The Dilemma: How to be Critical of Our Union Leaders Without Being Viewed as Attacking the Union?

I am even more at odds with those who use every disagreement to launch broadsides against the union.... Before you go using my tweet to go off batshit crazy on the AFT, please get your facts straight.--- Mike Klonsky comment on Ed Notes Post: UFT/AFT Sells Out on Common Core":

To Ed Shultz: why are you rolling out someone who'd switched sides more times than General Dostum and calling her a union activist?   - Sean Crowley, teacher in Buffalo, on Randi

I take Mike Klonsky's point seriously though the graphic indicated my thinking when it concerns expressing sympathy for Randi. The problem is Randi has made herself the AFT just as the made herself the UFT.

First let me clarify about my using Mike's tweet to go after the AFT on common core. I had the impression that the resolution was being sponsored by the AFT but Mike points out it wasn't -- not yet at least. But the UFT and AFT have pushed common core so I'm expecting if not this reso maybe something similar.

Here was Mike's tweet:

 "I can't get behind AFT's resolution on Common Core Standards. To me it contradicts their resolution on testing. http://lockerz.com/s/223095221 --"

You can read Mike's full comment below.

But the more important issue is something Mike has been raising regarding the level of criticism of what he terns the "union" and what I term the "misleading, undemocratic, bloodsucking, sellout oligarchy running the union."

A big difference but as my pals tell me involves some level of being tactical and subtle (NOT ME) and making sure to distinguish between the leadership and the union. Now here in NYC we have a situation where the 50 year leadership that controls the union has made itself into one and the same by controlling every single aspect of the union operation. Call it "embedded on steroids." And don't forget that Unity Caucus is the key to controlling the state - NYSUT - and the national - AFT due to NYC being by far the largest local in the nation.

When the massively funded ed deformers engage in attacks on teacher unions -- no matter how hard Randi tries to suck up she can't do enough of it to get most of them off her back -- it creates sympathy for the devil and people like me begin to look like aiders and abetters of the attackers. I have no easy way out of this as my goal is to do what I can to create an organization within the UFT that can challenge Unity and that takes people. Lots of people. I can play a neutral position -- like praise them when the do the right thing and hammer them when they screw up or just go at them all the time. The latter is my nature.

Mike expressed some of his own frustration with Randi without going batshit in this post: 

There's no fix without fight in Cleveland

Here the union was under severe attack and made a deal that looks bad. But he points out that "some of the most draconian parts of the original plan were beaten back." OK. That is what we hear from the UFT all the time (they wanted to execute 2 teachers but we got it cut to 1 -- and maybe the point is that better to save one at least.

 Then Mike points out a crucial point in comparing Cleveland to Chicago:

plans like Cleveland's are favored by both parties -- especially by Obama/Duncan. The plan fits perfectly with Duncan's Race To The Top. To really stand up to it, the Cleveland Teachers Union would have to be ready to take on the weight of the entire system and buck Democratic Party and AFT leaders as the CTU is trying to do in Chicago.  AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten has been pushing hard on local unions to accept these type of deals. She and local union prez,  David Quolke hailed a similar plan in New Haven as "a model" for the rest of the county.

Kasich's attempt last year to totally crush the state's unions was defeated when the entire labor movement and national allies rallied and voters beat back his SB5 bill. This time around, he and the  corporate reformers were able to push through a plan, with help from Democrats and union leaders, that applied only to Cleveland and not the whole state. The tactic worked and is now being used in other states, especially in cities like Chicago where there's mayoral control of the schools.

The new plan shifts even more resources away from city schools, closes more of them and turns them and over to privately-managed charters. It makes it easier to fire veteran teachers without due process. Teacher pay and evaluation linked to student test scores is now embedded in the law. Union leaders, including Weingarten from the AFT signed off on this without any real Chicago-style mobilization of city teachers and community supporters. No line in the sand has been drawn -- yet.

The latter point is so important we can't let it go. The difference is Chicago where the union leadership IS NOT ALLOWING RANDI-STYE UNIONISM TO SELL THEM OUT WITHOUT A FIGHT. BUT SHE WILL TRY.

That message must be hammered home to our friends in Chicago who at times actually seem to think they are winning Randi over to their side. She is just playing them. That is as much her nature as my going after her all the time is mine.

Mike concludes with:

Will public education and the union live to fight another day as a result of this agreement and the concessions made? Anti-union conservatives like Stanford's Terry Moe are worried about that. He predicted that, as details of the plan get negotiated, union leaders will “do whatever they can to water them down and make them as non-threatening as possible.”

Maybe. We shall see. But what's repulsive is the sight of union leaders hailing these plans as a national models of collaboration. It's one thing to lose a fight to a more powerful (at least for now) foe. It's quite another to call that defeat a victory.... Does the union have the heart for such a struggle? Are current leaders up for it? If not, there's really bad times ahead for Cleveland schools.

I really do want to be like Mike in being so tactical but find it so hard.

Well, we've been seeing the UFT calling every defeat a victory for years so get used to it. With the attitude that you can't fight them we have no chance. My bet is that unless Cleveland elects a Chicago-style CORE caucus there is no heart for such a struggle. And that same lesson hold here in NYC. The problem on our end is to actually create an organization that is capable of leading these struggles and we have a long way to go with MORE in such a nascent stage.

Suggestion: read Assailed Teacher on The Death and Birth of Teacher Unions
---------
Let's shuffle off to Buffalo: I got this from Sean Crowley, a teacher in Buffalo and not a Randi fan:

ed schultz

Hello norm, I was wishing you could have been patched through to Randi Weingarten yesterday as she pontificated to clueless Eddie about the plight of pedagogues. As if she knows. That big dope is just as outta touch as all of the cracks he makes about Mittens Romney just in a down home just folksier -- lookit the bass I caught -- kinda fashion. If there is any way you can break through and do the interview none of these Obama friendly shills and hacks will do because it trumps all of their happy b.s. about their deep concern for teachers. Wait a minute Ed why are you rolling out someone who'd switched sides more times than General Dostum and calling her a union activist? Thanks for your time.

Sean Crowley

Sean followed up with: "you are revered and admired by many of my BTF brothers and sisters here in Buffalo." I may just shuffle off to bask in the glory.
Sean's blog is: B-loedscene.blogspot.com

Here is Mike Klonsky full comment on the post "UFT/AFT Sells Out on Common Core":

Norm,

Before you go using my tweet to go off batshit crazy on the AFT, please get your facts straight. First of all, this is just a resolution being proposed by a local in Oklahoma of non-instructional staff, asking the AFT for support and training around Common Core, same as instructional staff gets. The AFT exec board hasn't endorsed it and the AFT convention hasn't even been held yet.

Yes, I have been openly critical of Common Core Standards and find CCS at odds with the AFT's anti-testing resolution. But I am even more at odds with those who use every disagreement to launch broadsides against the union.

The picture you posted with the title cut off is misleading and the conclusions you draw are way out of proportion to the issue you are referring to here. You need to make some correction.

Mike says I cut off the picture but I just took the pic from his link: http://lockerz.com/s/223095221 --

At any rate, I'm glad he raised the issue because it is an important one. ICE was attacked for attacking the union leadership vociferously. New Action took the other tack -- the union is under attack, we have to form a united front.

---------
We will delve into some of these issues at the opening of the MORE summer series tomorrow. I've been wracking my poor brain to put together a history and will publish it on Ed Notes tomorrow before the event.

SAVE THE DATE: JULY 12, 5PM

Come see Michael Fiorillo and me do a history of teacher unions in NYC and UFT Caucuses since the late 60's. Find out the roots of New Action, ICE, TJC, GEM and the evolution into the current MORE.

Come to our Thursday Night Summer Series at:

LOLITA Bar - located at 266 Broome Street (Between Grand & Delancey Streets) NYC, take the F to Delancey St. or the J, M, Z to Essex St.

MORE in the SUMMER

5pm-8pm

Each “listen & learn” discussion will be preceded by a brief membership meeting at which all are welcome, and followed by happy hour socializing & schmoozing

July 12 –

The Roots of MORE: The UFT, Then and Now – Historical perspective of caucuses in the UFT over the past half century. {With Michael Fiorillo and Norm Scott]

Where We Stood - and Still Stand

Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. ----ICE Platform, 2009/10

I'm glad MORE has adopted this slogan. I'm not claiming ICE came up with this but it may have. Can't really remember. I was reviewing some docs from the past for the MORE crew and thought this piece ICE produced as part of a 28 page platform -- or rather concept on how the union should work during the summer of 2009 in prep for running in the 2010 elections --- made some great points. All parts are in the sidebar at http://uftelections2010.blogspot.com.

How to boil this narrative down to a piece of a manageable platform.

ICE platform, Part V

V. Working conditions, professional autonomy, seniority, salary and benefits

“Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions.”

The union contract, and only the union contract, allows people to make teaching a career. Many educators often spend their entire professional lives serving the children of a particular community. This is an inestimable social benefit that is often overlooked.

The union must be willing to:

Fight against the de-skilling of educators, marginalization, intimidation, and unionbusting.

“School reform” is premised on top-down management of instruction. Decisions made prescriptively through packaged programs place enormous restrictions on a teacher’s ability to service the needs of individual students. Union officials choose to take a weak stand again violations to Articles 8 and 24 of the contract, which call in different ways for an enormous amount of teacher input and participation and offer ways to resolve differences.

New and less experienced teachers are prevented from becoming good teachers when they are denied opportunities to try strategies and take risks. Ill-prepared and poorly trained administrators (many with little classroom experience) and regional personnel (some still politically connected), have reduced professional support to a checklist. In many cases they instill fear, and in fact, programs like PIP+ have been specifically designed to remove teachers from the system rather than improve instruction. The UFT has allowed these methods to distort teacher training and leave teachers open to attack.

Teachers with long service in their schools can be a valuable resource in reaching out to the community and formulating models for success. Neither the DoE nor our present union officials appreciate how spending years or even decades working in the same neighborhood might yield valuable knowledge for enhancing learning.

There are times, however, when teachers wish to change schools, and the seniority transfer system the union gave up in the last contract, based on non-discriminatory criteria, afforded them somewhat of a chance to do so. In its place, we now have the "open market," which permits a greater ability to transfer for some teachers, the newer ones in particular, but allows much discrimination against senior and disliked teachers, chapter leaders, or anyone else. In the face of school closings and reorganizations and principals finding it easy to hide vacancies and hire at will, a disproportionate number of senior teachers are unable to find new positions through the open market. They become “teachers without positions,” or ATRs (Absent Teacher Reserves), sometimes for the rest of their careers. Changes in the way salaries are funded have also made newer teachers more attractive prospects than the higher paid vets.

Apart from obvious salary discrimination (and possibly age and race discrimination as well), members are being removed from positions on improper 3020a procedures and false or perfunctory charges. In many instances these people are whistle-blowers, union activists, and educators who stand up to principals, and they face serious fines or losing their licenses. Union officials have shown a disappointing acceptance of the DoE’s maneuvers and rationale, almost to the point of collaboration. They also ignore the early retirement of so many teachers who have been frustrated with the current working conditions or who have been treated unfairly.

One of the most troublesome aspects of the 2007 contract was the gutting of the grievance procedure. Having negotiated a new set of procedures that puts no check on principals who misuse their authority, and having afforded principals access to teams of lawyers, the DoE has been able to deny all Step I and II grievances across the board. Since the union can only take a limited number of cases to Step III arbitration, educators are left feeling intimidated and maligned, with no contractual means to address the widespread abuse. It is not only the teachers who suffer in this kind of environment, but the students as well.

The ever-increasing demands on the time of educators seriously impairs their ability to work with children. For teachers, the extra 37 minutes for small-group work has morphed into a range of activities that include teaching an extra period per day. New calls for more paperwork and computer entry have also cut into what teachers can accomplish during their time at school, especially in the single prep period they are allowed each day, which should by contract be self-directed. Social workers, guidance counselors and school psychologists struggle with case overloads, and secretaries seem to be increasingly overburdened.

ICE believes that:

— A teacher’s ability is highly dependent on training, experience, talent, and style. Teachers must accordingly have a say in how instruction should be delivered in their classrooms, and planning for instruction and curriculum must be collaborative and respectful. Violations to Articles 8 and 24 cannot be tolerated.

— The union must oppose one-size-fits-all methodologies at all levels (regional to school-based directives), as these do not take into account the talents and skills of individual teachers or their students.

— The teacher’s right to design the structure of his or her lessons and the written plans that accompany them must be protected, as long as such lessons adhere to the characteristics of good teaching outlined in Teaching for the 21st Century

— The union must defend against the DoE’s notion that teachers are replaceable parts.

— New language needs to added to the contract that separates salary levels from hiring decisions.

— An iron-clad no-layoff clause (as in Article 17F of the last contract) must be restored.

— There can be no new hiring until ATRs seeking positions have secured them.

— The union must renegotiate a grievance procedure with teeth.

— Principals who make frivolous charges or exhibit a pattern of acting with malice against members of their staff must be censured, fined, and/or prohibited from receiving bonuses.

— The Teacher Reassignment Centers must be closed. Members should not be spending days, months or years in holding pens. They should be reassigned to another school, not punished, while waiting for their cases to be heard.

—The caseloads of guidance counselors, social workers and school psychologists must be reduced, and reasonable limits be placed on what secretaries are required to achieve in a normal work day. These issues should be enforceable through arbitration.

Demand fairness in the licensing and evaluation of educators.

Whereas the UFT has temporarily fended off the use of tests to evaluate teachers, it has allowed contractual language that opens the door for such practices. It must lobby for the end of any exams that do not give a fair measurement of who is or can become a good teacher. Thousands of teachers who had earned satisfactory evaluations for many years were dismissed several years ago because of their failure to pass specific exams. The misuse of testing can be as unjust and harmful for teachers as it is for students.

ICE believes that:

— Certification measures should be simplified and based on meaningful written and oral tests as well as performance in the classroom.

— The UFT should seek the establishment of an apprenticeship system for new teachers.

— Learning communities are diverse, and student tests do not generally reflect the skills of individual teachers. These tests must not be allowed to influence the granting of tenure or annual ratings.

Maintain competitive salaries and job security

The median salary for a NYC teacher in 2009 is essentially unchanged from what it was fifty years ago when adjusted for inflation and the longer working day and year. Senior teachers today are less secure in their jobs. New teachers today pay a far higher percentage of their incomes for student loans and housing. The turnover rate is higher and the rate of retention is lower than it was fifty years ago.

Reports from the NEA by EIA

...the President [in his phone call to the NEA delegates] gave a hint as to how he will handle education issues in the campaign and deal with lingering dissatisfaction from a significant portion of the union.
The President emphasized the funding for teachers’ jobs in the stimulus bill, and the additional funding in the follow-on “edujobs” bill. He didn’t mention Race to the Top, Arne Duncan, charter schools, performance pay, or really any policy issue. And he took a swipe at Mitt Romney, saying, “My opponent mocks the idea that we need more teachers.”
As NEA campaigns for Obama, it will stick to the same emphasis: funding and the vulnerabilities of Romney. Addressing the other issues will wait until after the election… probably to no effect, but what else can NEA do?
The President signed off with “I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on the campaign trail.” To which NEA president Dennis Van Roekel responded, “We’re behind you all the way.” I think part of the frustration is that the union has been behind him, instead of in front of his face. ------Educational Intelligence Agency at the NEA.

Somehow I missed getting Mike Antonucci's reports from the NEA last week. Mike certainly nailed the Obama approach to teachers this year. Mike comes from the right with an anti-union bias but he does some excellent coverage. If you heard about the drastic drop in members of the NEA last week for the first time you would have known that a long time ago from reading EIA. I don't find many offensive items here but some people on the left get incensed when I post his stuff. I've been doing that even in the old pre-2006 print editions of Ed Notes and will continue to do so.

Mike focuses more on the NEA than the AFT. I sat with him in the press section at the 2004 AFT convention and we had some great conversations. (It was funny to see AFT officials sucking up to him.) That was the only time I met him. Here are the links to his reports.

Direct Links to All NEA Convention Blog Posts. In case you didn't follow along all last week with EIA's gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 2012 National Education Association Representative Assembly from Washington DC, here are the direct links to each post, in chronological order. Enjoy!

 

*  NEA Convention 2012: "We Have to Change." Seventy staffers cut and down $65 million, the delegates seem most worried about a virtual meeting for the resolutions committee.

*  NEA: "No Evidence" Teach for America Busts Unions. Judging by reader response, this was my biggest scoop of the week.

*  NEA Convention 2012: The Missing. Worst snub of the convention wasn't by President Obama.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Outside the Lines. Where once again I shirk my journalistic responsibility.

*  Biden: Romney Bad, Teachers Good. What else is there to say?

*  NEA Convention 2012: America's Greatest Education Governor Not So Great at Math. Minnesota governor's "real" numbers are imaginary.

*  Obama to Phone It In on Thursday. You know, they did have an Obama impersonator on hand. Hmmm...

*  More on Gov. Dayton's Math. Check your numbers... at the door.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Delegates to Take Up the Hot Issue of Hotel Cable Channel Selection, At least until peer pressure led to its withdrawal.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Social Justice Patriots. Demagoguing the 4th from the Left is no better than doing it from the Right.

*  NEA Convention 2012: NBI Smackdown. Delegates learn what life is like for California taxpayers.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Obama Coming In Garbled. Thank God for closed captioning.

*  A Financial Note for RA Delegates. Where those spending estimates come from.

# # #

The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. E-Mail: mike@eiaonline.com

Parody of Ed Deform: Race to the Top Cake

A short time ago these Harvard students would have been jumping on the ed deform bandwagon. Now they are making fun of deformers. Are real reformers beginning to turn the tide with our little potshots against billionaires with atomic weapons? 

A blog by Harvard education school graduate students pokes fun at the reform moment. (HugsyFunnies). I picked up this great link at Gotham. 

Watch what happens when four HGSE students get down and dirty in the kitchen with School Reform. Props to Sam, Rachel, Hannah, and Jill (all IEP) for creating this masterpiece! “It’s a battle for who will win the Race to the Top Cake”

Here is part 1.



See the other parts at:

Top Ref

==========

Afterburn: Another signpost of the decline of ed deform

http://myednext.org/profiles/blogs/in-a-stunning-victory-for-america-s-public-schools-and-students

"The billionaire backed Students First shows horrendous data. See this link and refer to the 120 people talking about it and the slope downward of new likes. nearly to the base.https://www.facebook.com/StudentsFirstHQ/likes
  Hmmmm...consider the money, the PR, the political influence, and what do you have? Failure of epic proportions? A realization that Students First has much more to do with mining the public schools for profit and shortchanging the public school student while busting unions than the misleading title of the group? http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-lo...
 An amazing example of the minority overtaking the majority as  $$$First policies become law with so little support from the families of the 51million public school students?? An incident where taking a mouth taper and calling her Superman via Hollywood doesn't work? 

We Apologize

Easy to apologize now that they helped Jeffries win three to one.  Old riddle: How do Democrats organize a firing squad?   In a circle, of course ------JMB

  

Dear MoveOn member,

 

Last month, you received an email from MoveOn about Councilman Charles Barron, a candidate for Congress in your district. It was offensive and inflammatory—and we shouldn't have sent it.

 

On behalf of the MoveOn staff, I apologize to you and to the Brooklyn community.

The email was all too reminiscent of the kind of attacks that have been used by our opponents to divide progressives over and over again—white folks from African Americans, Jews from non-Jews, recent immigrants from descendants of immigrants, etc.

MoveOn is a community of 7 million of us from every corner of our country. There are MoveOn members of every race, religion, and color. We aspire to bring folks together to fight for racial and economic justice and democracy—with respect for everyone. This email did the opposite.

After the email was sent, we couldn't undo the harm it had done. But we wanted to do our best to avoid doing any more damage. So we didn't say anything further about Councilman Barron for the duration of the race, limiting our involvement to communicating the positive reasons that MoveOn members in the district chose to endorse Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries back in April.

We can't take back our actions. But we can do better going forward to make sure that we are uniting, not dividing, our shared communities.

 

Again, our sincerest apologies. And if you have any thoughts you'd like to share with us about the email or about how MoveOn can be a constructive force in local races and issues in the future, please don't hesitate to email me at justin_ruben@moveon.org.

Thank you for all you do.

Justin Ruben

Executive Director

MoveOn.org Political Action

 

No Worries, the End is Coming

I wake up thinking, "Good news, the world didn't end during the night. Let's see what happens tomorrow night."

How will Bloomberg fudge the grad rates? Credit recovery

Maybe that's why I often wear ear phones and listen to sports radio to put me to sleep -- so I won't be woken up by the end of the world. But really, why worry when we know that the end is coming eventually - either in billions of years when the sun blows up or tomorrow when some fool gets a hold of a nuclear weapon?

So I don't worry about it but do track how close to the end we may be getting. I want to make sure to wear clean underwear.

How about that global warming which I've been tracking since I moved near the ocean 33 years ago? I actually expected to be under water by now. I was beginning to think even if I live as long as my dad's 94 or Ernie Borgnine's 95, being 3 blocks from the ocean and half a block from the bay (which has a sea wall), I might just have a shot at staying dry (though I won't vouch for my basement). But then at a July 4 party someone told me that the rate of acceleration of Global Warming is much greater than expected. I started thinking about the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.  I just might end up with beachfront property yet.

I love Armageddon movies and books. In most scenarios the earth survives some catastrophe --- take your pick: nuclear war (The Road) or even more phantasmagorical - an earthquake off Japan sets of 4 nuclear reactors due to human error and they end up polluting and destroying most life on earth, but it takes 10 years for it all to happen.Then a small band of people fight off other people - or even zombies - to find a new civilization on a small patch of land -- and it's always such a good looking couple that survive. Truly the 1%.

A favorite book as a teen was the 1933 sci-fi book "When Worlds Collide" followed by the sequel "After Worlds Collide." (by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer -- see, I still remember). I found it in Miss Gouldsmith's library at Gershwin JHS (not to be closed).

Earth gets wiped out by another planet but that planet had a twin and some people were able to escape in a rocket and land there to continue civilization. Continue? We have civilization? If the world ends how will be be able to follow the Kardashians?

I wonder how Wylie and Balmer would have played out the story just a few years later with Hitler stalking the earth? Guess who would escape to start the new civilization? Imagine, Hitler and entourage land on new planet and find synagogues on every block. The ultimate Twilight Zone story.

In the book there is a first pass by the big planet and 8 months later it comes back and wipes out the earth and the smaller planet replaces it in orbit.

Tidal waves reach heights of hundreds of meters, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days. As a token of things to come, Bronson Alpha's first pass takes out the Moon.

Oh, the casualties. Remember the George Carlin routine where waiting for disaster numbers to come in becomes a rooting game to beat the record? This was a wowser.

On the Twilight Zone July 4th marathon one story had the earth moving either closer to the sun or further away -- either way, bad news. And there was a recent story in the New Yorker where the earth rotation slows down and people go crazy over 48 hour days. Rahm Emmauel can expand the school day to 24 hours while offering teachers a dime. Maybe that's the next gambit of ed deformers. I laid out what Eva would do a few weeks ago as the world is crumbling around her ears. (Eva Moskowitz Deals With Armageddon).

Then there are the massive sunspot type stories that consume the earth. This concept looks like it could happen one day. I read an sci-fi novel not long ago where they had 2 years to prepare - how would that affect people waging war all over the place - bet it wouldn't  stop soem of them -- can't the see the Pentagon asking for another 10 billion dollar plane that will take 30 years to develop - just in case.

I won't go into the alien invasion scenarios because those type of stories don't interest me.

OK, so we are doomed. And there are movies around that deal with this. One just out is about a couple who meet cute - 3 weeks before the end. No worries about birth control there.

I was dying to see Lars Van Trier's "Melancholia" about a rogue planet wiping out the earth. And last night there is was on Netflix. Within the first 20 minutes of this 2 hour film I was rooting for the rogue planet to speed it up. But then again there was Kirsten Dunst, who I never much noticed before not only looking good but acting up a storm. Sometimes you just have to sacrifice. I tried vainly to hold on but fell asleep before the world ended. 

UFT/AFT Sells Out on Common Core

collaborate: to cooperate, usually willingly, with an enemy nation, especially with an enemy occupying one's country--Dictionary.com 

I can't get behind AFT's resolution on Common Core Standards. To me it contradicts their resolution on testing. http://lockerz.com/s/223095221 --

Mike Klonsky ‏@mikeklonsky

Mike Klonsky's tweet hit the nail on the head on the tactics being used by Randi Weingarten on the national level at the AFT and her henchman Michael Mulgrew and the rest of Unity Caucus on the local level to divide and conquer opponents of their policy, a policy decided in the halls of power where the classroom teacher has no say.

Hold out the carrot of what appears to be on the surface, a strong resolution on testing while at the same time offering up slavish support for the Bill Gates/corporate deform common core, disguised as a sheep but really a testing wolf, with lots of money to be made by the testing/publishing (often one and the same) companies.

Given that Bloomberg/Walcott/Tweed back the Common Core 1000% as does the UFT, doesn't that give you some pause? I mean this is not about agreeing on some program to feed starving children -- unless we are talking about children starving from lack of testing.

A pic of the AFT CCS reso from Klonsky

Susan Ohanian Reports

Here is another great compilation from Susan. So many links, so little time.
--------------------------

The Good News item is so good that I can't even describe it.

And Outrages pile up.

Having just suffered WORD's obstructive mechanism to prepare citations for a long paper and being married to someone who just survived citations for a book, this old New Yorker piece hits home.  I put this observation about WORD up in notable quotes on my site: 'When, in the old days, you hit the wrong key on your typewriter, you got one wrong character. Strike the wrong keys in Word and you are suddenly writing in Norwegian Bokmal (Bokmal?). And you have no idea how you got there; you can spend the rest of the night trying to get out.'

For more, read Louis Menand's hilarious 'The End Matter: The nightmare of citation' at http://nyr.kr/McQrGm

Once you've had a laugh, then you can visit the outrages below.

Susan

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Francine Prose
New York Times Book Review
2012-07-07
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=296

The loony Common Core prejudice against fiction pops up in a book review by Fancine Prose. She wonderfully refutes any claims that fiction isn't critical to our lives.

Support Con Ed Workers: Building Rank and File Bridges Between Public and Private Unions

GEM banner at Union Protest at Verizon, Aug. 2011

 Solidarity NOT Forever to Verizon Installer:  When I tried to make the connection between private and public worker unions to the Verizon union guy he balked. "That's a different story." In his view we have way too much and should be curbed.

Now new mommy Julie Cavanagh reps Rank and File Teachers at press conf (next to Patrick Sullivan)- Aug. 2011

There are some very good reasons for rank and file teachers to support other strikers even in the private realm. Which is why if you can make it (sorry I can't) Join MORE on the Con Ed picket lines: Sat, July 7th 12 noon union square.

I don't mean union leadership and their crew of people like Mulgrew and top union officials joining events (which they do) -- not union leadership to union leadership -- but real school workers working hand in hand with other workers. I wrote about the amazing reception the MORE teachers received on Thursday from Con Ed workers. MORE Members Support Con Ed Workers on Picket Line

That action was organized on very short notice and many MORE people are away. Expect more people to be there today.

I recently had Verizon Fios installed and the installer spent the entire day doing it. He is a union member and was on strike last year. He complained about the union leadership and how they still have no contract. "We never should have gone back. We were sold out," he said.

Sounds pretty militant, right? But he views public unions as a different story, as I described above.

I told him how last year GEM, ICE, NYCORE and Teachers Unite people had walked the picket lines with them and helped organize the protest outside the August 2011 PEP meeting. Many Verizon workers joined us inside after the rally and called for the PEP to reject an outrageous contract they were handing Verizon.

I'm sorry word of our support didn't reach this guy --- and I suspect it would not have changed his mind. He seemed right out of Faux FOX casting. He view helps explain Wisconsin.

Here are links to Ed Notes stories and videos on the actions with Verizon last August (2011) when my writing was still limited by my broken wrist.

 Press conference Tuesday to demand Verizon pay bac...

• Gotham Schools Involvement in Ed Deform Panel Cont...
• PEP POP III: Diary of a Mad Parent
• PEP POPS II
• PEP Pops I - Updated with video and links to cover...
• Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give ou...

AFTERBURN: Only one of the reasons for MORE

You'll notice that I had to mention multiple groups last year - GEM, ICE, TJC, NYCORE, Teachers Unite -- did I leave anyone out? MORE is an outgrowth of a two year attempt to bring some sense if unity and purpose to all the groups. While most of them still exist, they have moved some of their activities into the MORE sphere. MORE is really only months old and people are just getting to know each other, so the process moves in fits and starts. And the still-existing groups are feeling their way as to what makes sense for them to do in the evolving conditions. One thing I will say -- it gives all of us a lot more people who can get things done rather than duplicating the efforts in multiple groups. I still see ICE playing a role due to its experience and GEM focusing on charters, high stakes testing and making films.

Join MORE on the Con Ed picket lines: Sat, July 7th 12 noon union square

Forward far and wide!

As long as 8500 Con Ed workers are locked out. . .  educators will support them!

Even if the Unity leadership of the UFT won't actively support our union brothers and sisters from UAUW Local 1-2, The Movement of Rank and file Educators (MORE) is committed to mobilizing our members to show solidarity.       Same struggle, same fight. Meet-up in front of whole foods, across from Union Square at 12pm, this Saturday, July 7th. From a participant on Thursday when MORE members and supporters joined the picket line:

“They gave us a hero’s welcome. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity. On both sides there were picket lines… they all got so excited to see us chanting ‘teacher, teacher.’ Loud whistles, noise makers… the crowd went nuts. We got thumbs-up, high fives, people thanked us…. We all agreed that we have not felt so appreciated as educators in a long time.”

Future Opt-Outer Born

Note the same mohawk as daddy

Good news: Julie Cavanagh gave birth at 2 AM this morning to Jack (congrats to Glenn and Julie). She was 2 weeks late.

There's even better news for Jack's future:

"A study of city public school students found more time in the womb equaled higher test scores. (MSNBC)."

But we all know that Jack will be a test-opt outer.

Really, it's about time. She seems to have been pregnant for years. Julie promised pics soon. [Here it is].

Jack joins Ruben, Sam Coleman's son born last November, as the next generation of baby activists. That Julie and Sam, two of the leading young(er) activists in GEM (and MORE) have been involved with such important events in their lives has certainly been a factor in the overall movement's progress. And with always amazing Liza Campbell moving to Seattle (hopefully for only 2 years) the movement has certainly taken a hit.

But the joy everyone feels at these exciting events overcomes all. Gotta go buy some diapers.

DOE Hiring Lawyers

When I attended a recent 3020a hearing I had an insight into the behavior of the gotcha unit when they were coming up with the most ridiculous charges to build a case to fire the teacher (did she really fart in front of children?). It was clear that in order to justify their own jobs the lawyers had to come up with convictions. So even of the teacher deserves nothing more than a letter in the file the lawyers need to show firings.
Leonie came up with this info.

Note the first one (gotcha) and the last one ---- using TDAs to fire teachers.

Simply Hired - Daily job email alert

"department of Education" jobs in New York, NY (within 25 miles)

Title	Company	Location	Posted
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education Administrative Trials Unit	Nyc Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education - Special Education Unit	Nyc Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
Nyc Dept. of Education - Commercial Contracts Attorney (Information Technology)	New York City Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
President/ceo, Department of Education	Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn	Brooklyn, NY	20 days ago
sponsored by Monster
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education Teacher Performance Unit	New York City Department of Education	New York, NY	29 days ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com

MORE Members Support Con Ed Workers on Picket Line

They gave us a hero's welcome. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity. On both sides there were picket lines, they all got so excited to see us chanting "teacher, teacher." Loud whistles, noise makers. the crowd went nuts.We got thumbs, high fives, people thanked us. We all agreed that we have not felt so appreciated as educators in a long time. --- -- Movement of Rank and File Educators on picket line supporting Con Ed workers.

MORE picket supporting Con Ed workers

Below is a compilation of reports from the 10 MORE members who attended today. They will return on Saturday at noon. Meet at Whole Foods, 4 Irving Place.

MORE folks showed up to the picket line today with hand made signs and were warmly received! When the picket captain saw us he rounded us up and marched us up Irving Place between the two picket lines on each sidewalk. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity.

We decided before leaving to congregate again this Saturday at noon (in front of Whole Foods again) and march over together, hopefully in bigger numbers! Come! These workers are risking so much, they just got their health care axed and they need our support...
-------

We walked from Whole Foods to 4 Irving Pl, Con Ed HQ- They gave us a hero's welcome. The UAUW Local 1-2 marshals who were organizing the lines (probably union delegate/reps) marched us on to streets. On both sides there were picket lines, they all got so excited to see us chanting teacher, teacher. Loud whistles, noise makers. the crowd went nuts.We got thumbs, high fives, people thanked us, we were actually embarrassed actually felt bad there were so few of us. Every press photographer came and took photos of us.

The most active labor organization in support of local 1-2 has been TWU Local 100.They showed up at the rallies, very active on Twitter to show up at the picket. They're led by former opposition groups.

Carol Burris on Relay Graduate School of Ed

This comment from a NYC teacher who works with Change the Stakes on the testing issues. She makes some wonderful points about the kinds of schools the idiots are running. She is as top level a teacher as you can get and was so disturbed by the principal and the rest of the admin she was ready to leave the system but was hired by a progressive principal at a dream school -- and yes the principal knew all about her activism because she put it on her resume. "I don't want to work for a principal who would be against my being active in opposing high stakes tests," she said.

This article is the first I've seen in mainstream media that addresses and criticizes RGSE.

I've had some firsthand experience with Relay's methods. The AP of my former school is an instructor at Relay, and she attempted to inflict its methodology onto our teaching staff. Videotaping our lessons, making "low-inference observations" (such as tally-marking the number of questions we ask or how many students raise their hands for each question), then putting the data onto a spreadsheet and pretending there were valid conclusions to be drawn. It was clear to a lot of us that the goal was to reduce our lessons down to a script, with "strategically" planned questions and predetermined amounts of "wait time" built in. One teacher was written up for latching onto a teachable moment during a formally-observed math lesson when a student unexpectedly connected lines of symmetry to the Batman villain Two-Face. This teacher was explicitly told that she was being rated Unsatisfactory for that observation because her lesson did not follow the script she had submitted during the pre-observation conference.

The end result was a mass exodus of strong teachers (including myself) from that school at the end of the school year. Before we left we were told to revise our old unit plans, in some cases writing up fully-developed plans for units we had never taught, so that the new teachers could hit the ground running in September. Of course we were told that all of this paperwork was for the benefit of "the children." (Or should I say, "the scholars"? Ugh)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/is-filling-the-pail-any-way-to-train-teachers/2012/07/04/gJQADViVOW_blog.html

ARTICLE IS BELOW

A Primer on Neoliberalism from Fiorillo

UPDATED: July 6, 8AM

There was a good debate at Gotham Schools the other day that led to this interchange on the issue of neoliberalism. The discussion came out of the Eric Nadelstern story which is worth reading -- I will comment on that in another blog.

Use of the word "liberal" confuses people who think it refers to classic American liberalism -- or the left. Claucius asked that very question of Michael Fiorillo who responded in a concise manner.


Michael Fiorillo (unregistered) wrote:

The consequences of Nadelstern's implementation of Bloomberg and Klein's policies - a power grab intended to shut out stakeholders, administrative dominance (increasingly wielded by people explicitly chosen for their minimal teaching experience), constant disruption and destabilization, undermining of teacher's professional autonomy, etc. -  have been anything but unintentional.  On the contrary, they are central to the neoliberal project to privatize the schools and turn them into profit centers. If he failed to see that, it was his opportunism that blinded him.Disruption, destabilization and creating a climate of fear and intimidation in the schools is the only thing these people are competent at. To re-phrase Tacitus, they create a desolation and call it learning.

 claudius (unregistered) wrote, in response to Michael Fiorillo (unregistered):

 Not sure why you call these policies "neoliberal". Privatization of state institutions, education as profit centers, and attacks on civil service employees and unions hardly seems liberal in any traditional sense of the term. Neo-conservative seems more appropriate to me.  But hey, I'm just a teacher and don't have time these days after lesson plans, teaching, and all the new time killers principals think up to keep teacher running to follow the new political terminology here. I am trying though and have learned that we need more "rigor" in my "failing school" so we can be more "accountable". So help me out Michael.

Link to comment

Michael Fiorillo (unregistered) wrote: Claudious, You're right, there's nothing "liberal" (in the mid-20th century sense of the term) about union busting and privatizing the common wealth of society, but that's exactly what Neoliberalism is about. Instead, you have to think about the word's earlier, 19th century meaning, which essentially meant laissez faire and absolute property rights. That old, New Deal-ish liberalism that Rush Limbaugh loves to bark about - pluralism, the common good, labor rights as a necessary brake on the built-in nastiness of unregulated business - was interred by Bill Clinton in the '90's, replaced by NAFTA and other trade agreements that undermine living and wage standards, elimination of social safety nets that have further lowered wages, economic domination by Finance at the expense of the broader economy (thus the omnipresence of Wall Street in every corner of so-called education reform) and the almost complete absorption of the Democrats into little more than a self-deluded and less visibly insane wing of The Money Party. Of course, Neoliberals trumpet their social liberalism - support for gay and abortion rights, which are good things - but that costs them nothing, and in the case of abortion, keeps their employees more productive (see Michael Bloomberg's feelings about this in testimony given at a sexual discrimination suit he faced: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/nyregion/a-testy-bloomberg-emerges..). Sure, they're big social liberals, but the minute someone wants a pay raise, or some say on the job, or simply wants to teach without being continually blamed for problems not of their  making and interfered with by arrogant know-nothings, out come the knives (for the good of the children, of course!). Here are two links that describe neoliberalism far better than I can: http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376 http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/610/1/21 The second link is to an article by the eminent geographer David Harvey, who lays it all out. Link to comment claudius Thanks for the clarification of "neo" liberalism. I was aware of the much older definition of liberalism, which goes back to the Whig party in Britain if I remember correctly. Before becoming a teacher, I worked on Wall St. where a lot of my colleagues were libertarians a la Ayn Rand, so I am aware of this socially "liberal" streak in the conservative movement. Still, neoliberalism seems a somewhat anachronistic use of the term liberal in today's context, at least to me. Additionally, as a teacher who automatically receives free copies of the NY Post every day, I am  aware of the relentless propaganda battle being waged in the press, so naturally I am suspicious of who is defining what terms for their own interest. Otherwise I am in much agreement with what you say and appreciate your many comments.