEM members attended many of the school public hearings speaking about how all these issues are part of the national neo-liberal agenda to privatize public education to clarify how these are not just local/neighborhood battles.


GEM formed an ad hoc committee of many groups and a rally in late January and organizing with parents and teachers to speak out at Panel for Educational Policy meetings (the rubber stamp Bloomberg appointee dominated Board of Education), which also included some performance art.

Fight Back Friday events escalated as more schools signed on. GEM was in the middle of the battles to deny a waiver to the inappropriate (and insulting to many educators) of Bloomberg's appointment of magazine publisher Cathie Black as Chancellor. GEM members attended a conference in Chicago where 250 teacher union activists from around the nation gathered to discuss the crucial issues facing teachers and their unions. GEM was an active participant in the SAVE OUR SCHOOLS activities in Washington, including doing a well-received workshop on organizing.

With the imminent release of the biased ed deformist documentary Waiting for Superman about to be released at the end of September 2010, GEM organized a rally in front of the theater on opening night that attracted press attention. Wearing red capes with RR (Real Reform) stamped on them, 50 GEMers and their supporters serenaded movie goers with a rap song throughout the evening.

A GEM committee named Real Reform Studios was formed to create a response to WfS. Since the director of WfS had made Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, the GEM film was titled "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." The GEM film would expose the biased inaccuracies in WfS and offer its own vision of Real Reforms, listing 10 as a basis.

Work continued on the movie throughout the school year, premiering in May in front of 700 people at Riverside Church with Diane Ravitch as the guest speaker. Word of mouth led to the film being spread all over the nation and abroad as 4000 dvds were distributed (with 3000 more on order). The film was featured at SOS in Washington and at SOS local events in cities around the nation.

Over the last year GEM has been meeting with other activist groups in NYC to explore areas where we can all work together to bring more of a unity of purpose to the battle for public education. One key point of unity is developing a concept of social justice unionism.

Many of these groups have come together for a current action we have planned: to support the Verizon workers on strike while at the same time opposing an outrageous contract the NYCDOE is trying to push through. The Communication Workers of America are working with the groups and a rally was scheduled outside the Panel for Educational Policy meeting on Aug. 17.

The upcoming 2011-12 school year
One of the most exciting initiatives undertaken by GEM for the upcoming school year was the decision to focus attention on high stakes testing, forming a committee in July to examine the issue from all angles, including an opt-out campaign. Over 25 people attended the incredibly productive August 15 meeting and are looking forward to an exciting campaign.

Other upcoming GEM activities:

• The work on school closings and charters will continue and a refocusing on some of the union issues that GEM dealt with in its early days is on the agenda.
• Continued distribution of the film and more film projects for Real Reform Studios.
• Continue to work for more of a synthesis between the various activist groups.

From the GEM web site:

About Us

Inform, Support, Inspire: Promoting Policies for a Fully Funded and Effective Public School System

The Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC) educates, organizes, and mobilizes educators, parents, students and communities to defend public education. Too many current corporate and government policies seek to underfund, undermine and privatize our public school system. GEM advocates around issues dealing with the equality and quality of public educational services as well as the rights of teachers and school workers. These issues include the incessant push for charter schools, the attack on union rights, the focus on high-stakes standardized testing, school closures, and the failure to address the racism and inequality that exists within our schools. As the attacks on public education and teachers grow more vicious, the collective organization of those who directly face these attacks at the grassroots level becomes all the more essential, and in fact constitutes the most effective potential resistance. GEM advocates for a positive vision of education reform by building alliances with other activist groups and organizing and helping coordinate the struggle at the grassroots school and community level, with a focus on school-level organizing.