Time for action: Wednesday - Occupy Wall Street with GEM/NYCoRE/Teachers Unite

GEM/NYCORE/Teachers Unite Contingents 

MEET-UP AT TWEED AT 4:30

Joining the rally today

Today is the big day when many forces join together at #occupywallstreet as NYU students walk the walk (see below) and some of the unions join in. While the Transport Workers Union was quick to support last week, reports of UFT support came in slowly. But as usual, as the event heated up, the UFT tailing along, jumped in. At least the leadership. There hasn't seemed to be much organizing going on at the school level to bring people out. How amazing if a 100,000 people came out like they did in Israel this summer? Not without a big push from the UFT.

I got a message that Michael Mulgrew will be on MSNBC Lawrence O'Donell tonight to talk about the Wall Street action. Pretty funny that the tail jumps to the head. Mulgrew a spokesman for the occupation? - a bottom-up operation absolutely antithetical to the way the UFT and most unions and corporations and guvment seem to work. Funny, but someone left a comment that we should expand the occupation to 52 Broadway. [Follow my parallel stories on ATRs - got one coming later.]

Even before the events on Wall Street started capturing the imagination of the nation, we could see signs of far-reaching support as parents were bringing peanut butter sandwiches down [See report from Tory below] and people starting coming to NYC from far off places to join in in some way.

I see this report as a sign of what has been tapped:

Peanut Butter on Wall St. No Peter Lugers for these Wall Street Occupier: 
From a NYC Parent leader/activist, Friday Sept. 30

Hi All,
So what a week it has been!  Sandwiches in Solidarity was a success; we delivered about 70 sandwiches to the Occupy Wall Street folks on Friday. While we were there we were interviewed by Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes, Norwegian TV and Natasha Lennard (free lance NYTimes reporter, who was arrested the next day).  A number of families were there, making signs, delivering food and generally offering support.  The occupiers need a lot of supplies though; the bad weather means they need: blankets, waterproof boots, sleeping bags, laundry support, wool socks, etc.  If you can offer anything, please do.  You can also donate here: http://nycga.cc/donate/

It is now officially safe to enter the OWS water.  The big labor unions are joining in a solidarity march on Wednesday (see here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=282473051782707) and Nicholas Kristof and others are offering their support (see here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/kristof-the-bankers-and-the-revolutionaries.html?ref=todayspaper). (PS The Times' editing of the  OWS BB arrest story has famously gone viral - see here: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/01/new-york-times-blatantly-edits-article-about-occupy-wall-street-to-protect-police-image/)

I hope that you will consider joining us on Wednesday.  Our public schools are being destroyed by budget cuts (you enjoying generic education?); you are being hit with new bank fees; insurance premiums (and profits) are at an all-time high...even if you don't worry about the last two, you are parents of public school children and if the divestment hasn't hit you yet, it soon will!  So please please please consider coming out and supporting a movement to reduce the inequality that characterizes our society and hurts all of our children!

Thanks!
All best,
Tory

Press coverage
Note how Tory mentions the way the Saturday arrest story in the Times went from sympathetic to the marchers to pro-police in the blink of an eye.

The evolving press coverage has been interesting to watch as it moved from mocking to scared mocking. Just follow some of the articles in the business section. They always try to find some kook to interview so they can make twist it a bit. But as articulate spokespeople emerge that will change, though you can always find some people who are there to do self-promotion. I even found a guy with a puppet to interview.

SHAMELESS PLUG

Make sure to see the 3 vids I made from Friday night

http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c
http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk

Keep watching the press. They seem crazy over the fact that there is no leader they can zero in on. We know that drill - they turn the leaders into media stars and then separate them from the movement. So far this is not happening. But as an old grizzled skeptic, watch out for someone trying to seize the platform (remember the days of the Yuppies in the 60's) for fame and fortune. I bet you'll see some names of leaders emerge in the next week - but as long as they are in some way responsible to the mass that can be controlled - I would urge them to change people frequently. I should point out that Justin Wedes, who was pretty much the first person arrested the day after the occupation began has been involved at the top level from the beginning. [See that video: Justin Arrest in Wall St. Occupation/...]

Call me a process guy
The press also seems crazed over the broad and non-specific agenda so they can't zero in on things to pick apart. I just heard a guy on the Today show talk about how they have to come up with legislation and get involved in traditional politics to make a difference. Sure, that's what we need - let the political system suck a street movement into its jaws.

What the smart people I've heard from the movement - or the nascent movement say is the important thing is the process of building activism in a great mass of people who at some point will decide exactly it is what they want. Gee, democracy of some sorts. Drives them crazy that this doesn't have someone standing up and telling everyone what to do. In a world where results are all that seems to matter, the idea that the process takes precedence over results makes the people with the corporate mentality that is running the world nuts.

That seems to be what we've been trying to do in GEM. "What are your aims," is what I get all the time? I don't know. My aims are to get as many great people working together as possible and assume they will figure all this stuff out while I head out to pasture. [Just a side note - when we started ICE 8 years ago it was more specific - run in the 2004 UFT election - and the focus became much too much the UFT, which really became boring after a while. Thus the more generalized and broader work we're doing in GEM - and many core ICEers are involved - has allowed much more outreach and attracted people who don't really give a rat's ass about nitty gritty of the UFT.]

Yesterday after handing out ATR leaflets at the Brooklyn UFT ATR meeting [Ed Notes:GEMATR Committee Report: What Happens in the Bronx Doesn't Stay in the Bronx] I headed over to the DC37 rally at City Hall [Ed Notes:Wall Street Merger: DC37 School Aide Protest + #Occupy Wall St] just in time to hear Mona Davids speak. I got there at 5:30 and the event didn't look like much. I did see James Eterno and Sean Ahern. But people who had been there earlier estimated a few hundred people to start and that doubled when the OccupyWallStreet people marched up to join them.

Angel Gonzalez who has been working with the teacher union in Puerto Rico sent this along:

 Puerto Rico Educators send support: UPR Strike Leaders Solidarity with Wall St. Occupation

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

Angel Gonzalez, FMPR Support Committee

 

NYU Students announcement

NYU Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

Wednesday, October 5th

4pm, Washington Square Park (by the fountain)

March to City Hall to join the Community/Labor March to Occupy Wall Street

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168561836560896

(Come at 3:30pm for poster-making, or bring your own!)

*NYU students and workers: Join us for the National Student Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street!

*Stop what you are doing/walk out of class/leave the library at 4pm on Wednesday, October 5th. 

*We will meet in the middle of Washington Square Park and march together to City Hall, where we'll join the Community/Labor March in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, endorsed by dozens of NYC unions and community groups including the United Federation of Teachers, SEIU 32BJ and SEIU 1199, the Transit Workers Union Local 100, Make the Road New York, New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts, the Alliance for Quality Education, and more!

We will also be joining students from around the city who are organizing walkouts against unforgivable student debt and soaring tuition rates

Join us to protest the arrest of 700 marchers on the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, while the banksters who wrecked the economy remain free. Join us to protest the horrific inequality that leaves 1 in 3 New York City children in poverty while Mayor Bloomberg sits on a $20 billion fortune. Join us to protest the foreclosure crisis that has driven millions from their homes, while bank profits soar. Join us because We Are the 99 Percent! Join us because a better world is possible!

If your group would like to endorse, please be in touch! 

Most importantly, spread the word by inviting ALL of your friends on Facebook, making announcements in your classes, and sharing this e-mail. 

Contact: owsnyu@gmail.com

I am not sure if I can make it down today as we have tickets to a Spiderman matinee - TDF half price of course - maybe a sign the show is waning in interest? I am bringing a net in case someone falls on me. I may have them hook me up to the harness and fly me down to meet the crew at Tweed at 4:30


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Wall Street Merger: DC37 School Aide Protest + #Occupy Wall St.

I hope you read my post the other day:

NYC Schools Use Child Labor to Replace School Aides

The NY Times talked about the impact of these layoffs of the lowest paid workers yesterday:

N.Y.C. Layoffs to Hit Poorest Schools Hardest :By FERNANDA SANTOS  - In a scattered pattern, some districts and Staten Island are skipped, but schools with many poor or struggling students are disproportionately affected.

All this while the DOE has let (and maybe encouraged) to let thieves steal them blind. See Patrick Sullivan's post at NYCParent Blog (click on title link to read it all).

Bloomberg Education Record Stained by More Corruption

Special Commissioner for Investigation Richard Condon has released a blockbuster report on the fraud perpetuated by favored DOE contractor FTA. (Report pdf is here.) The SCI points to fraud of at least $6.5 million. The worst part of this episode is that despite obvious warning signs, DOE pressed ahead with giving more business to the firm.

And this:

A new government probe has corroborated the disclosure of a major corruption
scandal within the New York City public school system. The Special
Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City Public School District
has confirmed that the firm Future Technology Associates has charged
taxpayers between $110 to $140 an hour for the wages of workers it was
actually paying ten times less. The workers were employed at dummy companies
based in India and Turkey. To date Future Technology Associates has received
$74 million in school system contracts. The scandal has led to the
resignation of one school official involved in the fraud and company owners
are expected to be indicted in the coming weeks. The report repeatedly cites
the work of Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News correspondent
Juan Gonzalez, whose exposure of the fraud kick-started the investigation
two years ago.

  http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/3/headlines#13

Then came this great news:

Occupy Wall Street protesters are set to join in this afternoon’s school aid layoffs protest. Daily News

There's another angry rally planned for lower Manhattan Tuesday - this one focused on hundreds of city workers scheduled to be laid off at the end of the week.

Labor leaders, frustrated Department of Education employees and their supporters will vent their rage outside City Hall from 4p.m. to 6 p.m.

And now it looks like some of the Occupy Wall Street protesters will be heading over to join the crowd.

While I'm not sure if the Wall Street "zombies" will make a guest appearance, here's what we do know: More than 700 people who work in school support-staff positions are losing their jobs.

That includes school aides and parent and community coordinators who, in general, are some of the lowest-paid people in the city educational system.

More than 75% of the workers being laid off make less than $20,000 per year and work 20 hours per week, according to District Council 37, which represents the employees.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/10/04/2011-10-04_add_school_layoffs_to_agenda_downtown.html#ixzz1ZpZSnrX1

Hey, Wall Street is being occupied. Mergers are part of the game.

Follow Occupy Wall Street at: http://occupywallst.org/

Afterburn - hot diggity
In Solidarity With Occupy Wall Street, Transport Union sues to block using bus drivers to help arrest Protesters

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GEMATR Committee Report: What Happens in the Bronx Doesn't Stay in the Bronx

I sent out this report to the GEMATR committee this morning with a report on the Bronx UFT ATR Meeting yesterday. Look for reports from the Brooklyn meeting today.

Welcome to new recruits to the GEMATR Committee. Our last updates were sent out on Sunday Oct. 2. If you signed up after that and want to receive it email gemnyc@gmail.com. Also - if you are planning on attending the meeting we are calling for Oct. 20 let us know so we have an idea of how many will be there.  Details: ATR Strategy and Information Meeting on October 20

Attached are the 2 leaflets we are sending out. The first is what you should share with other attendees. The 2nd is a signup sheet for people who are interested. [obviously not attached here but email me if you want a copy - to the right- to share with other ATRs or hand out at the other UFT ATR meetings.] Read the text of the leaflet at NYCATR: ATR = Absolutely Teaching Ready

Update on the blogs:

Gotham Schools has a report on the UFT Meetings: Union to detail ATR plan at meetings for position-less teachers

Go leave your comments. Philip Nobile said:

Your story on this week’s UFT/ATR meetings in borough offices is upside down. You make it seem as if the union is doing us ATRs a favor. In fact, the UFT originally brushed off our request for a sitdown and real union representation. Instead they offered us the crumb of tracking down strange chapter leaders as we trudged from school to school every week throughout the year. Clearly, Mulgrew does not want us to organize and will undoubtedly refuse our demand for chapter status. Three times I asked Brooklyn Borough Rep Howie Schoor to allow us ATRs to meet privately on site before the formal meeting and three times he dodged the question. Such is Unity’s undemocratic instinct.

Chaz says:

Presently, the UFT inaction has embarrassed their members and alienated the ATRs that they are supposed to represent.
Below is a report sent in by an attendee at Monday's ATR in the Bronx. If you attended, please send in your reports. Ed Notes and NYCATR will be publishing reports from all the UFT ATR Meetings this week and next. If you are going to a meeting, consider the goals - to get the UFT to act by building an ATR force. Instead of telling personal stories, push the demands in the leaflets.

Read his full post: http://chaz11.blogspot.com

Check the latest at the mouthpiece for ATRs: http://nycatr.blogspot.com

UFT ATR Meetings continue:
Today: Brooklyn
Tomorrow: SI
Thurs: Queens
Next Tuesday: Manhattan - if any of you would like to join us handing out leaflets at this event in front of 52 Broadway, please let us know.

The Bronx meeting from an ATR who attended:

Similar to the white shirts elsewhere in demo vs. the power conflicts --which shall be nameless,   the UFT had 3 white shirts in jackets on the sides and the front of the hall.
About an equal number of staff were along the left and rear walls of the hall.
Two staff or reps stood at the front of the hall.  One of these and one of the shirts in suits did most of the UFT chattering.
Refreshingly, they did not orchestrate too much.
One the reps chattered long with her answers.  I didn't have the guts to yell time or time check.
The hall seemed full.  I'd estimate about 120 attendees.  I was quite surprised.
The tone was overwhelmingly displeased.  A handful of them spoke with passion.
Alas, FARRRR too many arcane personal stories.
A lot of people seemed open to coming to the October 20 meeting.
The meeting's leader's mantras were:

"Be lucky you have a job"

"Bloomberg wanted to fire all of you."

"We're fighting really hard for you."

If we had said it's going to rain tomorrow, they would say these things.
If we had mentioned the Jets game, they would say these things.

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Randi Weingarten Holds Book Party for Steve Brill at Her DC Home

Who's the Trojan Horse? Randi or Brill?

Last Update: Tues, Oct. 4, 6:50 AM

I've been criticized even by some real reformers for declaring Randi Weingarten a collaborator with the ed deformers. "She's not a class enemy," some say "just because she makes errors in judgement." You decide if making Bill Gates the keynote speaker at the AFT convention or consistently taking positions counter to the interests of teachers she supposedly represents are "errors of judgment."


Tuesday night, Randi will be having Steve Brill over for a little ed deform celebration of his anti-teacher diatribe "Class(less) Warfare" – Just in case you don't have any doubts as to whose photo belongs on the Trojan Horse....


Will the Mighty Casey (Leo) come to the plate and take a big swing or a called third strike?

Mike Klonsky tweeted tonight:

"Guess which best-selling anti-union author will be at Randi's house tomorrow [Tues. Oct. 4] for her big party? My invite must be lost in the mail" 

followed by 

"Hint... He recommended her for NYC chancellor at the end of his book after bashing her and the AFT throughout the rest of it."

Actually Brill gave it away on Morning Joe on September 30 when we got this email:

Shocking Brill disclosure about Randi on Morning Joe: Brill said that Randi would be throwing book party for Class(less) Warfare in D.C.

Randi = Ed Deformer. Squared.
Regular readers here will not be surprised that Randi is throwing a classless party to honor the author of "Class Warfare" while teachers in New York City suffer the highest class sizes in decades. Randi is billed as a reformer by ed deformers. You know - if A=B and B=C than A=C. Simple math.

Randi betrays Ravitch
Take a look at Diane Ravitch interviewing the anti-teacher, anti-union (no matter what he says) Brill. Brill spends a lot of time crying that teaching is the only job where no one is accountable or paid for performance. I guess he missed story after story about how incompetent top-level corporate execs get paid fortunes for failure. Maybe Randi is throwing the party so she can give Brill this article:

Let’s Stop Rewarding Failed C.E.O.’s - Common Sense 

Far too often when chief executives are ousted for poor performance, their companies lavish them with millions in bonuses and other compensation as they depart. 

Or this: Outsize Severance Continues for Executives, Even After Failed Tenures

Eye-popping severance packages thrive in spite of the measures put in place in the wake of the financial crisis to crack down on excessive pay.

Poor Brill. He misses so much of what is going on in the real world of finance. Teachers are so much more accountable than these jokers.

Read Ravitch's devastating NY Review of Books review of Brill's book (Diane Ravitch dissects Steven Brill's Class Warfare).

Steven Brill’s Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools celebrates the improbable consensus among conservative Republicans, major foundations, Wall Street financiers, and the Obama administration about school reform. Brill, a journalist and entrepreneur, portrays the leaders of today’s reform movement as heroes.

Diane lists a batch of these heroes but doesn't mention that Brill included Randi Weingarten as a deformer worthy of praise. 

Brill’s book is actually not about education or education research. He seems to know or care little about either subject. His book is about politics and power, about how a small group of extremely wealthy men have captured national education policy and have gained control over education in states such as Colorado and Florida, and, with the help of the Obama administration, are expanding their dominance to many more states. Brill sees this as a wonderful development. Others might see it as a dangerous corruption of the democratic process. …

Class Warfare is not about a “classroom war,” but literally a “class war,” with a small group of rich and powerful people poised to take control of public education, which apparently has for too long been in the hands of people lacking the right credentials, resources, and connections.“

So the question is: is Randi letting Brill into her home as a Trojan Horse, just as she opened the door to Bill Gates at the AFT convention in Seattle? Or is the ed deformer Randi Weingarten the real Trojan Horse? Have any doubts? Check the state of conditions teachers all over the nation find themselves as the union leadership that ostensibly represents them lies down with the enemy.

Casey at the bat
Now on to poor UFT HS VP Leo Casey who now has to figure out a way to justify Randi's actions. Hmmm. Let me see. She really invited a guy named Steve Grill but the invitation went to Brill by mistake.

Leo had this little spat with Brill over his comments on Brill's book and got this little comment on Edwize from Brill.

When diatribes like this distort my book and distort the facts, I can usually take solace in the old PR cliche that “at least you spelled my name right.” But here in addition to everything else you even got that wrong.
Steven Brill

Here are a few of Casey's comments:

Class Warfare: that’s the title Steven Brill gave to his recent book on the state of American education.
With such a title, one might think that that Brill’s book would investigate how the deep class divisions between America’s wealthy class and our poor and working class, a gap that has grown immensely over the last four decades, has harmed our schools and our students. After all, educational research has shown that greatest challenge our schools face is the grinding effect of poverty on so many of the students we teach.
But Brill’s book embraces without question or qualification the diagnosis of the wealthy Wall Street hedge-fund managers who have driven much of the dominant ‘education reform’ agenda: in their view, the educational failures of schools and students are the fault of public school teachers and teacher unions. This Wall Street scapegoating of teachers and unions is a profoundly self-serving narrative: for if it is poverty that, above all other factors, has the greatest negative impact on educational achievement, then educational progress would require us to address why, in the words of New York Times reporter Michael Winerip, “people like [the Wall Street hedge fund managers] are allowed to make so much when others have so little.” Winerip posed this question to Brill, who replied that he had not seen the ‘class warfare’ in American education “as the rich versus the union guys, although now that you say it, I can see how you could draw that line.”
Brill demonstrates a special talent for ignoring the obvious in his book, but perhaps nowhere is his obliviousness more glaring than on the nature of the ‘class warfare’ that now afflicts American education.  ----read more at Edwize.

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Wall Street Protests Capture Attention of the Nation

UPDATES:
As I put this together new info is constantly coming in. First, here is the latest video I put together.

I made 3 short videos from Friday night's protest at Police Plaza, 2 of which I posted. The first captures the marchers as they entered the Municipal Building underpass chanting, "We are the 99 percent" as they joined up with the smaller protest that began earlier with speeches - I have that for a follow-up video later on. -http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg

The second I titled "Why are you here?" where I randomly asked people that question and got some interesting responses. I really like the way this came out so check it out.
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c

Try this in your classroom
The 3rd video demonstrates the tactic of making a speech to a large crowd without sound equipment which requires a permit from the NYCPD and is often denied. So we hear the chant of "Mic Check" meaning be quiet there is a speech - the speaker uses short phrases which are then passed to the back in relay style - think of "telephone " - the game we used to play as kids where we whispered something that gets passed on and often mangled. But not here. Quite impressive with a thousand people, most sitting down to listen. If you want to show that you like what was said instead of applause, waggle your hand. It starts with chants of "Occupy everything."

Here's the you tube link - http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk



Michael Galinsky who did the great film "Battle for Brooklyn" about the Atlantic Yards corporate theft just sent this in: "http://vimeo.com/29953676 and we joined a collective film effort
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/egg/99-the-occupy-wall-street-collaborative-film."

Protests are spreading to other cities and more and more supporters are coming out here in NYC. Generally, relations between protesters and police are on the whole pretty good so don't let the pepper spray and arrests skewer things. Many people do a lot of talking to police who after all have families getting screwed too.

I just was listening to The Takeaway on NPR and they seem do exercised that they can't elicit a clear goal and demand from the protesters - until one guy said - "to build a social movement." I would say that when people ask me what our goals are in terms of the UFT and charters, etc. I would give the same answer - to activate people to the extent that they will decide in a democratic manner what the goals are. A few people making decisions is too easy to subvert by buying off the leaders. Even though Occupy Wall St. seems leaderless we all know that leaders emerge - as I've seen in the teacher movement here in NYC as new leaders are emerging but doing so in a collectivist manner.

Sunday teachers from NYCORE, Teachers Unite and GEM went down to do a Grade-In following the Chicago model we wrote about (Chicago Teachers Fight Back). In top photo GEM's Peter Lamphere of Bronx High School of Science double U-rated for union activity fame - he's the poster boy for why we need LIFO - grades paper.

Mark Naison wrote about the day -  The Wall Street Occupations and the Making of a Global Counter Culture:

Yesterday, I spent about an hour in Liberty Plaza sitting, walking around and talking to people before the event I had come for- a Grade In organized by teacher activists- finally began, and was stunned by how different the occupation was from any demonstration I had attended recently.

First of all, in contrast to the last two protests I had participated in – a Wisconsin Solidarity rally at City Hall, and the Save Our Schools March on Washinton-I saw few people my own age and no one I recognized- at least until the “Grade In” started. When I arrived, at 11 AM, most of the people in Liberty Plaza were the ones who had slept there overnight, and the vast majority were in their 20’s and 30’s- a half to a third my age. They were drumming, sweeping the sidewalk, talking to curious visitors- whom were still few in number- eating or chilling with one another and their relaxed demeanor blew me away given the tumultuous events of the day before when more than 700 protesters had been arrested by the NYPD after marching onto the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Mark and I are the same age and just relishing the rising up of the next generation. I am more focused on the people I work with in the GEM/NYCORE/TU axis and that is what keeps me involved though I am also very involved in some older gen support activities through the GEMATR committee - which I will post on later.

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NYC Schools Use Child Labor to Replace School Aides

UPDATED: Monday, Oct. 3 - 11:30PM

With the DOE laying off 800 school aides from DC 37, there is still a need for the enormous amount of work they do still needs to be filled. And how are some schools filling the gap? Many are throwing the work onto teachers if they can get away with it - meaning, no strong chapter leader.

The other option is to use - er - misuse - students, often by pulling them from academic areas. Though I'm sure many of these students might relish the idea of doing grown-up work while getting out of class, in fact they are being used as slave labor.

ADDED COMMENT by Susan:

Sick, sick, sick is how I felt reading about the kids being pulled out of class to do clerical work formerly done by the school aids.  Even sicker when I remembered where I first heard about this.  Yes, it is the brainchild of Chris Whittle, who wrote about putting kids to work in their schools in his 2005 book Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education .  I can't believe the DOE is actually allowing it to be implemented.

Here is a description of his plans from Jim Horn's review of the book (full review at http://www.edrev.info/reviews/rev442.htm)--

" In this bravado new world of educational corporate welfare that Whittle projects out to the year 2030, the public school will remain public, in that public dollars pay the bills for personnel, transportation, food service, maintenance, and, of course, the contracting fee to Edison, Inc. or its MacSchool counterparts—yet private, in that education corporations organize, manage, hire principals who hire teachers, consult, assess, make merit pay recommendations based on those assessments, and, of course, get paid with public dollars that, in turn, make a 10% profit for the shareholders for the company. If this doesn’t sound good enough to get you to spend the $25 for this kind of visionary thinking, then add to this emerging educational utopia the need to increase class size, severely reduce the number of teachers, turn students into part-time clerical workers; and I am sure that you will agree that Whittle’s book will be required reading, at least by every reform industry lobbyist on K Street who is sure to get goose bumps at Whittles’ recurring focus on the 400 billion dollars that Americans spend on K-12 education every year."

Parents should strenuously object to their children being used in this way -- starting with the principal's office, then their CEC and city council members, and especially Christine Quinn.  I'm sure Mr. Whittle is not planning to put children to work in his "world class" Avenues private school.  Or maybe he his, the better to maximize shareholder returns on this "for-profit" school.

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THE CORPORATE GRAVY TRAIN ROLLS ON

Danger: Corporate Sponsored Charters Coming
In this scam a corporation sets up a charter for its employees and gets 8 grand per child from public funding and supplements the rest.

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Walls Street Occupation Redux

I hope the educators out there who have been under attack are making the connections with what is going on with the protests, which are spreading to other cities. Yesterday's arrests reminds me of the scenes in Gary Shteyngart's futuristic (and not too far down the road it seems) novel, "Super, Sad, True, Love Story" about the total disintegration of society in the US where the 1%ers have pretty much everything while the rest are left to camp out in Central Park. Then the day comes when police and army helicopters start shooting and bombing the poor people camping out - not the poor you may be thinking of but the kinds of people occupying Wall St.

Really, how far are we away from that? If protests grow and possibly get out of hand - think a massive move on the streets of the financial district, we will see rubber bullets or worse - could be Egypt, could be Syria. And take a look at Syria where even while people are being shot down in the streets and tortured they keep coming.

How long before the Bloomberg/Obama people start labeling the Wall St. Occupiers "terrorists" and send the leaders - thank goodness they can't identify them though we know the cops have infiltrated - and maybe even try to be provocateurs to insight violence from some elements to discredit the movement. If you study history you know that is basic tactics 1.0.

I know there's a lot of action today and there will be a massive event on Weds. 

I'm really inspired by editing these videos from Friday night's event at Police Plaza. See the previous 3 minute video I posted last night as the Wall St. marchers joined with the smaller rally that started earlier. This video is over 7 minutes and is the next stage of the rally with slogans and short interviews I did with people asking them why they were there. (Use the direct you-tube link below if it plays slowly.)
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c 

Wall Street Occupation

There was lots of action today with a number of arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge. But the more aggressive the police the more the movement grows. Are we really in Egypt or Tunisia? Or Syria or Libya? Quadaffi for mayor? Or Assad to replace Bloomberg? At least we'd have a more responsive City Hall.

I was over at Police Plaza for Friday's rally and protest. Here are some pix and a piece of video. On Sunday teachers will be emulating Chicago with a Teach-In. See below. What are you waiting for?

Wall Street Occupation- Police Plaza Protest
A small rally at Police Plaza of union supporters was joined by the main contingent from the Wall Street Occupation which did a silent march to join the others to protest police brutality. Here they arrive and enter the plaza through the Municipal Building pathway.


Links to the 3 vids I made from Friday night

http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c
http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk

Some more videos I didn't shoot.

Entering through the arch leading to police plaza:
http://youtu.be/U7MI3qV83Lk

This was the General Assembly in Police Plaza right in front of NYPD HQ:
http://youtu.be/ByEmdR_UUwU

I also have good footage of the General Assembly - a thousand people sitting in the plaza at a meeting. Wish the UFT Del Ass functioned as smoothly.

See Friday pix at the end of this post.

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

Weds Oct. 5 is big union support for the occupation.
Support grows for Oct. 5
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/29/unions-and-liberal-groups-to-join-occupy-wall-street-protest/

I'm going to the matinee of Spiderman on Weds so I probably won't make it.

Reuters: The UFT  declared their support for OWS. 
Maybe the UFT can let the occupiers use their bathrooms.

----------

This came in from a teacher Sat. afternoon

We are now marching to one police plaza where we believe they are bringing those arrested. Trapped hundreds of protestors on bridge in pouring rain and bringing in empty buses to arrest and cart people to police precinct. Please spread word to join us at one police plaza!

There is a heavy police presence here so teachers should stick together if you come down. Tweet, post, and email to help spread the world. 

Serve and protect, that's a lie!

--------

Join the October 2 Grade-In For Public Education
Public Schools and Universities Work Because We Do!

Education cuts to K-12 public schools and public Universities hurt
students by decreasing resources and decreasing the amount of time teachers,
graduate teaching fellows, and full time and part time faculty can dedicate to
their students due to an increased workload. To draw attention to the cuts
to public education, educators will grade papers to make visible the work of
teaching and call for increased public funding to make sure that students
receive a quality education.

What: Educators will lesson plan and grade papers and exams.
Bring your work and a folding chair (optional).

Who: K-12 Teachers, Graduate Teaching Fellows, Full Time and Part Time
Faculty

When: Sunday, October 2, noon-3pm
*rain date TBA* _RSVP on Facebook for updates_
(https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284224124938936)

Where: Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park, Manhattan
northwest side of the plaza near the #OccupyWallSt poster/art display
Cross streets: Trinity Place and Liberty St.
Trains: 4/5 (Wall St), R (Rector St.)
--------

Helping #OccupyWallStreet

Hey everyone,

A lot of people have been asking how they can help the camp if they can't come down. Here's one way:

A local art exhibit, right on Wall Street, is being devastated by over-policing, barricading and intimidation from NYPD and Homeland Security. The curator, Marika, is a strong supporter of Occupy Wall Street.

Info about the exhibit: http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=451:curated&id=577126:loft-in-the-red-zone-a-tribute-to-september-11th-

Kickstarter to help her recover lost funds: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loftintheredzone/loft-in-the-red-zone

I hope we can work together to help her continue to exist and share our beautiful work. We have volunteers working with her now, and there is even talk of featuring our artwork there!

-justin

======================

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.

The Wave: Mis-Education Nation on NBC

Here is this week's column in The Wave printed Sept. 30.

Mis-Education Nation on NBC
by Norm Scott

I spent some time last Sunday and Monday covering NBC's Education Nation, which last year was a showcase for the education deformers when rank and file teacher and parent voices were mostly shut out.

Apparently NBC was embarrassed enough to offer a wider variety of opinions this year but stopped far short of succeeding in a balanced presentation. (Note: in my lexicon, I label the counter group to the Ed deformers who call themselves "reformers" as "Real Reformers." Pretty much you can tell an Ed deformer from a real reformer by how they view class size. The former disparage it while the latter put it front and center.)

There was a counter event to Education Nation dubbed Mis-Education Nation on September 27 with Real Reformers Diane Ravitch, Leonie Haimson (Class Size Matters), 4th grade teacher Brian Jones (one of the narrators of the film I did with the Grassroots Education Movement “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”) and Pedro Noguera (SUNY charter authorizer committee chair, who tries to have a foot in both the Ed deform and Real Reform camps). I’ll write about this another time.

A new star rose in the firmament at Education Nation as PS 261K teacher Jamie Fidler, one of the stars of the film "American Teacher" which premiered on Sunday September 25 at EN, went head to head with major ed deformer Jonathan Alter at the post screening panel. She was joined on the panel, moderated by Al Roker, by the three other teachers from the film and Parents Across America parent leader Helen Gym from Philadelphia.

The only logic for having Alter on this panel was that NBC had to make its sponsors happy by having a voice for Ed deform to counter what real teachers who are real reformers might say. The sponsors didn't get their monies' worth as Jamie and fellow teacher Rhena Jasey slammed the concept of Teach for America's short-term and shortsighted solutions to upgrading education after Alter brought it up.

Alter was put on the defensive and then went on to talk about the importance of extending the school day in Chicago, the current darling of ed deformers, where Mayor Rhambo Emanuel has made a longer school day, where kids can spend even more time doing test prep, out to be the most important innovation to education since the basal reader was implemented a century ago. Naturally, Rhambo wants to do this on the backs of the teachers by paying them less than the minimum wage for the extra time. The Chicago Teachers Union is being slammed for resisting.

Jamie jumped in to question the value of a longer day where children would have even less time to do the things that children should be doing that would turn them into well-rounded human beings. The Chicago Teaches Union has said it would be willing to talk about the longer day if the kids in Chicago were offered the same type of activities Rhambo's own kids were getting at the exclusive Lab School at the U of Chicago where Obama's kids also went. Ed deformers like Rhambo and Obama (and his education chief Arne Duncan, who ran the Chicago schools for 7 years and never pushed for a longer day as the golden solution) love to tell everyone else what is good for kids while their own kids get a very different kind of education than they are foisting on everyone else.

An offshoot group of Chicago teachers called “SaveOurSchools: Chicago” is running a campaign where teachers conduct Teach-Ins in public spaces with the slogan: “Teachers: come show Chicago how much work you really do! Bring Lessons to Plan, Essays to Grade, Teams to Coach, Students to Tutor, Clubs to Sponsor, and Parents to Conference.”

Why am I writing so much about Chicago? Because they are the precursor of what has been coming down on the rest of the nation since former mayor Daley was handed control of the schools in 1994. Bloomberg has had a decade of control over the schools and it has been a disaster – Arne Duncan ran those schools for 7 years. Mayoral control in NYC is coming up for renewal in 4 years and the battle to put a stake into its heart is already beginning.

I went back to Education Nation on Monday for a panel on teacher evaluation and accountability featuring Michelle Rhee the former Washington DC superintendent who was run out on a rail and now is trying to raise a billion dollars to use to undermine the nation’s public school systems. Rhee calls her organization, ahem, “Students First.” After Rhee left DC, a large cheating scandal emerged but much of it has been pushed under the rug. Another panel member had been on the school board in Atlanta, which has had a massive cheating scandal that was exposed when the state put a major team of investigators on the case. Beverly Hall, the Atlanta Superintendent had pulled down somewhere around 600 grand in bonuses for “raising” the scores. And she won’t have to give it back since she resigned while the teachers who were pressured into cheating will be fired.

NBC’s Rehema Eliis who was chairing the panel raised the Atlanta cheating issue twice with a sense of outrage while sitting right next to Rhee without bringing up her cheating scandal. So when I got to the microphone I asked why not bring up DC? Rhee, on the defensive, claimed it was only a few places (sure, without any real kind of Atlanta-like investigation) and said she welcomed an investigation, knowing full well that will never happen. The former Atlanta school board member challenged her by saying, “even if one child is affected it is an outrage” and pointed to all the good things in Atlanta being overwhelmed by the scandal, putting Rhee, glory be, further on the defensive. I’m glad I played my part.

How about cheating in NYC? Of course there’s mucho cheating here, but a cover up continues as Bloomberg stopped erasure analysis a major way to uncover cheating when he took over, claiming it was “too expensive.” Take moment to have a good laugh. Recently the state revealed they have been doing some selected erasure analysis behind the scenes, but the NY State Ed Department has been an unindicted co-conspirator on test inflation, by hook or crook.

I had a chance to do a WAVE one on one with NBC News chief Steve Capus, the major domo of Education Nation. I’ll let Huffington Post education reporter Joy Resmovits describe the encounter:

While some lauded the increased balance and depth at this year's Education Nation, retired New York City teacher and Grassroots Education Movement member Norm Scott gave Capus an earful on Tuesday. "People see an absence of the word 'class size' in these debates," he told Capus. "This notion that somehow we're skewed too close to the reformers, I just don't buy it and completely disagree," Capus responded. "How did a guy like Jonathan Alter end up as an expert on Sunday night's panel?" Scott asked. He was referring to the Bloomberg columnist and MSNBC contributor who has taken hard-line stances on charter schools and teacher evaluations. "We had Jonathan Alter and 300 teachers," Capus countered.

I have a funny feeling The Wave will not be invited back next year.

Norm gives everyone an earful every day at: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com

===================

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.

Wall Street Occupation Gains Support: Join Transport Workers Today at 5:30

Growing labor union support for  Occupy Wall Street. Let's have an Educators Contingent on Friday.

Demonstration in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

                                   Fri, September 30, 5:30pm – 7:00pm, One Police Plaza

I hope you are rooting for the gang involved in the Wall St. occupation. Some are even comparing it to the Tea Party with a left twist. It is beginning to get mainstream media attention, a lot of due to FAIR - see the posting between the 2 events - one today and one Weds. - I can't go then because I'm going to the matinee of Spiderman.

Also - tonight Patrick Walsh - a UFT Chapter Leader in Harlem is doing a talk on the lower easr side:

Hello all,

On September 30, 2011, I will be speaking again as part of the Friday Night Meeting series of  The Catholic Worker in the Lower East Side.   My talk is titled The Intellectual and Spiritual Price of Corporate Education Reform, a subject of tremendous import not only for the future of education in America but for the survival of our already enfeebled democracy.   

Friday Night Meetings are held at Maryhouse located at 55 East Third Street between First and Second Ave very close to the 2^nd Ave F subway stop. ( 212 777 9617) The meeting will begin at 7:45 and will be followed by a question and answer period in which all are encouraged to participate. Please try to attend.

The corporate cancer that is devouring our country and insidiously extinguishing all forms of public life can only be stopped by the building of community, community awareness, community resilience and community resistance. 

  ===================

Here are 2 upcoming actions with a FAIR media watch posting in between. I'm heading to Wall St. to do some video.

Origins of the ATR Pool: A Short History

Originally Posted 2:45, updated 1PM

Look for an upcoming ATR flier for distribution and sharing. 

Thanks to Teachers for a Just Contract for sending this clarifying information:

The ATR pool is not, in fact, directly related to the right to seniority transfer.  It is related to what is mentioned in the small type:  the end of the practice of placing of excessed appointed teachers in nearby unencumbered vacancies (although that was not a seniority right, see below).    

These are two entirely separate rights.  The seniority transfer required that schools post half their unencumbered vacancies in the early spring.  (This is a slight simplification, since there was also transfer for racial balance, but let's leave that aside)  Teachers then could apply and the most senior in the specific license applying for a position was hired.  

 Excessing would take place long after the deadline for the  seniority transfers,  at the very end of the school year.    Before the 2005 contract, the excessed teachers would be placed in nearby vacancies in their licenses.  This took place even in schools that had already opted out of the seniority transfer system by adopting the SBO transfer.  (This btw was not a seniority right. There was no bumping. They were placed in vacancies, or displaced only unappointed teachers.)  What changed to stop this was that principals got the power to decide who their school hired.  Even if the seniority transfer were to be restored, without the right of excessed teachers to be placed, there would still be ATRs, since teachers who already have positions could get the positions posted on the seniority list, and schools only had to post half their unencumbered vacancies. 

I know this doesn't make much difference, we should have both rights.

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

Reminder:
Next week the UFT is holding borough ATR meetings at the borough offices. We believe this is a response to the agitation around the ATR question. The ostensible purpose of these meetings is to reasure ATRs that they will not be laid off out of seniority but will not address the underlying issues that ATRs are bringing up regarding being moved from school to school.

The flyer says they will answer questions and address your concerns. Bring your stories.

Just last night I got an email from an ATR in south Staten Island who was assigned to a school in Bushwick. There is some physical handicap involved and the ATR has to use public transportation. On purpose? I bet it is.

Thanks to ICE's  Jeff Kaufman for this related info:

District 76 is BASIS which covers all of Staten Island and schools in South Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Bed Stuy among other neighborhoods. The rest of Brooklyn is Brooklyn HS which is district 73. It appears the ATR is being assigned within the district. While BASIS is terrible just think about my old district, 79, which has a city-wide reach.

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

"American Teacher" Praised: Say It Ain't So Valerie

UPdated - 10:15PM with Susan Ohanian comments on Dana Goldstein review.
Here is my review from May: Reviewing "American Teacher": Ed Deform Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

Praise for American Teacher Movie As "Getting it Right" Gets It Wrong.

The Answer Sheet Blog
'American Teacher': A Film on Education That Gets It Right
by Mark Phillips
Every policymaker should be required to see the new film “American Teacher,” which powerfully reveals the huge challenge that the country faces in attracting and keeping the best teachers to help improve public education.

I can't think of any post Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet published that I don't agree with. Until now. I've seen "American Teacher" twice and just loved Real Reformer Jamie Fidler (Rocking the House at Education Nation) in it. But I didn't hear the 2 dirtiest words in the world of ed deform:   class size

Funny, but there's a statement in the movie that they've "tried everything." But

class size (reduction)

And there is just too much Ed Deform house researcher Eric Hanushek in the film, one of the stars of "Waiting for Superman." See: Eric Hanushek Mistates Facts - Again

But then again there's Linda Darling-Hammond.
---------------

Dana Goldstein Review of "American Teacher" Raises Important Questions

I thought Dana did a pretty good job pointing out some of the major inconsistencies in the film. Brian Jones and I sat in the blogger peanut gallery with Dana during the screening at Education Nation on Sept. 25. Brian gave her a copy of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." Too bad she didn't compare all 3 films. I think ours has the most consistent logic but I have a feeling Dana won't bother watching it or reviewing it if she does. 

We also sent a copy to Valerie Strauss at her request back in June but not a word.

Here, Susan shamelessly plugs our film once again.

Still Waiting for Superman

Ohanian Comment: OK, below find a warning about movie star worship. My advice is that you should order a copy of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman and share it with colleagues, neighbors, churches, etc. This movie is unique: it is made by teachers. We MUST stop looking for outside saviors and look to our own for leadership in The Fight.

Here is the subtitle for this review:

Dave Eggers and Matt Damon’s American Teacher is almost as flawed as last year's big school reform movie.

In an otherwise fairly sensible review, Dana Goldstein pronounces, [T]here is little doubt the quality of the teacher corps would improve if the job paid a six-figure salary.

I have grave doubts that this is true. I base my opinion on visiting classrooms in 26 states. I wonder what Goldstein bases her opinion on.

------------------
Leonie Haimson had a few things to say about another "favorite" featured in the film:

TEP – The Equity project charter – is not just featured in this movie but also relentlessly promoted in several articles in the NYT, NPR, 60 minutes etc. despite the fact that it has among the worst results of any school in the city. 

Zeke Vanderhoek its founder has attacked the notion that class size and other factors matter – and that teacher quality is the only thing that does.

He has also recruited teachers who moved across the country to be there and then fired them.  In fact, he bragged about how many teachers he’s fired.

I wrote about this charter last year here:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/03/zeke-vanderhoek-relentless-self.html

On this year’s scores the students came out on bottom again – and yet the PR spin continues unabated.

Ironically, the new American Teacher film lavishes praise on the “sponsors” of Education Nation which showed their film, including many organizations like Gates & Broad that are funding projects that are systematically undermining the professionalism and morale of American teachers:

Thanks so much to NBC's Education Nation and the following sponsors for hosting the world premiere of our film: University of Phoenix, State Farm, Microsoft, Scholastic, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Bezos Family Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, America’s Promise Alliance, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teacher.From: news@theteachersalaryproject.org

More specifically the website it links to; Microsoft Partners in Learning at http://www.microsoft.com/education/ww/leadership/partnerships/pil/pages/index.aspx

This effort is described as follows:“a 10-year, nearly $500 million commitment by Microsoft to transform education systems around the world, empowering more than 9 million educators in over 115 countries to creatively and effectively use technology in their curriculum to help improve the way students learn.”

Of course, most of the districts interested in online learning are doing this w/ the hop that they can eliminate teachers from the equation as much as possible.

Sad, because though I haven’t seen the film, according to many, it appears to be sincerely committed to improving the public’s appreciation of teachers and how hard they work w/ so little pay.  It is too bad that they are participating in this green wash.

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

Protest Against NYPD Brutality - Friday 9/30 at 5:30pm

In response to NYPD brutality this past Saturday (Sept 24) and the on-going discrimination against people of color (for example, City Councilman Jumaane Williams and City aide Kirsten John Foy were arrested & detained unlawfully by the NYPD simply because they are young African-American who looked like trouble makers), there will be a rally and a march to protest against NYPD brutality.

WHEN: Friday, Sept 30. Start time 5:30pm
WHERE: The rally will start from Zuccotti Park (between Broadway & Liberty St.) in Lower Manhattan, marching toward NYPD headquarter at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan.
Source: AM New York
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/wall-st-protesters-to-rally-against-brutal-arrests-by-nypd-1.3205821

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

Mis-Education Nation: Sending NBC's 'Education Nation' Back to School

Standing Room Only Event wows attendees at alternative event showing real voices.

They kept coming and coming - until just about every single seat was filled and people were standing along the walls of the auditorium at the School of the Future, and very apt name for the  location of an event co-sponsored by GEM that presages a re-balancing of the debates in the ed wars between the Goliath billionaire backed Ed Deformers and the David-like Real Reformers.

Flanders, Jones, Ravitch, Haimson, Noguera

There was some irony on the choice of panelists.

We knew three of the four panelists - Brian Jones (GEM), Diane Ravitch and Leonie Haimson (Class Size Mattera) - line up squarely on the Real Reform side of the line. Pedro Noguera, who is considered a fairly safe choice when Ed Deformers try to claim "balance" (he was on an Education Nation panel) found himself under attack for attempting to have one foot on both sides of the line. As GEM's Julie Cavanagh declared in a note attached to her report on the event posted at Labor Notes, "Brian, Leonie and Diane fabulous as always and wooohooo Michael Fiorillo going after Noguera something fierce!" Noguera who is often the star of events he is invited to looked uncomfortable throughout as Brian Jones with his insights and humor stole the show. (See my AFTER BURN comment for more on Noguera.)

I taped the entire event and have put the hour and a half video up at http://vimeo.com/29735658. As the weekend progresses I will extract excerpts, in particular the Noguera/Fiorillo material. Michael who works with ICE and GEM has been a persistent critic of Noguera on the blogs.

I should say a word and put in a plug for FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting - which sponsored the event (along with Class Size Matters. GEM was proud to be asked to join in as a co-sponsor.) In today's world of media domination by the wealthy, FAIR plays a crucial role which you can support with a donation.

Here is Julie's report at Labor Notes:

What Goes On in Vegas Doesn't Stay in Vegas - "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman"

We send this out with every copy (7000 we've had made so far - but apparently way beyond that).

Please share the film with your friends, family members, and colleagues and feel free to duplicate your DVD! If you do duplicate or distribute the film, please let us know. We'd love to keep track of who our film is reaching. Email: gemnyc@gmail.com

Why isn't this happening in NYC?

I am a teacher who saw "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" at a summer screening in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I was moved and inspired by the film enough to request a copy and then make a sizable donation. Combining my enthusiasm with the permission of the film makers to share copies, I put together a cover letter and shared eighteen copies with each member of my school's PTA board.

Additionally, I put together a write-up and made copies available to my school's staff. Twenty-five copies were shared in this manner. Beyond this, I gave a glowing review and offered copies to teachers and support staff around the Valley. In this way, I sent out thirty-eight copies to other campuses.

In addition to home watchings, I know that there have been "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" viewing parties. Once viewed, I encourage people to pass their discs onto new potential viewers. My hope is that a large enough number of people watching the film here will either be inspired to resist the current reform movement or better yet, spark a real reform awakening. I've done what I can to pay honor to the film and spread the message to this corner of the country. I appreciate the efforts of Real Reform Studios for creating such a long overdue and well-done film! Thanks for the film and your permissions, Ryan D.

Come to our next screening:

Oct. 14 (Friday) at Community Church, 40 East 35 St., 6PM

Fight Back Friday - on Tuesday, Oct. 4

Hello Fight Back Friday participants and allies!

Below is the announcement we are sending out for an action to support the nearly 800 DC37 workers who are being threatened with layoffs. These are school aides, parent coordinators and other colleagues who work with our students everyday. The fight back friday committee is made up of rank and file teachers, members of Teachers Unite, GEM and NYCoRE, and others who are tired of watching the racist attacks on our schools, students and colleagues occur while we and our union sit in shameful silence. Please check out the time line below and let us how you can participate, and especially if you would be willing to spread the word in your school. Attached is a paper petition and a flier for your use. Below are articles and an online petition. This is an important opportunity to build solidarity with the many folks in our schools who go largely unnoticed (and certainly underpaid).
in solidarity

 sam for the fight back friday committee,

 Stop Bloomberg from Laying Off over 700 School Workers!

 DC 37 employees play a critical role in our school community as parent coordinators, tech support, and school aides who help our schools run like clockwork. They are invaluable members of our community that our schools cannot function without. In a time when schools are already suffering tremendously under the weight of budget cuts, our ability to "do more with less" will be even more impossible than it already is. These layoffs not only hurt the learning of all children, but they also disproportionally impact low-income communities of color, such as Harlem,Washington Heights, and Brooklyn. Many of these areas are slated to lose up to 25% of their DC 37 staff members! Additionally, these cuts are not necessary when the city is in a time of surplus. We have little time to act! Let's stop the mayor's unnecessary layoffs and support schools, save jobs, and defend the right for every child to have the equal opportunity to learn!

Here is what YOU can do to Stop DC37 Layoffs:

 The Week of September 26th

 ·    Begin publicizing the Day of Action on October 4th to all your coworkers and parents (flier attached)

 ·         Use the articles linked below to inform your coworker about the layoffs.

 Gotham Schools:  http://gothamschools.org/2011/08/29/dc-37-official-cutting-school-aides-wont-save-city-much-money/

 Daily News:  http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/26/2011-08-26_doe_layoffs_hit_poor_areas_hardest.html

 NY Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/09/20/school-aides-rally-for-their-jobs/?scp=21&sq=nyc%20department%20of%20education&st=cse

 ·    Survey the DC37 workers about how much they know about the layoffs

  Tuesday, September 27th

 · Come to the Teachers Unite office (90 John St., Suite 308, New York, NY 10038) from 5:30 to 7:30 to phone bank NYCoRE and Teachers Unite members about the event on Oct 4th

  Monday, October 3rd

 · Remind Co-workers to wear GREEN  in solidarity with DC37 workers on Tuesday and to come out to the rally at City Hall after work from 4pm to 6pm.

 Tuesday, October 4th

 · Wear GREEN to show your support to all the DC37 workers throughout the city.

 · Join DC37 workers at City Hall to protest the layoffs of over 700 school staff from 4pm to 6pm.

 · Call 311 and tell the Mayor to Stop the Layoffs of all 700 DC37 workers. Our students need these workers and there is a surplus in the budget.

 · Have your co-workers sign the petition (hard copy attached to this e-mail, link:  http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-michael-r-bloomberg-stop-the-layoff-of-essential-dc37-school-staff-on-oct-7th to stop the layoffs.)

 Let's keep showing the city that we have teachers and a union that cares about our schools and kids!

 Brought to you by the Fight Back Friday Committee

 Please E-Mail fbfcommittee@gmail.com <http://us.mc1606.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=fbfcommittee@gmail.com>  to let us know you are participating.

 
 ========================

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.

Tonight: MisEducation Nation/ Oct. 12 - It's Time to Change the Stakes

I'm posting this email from parent activist Janine Sopp to her listserve. If you can make it to the School of the Future at 7PM tonight you will get the alternative view from Education Nation - see my upcoming post on my adverntures there yesterday.

And on October 12, we kick off our "Change the Stakes" campaign to reverse the impact of high stakes testing, which has affected - and infected- almost every child, parent and teacher in America - except for those involved with private schools. Yong Zhao is honoring us as the guest speaker.


Both events are co-sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement.

Dear Parents, Teachers, Administrators and Friends,

If you are reading and listening to the media of late, you will find that issues around "Education" have been making the headlines.  In President Obama's State of the Union Speech the other night, he spoke firmly about his vision of what our Education System should be.  This article speaks to his points and clarifies some of the facts behind the talk.  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/it-makes-no-sense-a-dissection.html

Below are two very important and informative events that will help to shape your understanding of the path our current administration, from the Federal Government down to the State and City level are taking.  Should you find the laws and policies being implemented in your child's school confusing at best and potentially destructive rather than instructive, please consider attending one or both of these events and engaging in the process of educating yourself on the current climate of Education. 

There are many policies in the works that will effect our students, our teachers and our schools, most of which will be put in place without our consent.  If you want to know what to expect beyond what has already happened, these panel discussions will help you gain some perspective.  If you feel this is not the path you would like to see for our children and our schools, now is the time to get informed and involved.

I hope to see some of you there......
Regards,
Janine