What Goes on in Charlotte Doesn't Stay in Charlotte

Karran Harper Royal

Last Update: Monday, Sept. 3, 10PM

Parents Across America, a national grassroots parent organization Leonie Haimson helped found, along with amazing people like Karran  Harper Royal from New Orleans (see the wonderful video I shot of her as SOS - see Afterburn for more on Karran), and with outlets in many cities across the nation, is taking action this week in Charlotte, North Carolina and not letting people claiming to be Democrats off the hook.

For immediate release: September 3, 2012
Contact: Pamela Grundy, 704-806-0410, shamrockparent@earthlink.net
           
Members of MecklenburgACTS.org and Parents Across America will be rallying and distributing literature at two events associated with the Democratic National Convention here in Charlotte.

We will call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject the ineffective "reform" measures being pushed by well-heeled organizations such as Students First and Democrats for Education Reform, and instead join parents and education experts in support of a more proven, community-based set of changes.

As the Charlotte Observer and the Huffington Post have noted, Democrats differ significantly over ways to improve the nation's schools. We will be highlighting this debate.

On Monday, we will be at the Students First-sponsored showing of the controversial movie "Won't Back Down" at the Epicenter complex, 201 E. Trade St., from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Although several of us signed up to see the movie and attend the discussion some weeks ago, we were informed early this morning that we would not be admitted. So we will make our case outside.

On Tuesday, we will be at the "Town Hall" sponsored by Democrats for Education Reform at the Knight Theater, 4:30 S. Tryon St., from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

We will present the following statement:

Our Children Need Education Reforms that Work

Students First, Parent Revolution and Democrats for Education Reform are pushing for education policies that have no track record of success:

• An expansion of high-stakes testing that turns schools into testing factories and drives families and top teachers away from public education.

• Relentless charter school expansion even though charter schools regularly perform less well than comparable public schools.

• School closings which disrupt families and communities and send most students to schools that perform no better than the ones they left.

• Parent trigger laws which divide parents and have yet to improve a single school.

We've seen here in Charlotte how these policies destabilize communities, anger parents and demoralize our best teachers. We call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject these policies and join parents and education experts in support of a more positive set of changes that includes small classes, a well-rounded curriculum, more meaningful parent involvement and greater investment in teachers and families.

For REAL solutions visit MecklenburgACTS.org and ParentsAcrossAmerica.org.

Afterburn Update:
Leonie Haimson posted a link on PAA to the Karran Harper Royal SOS video I shot with this perfect comment summing up ed deform:

How did some African-Americans get on wrong side of ed reform?

How can you tell if you’re on the wrong side of reform: Does the policy shut down open debate? Does it remove the democratic process? Do parents get to elect the charter board? Do the policymakers have to focus on a villain, in this case, teachers and unions as the bogeyman? Do they insist on closing schools rather than improving them? Do they impose on high stakes decision for children or teachers or schools? Do they talk about return on investment and are there billionaires pulling the strings? Do they focus on “school choice” over civil rights? These are signals that they are on the wrong side of education reform. And yet it’s easy to fall into the wrong side. Check out Karran’s brilliant analysis why -- video link here   or here

Terrific visual on how ed reform industries milk public education dollars

Special Report: The profit motive behind virtual schools in Maine

Documents expose the flow of money and influence from corporations that stand to profit from state leaders' efforts to expand and deregulate digital education.

 READ IT

Ravitch on the same case:

Understanding the Online Scandal in Maine by dianerav

If you read this article about how online companies bought American education, you would not be at all shocked or surprised by the scandal in Maine. There, the state commissioner of education is following the instructions of Jeb Bush's education advisor and implementing the ALEC model legislation to change the laws to bring in for-profit online corporations.

Corporations will make millions. Many children in Maine will get a lousy education, and the taxpayers in Maine will be ripped off.

That's known these days as reform.

E4E Rep Told "This is a MORE School"

I got a call from a MORE teacher who was approached by a colleague who attended an e4e meeting and heard a carefully crafted message that appears to support teachers instead of the real intent –  to undermine them. After explaining what e4e is all about he proudly told his colleague:

GO TELL e4e THEY ARE NOT WELCOME. 

WE ARE A MORE SCHOOL.

In fact e4e is very aware and threatened by MORE and expect more head to head battles. They are trying to sneak into your school through the back door (E4E Buys Its Way Into Schools Using Tweed Contacts) by capturing a colleague or two and sending them back to your school to recruit. In most cases these colleagues are not aware of the underlying -- and lying message, so fill them in. And tell them to join the real organization standing up for teachers, MORE.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Eva Moskowitz Can't Hold On To Teachers, Rivals Paul Ryan in Lies

I had to share this post from Leonie on her blog.

More dissimulation from Eva

From Wikipedia: In 2010, according to Eva Moskowitz, she received around 13,000 applications for 69 teacher positions. In 2011, she said there were "57,000 applications for 256 jobs."  (Sources: Rosato, Ken, host, New York Viewpoint, July 25, 2010; Phillips, Anna M., High Teacher Turnover at a Success Network School, in NYT SchoolBook, October 19, 2011)

Yet from the below email it is clear that of yesterday, her schools are still looking for TFA teachers  even after their years have begun. 

So much for those 57,000 applications, as well as their “extensive” pre-service training programs.  On the Success Charter website, the job postings are four pages long.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Teach For America - New York Group Members <group-digests@linkedin.com>

Subject: [1] discussion on LinkedIn

Date: August 31, 2012 9:14:15 AM EDT

	Teach For America - New York   August 31, 2012   Success Academy Charter Schools is still hiring EXCELLENT teachers and operations staff for the 2012-2013 school year! Reach out to me directly or visit our website at successcareers.org Started by Gabrielle A. Levine, Recruiter at Success Academy Charter Schools

Video: Jaisal Noor at Save Our Schools

I've done videotaping at many events with Jaisal, who really knows how to tell a story. So well, I'm jealous. I often just try to copy what he is doing, from camera angle to just point my camera while he interviewing people.

I have a bunch of raw videos  up from the same SOS event that you can see at https://vimeo.com/gemnyc/videos. Speeches by Kozol, Meier, Carlsson-Paige, and entire workshops. Here Jaisal gets a lot of the essence of SOS in 9 minutes.

Hey folks,

I wanted to request you all check out and tweet/facebook/ blog my report from the SOS conference in early August (I know several people on the listserve were present as well). I spoke to teachers and activists from across the country.

The video already has 2,000 hits since it was released Friday morning and I'm getting lots of good feedback. I'm hoping to get to 3,000 by tomorrow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=quQLMCzz7dw
Thanks
Jaisal Noor

http://youtu.be/quQLMCzz7dw

John King's Priority Schools Classification Scam

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that might be perceived similarly as inconvenient.  ---schoolfinance101

I want to follow up on our earlier post:

Insanity Reigns: Priority Designation of Schools Will Lead to Further Destruction of Neighborhood Schools and Privatization with some great follow-up stuff.

RBE takes a good shot: Obama NCLB Waiver Process Even More Damaging To Schools Then NCLB

Under the No Child Left Behind waiver the state received from the feds, the lowest performing schools must undergo major overhauls or be closed and turned into new schools. 

Leonie pointed to another brilliant post by Bruce Baker of Rutgers blogging at School Finance101. NCLB Waivers worse than NCLB? Bruce writes:

Implicit in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools - schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority status.

Really, having such amazing forces like Bruce Baker doing this work on our side is heartening. Here's the first part of his post in full -- click the link below it to read the rest.

Ed Waivers, Junk Rating Systems & Misplaced Blame: Case 1 – New York State by schoolfinance101

I hope over the next several months to compile a series of posts where I look at what states have done to achieve their executive granted waivers from federal legislation. Yeah... let's be clear here, that all of this starts with an executive decision to ignore outright, undermine intentionally and explicitly, federal legislation. Yeah... that legislation may have some significant issues. It might just suck entirely. Nonetheless, this precedent is a scary one both in concept and in practice. Even when I don't like the legislation in question, I'm really uncomfortable having someone unilaterally over-ride or undermine it.

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that might be perceived similarly as inconvenient.

Setting all of those really important civics issues aside - WHICH WE CERTAINLY SHOULD NOT BE DOING - the policies being adopted under this illegal (technical term - since it's in direct contradiction to a statute, with full recognition that this statute exists) coercive framework are toxic, racially disparate and yet another example of misplaced blame.
States receiving waivers have generally followed through by using their assessment data in contorted and entirely inappropriate ways to create designations of schools and districts, where those designations then permit state officials to step in and take immediate actions to change the governance, management and whatever else they see fit to change in these schools (and whether they have such legal authority or not).

Priority schools are the bottom of the heap, or bottom 5% and are subject to the most aggressive, and most immediate unilateral interventions (seemingly with complete disregard for existing state statutory or constitutional rights of attending children, their parents or local taxpayers, as well as explicit disregard for existing federal law).

Implicit in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools - schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority status.

They clearly must go... or at least deserve one heck of a shaking up!

Couldn't possibly be anyone else's fault. After all, the state must have clearly already done its part to provide sufficient financial resources, etc. etc. etc. It must be the bad teachers and crappy principals. That's all it can be! Therefore, we must have immediate wide-reaching latitude to step in and kick out the bums - and heck - just close those schools and send those kids elsewhere, or convert those schools to "limited public access, privately governed and managed institutions" (privately manged charters) where layers of constitutional rights for employees and students may be sacrificed.

New York State's Waiver Hit List
New York State Education Department released their hit list of schools recently. 

 READ MORE

 

Insanity Reigns: Priority Designation of Schools Will Lead to Further Destruction of Neighborhood Schools and Privatization

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population.  More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids...  as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same:  schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"... Meanwhile schools with large nos of at risk kids to be restructured or closed. .....a NYC special ed teacher and member of MORE

Here comes another assault on schools that will force the most struggling schools to focus resources on tests instead of doing what is necessary. And they can expect no help from Bloomberg/Walcott or from the next mayor for that matter.

Some say John King, pro-charter, pro-privatization State Ed Comm. is clueless. I don't agree. He is executing the ed deform agenda, in addition to executing these schools

Gotham has a story about this here. Go leave a comment.

Leonie Haimson had this quick analysis:

At first glance reward schools include some of wealthiest & most selective in city incl ps 6 on upper east side manhattan & anderson Stuy bronx science brooklyn tech & lehman these are the schools that are supposed to get cash  awards for doing so well?

Here are the comments that the MORE special ed teacher sent in this quick analysis:

As result of the NCLB waiver, all districts in NYC were identified for focus/priority except D31/Staten Island...there is a reward too, of course going to wealthiest schools, in d15 for example ps 321 park slope.

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population.  More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids...  as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same:  schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"...
There will be an improvement plan based on 6 tenants of education effectiveness (whatever that means) and schools/districts will have to meet goals, provide data, have visits... Haven't seen what happens if goals are not met/there isn't improvement/test scores don't go up... But this newfangled thing has another group "priority" schools, which are schools "in more trouble" than yours (lowest 5% I think), those schools I think face more imminent action and I think the idea is the focus schools are targeted to prevent from becoming priority aka- stop them from becoming "the bottom 5"... Of course if u have a tiered system like this, there will always be a "bottom."

 http://www.p12.nysed.gov/accountability/ESEADesignations.html


This email was sent out to a staff by Jeff Kaufman, chapter leader of one of the schools.

As our school has been statistically struggling with some City and State metrics our struggle, unfortunately, continues. Today the State has designated Aspirations as a “Priority” school. This replaces our former SINI designation and was determined by 3 main criteria; ELA, Math scores and graduation rates.

Under the Federal NCLB rules New York applied for and received a waiver in order to comply with many of the mandates. With the State’s Race to the Top Application (conditionally approved but not implemented since our union has not agreed on evaluation of teacher criteria…there has been no agreement to change our U/S rating system) the Feds and the State revamped their list and terminology. The new designation that we received, Priority school, will release additional sums to change our ELA, Math and graduation stats. It also buys up to 3 years before the state will order the school closed or phased-out.

It is important to note that the state’s designation does not directly impact any city decision to close or phase out our school. The city’s power to transform certain low performing schools was severely curtailed when our union won a lawsuit prohibiting the city from excessing all staff without closing the school.

While I realize a lot of this is complicated and this short space is clearly not enough to explain all of the nuances I think it is important to understand that as we open the school year with the same commitment we have always had…to our students. We will undoubtedly be told we are not working hard enough or effectively and that if we don’t improve our school will close.

We will do our best, not for any state metric or to please an administrator, but because we are committed to the notion that if our students are to have any chance in this world it will be because that they are prepared for college or work, and while we can’t change their economic status or their poor prior education, we can impact our students in many ways which state or city metrics will never be able to measure.

I look forward to this year knowing there will be challenges and knowing that I will be working with some of the most dedicated teachers I have ever known.

As always, feel free to call or email me about this or any other issue. If you wish more information about our priority school designation and the process go to

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/accountability/ESEADesignations.html

See below for word from State Ed

CTU Delegates Set Strike Date for Sept. 10

08/30/2012

On Wednesday, a standing-room-only House of Delegates, representing schools & citywide educators across the city set a potential start date of Monday, September 10, 2012, for a strike of more than 26,000 teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals.
The resolution reads:
RESOLVED that the House of Delegates shall set a strike date of September 10, 2012.

The strike is necessary to achieve a labor contract with acceptable wages, benefits and job protections; and for all other purposes for which a strike is authorized under law. The strike is also necessary to protest unfair labor practices committed by CPS against our membership.

Part 1: Education Notes - My Path from Ed Notes to MORE Through ICE and GEM

MORE held two back to back meetings on Monday over a 4 hour period and I got to thinking, always a dangerous thing. It's been an interesting 15 years, 10 of them as a retiree. Where to begin before I forget it all? This could be a book, but I'll spare you the pain and just do as short a synopsis as I can in 4 separate posts.

Lawyers Randi and Joel work on a school. Cartoon special for ed notes, spring '03.

Part 1: Education Notes
I began ednotesonline in late August 2006 and Education Notes print edition in 1997, so this 6th anniversary is as good a time as any to do a retrospective.

Chapter leadership re-engages me - 1994
I became chapter leader in 1994 with a hostile, high stakes testing principal who took over the school in 1979. So the battle was joined from the moment I took over the chapter (we had been on opposite sides of a number of issues since she arrived). I spent the next 3 years through 1997 working to organize a democratic union at the school level. My major tool was a newsletter, "PS 147 Notes." I learned a lot based on the reactions of the staff and the active parents. And I saw my principal, who rarely was afraid of anything, showed more than some concern about what I would write. Being in the non-power position, the Notes gave me a lot of leverage and a means of gathering support. I made sure to share the paper at District Chapter Leader meetings so the entire district was getting the word about what my principal was doing. That drove her crazy.

Education Notes as a 16-page tabloid, spring 2003

When I became CL I also began to go back to the UFT Delegate Assembly after an absence of at least 10 years (I had been a delegate from 1972 around 1984.) I also attended District 14 chapter leader and school board meetings. So I was able to provide a load of information to the staff. Those that read my newsletter (I put out 49 editions in my 3rd year) were as informed on a variety of issues as they could be.

I went to all the chapter leader trainings and that is where I met Randi Weingarten who was clearly the heir and we established a cordial relationship. I learned first hand about the Randi one on one charm.

I wasn't all that active at the DA, being more focused on my own school, even during the fight to defeat the seminal 1995 contract that we turned down the first time -- New Action deserves credit along with people like Bruce Markens who was the Manhattan HS district rep - the only non-Unity DR because the chapter leaders kept electing him for a decade - he officially worked for the union and stood up strong against the contract, which just flipped the leadership off.

Becoming active at the Delegate Assembly
In my 4th year as CL (97-98) I was on sabbatical and turned the chapter over to a pair of teachers. My sabbatical was one designed by me -- I offered the district tech boss my services and he accepted. In the middle of the year, 2 jobs opened up doing exactly what I had offered to do and he offered me one of them if I would give up my sabbatical. I laughed. Before the year ended he got another position for Sept. 1998 and offered it to me. I accepted. So I was out of the classroom for the first time in 30 years. I spent the next 4 years in that job working as part of a team of 4 covering 27 elementary and middle schools and offering after school tech courses (like explaining what email and the world wide web were).

In my year on sabbatical I continued to attend the DA and began to think more deeply about the bigger union issues. At some point I began to migrate my chapter newsletter into  "Delegate Assembly Notes" and then changed the name to Education Notes. I entered that project with the idea that the major opposition, New Action, was not very effective. Teachers for a Just Contract was out there in a fairly minimal way, so I did not formally ally myself with the opposition and naively thought I could reach out to reasonable Unity people, Randi included, to lobby for change within the UFT. And Randi and her people certainly helped lead me on for years, even offering me an opportunity to join Unity.

Not anti-Unity

Ed Notes was a monthly directed at union leaders and school-based leaders. It grew from one sheet to 14 pages. It was a big undertaking but my job at the District media center gave me some some room to roam. Many Unity people, and indeed, many of the people at the DA, especially the leaders of the union were reading it. Unity people were fairly friendly and said they agreed with lots of stuff I was saying. I tweaked but didn't attack Randi and we were communicating regularly. I was seduced by the idea that I was getting my ideas heard at the top level. I was also critical of New Action and Unity loved it. NA started spreading rumors I was being funded by Unity.

Whatever independent delegates there were began stopping by and said they were sharing Ed Notes with their staff. But I had a limited amount of copies.

Old political cronies are supportive
I should point out here that I wasn't totally alone in this endeavor. My political cronies from the 70s on the verge of retirement -- the late Paul Baizerman, Vera Pavone, Ira Goldfine, Loretta and Gene Prisco, provided advice and the political analysis I was sorely missing. They even wrote some  great pieces for Ed Notes. Paul and Gene were also delegates and we worked as a team at the DA.

[Social note: Loretta and Gene's daughter got married last Saturday and we were all together again and we still see each other on a regular basis. More on this amazing group of socially and politically committed people when I get to ICE in part 2.]

When I left my school, I was no longer a delegate but continued to go to every DA to hand out Ed Notes. Having something in writing was especially important as I could no longer speak (from 98-2000).

I looked for a way to get back into the DA as a delegate. As a teacher assigned I could run as a delegate from that functional chapter but that was totally controlled by Unity. But Randi must have given the word and they gave me a slot as a delegate for 2001-2002. I felt even at that point that lobbying Unity was still possible.

Breaking with Randi
It took me over 3 years to see through the Randi bullshit, (I way behind many others). Merit pay and mayoral control were the key issues.

The break with Randi came in the spring of 2001 when I began to see through the bullshit and realized that only by building a strong opposition could we make changes in the union. This was just at the point Bloomberg was running for mayor.

Ed Notes turned extremely critical of Randi and Unity during the 2001-2 school year. Unity people began shunning it and hostility grew. My last year and a half at the DA before I retired in July 2002 was really contentious. I felt the rest of the opposition were not functioning in a critical manner. More independents were giving me their contact information and some even said they were making copies for their schools.

Trying to unify the opposition
There was another opposition group that ran in elections in the late 90s: Progressive Action Caucus, focused on teachers who were losing their licenses because of difficulty with the teaching exam. At some point after the 2001 elections -- maybe late spring or early fall I called a meeting to try to get New Action, TJC and PAC into the same room -- I also asked independents I had met to join us. The idea was to try to unify the opposition. But New Action was the king of the hill at the time, having beaten Unity in the high schools in most elections. The had disdain for the others it seemed. And since Ed Notes had been critical they didn't trust me either.

Influence of Schmidt
I had picked up a copy of George Schmidt's Substance at an ed tech convention to Chicago in June 2000 and continued to stay in touch with George. His model of a full-fledged tabloid with thousands of copies that could reach into the schools began to intrigue me. As I entered the spring 2002 with my office having a new boss who was a joke, thoughts of retirement along with the idea of having the time to expand Ed Notes into a tabloid with a bigger outreach into the schools began to intrigue me.

Retired, July 2002 and a visit from George Schmidt
I started planning a tabloid edition of Ed Notes with the idea of 4 pages -- think one pull-out page in the Daily News - 4 sides, but it kept growing as the summer went on and turned into a 16-pager.

In mid-July George was coming through NY with his family and I invited a bunch of people to my house to meet George and he regaled us with stories of Substance (which he began in the late 70s) and the takeover of the Chicago union by the Debbie Lynch insurgency in 2001. Debbie was no radical -- she had worked in DC for Shanker -- and in fact when I crowed about Debbie, both Randi and Leo were saying "she is one of us." But that she had beaten a Unity style machine was impressive and an indication of things to come in Chicago 8 years later. [Debbie lost in a very close election 2004, got slammed in 2007 and in 2010 was one of 5 caucuses to run and in round 2 threw her 15% of the vote to CORE which helped them gain power.]

Remember, my goal was to use Ed Notes to organize unity in the opposition, at that point by trying to bring all the groups together. All the groups agreed to help distribute Ed Notes -- I offered them space in the initial edition to push their platform. Thus, I had 10,000 printed for September.

Ed Notes as a full tabloid had an affect just by its looks. It was meaty, full of news and analytical, with cartoons specially commissioned and all  kinds of graphics. Boy, did I learn desktop publishing. In between the 4 editions during that year, I put out a one sheet edition on alternate months, at the DA only. I was one busy guy in my first year of retirement during the 2002-3 school year. I wasn't thinking all that far ahead. Just plodding along.

Meeting Lawhead, Ahern and Fiorillo
During that year I put out four issues of 16 pages each --wait, one was even 20 pages ––  even I am stunned at that output and don't see how I did it. I ran around the city dropping off bundles, often with the help of retiree Merry Tucker -- we made sure to treat ourselves to a nice lunch. People began to contact me from various schools. I met John Lawhead and Sean Ahern during that year, two people who would a big influence on me. We began to hang out. And Michael Fiorillo, who I knew from the DA, joined us at times. I would say these guys were the genesis of ICE, a year away. I began to think of introducing them to the 70s crew, (which I did at a party at my house in July 2003.)

Danger signs from New Action
Sometime in my last months at the DA- spring 2002 -  there seemed to be something going on between New Action and Unity. NA leader Michael Shulman and Randi were getting their heads together. I remember a Unity/NA joint resolution that was  toothless and full of holes. I was the only one at the DA to oppose it and heaped scorn on them both. Shortly after Micheal Mendel told me I was insulting to Randi in this speech and she wasn't happy --- hmm, is scorn insulting? Maybe. But I heaped scorn on Shulman too. After I spoke, one of the leaders of TJC came over and said she was glad I had done it but she wanted to -- but was still being careful about being openly critical of the major opposition.

In the spring of 2003, Paul Baizerman wrote a critical analysis of New Action for Ed Notes and New Action started refusing to hand it out. I offered James Eterno space to write a rebuttal. (Bruce Markens had to adjudicate the number of words.)

When the relationship between Randi and Shulman began to blossom into a dirty election deal in the summer of 2003 where NA wouldn't run against Randi and she would hand them the 6 high school seats they had been winning anyway by not running any Unity people -- this was for the 2004 elections -- New Action stalwarts James Eterno and Ellen Fox were very disturbed and started touching base with me and people in TJC.

At a rally in early October, 2003, I ran into Fiorillo at a UFT rally and lo and behold, there was Shulman on the podium with Randi. Fiorillo said, "you think NA is right about putting up a united front with Unity given the BloomKlein assault?"

I disagreed. Given that Randi had floated on so much of the same shit coming from the people doing the attacks, there needed to be more resistance, not less. That the New Action position of putting up a united front would free Randi from being held accountable.

But why don't we get some people together and talk about it. Which we did on the Friday before Halloween, 2003, in essence the first meeting of ICE.

End part 1.

Coming soon
Part 2: Independent Community of Educators (c. Nov 2003)
Part 3: Grassroots Education Movement (c. 2009)
Part 3: Movement of Rank and File Educators (c. 2012)

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Arne Duncan Praises Astroturf E4E

The best thing to happen to New Orleans was hurricane Isaac and Educators 4 Excellence. ---@ArneDuncan (satire)

WHEN EDUCATION Secretary Arne Duncan praised Hurricane Katrina a few years ago as the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans--because it enabled the closure of most public schools and their replacement with charter schools--he was forced to apologize.  --- Socialist Worker, Aug. 29, 2012 (not satire)

U.S. Dept. of Ed Secretary Arne Duncan mentions E4E in back to school remarks --- E4E bulletin (not satire but should be)

E4E logo

Astroturf organization E4E is crowing about Arne Duncan noticing them. Yes, as E4E tries to buy its way into schools but fails to fool many teachers into believing E4E is interested in real reform - class size is a no, no, while every single aspect of ed deform is Aplus – the powers that be like Duncan and the NYCDOE keep trying to pump life into them (E4E Buys Its Way Into Schools Using Tweed Contacts). The goal of course is to try to undermine the teacher unions.

E4E certainly doesn't want to even mention the impact on poverty and what activist teachers like those in MORE are doing to bring back the conversation about what this country needs to do about it, something E4E and allies want to bury.

Susan Ohanian has a blurb that counter the E4E/deformer line. Here is an effort to push a deeper conversation about poverty into the mainstream political debate.

Talk About Poverty: Mariana Chilton's Questions for Obama and Romney
Greg Kaufmann
The Nation blog
2012-08-24
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1417

And E4E pals @StudentsFirstNY faced a protest by real students:
Channel 12 news video: NYC students protest @StudentsFirstNY policies & their honoring of anti-immigrant pol http://goo.gl/433Jf

I'm always glad to help my friends at E4E out. They are so excited to report the news as they blared in the headline of their weekly report:

U.S. Dept. of Ed Secretary Arne Duncan mentions E4E in back to school remarks

August 29, 2012 Last week, Arne Duncan stopped by Perry Hall High School (Baltimore, MD) to talk with more than 800 Baltimore County teachers. In his message, Arne mentioned Educators 4 Excellence as an example of how, "As a country, we’re beginning to change those dynamics and teachers are leading the change–through their unions or with grassroots groups like Teach Plus and Educators 4 Excellence."
Watch the clip below (start at 17:31):

Arne certainly knows how to distort things. In Baltimore, over 50% of the teachers were rated unsatisfactory after a new evaluation system (supported by E4E and Duncan - and I bet the union too) was put into place. Do you think E4E will ever get that most teachers do not consider Duncan a friend of teachers?

Duncan and Co. have already wrecked public education in several cities. Detroit's ravaged economy and declining population were as a pretext for an aggressive bipartisan assault that's already led to the closure of 100 schools. Today, Detroit has two school systems--the Detroit Public Schools and a state-run Education Achievement Authority--that compete to attract students, with 35 percent of Detroit kids attending charter schools. In Philadelphia, school authorities, backed by Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter, are seeking to dismantle the entire school system, handing operations over to an array of nonprofit organizations, charter school management groups and academic institutions. ---- Socialist Worker

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Chicago Teachers Give 10-Day Strike Notice, Boston TU to Block New Eval System

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, captured the mood when he said [12], "You come after one of us, you deal with all of us." But the union's policies of collaboration, highlighted earlier in convention proceedings, undermined that call to action.  -- Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker

All union politics is not just local. Many of us have been in regular touch with the Chicago crew at CORE (the 4 year old caucus that runs the CTU now). Sarah Chambers (who we got to hang out with last summer in Chicago) and is on the CORE steering committee was in town for a night 2 weeks ago and some MORE people got together with her for some lunch and a drink. Sarah sent along the photo (jeez I'm fat) with this message:

Things are heating up  here.  The executive board and bargaining team are meeting tomorrow to set a strike date, which we will bring to the house of delegates.

Here is a bunch of news from various sources. It looks like there will be a strike in 10 days. Watch carefully what Randi and the AFT does -- we're hoping for some inside reports if there is any backstabbing.

And let me point out again and again: the best way to defend the school workers in NYC is to build a viable alternative to Unity Caucus. Join MORE.

Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/MOREcaucusNYC

Follow us on Twitter: @morecaucusnyc

Check out MORE’s website: MOREcaucusNYC.org

Email us at: more@morecaucusnyc.org

Chicago Teachers Union to file 10-day strike notice

The Chicago Teachers Union plans to file a 10-day strike notice later today, meaning a teacher walkout could begin after the majority of the city’s students finish their first week of school, sources said.  -- Read more

Lee Sustar who writes for The Socialist Worker gives us some great background. I sat with Lee in the press section at the 2010 and 12 AFT conventions and he has deep insight, especially his analysis of the AFT convention and just how far Randi will go to support the CTU which is acting so counter to what she has been preaching. (See my blog from yesterday - Will Randi and AFT Join Rahm Emanuel in End Run Around Chicago Teachers Union?

Chicago teachers draw a line

Lee Sustar looks at the battle shaping up in the Chicago Public Schools--and the national implications for teachers and the struggle for public education.
 
That question looms large--not just for the city's teachers, students and their parents, but for the entire labor movement. Because while both private- and public-sector unions are taking a pounding across the U.S. with layoffs, pay cuts and pension rollbacks, the CTU is gearing up for a showdown with America's most politically connected mayor, Rahm Emanuel--and it will come to a head in September.

At a time when most union officials are shamefacedly selling concessions as "the best we can do," Chicago teachers are defiant. Just ask anyone who encountered the giant inflatable rat that accompanied the spirited CTU picket outside the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices August 22 a few hours before a school board meeting.
 .....

That question looms large--not just for the city's teachers, students and their parents, but for the entire labor movement. Because while both private- and public-sector unions are taking a pounding across the U.S. with layoffs, pay cuts and pension rollbacks, the CTU is gearing up for a showdown with America's most politically connected mayor, Rahm Emanuel--and it will come to a head in September.

At a time when most union officials are shamefacedly selling concessions as "the best we can do," Chicago teachers are defiant. Just ask anyone who encountered the giant inflatable rat that accompanied the spirited CTU picket outside the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices August 22 a few hours before a school board meeting.
 ........
In recent weeks, the CTU has been holding public meetings in neighborhoods around the city to receptive audiences. Community alliances forged by CORE to fight an earlier round of school closings years ago laid the basis for a strong CTU alliance with key community organizations in African American and Latino communities. A CTU float at this year's Gay Pride march got big cheers. The union has also backed the effort by Communities Organized for Democracy in Education [10] to replace Emanuel's handpicked school board with an elected one.
........
WHILE THE CTU is resolved to do what it takes to win--including a strike--questions remain over the role of its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The AFT convention in Detroit held in July gave a powerful statement of solidarity for its members in Chicago. Delegates also gave backing to AFT teachers in Douglas County, Ariz., where school authorities have imposed a contract on the union, as well as Detroit, where an emergency financial manager unilaterally cut pay by 10 percent on top of previous rounds of concessions and job losses.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, captured the mood when he said [12], "You come after one of us, you deal with all of us."

But the union's policies of collaboration, highlighted earlier in convention proceedings, undermined that call to action.

For example, the AFT affiliate in Cleveland worked with anti-union Republican Gov. John Kasich to craft a contract eliminating seniority protection in layoffs [13] while backing legislation that allows charter schools to compete with traditional schools for taxpayer dollars. Instead of pointing to the agreement as a disastrous setback, AFT President Randi Weingarten portrayed it as a gain in her opening speech. [14]

In fact, Weingarten, who two years ago proposed a strategic retreat for the union by announcing a partnership with school reformers like Bill Gates, now finds herself presiding over a rout of the union in some of its historic bastions, such as Philadelphia [15], where the mayor and school officials are in the process of turning over the entire school system to academic institutions and charter school management organizations.

As a result, the convention proceedings veered between sober recognition of the scale of the assault and the high-production videos and feel-good presentations typical of U.S. unions at their stage-managed meetings--crowding out any lengthy discussion of the major issues facing teachers.

READ LEE'S ENTIRE PIECE HERE.


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Solidarity Message to Chicago Teachers Union from French Teachers' Union Federation FNEC FP FO Dear Colleagues, We just became acquainted of your present struggle for public education against privatization and for your rights. We would like you to know that our federation, the FNEC FP FO, completely support your claims and the ones you underline in particular: -for employment safety, -Against extension of working days and school periods, -Against teacher’s evaluation based on students’ and pupils’ results. We have moreover read with great interest in a 31th july statement of the International Education Committee that this was more and more rejected all over the United States. -For the protection of the trade unions , of the trade union rights ,of the rights to strike and for the rights to negociate. We are facing in France the same issues : almost 13 000 teaching posts are to be suppressed for school beginning in a few days and this we can’t accept . We just succeeded together -with almost all trade unions- to have the teachers’ evaluation suppressed , which would have put an end to our collective guarantees in terms of careers and salary progressions, in order to introduce indivilualization and promotion on merit. The new minister wants to start discussions on this matter, he also started a concertation to review our status and all our guarantees in this range. It is out of question for us to change anything and that is why we are being careful. Together with our confederation cgt-FO, we insist on keeping our independence against any governments, this guarantees the best defense for our claims. The European Union insists on having ratified a treaty that has already caused wreaks in Greece and Spain: wages lowered, massive unemployment, and drastic cuts in education and health budgets. Our government wants to propose the ratification of this treaty to the deputes and senators at the beginning of October. With our confederation, our federation has statued against this ratification and denounces the austerity plans and the structural adjustment plans imposed by the IMF, the EU and the ECB to the governments. The workers in the education sector and in all sectors do not have to “share the efforts” in order to reduce a debt that is not theirs; on the other hand, the trade unions do not have to cope with the austerity plans. Therefore we wish you full success with your struggle and the strike you’re preparing with 98% of the teachers in Chicago; Education is an imprescriptible right , stop the suppression of the teachings posts , stop the dismissals, stop schools’ closing, and privatization, respect of the statuses and of the collective conventions… Respect of all social achievements Respect of the trade unions rights, of trade unions, respect of the right to strike and of all rights defined by the conventions and decisions of the ILO. Cordialement, Hubert Raguin, secrétaire général Jacques Paris, secrétaire fédéral chargé du secteur international

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Boston Teachers Union says it will block new evaluation system

The Boston Teachers Union notified the School Department today that it intends to block a unilateral implementation of a new teacher-evaluation system for this school year, the latest flashpoint in the increasingly contentious negotiations over a new contract.

In a letter to the School Department, the union’s attorney Matthew E. Dwyer said school officials lacked the legal authority to impose the new system on Sept. 4 without reaching an agreement with the union.

“We are dismayed that BPS is abandoning the statutory process in favor of unilateral action,” Dwyer wrote.

If Sex Were Like Standardized Tests

 

http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2717

New DOE Policy? Force Top-Salary ATRs Into Schools for Death Sentence

This is the 2nd case I heard of a top salary teacher being sent back to a school with a principal who will put a target on their backs before they walk in the door. If you have info leave comments. I also sent it to the MORE chapter leader and delegate support group which has loads of experienced chapter leaders.

(If you are a CL or Delegate (or even not) or know some people have them send an email to more@morecaucusnyc.org and ask to be added to the CL listserve.)

An ATR just received a letter from the DOE stating that they were "assigning" her back to her original school. She doesn't know if this happened to other ATRs.

 

They (the DOE) are putting her in an ICT kindergarten class because she has a special ed license. Last year she worked at another school in a self contained special ed class, but the assignment was not permanent. The principal at this school does not want her there because she doesn't know her and she is at top salary (she could retire if she wished). She is afraid that this principal, who is not a nice person, is ready with a "U" rating before she even begins. This principal also wanted to know why she did not accept a permanent assignment at another former school a year ago  She has not formally accepted or turned down the position, but is concerned that she's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. She has been given no other choice.The UFT has been no help to her in the past and she is reluctant to contact them again so I thought I would run this by you. . Doesn't an ATR have the prerogative of accepting a placement or not, just as a principal can let an ATR go? I don't know what the current "rules" are for assignments. If you have any ideas of how she should proceed or to whom she can go, it would be most appreciated.

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 The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Will Randi and AFT Join Rahm Emanuel in End Run Around Chicago Teachers Union?

Emanuel to use "senior people" [from AFT?] to negotiate ---- or is this a red herring attempt coming from Emanuel camp to sow divisions between local and national?

Early next week, sources said the mayor plans to step it up a notch by having a "second level of negotiations with more senior people" away from the same cast of characters currently at the bargaining table.

The second tier of negotiations is likely to include Beth Swanson, Emanuel's point person on education, and " someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level" expert capable of "driving this home," sources said.

"People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds. It's hard to break through that," the Emanuel confidant said.  --- Chicago Sun Times

Given some history of how the UFT and AFT have acted in the past this is certainly believable. And so it begins. What is a second tier of negotiations that doesn't include "People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds"?

Yeah, war wounds. People who have been chopped to bit and won't take it anymore. And who could this be? "someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level" expert capable of "driving this home."

People who are more moderate. Randi? Leo? They can explain to the CTU that they can't win and should compromise. Watch this one very closely.

Chicago Mayor Emanuel to 'ratchet up' his role in preventing teachers strike

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/14682523-418/mayor-emanuel-to-ratchet-up-his-role-in-preventing-teachers-strike.html

Mayor Emanuel to 'ratchet up' his role in preventing teachers strike
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com August 24, 2012 1:02AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, pictured Thursday at an unrelated event, is preparing to 'ratchet up' teacher negotiations in a bid to get schools to start on time. | Brian Jackson~Sun Times

Schools to start on time; union won't file strike notice today

Updated: August 24, 2012 8:25AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is preparing to "ratchet up" negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union to seal a deal needed to guarantee an on-time Sept. 4 opening of Chicago Public Schools and preserve his signature plan for a longer school day and year, City Hall sources said Thursday.

"He owns this anyway, and he's gonna need to ratchet it up to close it," said a mayoral confidant, who asked to remain anonymous.

Emanuel is already visiting several schools a day to drive home the point that 140,000 kids have already started school and cannot be left in the lurch by a teachers strike.

Early next week, sources said the mayor plans to step it up a notch by having a "second level of negotiations with more senior people" away from the same cast of characters currently at the bargaining table.

The second tier of negotiations is likely to include Beth Swanson, Emanuel's point person on education, and "someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level" expert capable of "driving this home," sources said.

"People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds. It's hard to break through that," the Emanuel confidant said.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.