Occupy Sacramento: GEM Film in the Belly of the Rhee- Kevin Johnson Beast

Dear GEM

I want to let you know that the Coalition will be screening “Superman Truth” at for Occupy Sacramento Thurs. evening downtown  in Cesar Chavez Park. Mayor Kevin Johnson had said he was going over to parley with the group even though the Council hasn’t allowed them to camp overnight and have been arresting resisters every night.  Johnson has said that he would not vote for an exception to the city’s no camping ordinance, but he volunteered to take a letter for the group to Washington-- blatant attempt to co-opt the group. 

This may turn out to be the most satisfying screening of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" yet – right up the nose of Michelle Rhee's hubby.

And let me also remind you, today is the 157th consecutive day since the premiere that the UFT has ignored a film made by NYC teachers and parents that calls for real reforms like low class size and defends unions - while screening "American Teacher" which ignores class size and never mentions unions while claiming the major reform we need is to pay teachers more money - oh, of course, for the UFT Administration that makes perfect sense.

And then there was this email for GEM from Melbourne Australia:

I am a student teacher in Melbourne, Australia and I would like to know how Australian public teachers can join your Grassroots Education Movement.  We are struggling with the same issues here of standardized testing overtaking classrooms, and the threat of charter schools opening when public schools are proved to be 'ineffective' due to measurements of student and teacher performance.

We are fortunately not in the throes of threats as serious as in the UK or USA at this stage but Australian government and business always follow the policies of both countries so there is a strong feeling among teachers that this is imminent.

Please advise us how teachers here in Australia like myself can join with your organisation and support a global movement to ensure public schools remain open and opportunities for all children to have a good education survive into the future?

I found your movement in the following link from a Nation of Change interview with Brian Jones:   http://www.nationofchange.org/poverty-problem-efforts-cut-education-funding-expand-standardized-testing-assailed-1314548242

Thank you.

Hmmmm. I see an organizing road trip in my future.

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 the right for important bits.

UFT Sends 40 Leftover Sandwiches to Support OWS

In the category of top-down undemocratic unions trying to glom onto a piece of the super democratic OWS action (like matter meeting anti-matter):

Following the lead of parent activists who brought peanut butter sandwiches to OWS a month ago, at edwize Leo Casey brags that among other things, the UFT sent 40 sandwiches left from their conference for charter school educators  to the occupy Wall. St. protesters in Zuccotti Park.

How about sending over the enormous leftovers from UFT Ex Bd meetings? Or maybe a hundred pizzas.  http://goo.gl/BTcZW

And note Brooklyn Dem corrupt boss Vito Lopez, the epitomy of everything OWS is opposed to, organizing a march over Brooklyn Bridge this Tues to show "support"?
Boycott anything that slimy bastard does.

GEM ATR Committee Update: Meeting Today at 5pm

UPDATE: 40 People Attended Meeting at Skylight Diner tonight - details to follow in a Friday AM Post.

REMINDER: MEETING THURSDAY OCT. 20 5PM SKYLIGHT DINER 34TH ST AND 9TH AVE.

This meeting is part of a building effort to organize ATRs into an effective force. While we have reached 80 people on this list, that is far short of the numbers we need to have an impact. I got a lot of interest from chapter leaders and delegates today yesterday at the UFT meeting when I asked people to take a leaflet if they had ATRs in their building. There was a lot of interest and concern, which is a good sign that the message we aimed at from our first phone meeting - to make the non-ATR ed corps aware of the situation you face is getting through.

Keep reporting to us on your daily/weekly experiences. I'm posting on the sidebar of my blog and nycatr is posting the longer pieces.

Here are the links:
NYC ATR - http://nycatr.blogspot.com/

ICEUFT Blog

Chaz's School Daze

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/


Delegate Assembly
I can't give a complete report because I was downstairs handing out our leaflet for most of the meeting.

I did hear Mulgrew say there has been a reduction in ATRs to about a thousand. With a large number of schools slated to be closed - including many middle schools - means there will be no end to the ATR creation process. As the TJC leaflet proclaimed: WE ARE ALL ATRs!

An ATR asked a question and some people felt Mulgrew as nasty to her. The question came up as to how ATRs vote in an election if they are in different schools every week. Leroy Barr spoke against the idea of a chapter. There's more and I spoke to an ATR who was present who promised to give a report one exactly what occurred.

The TJC resolution which we endorsed never got to the floor.
Members of TJC handed out their leaflet and we handed out the generic GEM leaflet.
See jpgs of the leaflets at the end of  this email.

Meeting Prep
We've been getting emails and calls from ATRs interested in what we are doing. Some have previous commitments but want to be kept in the loop.
We are forming an agenda for the meeting. If you have input send it along.
We want the meeting to be productive - how do we grow the group, what impact we could have with higher numbers,
We do not want the meeting to turn into a gripe session about the DOE and the UFT. Or telling of personal stories.

Continue to monitor ICE, NYCATR, Chaz and Ed Notes (I have been putting up comments from ATRs through the day as they come in on the sidebar.)

Legal action
One issue that is expected to come up at the meeting is legal action. This will engender a full discussion of the pros and cons.

We receive this email from an attorney tonight. He could be legit or just looking for business.  We could consider inviting him to a future meeting.
ATR/Attorney has suggestions for GEM ATR agenda

Hey,

I am an ATR and an attorney.

I would like to compliment you on the fine coverage of this scenario on your blogs.

I am unable to attend the ATR meeting, however I thought I would like to add a number of items to the GEM agenda:

1. I read only a few comments on the blogs about the necessity of either obtaining legal representation for the ATR's and/or the filing of an age discrimination complaint.  The age discrimination issue was briefly discussed at one of the borough meetings and was summarily dismissed in the process.  That was the UFT's position, but it is certainly not the in the best interest of the ATR's.

2.  The United States Equal Opportunity Commission  (http://www.eeoc.gov/field/newyork) handles complaints related to civil rights violations, which  including age related and racial discrimination against local govenments and unions.

3. The number of ATR's is not clear, however it would appear that 1000 ATR's could make a payment towards retaining an employment law firm.

4. Time is of the essence in filing legal actions. If legal action is taken against the DOE, there might be only 90 days to file a Notice of Claim against the City.

Finally, it would appear that there is a serious need to obtain contact information for ALL ATR's.  What is being done to organize the entire group?


 RESPONSES TO THE EMAIL:
Souverain: the part about 90 days on an EEOC claim is dubiousI thought it was more like a year or 300 days in NYS

S: Unfortunately, I can't make the meeting tonight but I hope I will be able to attend the next one. I think one issue that needs to be addressed is how the schools using day to day subs in long term positions. Also, how the ATR weekly placements are sending teachers to schools with no vacancies.....




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 the right for important bits.

Bringin' the heat! OWS Committee for Public Education Issues Call to Action

Julie Cavanagh, an organizer with the Grassroots Education Movement who will be participating in ODOE, said the OWS message and practices reflect education activists concerns.
“There is no greater representation for the lack of democracy in what’s happening in public education policy right now than the PEP,” said Cavanagh, who works a special education teacher. “It’s a group of people who believe they are accountable to one man as opposed to 1.1 million school children. That’s wrong. We want the representational democracy we’re entitled to.”

Good Gotham Schools article: Inspired by Wall St. protest, activists vow to ‘Occupy the DOE’

Hello all!

Next Tuesday labor groups, community groups, teachers, students, parents and advocates will be occupying the Mayor's Panel for Educational Policy (the former democratically elected Board of
Education). The Panel is a 13 member group that has a eight member majority are appointed by the mayor to rubber stamp the damaging corporate educational "reforms" he is forcing upon public schools.

We, like the 99%, believe that decisions that impact public schools should be made democratically, by the people that are involved in the system such as parents, students, teachers, and administrators. For that reason, we will be holding the first DEMOCRATIC General Assembly for Public Education at the Panel for Educational Policy from 5:30-8pm.

We are calling on all people that believe in the principles of Occupy Wall Street and the 99% to join us in showing the mayor, the chancellor, and the PEP what real democracy looks like. We would love
for you to support us in the struggle to stop the attack on public schools.

When: Tuesday, October 25th @5:30PM
Where: Seward Park High School
350 Grand Street (near Williamsburg Bridge)

In solidarity,
The OWS Committee for Public Education

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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 the right for important bits.

OCCUPY the PANEL FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICY

Breaking News: 

• NYC Educators to Occupy PEP and Public Education
• Public Education Advocate Diane Ravitch to Address Protesters at Occupy Wall Street, Link 99% Movement to Better Schools
• OWS Education Committee issues manifesto and call for action

Here is another leaflet to be handed out at the DA today:

NYC educational activists who have been involved in various degrees with Occupy Wall Street started meeting this past Sunday at the red cube across from Liberty Square to being OWS to the public education arena. I briefly stopped by on Sunday and was gratified to see there would be a follow-up yesterday at 5, an almost surreal experience. Here is my account:

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, 5PM
We sat on the ground in front of the red cube in a circle. As people arrived the circle got bigger. Some people went across the street to see if there were educators or others looking to work in this issue and the circle kept growing. We used mic check to repeat the info as people introduced themselves. Just about every single activist NYC group was in the house.

A security guard of sorts came over to tell us we were on private property - funny but it certainly seems to be a public space - and people have been meeting there regularly - part of the general harassment that has been going on to cut off options for people to meet. So we decided to move to an atrium on Wall Street, some walking holding signs saying: Occupy Public Education and doing some chanting. We were a group of about 50 people - most got to turn up Wall but just as we at the tail end got there the cops closed the gates in our faces not allowing access to Wall Street, turning it into an exit only street for pedestrians. "Walk to the next block," they told us. But as we got to the next block the cops again closed the gate in our faces: "You're not marching on Wall Street," they told us. "Age discrimination," I said - Michael Fiorillo was with me. "We're too old to protest." No dice. "Go to the next block," they said. Figuring they would cut us off again, we headed through the UFT Lobby and down the stairs to the New Street exit where we circled around to the atrium which seemed to have all kinds of meetings going on.

The meeting itself was very impressive for an ad hoc event where many people were meeting for the first time - though I was familiar with most. People took notes and everyone got to speak. The decision was to start a process to take back the DOE by focusing on getting people to the PEP meeting next Tuesday at Seward Park HS. (Look for Tweed to move the meeting to Alaska). The idea is to draw more people into the struggle.

I have to reiterate and emphasize that this quickly thrown together meeting was the most representative of the many activists and ed advocacy groups in the city - it was a who's who. If everyone starts moving on this based on being inspired by OWS that will have a significant impact.

Details will follow over the next few days. If you want to get involved:

Next meetings of  Occupy Public Education (OPE):

• Friday at 6pm at the NYCORE meeting at NYU.

Here's a link to the nycore meeting RSVP for Friday where we will have the breakout session following up. We'll have dinner there, so please RSVP so we can have a headcount.

http://www.nycore.org/2011/10/monthly-meeting-10-21-11/

• Sunday at 3PM at the red cube on Liberty and Broadway - across the street from the protest - meeting might be moved if hassled by cops so get there on time.

----------

Common Core "author" and ed deformer/profiteer David Coleman will be speaking at the PEP.
@gothamschools: Common Core author David Coleman will speak at Oct. 25 PEP meeting to discuss to parents the new standard, Walcott tells district 7 parents
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Ravitch: Greater equity would prevent education cuts, providing students and schools with vital resources:  Ravitch to introduce NYC parent of student at school in danger of closing

Noted public education expert Diane Ravitch will address protesters at Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park on Thursday, saying the movement’s push for greater economic equity is essential for better schools. Ravitch will also introduce the parent of a child at a New York City school on the list for potential closure to speak to the crowd.

Ravitch’s rebuke of certain popular education reforms – such as high-stakes testing of students, teachers and schools, as well as corporate-style education policies – have placed her at the forefront of the national education debate. Her views support Occupy Wall Street’s warnings about growing class divisions. For instance, she has said she believes that “The best predictor of low academic performance is poverty.”

Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System was a bestseller.

WHEN: Thursday, October 20 – 7:00 PM

WHERE: Zuccotti Park – Downtown Manhattan

WHO: Hundreds of protesters, Diane Ravitch, the parent of a child at a NYC school at risk of closing, and others.

 -------
Valerie Strauss:

Education activists seek to collaborate with Occupy Wall Street

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/education-activists-seek-to-collaborate-with-occupy-wall-street/2011/10/15/gIQAbrDZmL_blog.html?wprss=answer-sheet


===============
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 the right for important bits.

OCCUPY PUBLIC EDUCATION- Leaflet/Reso for DA

GEM is urging delegates at the Delegate Assembly today to meet in front of 52 Broadway after the meeting is adjourned and walk the few blocks as a group to show support for Occupy Wall Street.

Here is the resolution:

LET'S MARCH TOGETHER TO SUPPORT OWS- MEET OUTSIDE AT ADJOURNMENT

Whereas the UFT helped organize and participated in the Labor and Community March in Support of Occupy Wall Street on Oct 5^th,

Be it Resolved that at adjournment of this assembly, delegates meet in front of the building and march together to Zuccotti Park to show our continuing support and solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.

Here is the leaflet and text if you wish to share:

The 1% SAY: PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING

The 99% SAY: OCCUPY EVERYTHING

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, the response from the movement’s targets has gradually changed: contemptuous dismissal has been replaced by whining. (A reader of my blog suggests that we start calling our ruling class the “kvetchocracy.”) The modern lords of finance look at the protesters and ask, Don’t they understand what we’ve done for the U.S. economy? The answer is: yes, many of the protesters do understand what Wall Street and more generally the nation’s economic elite have done for us. And that’s why they’re protesting. --Paul Krugman, Oct. 17, NY Times

The public schools of this nation have already been occupied by the same forces OWS are protesting - the Billionaire's Boys Club -  Gates, Broad, the Walton Foundation have bought public education policy to push their agenda of ed deform. Corporate greed and manipulation have force-fed their failed policies on the public ed system throughout the nation. Not only have they occupied the schools publicly but they have occupied the minds and souls of educators with their distorted market-based view of education.

If you are a teacher or other education worker in an urban setting, you see the impact every single day. 

·       Closing down public schools and replacing them with non-unionized charter schools

·       Using high stakes standardize tests turning children into data points, data that has been manipulated for political purposes.

·       Ignoring most of what educators really do.

·       Replacing experienced educators with a transient teaching corps that will never stay long enough to receive a pension as they destabilize and deskill the teaching profession, turning us and our students into corporate widgets.

·       They make us eat the gruel of high stakes tests and data manipulation leading to forced closure of schools, charter co-locations. And a government whether led by Republicans or Democrats that sign on to The Plan to undermine and privatize public education.

·       The corporate masters have bought off both political parties, especially in ed. Can we have   leaders much worse than Obama/Duncan?

·       They attack teachers unions basic hard won collective bargaining rights and tenure. They want to turn every state into Mississippi.

·       They have broken what little was working in the political process.

All we have left is that: We are the 99%.

The 1% says: Deregulate the public school system

The 99% says: Take our schools back

It is time for the real reformers to reoccupy our public education systems.

Occupy Everything

Grassroots Education Movement - gemnyc.org, gemnyc@gmail.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 the right for important bits.

Actions at First UFT DA of the Year

There is expected to be some calls at the DA today, which is usually the most well-attended of the year with lots of new chapter leaders and delegates, for actions on ATRs, OWS and probably a whole host of other issues. I'll cover the OWS in a follow-up. First the ATRs:

ATRs
Both GEM and TJC will be handing out leaflets related to the ATR issue.

TJC will be presenting a resolution- see flier below.

GEM is calling on ATRs to attend a meeting tomorrow - Thursday Oct. 20 - at the Skylight Diner (34St and 9th Ave) at 5PM to help build an ATR support group to push for a list of demands to be decided on by the committee. There has been a response from ATRs who have asked to be on the mailing list we have set up and a number of people who said they are coming to the meeting.

Here are jpgs of the leaflets:

Click to enlarge GEM ATR Committee Meeting Oct. 20

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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 the right for important bits.

SOS Connected Ed Deformers to Wall Street as Real Reformers Create Ties to OWS

TODAY AT 5PM

Come one, come all: parents, student, teachers, counselors, community members, school aides, the 99%:

OCCUPY Public Education!!

Help us shape an Agenda for the 99% to present to Chancellor Wolcott (the 1%) at the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) on October 25th. 

Next planning meeting: How should we present this agenda at the PEP?

Tuesday Oct. 18 @5PM @ Red Cube (Across Broadway from Occupy Wall Street)

I'm heading over there soon with a prototype of a leaflet I'm working on (see below).

-----------------
Interesting read:  Occupy Wall Street’s ‘Political Disobedience’

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

In the GEM film, "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" (all mention of which has been banned by the UFT Administration) we have a clip of Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis making this link: "They brought down the economy and now they want to impose their failed business model on the public schools?"

I've been trying to get a handle on the links between what the ed deformers have been doing to the public school systems of this nation and what the Wall Street (not physical but a state of mind) crowd has done to the economy of this nation.


SOS: 8000 educators occupied Washington on July 30
There are people who will say OWS really began in Wisconsin - and it probably did. But I don't want the role of the Save Our Schools march which occupied Washington on July 30 and took place simultaneously in many cities to go unrecognized. Actually, a few hundred people made a 4 day event out of SOS making decisions at meetings in as democratic a manner as possible. Well-known educators like Debbie Meier and Jonathan Kozol did not just do drop-in speeches and leave, but you could find them almost every day taking part in meetings.

In all the talk of the lack of clear lines of leadership in OWS, we can also say that though there were leaders in SOS - you need some people to get things started - they also tended to try to back off as much as possible and let the democratic process take over- which I find interesting given seeming willingness of top-down hierarchical unions to support OWS. (I exempt the Chicago Teachers Union for now because of the commitment to make that a democratic union with an active membership - see my previous post - What OWS Support Reso Will the UFT Delegate Assembly Pass Tomorrow as Chicago Teaches Union Supports OWS?)

SOS was not a one shot event and is working to become sustainable - and remember how principled they were, refusing to meet with Obama on the eve of the march. I bet something will happen again next summer if not before - they are working to tie into OWS calling for a joint action this spring.

Here is the text of the proposed leaflet:

The 1% SAY: PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING

The 99% SAY: OCCUPY EVERYTHING

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, the response from the movement’s targets has gradually changed: contemptuous dismissal has been replaced by whining. (A reader of my blog suggests that we start calling our ruling class the “kvetchocracy.”) The modern lords of finance look at the protesters and ask, Don’t they understand what we’ve done for the U.S. economy? The answer is: yes, many of the protesters do understand what Wall Street and more generally the nation’s economic elite have done for us. And that’s why they’re protesting. --Paul Krugman, Oct. 17, NY Times

The public schools of this nation have already been occupied by the same forces OWS are protesting - the Billionaire's Boys Club -  Gates, Broad, the Walton Foundation have bought public education policy to push their agenda of ed deform. Corporate greed and manipulation have force-fed their failed policies on the public ed system throughout the nation. Not only have they occupied the schools publicly but they have occupied the minds and souls of educators with their distorted market-based view of education.

If you are a teacher or other education worker in an urban setting, you see the impact every single day. 

·       Closing down public schools and replacing them with non-unionized charter schools

·       Using high stakes standardize tests turning children into data points, data that has been manipulated for political purposes.

·       Ignoring most of what educators really do.

·       Replacing experienced educators with a transient teaching corps that will never stay long enough to receive a pension as they destabilize and deskill the teaching profession, turning us and our students into corporate widgets.

·       They make us eat the gruel of high stakes tests and data manipulation leading to forced closure of schools, charter co-locations. And a government whether led by Republicans or Democrats that sign on to The Plan to undermine and privatize public education.

·       The corporate masters have bought off both political parties, especially in ed. Can we have   leaders much worse than Obama/Duncan?

·       They attack teachers unions basic hard won collective bargaining rights and tenure. They want to turn every state into Mississippi.

·       They have broken what little was working in the political process.

All we have left is that: We are the 99%.

The 1% says: Deregulate the public school system

The 99% says: Take our schools back

It is time for the real reformers to reoccupy our public education systems.

Occupy Everything

LET'S MARCH TOGETHER TO SUPPORT OWS- MEET OUTSIDE AT ADJOURNMENT

Whereas the UFT helped organize and participated in the Labor and Community March in Support of Occupy Wall Street  on Oct 5^th, and continues to show logistical and moral support

Be it Resolved that at adjournment of this meeting,   delegates at this Assembly meet in front of the building  and march together to Zuccotti Park to show our continuing  support and solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.

Grassroots Education Movement - gemnyc.org, gemnyc@gmail.com

-----------------
Here's a great, short video that shows how the General Assembly direct democracy/consensus/decision making process works with the Occupy Wall Street:folks.  These details are generally not covered by the mass media.  Also, note the viewers' comments. Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6dtD8RnGaRQ

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

Before "Occupy Wall Street"
Notes on Prior New York City Protests Against Economic Crises

A brand new feature on the Gotham Center website!

It's well known that – for more than two centuries – Wall Street has been repeatedly swept by financial panics, and that the American economy has repeatedly crumpled into recession or depression. It's less well known that virtually each collapse has been met by outraged protest, particularly in New York City, Wall Street's home town.

Historian and Gotham Center founder Mike Wallace puts the current surge of popular anger into historical perspective, discussing the crises and protests of 1792, 1837, 1857, 1874, and 1930. While there are no “lessons” to be learned here -- history never does repeat itself -- it might nevertheless be interesting for Occupy Wall Street participants and supporters to know that our anger and actions are not novel, but rather the latest in a long line of opposition to the inequitable workings of our economic system.

Enjoy!

www.gothamcenter.org

What OWS Support Reso Will the UFT Delegate Assembly Pass Tomorrow as Chicago Teaches Union Supports OWS?

With a UFT Delegate Assembly tomorrow - Weds. Oct. 19 - taking place barely steps from the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street, it will be interesting to see exactly where they stand. We do know the UFT is providing logistical support by donating storage space and there was a call from inside the UFT last Thursday night for people to come out Friday morning to defend the park - I heard there was even a meeting at UFT HQ.

I am working on a leaflet for GEM that will call on the DA to march over to the park en masse after adjournment in a show of support. Here's hoping that reso won't be necessary and that the UFT Administration will take as strong an action as the CTU.

Would the UFT which focuses so much of its attention on political lobbying endorse this point?

Whereas the basic message behind Occupy Chicago is that the current political system only works for 1% of the population.

CTU Resolution to Support “Occupy Chicago”

Whereas the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, the national parent union to Chicago Teachers Union officially endorsed the national “occupation” movement “Occupy Wall Street.”

Whereas, Occupy Chicago’s mission statement states, “Occupy Chicago is here to fight corporate abuse of American democracy in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world.”

Whereas Chicago Teachers Union is currently campaigning to return corporate tax breaks to fund schools.

Whereas, Occupy Chicago’s mission statement states, “Occupy Chicago reassures its members and the public that we are a social movement dedicated to nonviolent action.”

Whereas the basic message behind Occupy Chicago is that the current political system only works for 1% of the population.

Whereas Chicago Teachers Union represents teachers, paraprofessional and school related staff and school clinicians who work with and are members of the other 99% of Americans who have experienced cuts in their pay through the Board’s reneging of 4% contractual raises.

Whereas many Chicago Teachers Union members and the families they serve have had their homes foreclosed by the same banks that gamed the political system to receive trillions in bailouts of which they were held unaccountable.

Whereas testing corporations rob our schools of crucial instructional time while profiting off our students and taxpayers.

Whereas: Chicago Teachers Union members have suffered the gradual decline of teaching and learning conditions as the 1% has successful dictated more and more of the direction of education in our classrooms, schools, district and nation.

Therefore, be it resolved, that the Chicago Teachers Union endorses the Occupy Chicago campaign.

Resolved, Chicago Teachers Union will maintain a presence at the occupation site through the organizing department and information from the occupation will be disseminated through Chicago Teachers Union’s communications including, but not limited to website, social media, and Chicago Union Teacher, the official publication of Chicago Teachers Union.

Resolved, resolve: Chicago Teachers Union will support the production and dissemination of lesson plans and materials to educate and empower interested parents and students to occupy and retake our schools and public spaces.

I'll follow up later with a draft of the leaflet we're working on.

==========
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 the right for important bits.

A Former Student Surprise Visit at GEM Film

Last update: Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 2PM

We were waiting for people to arrive at the screening of the GEM film "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" on Friday evening. It was still early when a stunning woman walked in. She smiled at me. I'm at the age when a stunning woman smiles at me I turn around to see who she is really smiling at. But she walked right up to me and said, "You know who I am, don't you? I work in the area and I saw this advertised on Facebook and I thought I'd drop by." I realized she was Maria, my former 4th grade student from 1982-83 when she was 9 or 10 years old. The last time I had seen her was when she was 17 and a student at Stuyvesant. (I did not have many students who went on the Stuyvesant.)

I'm the one with glasses

Maria had contacted me a few years ago with a wonderful email telling me that on the eve of her older daughter entering school she had thought most about my class and what an impact it had on her. We had tried to get together over the years but it never happened. So this surprise visit was quite a treat.

We got to reminisce about Maria's wonderful father, a somewhat elderly gentleman to have such a young child - he carried himself with enormous dignity. He delivered her to school in the morning and was there almost every day at dismissal. He was totally involved in her education, being particularly proud of Maria's abilities in math. But she was also a top-level reader - a perfect student all around but also with a big personality. He lived into his 90's and died a few years ago.

I have to say that I often had/have doubts about myself as a teacher. Even though I know the data munching nuts are wrong I was still tied into that world as far back as the 80s - due to a principal who pushed the testing craze down our throats - at times used to doubt if my somewhat alternative teaching style fit those trends. Those doubts eventually drove me out of the self-contained classroom I had loved so much. My last class graduated in 1985.

Accountability is viewed in such a narrow frame. But to me the highest level of accountability comes from former students and/or their parents, especially those students with children of their own. Believe me, they could offer me merit pay but I would rate a few good words from this constituency as the highest level of being held accountable. So as I introduced Maria around to my GEM colleagues she said stuff about me as a teacher that practically made me blush - and kvell. I won't repeat them - not out of modesty - but I was so overwhelmed I can't even remember what she said.

Interestingly, Maria was from the same class that produced the actor Ernie Silva whose one man play I have written about. And I've received some other communications from students in that class. It was one of the two top classes I taught - the other one from 1975 also had many students keep in touch - I attended 3 weddings over the years. There is some important ideas to explore on the vastly different experience teachers faced in the old system (and I bet it still goes on) of grouping kids by reading scores to set up classes and the impact that has on both teachers and students. I didn't want those classes all the time - I liked dealing with the struggling kids - but I fought for my contractual right to get those classes every so often, arguing that teachers need to see some success to keep up their spirits and morale. While the bottom classes were rewarding,  there were too many drug deaths, teen pregnancies, and calls from jail to give one a balanced view of the world.

Thanks for making it a special evening Maria.

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Monday, October 17th - Anti-Privatization Action & Support for Puerto Rico Teachers at NYC Department Education

Protest Arne Duncan visit to privatize schools in Puerto Rico

I met Angel Gonzalez through his work with the FMPR (Puerto Rico) support group when he came to ICE for support. He told me when he retired he would join me - sure I thought, I've heard THAT one before. But true to his word, he did. We teamed up to help form what turned into GEM in Jan. 2009. For me, Angel brought a level of activism I had not known before - ICE seemed much more a group into educating while GEM has been touching the other 2 pillars - organize and mobilize - and it has been a great partnership for 2 retirees.

Angel is great friends with the union president Rafael Feliciano, who had the guts to pull the 40,000 teachers out of the AFT in 2003 and Raffie has been a great friend of GEM.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is our annual family birthday outing with our young cousins to Peter Lugers so I will not make the event. I hope some of you, especially if you are checking out OWS, get on over there to support the struggle in PR.

P R E S S  A D V I S O R Y

FMPR Support Committee – NY

fmprsupportny@hotmail.com

Contacts:  Angel Gonzalez (718) 601-4901                        Frank Velgara  (718) 601-4751

CHARTER SCHOOL OPPONENTS JOIN SUPPORTERS OF PUERTO RICO’S TEACHERS’ UNION TO BRING ANTI-PRIVATIZATION MESSAGE TO BLOOMBERS’ EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Manhattan, NYC – On Monday afternoon, October 17th , teachers, labor, religous, community activists and Occupy Wall Street supporters will be at Mayor Bloombergs’ NYC Education Department in response  to the call for support by  the Teachers’ Union of Puerto Rico (FMPR) against charter schools and Privatization of the public schools system.

The FMPR is protesting the visit to Puerto Rico of U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to attend an “Education Summit” from October 17-18.   This visit by the education tzar of the Obama Administration was convened to increase support for the federal No Child Left Behind policies that have promoted thousands of layoffs, school closings and school privatization with charter schools in Puerto Rico and throughout the United States.

The Teachers’ Union of Puerto Rico (FMPR) has been the target of intense repression by the Puerto Rican government, including police brutality, the illegal elimination of dues deduction by the union and the revocation for life of the leaves of absence from work without pay for teachers.

The Monday demonstration will also denounce the anti-democratic privatization policies at the federal, state and city level that continue to cripple public school education for the children of working famlies and the assault on the rights of teachers and other school employees in New York City.  This protest is part of ongoing campaigns and actions by anti-charter privatization groups throughout the U.S. and by NYC based education, community and labor activists.

WHEN:           MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2011

WHERE:         NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

                     52 Chambers Street @ Broadway y Centre Street, Manhattan

TIME:            5:00 P.M.

CONTACT:     FMPRSUPPORTNY@HOTMAIL.COM

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Create Ties Between OWS and Attack on Ed Deformers

UPDATED: Oct. 16, 8AM

Occupy the PEP! Occupy the DoE!! Occupy Mayoral Control! 

"Mayoral Control = Authoritarianism and Tyranny by the 1%"

Mark Naison: Occupy The Public Schools? Will ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Trigger A Movement to Reclaim Our Schools From Test Driven Pedagogy

I know there are a lot of teachers working with the OWS crowd - there is even a Grade-In planned at the orange cube today from 12-3. But we are just beginning to see some connections being made between the bankers and corporations and the role played by leading ed deformers, who have taken over our urban public school system. Today I spent the day at the Trial of Bloomberg and his cronies just blocks from Liberty Square and many participants were anxious to get over there. But the trains have have not quite met yet - but we're working on it. Maybe a march from the Delegate Assembly this Weds when it ends at 6PM up the few blocks to OWS to show support.

I really have so much to report but so little time. The movie showing Friday night went really well and the discussion afterwards was packed full of ideas - really the kind of debate that should be taking place on education. I'll write a more extensive report later.

The event with Dr. Yong Zhao on Oct. 12 that GEM co-sponsored with other groups provided valuable insights into why "It's time to change the stakes" - our slogan for the campaign. He was a fabulous speaker - and also very funny. I  put the entire event up on vimeo - first his speech and then the Q/A. Really worth viewing if you have some time.

As the opt-out movement grows (and let's tie the high stakes testing to corporate greed due to how much money is to be made) - and it will grow - we will begin to see threats and intimidation against parents and children - and teachers who support it. But just like OWS, it may become too big to control. One of our aims here is to tie the ed deformers into the general attack on Wall Street banks, not a tough sell. The Real Reform crew here is already talking about some targets for marches and rallies. Half-Whitney Tilson is near the top of my list.

Peg, an Opt-out of testing parent activist says:

Teach at Your Occupy Movement Today. End Wall Street Occupation of Public Schools.

I have never been so excited to teach a class in my life.  I head down to Occupy Denver tomorrow  - class starting at 1:30 p.m. – to begin to share information on how to end Wall Street Occupation of our public schools.

Peg's blog has this message at the top of the side panel:

United Opt Out National

End High Stakes Testing. Save and Improve our Public Schools.

 

Here is a chart from MucketyMap showing the interlocking directorate of corporate control

Finally, here is a wonderful video showing "this is what democracy looks like" at OWS. Thnaks to Bob G. for this message:

Here's a great, short video that shows how the General Assembly direct democracy/consensus/decision making process works with the Occupy Wall Street:folks.  These details are generally not covered by the mass media.  Also, note the viewers' comments.

Consensus (Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6dtD8RnGaRQ

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Ohanian on Democrat Perfidy

The White House Road to Wall Street Wealth and Power...

NOTE: Go to the url below and read this at Substance. You won't want to miss the great cartoons that go with it.

by Susan Ohanian, who votes in every election but admits that the last major party candidate she voted for was Jimmy Carter

In a Salon.com piece titled "Can OWS be turned into a Democratic Party movement," Glenn Greenwald describes disreputable Center for American Progress John Podesta's attempt to organize (and coopt) Occupy Wallstreet protests across the country. Greenwald also offers this reminder to those with short political memories:

Rahm Emanuel "earned" $18 million in three years in the private sector. Sure. When Rahm Emanuel -- who had made $16 million in three years as an investment banker after leaving the Clinton White House -- left as Obama’s Chief of Staff to run for Mayor of Chicago, Obama chose as his replacement Bill Daley, who at the time was serving as JP Morgan's Midwest Chairman and a director of Boeing. Shortly after Obama's star director of Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, left the administration, he became a top executive at Citigroup. The DCCC, recently headed by Emanuel and now feigning support for the protests, is characterized by little other than a strategy of supporting corporatist, Wall-Street-revering "Blue Dog" Democrats as a way of consolidating power.

Greenwald details other Obama appointees and asks the rhetorical question, "Does CAP and the DCCC really believe that most of the protesters are motivated -- or can be motivated -- to turn themselves into a get-out-the-vote machine for Obama’s re-election and the empowerment of Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party?

Greenwald nails the issue: "As Naomi Klein explained after speaking to the protesters, the reason they are out on the street rather than working for the DNC or OFA is precisely because they concluded that electoral politics or working for either party will not address the issues motivating them; part of what they’re protesting is the Democratic Party."

Do you get it, NEA? Get it, AFT?

A question more and more former Obama fans are asking: Is he now a war criminal? Part of what we're protesting is the Democratic Party. Don't blame the Republicans for Race to the Top and the Common Core State Curriculum Standards and Assessments. The Obama/Duncan mandate is the natural heir of the Bill Clinton/Business Roundtable machinations started in the late 1980ies.

Listen up: No more free pass in the voting booth, Democrats. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more.


— Susan Ohanian
SubstanceNews.net

2011-10-13

http://substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2702&section=Article

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NYC Public Education Crimes Trial, Sat. Oct 15th

REMINDER: FREE SCREENING FRIDAY OCT. 14: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH BEHIND WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

THE CAMPAIGN TO PUT A STAKE THROUGH THE HEART OF MAYORAL CONTROL BEGINS SATURDAY!

Spread the Word. Come out. Offer Testimony. Get others involved. Participate in deciding critical 'next steps' in ending mayoral control (dictatorship), and in transforming public education.

NYC Public Education Crimes Trial, Sat. Oct 15th   DC37 Bldg  125 Barclay Street  9a-6p  

2, 3, trains to Chambers St. or Park Place; 

A & C trains to Chambers St.

www.forpubliced.org

www.forpubliced.blogspot.com

212-362-6021

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Occupy Everything - School Scope Column in The Wave

My education column in The Wave this week. www.rockawave.com

Occupy Everything

by Norm Scott

The occupation of Wall Street movement, inspired in many ways by the democratic movements in the Middle East and which is spreading nationwide is much more of a state of mind than the symbolic nature of the physical act itself. I view it as an attempt to reoccupy both physical and metaphysical spaces we have been losing.

We've seen almost every aspect of our lives occupied by the policies of people who control this society – let's dub them for the sake of argument, the "1%".  (We'll call the rest of us the "99%".) From the viewpoint of educators the privatizers - the corporate free enterprisers (Bill Gates/Eli Broad) led by hedge fund operators - have occupied our public schools with charters and consultants looking to make a buck off the backs of our children. The 1% have occupied our classrooms with untested "solutions" that end up being destructive - in fact former chancellor even dubbed his policies "creative destruction" - except they have not very creative. They have occupied every single urban household with children in public schools with their threats to destroy their neighborhood schools (see Beach Channel and Far Rockaway HS) if the children don't perform on standardized tests. The 1% has occupied the minds of 3rd graders driven to tears over the pressure. And they are expanding their occupation to the minds of 4 year olds. (Occupying the womb of pregnant women is coming - but we won't go there.) And teachers, principals - in fact everyone involved in education – have been occupied as thoroughly as the population was in the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Success is measured not in the way a child grows in so many ways but in a data point. Schools now have assistant principals - in charge of data. Data munching zombies stalk the halls of almost every public school in America. Of course, the 1% that can afford progressive private schools has made sure the occupation doesn't touch their own children or the schools they attend.

I've been over to a few Occupy Wall Street (OWS) events over the past few weeks. OWS, attracting massive media coverage, has gone from a small group of little noticed people to an international sensation in just a few short weeks. All it seemed to take was a few cops overreacting with images going viral on you tube. Now every newscast leads with news of what the occupiers are doing.

Initial press reports were skeptical and mocking. As the interest and attention grew – Liberty/Zucotti Park has become a major tourist attraction in addition to attracting celebrities and politicians – the media has been going crazy over their inability to identify and target leaders by picking apart every negative thing they could find so as to brand OWS. (Ironically, just as I was finishing up this piece, NPR's Brian Lehrer had on one of the "leaders" a teacher and acquaintance of mine.)

As it became clear that the organizers were doing this intentionally to protect the movement, the respect by the media for a group that is media savvy has grown. The Oct. 10 business section of the NY Times had two relatively positive articles on OWS, including a great piece on the slick newspaper they produce. And the attacks by the Republicans and FOX News have only given OWS more cache with the beleaguered forces of the center-left.

Then came the attacks because there are no specific demands or no end game. I listened in to a reporter interviewing a guy named Brendan Burke who was so articulate. He stressed that there should be no end game - demands decided on my a few people but that in the process of building a democratic movement, ideas and demands would emerge. This concept of participatory democracy in a nation where the democratic process has been hijacked by the 1% seems astounding to the press.

Brendan also stressed this is not a movement of the left or the right but a patriotic attempt to take back the country - really more of a classic American revolution tea party movement than the right wing tea party movement itself which is backed by the 1%.

I have to laugh when the critics of OWS start talking about how the protesters have to get involved in the political process - go to Albany and Washington. Excuse me for a few while I try to control my hysterical laughter. So they mean the most dysfunctional and corrupt state legislature in the nation? And Washington? You mean the Washington of our own Anthony Weiner, Gregory Meeks - and have you been reading about our former rep Floyd Flake? Oh, and our new tea party 1 percenter Bob Turner? I can only imagine what's going on in the rest of the nation. Oh, I don't have to. Sure, I want to participate in a political process that gives me a choice between David Weprin and Bob Turner. Our president and his education secretary Arne Duncan have been among the chief occupiers of our schools with their Race To The Top.

I was down at OWS for 4 hours on Sunday afternoon with my video camera. The walls of the park were lined with people holding up every kind of sign you can imagine, sort of like the Union Square market where you can shop for the type of bread you are interested in. The public walking by, including tourists would stop to chat and I recorded some of these conversations. This continuing dialogue (aside from the constant pounding of every type of drum you can imagine) is one of he most fascinating aspects of OWS. It is a constant town hall meeting in small groups - in addition to the much larger general assemblies in the park where people pass on the speeches in short chunks like the game of "telephone" and then vote by waggling their fingers. Really, if you haven't gone down to take a look it is a must see.

The fact that so many people involved in OWS have denounced the broken political system as unworthy of their participation has not stopped some politicians, particularly democrats, from dipping their toe in the water - but not being able to control OWS, very gingerly. The assumption that OWS is automatically pro-Obama and can be used to counter the tea party is a big mistake. While Obama may have inspired many of these young activists in 2008, they are severely disappointed in his capitulation to the Republicans. The liberal/left have been viciously critical of Obama but if they stick to the process have nowhere to go.

I jumped into a mini-debate on this very issue and a young lady from Holland was arguing the case that OWS must move into the political process to be effective. "How can they compete with the Koch brothers in buying politicians," I asked? "You have the powers of numbers," she said. Not a bad answer. Well, the 99% will have to activate and inspire large numbers to impact on the normal political process. In the meantime, political action will have to take place in the streets.

The unions have also dipped their toe into the water in various degrees, with the UFT coming late to the party. The NY Times touched on the quandary facing top-down hierarchical unions touching base with a flat-based democratically based model so antithetical to the way a union like the UFT operates – sort of like matter meeting anti-matter. I guess I don't have to tell regular readers of this column my view of the UFT and my new motto: Occupy The UFT.