Marjorie Stamberg Expresses Her Outrage at Potential Evaluation Deal

I don't agree with everything Marjorie says here but it should be heard. I especially agree with the idea of some kind of demonstration outside the DA but I do think delegates should go in and battle it out with Unity even though highly outnumbered. MORE will be discussing the idea of some kind of organized rally out front before the meeting and also some kind of show/event after as delegates are leaving. And then we will retire to a nearby bar where everyone is invited to join us for a rousing post DA coming together informally to plot further strategies.

From Marjorie Stamberg:

Something bad is likely to happen at the UFT Delegate Assembly on Thursday. This is almost always the case anyway. But this time the question of teacher evaluations is posed by Gov Cuomo's diktat that there must be a deal by January 17 or NYC schools stand to lose some arbitrary amount of money from Obama's Race To the Top funds. This is blackmail -- and the linchpin of the teacher-bashing, union-busting drive brought to us by the Democratic Party and the rest of the privatizers. We need to fight it tooth-and-nail.

If the UFT tops sign off on a teacher eval deal, you can be sure it will be bad news. As they've done in the past, they may try to link this to some kind of pay increase or other sucker bait. Whether they throw in a "sweetener" or not, by linking teacher evaluation to student test scores (which are graded on a curve), and using this as the basis for potential firing, this guarantees that any deal will put thousands of teachers' jobs in jeopardy.

So we need to protest outside the Delegate Assembly with hard-hitting signs and leaflets opposing the whole phony-baloney teacher-eval ploy and demanding that the D.A. vote it down. Signs could be "Teacher Evals Scam Is Union Busting," "UFT Members Must Vote on Any Teacher Eval Deal," "No Teacher Evals by Political Hacks and Union-Busters," "No to High Stakes Testing," "Stop the Enemies of Public Education."

An important point --- don't call this protest an "informational picket."

A picket line means don't cross, and anyone who does is a scab. This is a fundamental principle of labor struggle that goes back to the class battles that built the unions. Do you want to tell people not to go into the D.A.? I don't think so. The phrase "informational picket line" was invented by the labor bureaucracy precisely to avoid calling a real picket or strike. This term synthesizes the degeneration of the labor movement. If you buy into this language, you are accepting the framework of the sellout bureaucracy we are fighting against. Just call it a protest or a rally.

When we as a union do call a picket, we must make sure nobody does any crossing of it. That is the history of labor's struggle.

If it so happens that Mulgrew and the UFT leadership can't find a way to cave in to Cuomo/Obama/Bloomberg's blackmail, the union as a whole has to be prepared to mobilize and stand strong. We will surely be faced with an all-sided onslaught ranging from the billionaire mayor, the sleazeball tabloids and the high-falutin' labor-haters at the Times to education czar Arne Duncan, all railing against "bad teachers." We need to tell them, to hell with their dirty money. For the likes of Bloomberg, this is chicken feed anyway. If they claim they're short of cash, they can cancel all their contracts with Pearson and high paid consultants (a lot of whom are just thieves, literally, as it turns out).

The ones who should evaluate the effectiveness of education are those involved in and committed to improving public education, not those trying to wreck it. For teacher-student-parent-worker control of the schools.

---------
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.

Norm in The Wave: What Were We Thinking, Part 3: Nobody said anything about fire

Sandy Diaries

Part 1: What Were We Thinking? Day of Sandy, 7 AM-4:30 PM
Part 2: What Were We Thinking: Living in the middle of an ocean, 4:30-9PM.

What Were We Thinking, Part 3: Nobody said anything about fire

By Norm Scott
Published in The Wave, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, www.rockawave.com

The last I left you in my chronicle of October 29 we were hitting high tide at around 9PM as water was lapping inches from the front and back doors which are about five feet high as I raced from one end of the house to the other hoping the rate of rise was slowing enough to stop short of our main living area. As we found out over the next few days the determining issue of being able to live in your house pretty much depended on this factor. But the creepiest thing of all was opening the door to the den and seeing an ocean in the house just inches below the top step. Just two hours before I had gone down into that muck twice when it was only calf and then thigh high. Now if I went down there it would be almost neck high.

Well, there was no time to watch the water come up as we raced around moving what we could upstairs to the bedrooms. Oh, and we put towels and whatever else we had at the 3 possible water entry points. Given that the water in the basement under our main living area ended up reaching within 3 inches of the under floor it dawned on me days after the storm that water would have bubbled up from the entire floor. I shudder just thinking of what we would have done at that point, especially when we began to smell smoke from what seemed to be an electrical fire coming from the back of the house.

That was the first moment of panic. That something downstairs or in the walls was burning. The house was surrounded by 5 feet of water, we had 2 cats and the very idea of trying to get out – and go where? - seemed impossible. (The next day we found out many friends had done just that.) We looked at each other and said almost simultaneously: if we had thought about the possibility of fire we would have evacuated. I still wonder that with all the warnings being issued the fire possibility was never raised. We made a pact: next time we leave. If we survive this time. We both apologized to the cats for “rescuing” them one a kitten from a few blocks away whose entire family managed to survive the storm. (We will have to perfect our tree climbing abilities.)

For the next half hour we kept sniffing trying to find where the smell might be coming from and if it was getting stronger. Finally, I went to the back door and opened it and the smell was much stronger, a good sign for us, but not for so many others. 130^th Street, 4 blocks away, was burning, which we didn’t find out about until the next day. We never saw the flames as so many others did who left their homes to get to safer ones, fearing the fire would spread as it did in Breezy. I guess not seeing the flames was a lucky break. And another lucky break: the water was no longer coming up, having stopped just short of the top step.

We went from panic to euphoria. We weren’t going to die and the house would be relatively safe. We watched as the water began to slowly go down. Within an hour it was down 2 steps. We broke out the bloody marys to toast our luck. It was around 11PM.

With no heat, light, hot water, a house half full of water and knowing we were in for  a long recovery – at least a few days without electricity (ha, ha)  - and how lucky we had the ice chest with some food and a supply of wine. But we were in our house, not stranded somewhere else with the possibility of not being able to get back for a few days and actually looking forward to tackling the big job of cleaning up in the morning. “Wait until the morning tide before we start,” I said, thinking about radio reports warning the water might come back.

We went to sleep about 1AM with the water down another two steps in a weird sense excited at our relative luck. “Oh, crap, both cars are probably shot,” I said. “Where are we going to go?” my wife said. “We’ll rent a car.” Even the thought that my brand new 4 month Honda CRV was done for did not dampen my mood and I fell into a deep sleep. At around 2:30AM when my wife woke me up. “Don’t you think you should take a shower since you were down in the den in that muck?” She was right. My legs were sort of itchy. So at 2:30, in a dark cold bathroom I found myself taking an ice cold shower, my euphoria more than a bit dampened.

--------

Norm blogged about many of his Sandy experiences, in addition to the usual education crap which he will return to writing about after he gets the Sandy stuff out of his system, at ednotesonline.blogspot.com.

Hamburg, NY: A Union Where Teachers Can Vote, Overwhelmingly Reject Evaluation Plan

We got the news last night from our Hamburg teacher pal and Ed Notes follower Chris Cerrone (I hope to join Chris and other test resisters and other Save Our Schools activists at the Occupy DOE in Washington DC this April) that Hamburg teachers voted 217-82 against. No wonder the UFT/Unity leaders won't let teachers vote and I believe this will come back to haunt them. Maybe not in this election cycle but at some point in the future. But then again just how it haunts them will depend on whether there is a viable alternative organizing people. And that means the only game in town, like it or not, MORE. [New Action is still trying to present itself as an option working on the inside but if you buy that stay away from certain bridges.]

I'll be blogging about developments -- MORE will be issuing an official statement by the end of the weekend -- it is going through the democratic meat grinder right now. I also have more of Jeff Kaufman's correspondence with the District Rep and other chapter leaders.

Also see James Eterno at ICE blog.

Hamburg teachers reject evaluation plan as deadline looms in 6 days

District faces deadline in six days to submit plan or risk losing $450,000 in state aid

BY: HAROLD MCNEIL / NEWS STAFF REPORTER

With less than a week to go before a state deadline is reached, teachers in the Hamburg Central School District Friday overwhelmingly rejected a teacher evaluation plan. The vote was 217 to 82.

Chris Cerrone, corresponding secretary for the Hamburg Teachers Association, said the membership was frustrated with district administrators’ unwillingness to meet earlier in the school year to hammer out the details for an evaluation.

“As an association, we had a committee ready to go at the beginning of the school year,” Cerrone said. “If the district had not waited until the final weeks to negotiate an agreement, the evaluation may have been approved.”

School districts across the state must have an approved evaluation plan in place by Thursday, or they will lose their share of this fiscal year’s increase in state aid, which in Hamburg’s case is about $450,000.

A major sticking point for Hamburg teachers is language in the proposal put forth by a 12-member district committee that would have given Superintendent Steven A. Achramovitch the final say on any teacher appeals of their ratings. Cerrone said the proposed agreement called for an appeals panel consisting of two teachers and two administrators to review those appeals. In the case of a tie vote, Achramovitch would serve as the tie-breaker, which the membership of the teachers association found to be untenable.

“New York City teachers haven’t approved their plan yet, but they did approve a 50-50 on appeals panel, only with a neutral arbiter breaking the tie. Something along those lines would be more acceptable if a teacher were found to be ineffective or developing,” Cerrone said.

He said last year the teachers union had a temporary agreement with the district on an evaluation proposal that affected only third- through eighth-grade English and math teachers in the district. That pact has since expired.

“Basically, that was done to see how the system would work. However, the state changed numerous items, and the old agreement would have to have been reworked significantly,” Cerrone said.

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

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 TU: Social Justice Unionism IS Trade Unionism

A lot of times if you talk to other members about a teacher who is being targeted by the administration, they’ll say, “Oh, that’s one of the crazies.” We tried to have our members embrace disaffected teachers rather than isolate them.  ---

While parents liked the longer day, they also thought we should be compensated for it. They didn’t like the idea of forcing people to work longer without being paid for it. Parents are very clear about if you work, you get paid.

Karen Lewis

This is such a far cry from what the UFT does it is not in the same universe. Taking the fight to get parents to support teachers actually getting paid for more work. That IS social justice unionism. Compare that to the 2 year slog SEISUS teachers had to go through while the grievance wound its way. Did the UFT actually try to publicly make this point? How about using commercials to show teachers burning the midnight oil to do the work?

I've truly been surprised at the rejection by some anti-Unity Caucus people who should know better over MORE's adoption of the concept of social justice unionism, given that one of the major tenets of SJU is a member driven union. You know, bottom up not top down. I mean some of these very same people who see Unity Caucus for what it is and will be hammering them over the lack of participation of the members in the upcoming evaluation agreement don't see that without a social justice component blended with hard core trade union concepts, a union can get nowhere.

Face it. We are not in the good old days where it was just about a contract. We are in a battle to defend the very concept of a union and along with it the entire fabric of public education. In some sense the idea of a contract that has been and continues to be shredded becomes somewhat secondary to the bigger battle where even with the best contract one might not find a public school left to work in. Really, does anyone really think we have a shot at stopping closing schools by short term court cases and by not organizing a massive response from the communities most impacted when schools close? Without the social justice angle --- go tell the community how they need to support tenure without showing how their kids are affected by ed deform policies --- we are slipping over the edu cliff.

Chicago Hope
And then there's Chicago where the concept of social justice unionism has managed to give us some hope of holding the line. Did they win a massive victory in the strike? That's still up for debate. But the victory was in the fact that they could get 92% of all teachers to agree to support a strike. That is so massive I can''t even contain the thought.

Watch what happens this week here in NYC and then think if it would play out this way if the CORE crew from Chicago were running things here. They would have spit that Cuomo crap money right back in his face.

So, ladies and gentleman, I give you, right from the pages Rethhinking Schools, one of the most progressive education magazine in the USA, one of whose founders is Bob Peterson, now the president of the Wilwaukee Teachers Association -- another social justice union ....

And Karen Lewis will be in town as the keynote speaker at the NYCORE conference in March.

Here is the link for the article below where you can find ways to subscribe or in some way support the work of Rethinking Schools.

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/27_02/27_02_sokolower.shtml

Lessons in Social Justice Unionism

An Interview with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis

By Jody Sokolower Purchase a PDF of this article

PHOTOS COURTESY CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION

KAREN LEWIS
Four years ago, Karen Lewis was a chemistry teacher, one of eight Chicago teachers who formed the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) to fight school closings (see “A Cauldron of Opposition in Duncan’s Hometown: Rank-and-File Teachers Score Huge Victory”). This September, as president of a transformed, democratic Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), she led the 30,000-member union in a successful strike in the city that has been a launch pad for the neoliberal education strategy. The collective and collaborative nature of the teachers’ union, and the breadth of parental, student, and community support for the strike, make understanding the CTU’s perspective and strategy critical for all of us interested in social justice unionism.

UFT Evaluation Committee Meets Today at 4PM, Will Ratify at Jan. 17 Delegate Assembly With Rumor of Money on the Table

UFT, Students First, E4E all on same page while MORE opposes. Anyone from MORE at the special meeting today will say one word. NO!

The UFT, after 6 months if inaction has called its quasi-democratic Unity packed Evaluation committee into a meeting at 4PM today to make it look like democracy but to force feed a deal that none of the sworn to secrecy members will be allowed to discuss with their own schools.

Oh, the drama continues.

The story is breaking but the scenario means the deal is done and probably has been for a while, but the posturing must continue to convince the members the UFT leaders are putting up a fight.  The DA was moved from Jan. 23 (originally set for Jan. 16) and is not Jan. 17 the last day before going over the edu-cliff.

Why call a DA on the afternoon of the final day when we know the state must have the signature of Mulgrew and has to read and approve the deal? You mean right after the Unity cannibals call the question to end debate to ratify, Mulgrew will sign and have the doc rushed up to Albany?

Oh, the drama continues.

The phones are ringing with rumors there is a contract attached to the deal but my guess is that there is not a contract or at least anything that could be classified as a contract as that would force a vote of the membership. The leadership does not want to get this to the membership and besides that would take us past the Jan. 17 deadline. So in my book, no contract.

But there may be some money on the table with guesses around the idea of it being related to some professional development. Meaning, teachers can get bucks. No idea of details but I have heard this for a few months from various sources.

So, what has all the posturing been about? Whether a teacher can or cannot get a post-observation meeting with the principal? Give me a break.

Oh, the drama continues.

Mike to Mike:
Mulgrew: Hey Bloomie, I have an idea, why don't you compare us to the NRA?
Bloomberg: Great idea Mike. Then you call a press conference and also run some ads denouncing me
Mulgrew: Brilliant, Mike.

Day of action - will there still be on on Monday?

People were spitting blood at the idea of a poorly organized day of action on Monday to "force" Bloomberg to negotiate. "You see, just the very threat has forced him to capitulate," will be the line we will be hearing.

As I reported yesterday, Jeff Kaufman belittled the Day of Action idea (Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?)  and here he continues the debate with a chapter leader (I'm betting Unity) who criticized him. [There are more follow-ups which I will post later.]
Note the Children Above Politics and the rest of the leaflet. Could have been written by E4E or Students First. (See MORE blog -No Deal for Teachers or Students on the similarities.).

-------

Thank you, -------, for your comments. While I disagree with you it is helpful to engage in a dialogue; something Charley Turner is vehemently opposed. To correct one point, although it is much less important than the issue of how we organize to fight this process, the only way that an agreement can be imposed on us is first the declaration of an impasse (the stage our contract is in) then a fact-finding proceeding and then if no further agreement takes place a legislatively imposed contract. This has not occurred since 1971 and has never occurred in our Union’s history.

The main issue, however, is the refusal of the UFT leadership to treat the evaluation issue with the seriousness it deserves. You state you are going to hand the flyers to your members. Great. Shouldn’t they know about the new evaluation system already? The feeble UFT use of the flyers was not for our members but for the public. If you want to sway public opinion we’re supposed to rely on a few ads and us going out to undisclosed transportation hubs to give out this meaningless flyer. We need a leadership that regularly informs the membership and the public about how basing any part of our evaluation on student test scores or VAM will subject us to arbitrary discipline. We need to stop the imposition of the parts of the law which already make accused ineffective teachers bear the burden of proving their competence, the end of tenure as we know it.

We don’t hear any of this because the UFT leadership doesn’t want us to know they sold us out. While I support holding up the evaluation system for a contract I can only imagine what we will lose when they say it is settled.

I don’t have to tell you how much we have lost over the past 10 years. How our teachers are targeted and how we have little or no say in how and what we teach. Until teachers, hopefully guided by their Union and other well-meaning people, speak with the concerted voice we once had. And not told what to think by a leadership that is trying to hide its own self-centered incompetence.

Jason, I hope that you keep your eyes opened and see what is being done to us. Don’t conspire with leaders who are only interested in themselves and buy all the nonsense that the so-called education reformers put out because they are no position to fight for us.

Good luck leafleting your members.

Jeff Kaufman
Chapter Leader
Aspirations High School

Jeff was responding to this email from a chapter leader critical of his stance.

Jeff,

Hi, we have not met at any meetings, so we have not become acquainted yet. I read the emails that have gone between you and Charley today, and I felt very dismayed. I do not think that it is my place to lecture you on the meaning of being leaders in our union movement or how the email list should be used. However I do feel that I should correct two points. First, that I speak for myself, and for my chapter. Second that as a point of fact, Charley is right. If we do not engage in discussions about the new evaluation law that it can be imposed on us. If you read 3012c carefully it refers to article 14 of the NYS civil service act. The NYS civil service act is also known as the Taylor law. It states that when collective bargaining fails, the chief executive of the State can impose a decision. You can read about the exact process below as I have copied and pasted it.

Regarding the fliers. The Union leadership is doing a thankless job for us. There are hardworking people who are trying to make the best possible agreement for everybody while negotiating with a relentless union busting Department of Education. It is important to remember that regardless of the quality of the agreement that there will be people, (hopefully not you) that will only recognize the loss of the things that they are comfortable with; while failing to recognize that we must comply with the law that our legislature passes. The flier and the call to action is a small part of a greater whole. I am sure that you have noticed the television commercials that have been airing lately. In my opinion that is a true measure of commitment to all teachers. By broadcasting our message to millions of people the UFT is shaping public opinion on a large scale. Personally I will give out the flier to my chapter. I will ask them to continue educating the public on the true nature of the difficult negotiations that our leadership is having with the Department of Education, and I will wait for a final agreement. I am sure that you are an intelligent and fair minded person who is passionate about our issues. I know that you care as much as I do. I hope that we can continue to have productive conversations about what it means to stand side by side as fellow union members, and chapter leaders. I look forward to seeing you at a chapter leader meeting or a high school committee meeting where we can join forces in doing what's right for teachers, students, and our union.

Best Regards,

Seattle Teachers Revolt Against High Stakes Test

In perhaps the first instance anywhere in the nation, teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School will announce this afternoon their refusal to administer a standardized test that students in other high schools across the district are scheduled to take in the first part of January. -- Teachers at Garfield HS, Seattle

 From a teacher at Garfield HS in Seattle, posted on MORE listserve. He is asking for letters of support from unions (forget the UFT), caucuses, individual schools, parents, etc.

My whole school voted to refuse the mandated standardized test.  We need as much support as we can get because teachers may be putting their jobs on the line. If your union, or caucus could pass a resolution of support it would mean a lot. 

M E D I A   A D V I S O R Y

T H U R S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   1 0 ,   2 0 1 3

Teachers at Garfield High Say MAP Test is Counterproductive,

Say They’ll Refuse to Waste Students’ Time, School’s Resources

--PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY--

What: Press conference to announce Garfield High School’s opposition to the MAP test

When: Thursday, January 10, 3:00 p.m.

Where: Garfield High School (400 23rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98122) in Room 206

For more information:

Jesse Hagopian, Teacher Garfield HS, 206-962-1685, hagopian.jesse@gmail.com

SEATTLE – In perhaps the first instance anywhere in the nation, teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School will announce this afternoon their refusal to administer a standardized test that students in other high schools across the district are scheduled to take in the first part of January.  Known as the MAP test, it purports to evaluate student progress and skill in reading and math. The teachers contend that it wastes time, money, and precious school resources.

            “Our teachers have come together and agree that the MAP test is not good for our students, nor is it an appropriate or useful tool in measuring progress,” says Kris McBride, who serves as Academic Dean and Testing Coordinator at Garfield.  “Additionally, students don’t take it seriously.  It produces specious results, and wreaks havoc on limited school resources during the weeks and weeks the test is administered.”

            McBride explained that the MAP test, which stands for Measure of Academic Progress, is administered two to three times each year to 9^th grade students as well as those receiving extra support services.  The students are told the test will have no impact on their grades or class standing, and, because of this, students tend to give it little thought to the test and hurry through it.  In addition, there seems to be little overlap between what teachers are expected to teach (state and district standards) and what is measured on the test. 

            Despite this flaw, McBride states, results of the MAP tests will be used by district officials to help evaluate the effectiveness of instructors who give the test. “Our teachers feel strongly that this type of evaluative tool is unfair based on the abundance of problems with the exam, the content, and the statistical insignificance of the students’ scores,” she says.

            Refusing to administer a district-mandated test is not a decision the school’s teachers made casually, or without serious internal discussion.

            “Those of us who give this test have talked about it for several years,” explained Mallory Clarke, Garfield’s Reading Specialist. “When we heard that district representatives themselves reported that the margin of error for this test is greater than an individual student’s expected score increase, we were appalled!” 

            After the affected faculty decided unanimously to make a stand against the MAP test, they told the rest of Garfield’s faculty of their decision. In a December 19 vote, the rest of the school’s teachers voted overwhelmingly to support their colleagues’ refusal to administer the test. Not a single teacher voted against the action. Four abstained from voting. the rest voted to support it.

            “We really think our teachers are making the right decision,” said student body president Obadiah Stephens-Terry.“I know when I took the test, it didn’t seem relevant to what we were studying in class– and we have great classes here at Garfield. I know students who just go through the motions when taking the test, did it as quickly as possible so that they could do something more useful with their time.”  History teacher Jesse Hagopian said, “What frustrates me about the MAP test is that the computer labs are monopolized for weeks by the MAP test, making research projects very difficult to assign.” Hagopian added “This especially hurts students who don’t have a computer at home.”

            The $4 million MAP test was purchased by Seattle Public Schools during the tenure of former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who left her position in 2011 and sadly passed away in 2012. Goodloe-Johnson sat on the board of directors of Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), the company that markets the MAP test. At the time, some pointed out this potential conflict of interest for Goodloe-Johnson, but the district went ahead with the purchase nonetheless.  NWEA itself warns that districts should not use the map test to evaluate teachers.  We teachers of Garfield High School believe that the NWEA is right—this test should not be used to evaluate teachers.  For secondary teachers the test cannot provide useful information about students’ skills and progress.  Still worse, this test should not rob students of precious class time away from instruction. “We believe the negative aspects of the MAP test so outweigh the positive ones that we are willing to take this step,” said Language Arts teacher Adam Gish.

Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?

Is this how we organize against an evaluation system which will undoubtedly cost many of us our jobs and tenure? We have already caved in by allowing most of the evaluation system to be implemented to be made part of the new law. It is no wonder that we end up with the short stick when our Union’s only reaction is a couple of high priced television ads and a half-assed “rally” organized by sending out a one page anti-Bloomberg leaflet by email to Chapter Leaders one week before the governor imposed deadline and expecting them to bring their members to undisclosed locations. You guys are kidding, right?

Jeff Kaufman
Chapter Leader
Aspirations High School
Brooklyn, New York

Great work Jeff. with signs approaching that the Unity gang were softening up for the deal (I will follow up with news of that). Jeff was responding to this email from his District Rep regarding the Day of action flyer - which I will post when I get a copy.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Due to the increasing pressure related to the deadline for the New Teacher Evaluation system, it is urgent that we push our agenda of developing a system that helps teachers help kids. The union is asking every school to hand out flyers either at their school or at a transportation hub on Monday. So, please organize your chapter so that this can be done either in the morning or during the afternoon after school. I have attached a copy of the flyer to this message. Please download and copy it at your school. If this impossible for you to do, let me know and I will make every effort to get you the flyers.
Thank you in advance.
Dist Rep POS

{who will remain nameless but who I refer to as a Piece of Shit -- so POS will do.}

Some CLs responded positively to Jeff and asked what could be done?
Are there any ideas out there? A rally at UFT HQ on Jan. 17?

Fred Smith Tribute: Leonie Haimson Matters

Class size matters, and so does Leonie.
 
Posted to the Change the Stakes listserve:

Dear Leonie,

Hail to you, the People's Queen (not to be confused with Leona, the Queen of Mean).  You deserve accolades and bouquets--but we know you'll never stop to take a bow.

You prove that less is more--as in tireless, fearless, relentless--in your fight for quality public school education for all children.

You are a compass seeking the truth and courageously speaking it in the corridors of power.  Every day you inform us and inspire us to push on. 

You are a one-person news bureau that all of Tweed's press officers can't touch.  You leave no pineapple unturned. You report what you find without fear or favor.

Congratulations on the milestone you have just reached--The 4,000th edition of your NYC Education News Digest.  That's 4K, folks.  In 2012 alone you put together 544 of them and 632 the year before--alerting us to important educational issues, events and efforts.  How's that for prodigious!

If each digest contains and average of ten items (a conservative estimate) that represents about 12,000 entries in two years, ranging from snippets to lengthy pieces--volumes of them uncovered and contributed by you--as well as threads of responses. Each digest is food for thought and action, inviting us to pursue topics of interest, exchange ideas and connect with kindred spirits. 

And while you were generating all this material, you somehow maintained the New York City Public School Parents blog, spearheaded the battle for smaller classes, organized and attended meetings, did radio and television interviews, spoke at hearings and forums, freely shared your knowledge with advocacy groups and anyone interested in improving the schools, critiqued a few movies, served as a go-to resource for savvy reporters and never stopped digging for answers.

You know what matters the most.

Fred Smith

UFT/Unity District Rep Spills Beans to Chapter Leaders: Just Shut Up and Shove Our Policies Down Their Throats

My monthly Chapter Leader meetings are for me to give you important information....It is not the place nor the time to get on a soap box and speak about what you want to speak about.  The information that I present ..is information passed down from our leadership to you so that you can act as the conduit of information to the membership in your school. We present the information, not to be filtered by you or to be changed in any way, it is to be presented to your members as you have heard it from me or any of the leadership in this union.... UFT District Rep in letter to Chapter Leaders in district

Apparently there's no interest in the passing of information from the rank and file  slaving away in classrooms. I have sad news for the people running out union. Chapter leaders do not work for them or in their interests (unless they are Unity Caucus.) They actually are supposed to work for the people in their school who elected them. The hierarchy in the UFT doesn't see it that way, especially since Randi killed district rep elections in 2002. I know the old pre-2002 system elected Unity people too but they were at least subject to some accountability to the chapter leaders in their district and could not be so cavalier in their attitudes.

As many signs are leading to the UFT caving in on the evaluation issue (they want to make E4E happy, don't they?) by Jan. 17 -- it is just not in their DNA to resist I guess --- and the postponement of the UFT elections may be for the purpose of giving them time to work the members over --- but I'll leave this for a follow-up ---the revealing letter from a Unity District Rep to the chapter leaders that has been circulating has received a bunch of comments from various bloggers. James Eterno published it on the ICE blog and NYC Educator wrote a scathing piece (UFT Democracy), though I was surprised he was surprised that the union has this view of chapter leaders as their servants.

It was a chapter leader associated with ICE who last week challenged his district rep to deal with the issues of concern to the membership instead of force feeding the Unity Caucus agenda on ed evals by treating chapter leaders elected by the schools and functional chapters as union employees required to push union policy down the throats of the people they supposedly represent. The chapter leader sent out this:

At the dist monthly chapter leaders meeting our dist rep did his unity/scum caucus duty by elucidating as to the wonders that Mulgrew and company were accomplishing vis-a-vis the new teacher termination(evaluation scheme). When I and 2 other chapter leaders began to raise questions and to attempt to shift the discussion away from unity spin and closer to reality he became upset. After all how dare we question and deviate from the script???

The e-mail from the DR was send out later that day. A former CL echoed this sentiment:

This is what surprised me most when I became a chapter leader. I had thought the district chapter leader meetings would be a place for chapter leaders to discuss what was happening in their schools and how we could and should respond. NO, NO, NO.....there was a list of items to TELL us. Any discussion was quickly snuffed out. I was often yelled at by my DR...."whose meeting is this", he would yell at me! Unfortunately the other chapter leaders would support him, but over time they often came to me after the meeting to find out more information since he did not give any background to what he said.

The leadership has rarely, if ever, evidenced concern for what the members really think -- see MORE's report of the Dec. DA, Unity Votes Against Democracy, where they voted NOT to allow the members to vote on an evaluation deal that will change the contract in terms of the way teachers are rated, a violation of the UFT constitution.

This line below has to be the funniest line in the Dist Rep's letter. As if the Unity Caucus which the DR belongs too is not one and the same as the union leadership.

I do support my union and the leadership of this union, however, I do not preach where I stand in terms of the caucus that I belong to or don’t belong to, I do not bad mouth the leadership even if I don’t agree with what is being done.

Given that Unity Caucus chapter leaders have agreed to pushing the union line down the throats of the teachers in their schools -- the very people that elected them ---- since the advent of the caucus 50 years ago, the UFT is not trying to Unityize the rest of the chapter leaders by claiming it is their responsibility to enforce union policy.

If Unity could get away with it they would appoint the chapter leaders like they appoint the district reps. I mean, what a drag to have to recruit a new batch into Unity every time there's an election for CLs. Here is another gem from the Dist Rep's letter.

I support them because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.

How has that trust worked out for the teachers in NYC over the last decade and a half? What he really means is:

I trust the union leadership because they got me this great gig as a district rep where I teach one period a day, earn a 6 figure salary and get a double pension.

Here is the MORE response followed by the letter itself.

Unity Doesn’t Want to Hear from You

9 Jan

An incredible letter is making its rounds. It was an email written by a District Representative of the United Federation of Teachers to the Chapter Leaders in his district. The email is posted on the ICE-UFT blog:

This letter crystallizes very clearly and honestly the leadership philosophy practiced by the Unity caucus. We are being led by a group who believe our union is a top-down affair. This is what corporate unionism looks like.

The final sentence of the letter says “I support them (our union leaders) because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.” MORE believes that our union needs to put the mechanisms in place to ensure that our union leaders have “our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.”

Unfortunately, when our union leadership describes the job of a chapter leader to be “the defender of our contract and to represent, support and guide our members, but also to pass down the information given as was presented to you”, then it is obvious that we are a long way from having the tools as union members to hold our leaders accountable.

Not only do chapter leaders have to faithfully pass down all information from Unity to the members, they cannot “speak about what you want to speak about” at the monthly district meetings with their District Leaders. That means there is absolutely no way to meet with our DLs as a district to highlight common problems and ensure they take steps to address them. Combine this with the fact that members no longer can vote for their District Leaders, since they are now appointed by Unity, and you can see that our union leadership, from District Leaders on up, are totally insulated from the will of the membership.

All we have is faith that Unity is working on our behalf. They represent us in name only, since there is no way for us as members to ensure that their priorities are our priorities.

The first step is allowing membership to elect their District Leaders again. When that happens, district meetings will no longer be a one-way transmission of information and orders from the top-down. Chapters will be allowed and even encouraged to bring up the issues that matter to them so our leaders can act upon them.
But district meetings are not the only places priorities are set. The main forum for this is the monthly Delegate Assembly. As of now, Unity keeps a tight rein on the parliamentary workings of the DA. Everyone knows how Unity wants members to vote and they usually get their way. Some District Leaders have gone as far as to pressure all of their chapter leaders to sit with them at the DA as a way to monitor which way they vote.

MORE believes that any organized UFT meeting should be open and democratic with chapter leaders, delegates, and all members given the opportunity to raise issues of their constituents’ concerns.

Join our chapter leader e-mail list by request at more@morecaucusnyc.org

 --------- Full letter below

Video: DOE Official Shael Polokow-Suransky Says Parents Can Opt Out of Tests

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

UFT and NRA in Merger Talks

Leading UFTers on march to City Hall

NRA head Wayne LaPierre opened talks with Michael Mulgrew on a plan to merge the UFT and NRA against their common enemy, Michael Bloomberg.

"The best way to stop a bad billionaire guy brandishing an assault weapon made out of money is to arm the good guys he is using it against with their own assault weapons," said LaPierre who was interviewed as he entered 52 Broadway wearing a flack jacket and carrying a grenade launcher.

"Expect an agreement on the evaluation system before the Jan. 17 deadline," he said. "Or else."

Can You Trust John Merrow?

I know from following Merrow that this documentary would reveal very little in terms of pinning anything on Rhee. I had fun reading and writing tweets during the program.

Here are some Ed Notes comments on Merrow over the years.

Ed Notes Online: John Merrow, NCLB - and Randi Too

Aug 11, 2008

I post a few snippets from this discussion on NCLB, narrated by PBS's John Merrow, Education Correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and President of Learning Matters Incorporated, as a warning. Should you wish ...

Ed Notes Online: High stakes testing - John Merrow -- a sign the ...

Apr 05, 2012

John Merrow There was a time not long ago when Merrow seemed to go along with all the sins of ed deform. Then he started talking to teachers. Here he realizes that it is not about the physical act of cheating - which until the ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

I wrote this commentary in May 2008.

John Merrow - Only an Idiot...

...would overlook Merrow's one-sided coverage of education on the News Hour With Jim Lehrer after he wrote a teacher union bashing op ed in the Wall St. Journal.

I could say only an idiot would write, "Only an idiot would overlook student performance, be it dismal or outstanding" and then go on to talk about the narrowest form of assessment possible while ignoring all the other assessments of student "performance" - how about attendance? how about functioning effectively in a social setting? - what's the matter, John, too hard to figure all this stuff out for a supposed "expert" on education.

It is no surprise Murdoch's Wall Street Journal gives him a platform. What's next? The NY Post?

Merrow's Learning Matters is funded by Annenberg, Gates, Broad, Kellogg - the usual suspects in the phony ed reform movement.

AND OF COURSE,
Check Eduwonkette's take: Who Slipped a Mickey in John Merrow's Kool-Aid?

Unfortunately I can't access either the WSJ Merrow teacher bashing article of Eduwonkette's piece.  Too bad we lost her brief shining star.

And this from Leonie:

This is what’s coming:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/learningmatters/rebirth-new-orleans

John Merrow and his new documentary about the “amazing rebirth” of NOLA schools under Paul Vallas.  Due to be screened March 2013.

You can see some of the backers here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/learningmatters/rebirth-new-orleans/backers?page=1

One is Greg Richmond, CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers

http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1426829748

I’m sure there were many not listed on Kickstarter. Here are the benefits listed to large donors:

2 backers who paid ·  Pledge $5,000 or more

2 backers

Thank you! At the REX level. You'll get all of the above, PLUS DINNER for two with John Merrow. You choose the date, we’ll choose the restaurant. (A nice one!)

·  Pledge $1,000 or more

9 backers

Thank you! It's the CARNIVAL level, dear friend. You'll have the benefit of all of the above, PLUS 2 tickets to an EXCLUSIVE SCREENING of REBIRTH in New Orleans, New York, or Palo Alto. We can't pay your travel costs, but we can guarantee a meaningful evening that you'll be proud to say that you made happen!

·  Pledge $500 or more

2 backers

Thank you! At the PRALINE level, you'll enjoy all of the benefits above, including DVD CREDIT. You'll also get a BACKSTAGE PASS for 2 to see John Merrow live at the JCC in Manhattan. We'll send you your choice of up to 4 DVDs or totes, because -just like PRALINES- you can't have just one...

Estimated delivery: Mar 2013

Ships within the US only

Estimated delivery: Apr 2013

·  Pledge $250 or more

7 backers

Thank you! It's the CRESCENT level. You'll get all the benefits above, plus you’ll be CREDITED as a SUPPORTER on the DVD version of the film! We'll include an AUTOGRAPHED copy of John Merrow’s acclaimed book 'The Influence of Teachers' as well. See http://theinfluenceofteachers.com/ for more info.

Estimated delivery: Mar 2013

Ships within the US only

Etc.

Rhee on TV Frontline Tonight - Cheating Scandal Addressed But What Else?

There is some excitement about John Merrow's Frontline report on PBS tonight at 10PM with people feeling she may get her comeuppance. I have my doubts. Even the title: The Education of Michelle Rhee bothers me.

As if she actually learned something from her experience instead of executing a political, not educational, agenda, which she has continued to this day. One thing Rhee learned: she could manipulate media types like Merrow who went all mushy over her at one time. Is this film Merrow's minor mea culpa for bad reporting?

One of the MORE people sent this email.

You might want to spread the word to interested parties to watch the Frontline coming up tonight, PBS, 10 PM, which centers on Michelle Rhee's rise to wealth and fame on wings of reform, DC testing scandal - cheating, reform issues. I'm watching.

My husband just emailed me this Esquire article by Charles Pierce who writes a scathing piece on corporate stink in ed reform, has done so before, too. He mentioned the upcoming show. Comments on his blog are good, too...

The Empire Michelle Rhee Built

Also see: 
NYC Public School Parents : “Our parent report card for Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst”

 
When Merrow sent out an email last week advertising we would learn a lot about Rhee I emailed him: You mean she is married to a child molester? No response.

But I never expect much from Merrow who used to love Rhee - and Vallas in New Orleans – he ignores way too much stuff.

Just heard John Merrow on NPR. I don't have high hopes he will pin too much on Rhee. It is the pressure she put on people but she did not intend for people to cheat -- as if she did not know what the outcomes of the pressure would be and her career would hang on good outcomes.

Her big mistake may be that she didn't understand the need for collaboration in education. What a crock.

And then he echos her lies that she raised test scores (she claims astronomically) when she taught -- I believe Bob Somersby took that lie apart - he also taught in the Baltimore schools for over a decade. See GF Brandenburg's brilliant analysis.

UPDATE FROM DIANE:

Norm, 

I saw an embargoed copy of the show. I'm not permitted to say much, but will say that Rhee's claim of astronomical score gains when she taught in Baltimore were restated in the documentary without correction---although they were thoroughly debunked by GF Brandenburg and others. I pointed this out to John, even sent him the column in which Jay Mathews admits he is convinced that her claims were inflated. Maybe he added a correction? We will see.

Diane

Well, there you go. 

My brief moment of glory came at an Education Nation 2011 panel with Rhee that was chaired by NBC's Rahema Ellis who focused questions at the Atlanta former school board rep while ignoring Rhee's cheating scandal. I got to the mic and asked Ellis why she was ignoring that point. Embarassed she turned to Rhee and asked but did no follow-up. So much for the ed deform press. And though I feel the Frontline report will focus on the cheating, I am betting Rhee will escape relatively unscathed. Though of course her report card media blitz yesterday was designed to deflect -- though if you read all the blogs -- start with Ravitch -- you will see what a farce even that turned out to be -- her top states have the worst test scores.

No sense from this interview on NPR that Merrow gets a hint of the Rhee political agenda from the very beginning. He tries to straddle the fence now after being on the side of deformers but has seen the outcomes. Hmmm, like Randi.

One revealing comment he made when talking about the 2 sides of the ed divide-- one by Rhee, the other by Ravitch. He slips when he says that the Ravitch side has fewer voices but quickly corrects himself. Like the enormous numbers of teachers and parents out there don''t count for much.
As if there are 2 voices -- one funded by billionaires and one grassroots but somehow the imbalance is never addressed.

One billionaire voice counts for many. And make sure to check the funding sources of Frontline -- bet Gates money is floating around somewhere. Any ed deformers involved?

I wonder if there is a clip of Randi as a supposed major opponent to Rhee when in fact Randi helped sell a contract that helped undermine the teachers and the DC union. And Randi also interferred in a union election for fear they would not ratify her and Rhee's contract.

I will be watching though to see just how deep Merrow was willing to go in a complex story.

Here is lots more info on Leonie's listserve from Rethinking Schools' Stan Karp.

Rhee-form in the spotlight again

Former Washington, DC Superintendent Michelle Rhee and her organization, Students First, will be the subject of a PBS documentary tonight. Despite misrepresenting her own teaching career, presiding over an extensive cheating scandal, and getting poor results during her tenure as Supt., Rhee has become the media face of corporate education reform. She recently released a “state report card” grading states on the basis of how thoroughly they have adopted proposals for test-based teacher evaluation, charters, and privatization. States with more funding equity and better academic performance generally received lower grades than states that passed legislation advancing Rhee’s political agenda. In NJ, Rhee has been a favored ‘reform’ partner of the Christie Administration. Her Students First NJ affiliate is “Better Education for Kids” a lobbying group backed by Republican hedge fund billionaire David Tepper.

 

 

The Education of Michelle Rhee

Frontline, PBS Documentary, airs Tuesday 1/8

 

‘Frontline’ raises questions about test-score tampering under Rhee

Washington Post

 

The Empire Michelle Rhee Built

Esquire

 

Michelle Rhee’s new state reform report card

Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

 

NJ Touts Educational Reforms But Earns ‘D’ on One Nationwide Report Card

NJ Spotlight

 

Parent report card for Michelle Rhee and Students First

NYC Public School Parents

 

Rhee Can't Play Both Sides Anymore

Jersey Jazzman

NJ Department of Education pitches 'softball' newsletter to hide knuckleball reforms

Marie Corfield, Blue Jersey

 

NJDOE monthly newsletter for educators

 

NJDOE Teacher Advisory Panel

 

 

Breaking: UFT Doesn't Announce Election Committee, Indicating Postponement

Coming evaluation deal and loss of mid-winter break days may be factor in delay.

Monday, Jan. 7

Tonight's UFT Executive Board meeting was pretty much drop-dead date for the UFT elections to take place within the rough time-frame that they have been run in the past: process begins in early January, petitions due in mid-February, ballots go out in March with vote count around April 1 (a very appropriate day for anything related to Unity Caucus).

The UFT constitution says elections must take place sometime in the spring, which ends around June 20, I guess. Is the Unity caucus leadership thinking they would fare better with ballots going out in May or June when the lost Feb. vacation days would become a memory and whatever eval deal they make would have been spun any which way the leadership wants?

Before anything can take place, an election committee must be formed, usually with people from the opposition on the committee, and ratified by the Executive Board.  I was told by a high UFT official a few ago that someone from MORE would be included. This committee sets all the rules and parameters for the election. Usually, the committee is formed in November or December and takes a few weeks to formulate things.

So at tonight's Ex Bd meeting there was some expectation that if we were to meet the timetable, the committee would have to be announced tonight. The next EB meeting is on Jan. 22, the day before the DA, so even if announced that day, we would have to wait for it to report back to the EB meeting after that, which would be Feb. 4 and with mid-winter break, even then the election would be delayed. Even New Action, which will endorse Mulgrew in exchange for Exec Bd seats, were in the dark.

Some of us have been trying to figure out what advantage might accrue to the leadership to postpone by 2 or 3 months and that is not clear. Could it just be delays due to other stuff going on? Sandy? Too busy with Bloomberg to deal with the election?

Conspiracy theorists like me don't buy that. Within the opposition there are those who think Mulgrew will resist on the eval issue and others who feel he will cave, which the UFT has had a history of doing. Maybe they are waiting to see how whatever deal they work out plays out amongst the membership.

Then there is the link to a possible contract and the charges by the DOE the UFT was looking for money in exchange for the eval deal, which wouldn't surprise me given that they could sell any eval deal to the members for bucks and in an election the money always helps the people in power. Maybe the delay is about their hope they can stare down Bloomberg and convince him to toss enough bucks on the table to allow Mulgrew to sell the deal. Maybe just point their assault weapons at Bloomberg with their new pals at the NRA.

Now here was an interesting tidbit at Gotham today. Remember when MORE brought a reso to the Dec. DA calling for a membership vote on any deal, pointing out a change in how teachers are evaluated is a change in the contract and the constitution says members must vote on contract changes. Leroy Barr argued the case that only the Unity dominated DA should vote (be men and stand up for your right to keep the vote in the DA, you lilly livererd spineless geeks). Then Leroy closed by saying contracts are one of the only things that must go to the members. Huh? Can Leroy contradict himself any more in a 5 minute speech?

So read this point by Mulgrew today:

In a sober-toned response to the city on Thursday, Mr. Mulgrew called the allegations a “serious misunderstanding” of the union’s position and the law; he argued that the teachers’ contract, by law, must address the evaluation system, so it was fair to tie the two together.

Oops, Mulgrew better tell Leroy Barr that the eval system is tied to the contract. Can MORE get a do-over at the Jan. 23 DA?

NEXT: Check ICE blog and NYC Educator for another outrageous UFT view of "democracy".

MORE on Opt-Out Day and Ravitch on Opt-Out and Change the Stakes

One of the best organized groups functions in New York state. It is called Change the Stakes. .... Diane Ravitch

Having a group I belong to and helped found described by Diane Ravitch no less as "one of the best organized" is shocking. But given that I leave most of the work to all the other amazing people I wrote about on Friday, it works for me.

CTS has been very involved in opting out of tests for parents and some of the members have been doing so. CTS has helped guide people through the process and build solidarity.

MORE, closely allied with CTS, put out a great statement today on National Opt-Out Day.

morecaucusnyc

 

On National Opt Out Day

by morecaucusnyc

 

On National Opt Out day, the Movement of Rank and File Educators stands in solidarity with the brave parents who have stepped forward and said no to high stakes testing! The best way to stop the corporate takeover our schools is to refuse to participate.

 

Learn more about National Opt Out Day, 2013 by reading here or here or here or here or here or here 

 

Visit the Change the Stakes Website for information about how New York parents and teachers are united in the struggle against high stakes testing  here

 

Be one of the 2,300 people who have signed the petition to Give New York State Parents the Right to Opt their Children Out of High Stakes Testing

 

Or one of 4,000 who have signed Carol Burris’ petition to Governor Cuomo and the LEgislature to End High Stakes Testing

 

We care MORE about the people our students become and LESS about the scores on the tests they take.

These MOREs have been busy little bees lately with lots MORE to come. The 4 Bloggers of the Apocalypse have brought some life to the MORE blog.

 

----------

 

Diane Ravitch gives kudos to Change the Stakes

 

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/07/parents-it-is-time-to-change-the-stakes/

It’s Time to Change the Stakes–Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch's blog

Parents: It Is Time to Change the Stakes

January 7, 2013 //

Parents across the nation are taking a stand against the use of tests to measure, rate, and rank their children.

Local school boards are passing resolutions against high-stakes testing.

People are increasingly angry that tests are being used inappropriately in ways for which they were not designed.

They are forming groups to protest.

One of the best organized groups functions in New York state.

It is called Change the Stakes.

It adopted a statement in opposition to high-stakes testing drafted by testing expert Fred Smith.

In addition to their concerns about narrowing the curriculum and demoralizing students, parents and educators want to know more about the testing. They want to know, for example:

“How many professionally designed and developed tests are being given in New York schools? What is the purpose of each? When are they scheduled to be given? How much time is spent administering each test? How many students and schools are involved? And how much money does each test cost (the material, the scoring and the reports)?
Which publisher constructed or supplied each exam? Who owns the exams we are paying for? Which ones are field tests—tests and questions that do not count but enable commercial publishers to develop and sell exams for future use? Which exams are used to screen children for entry into special programs
or selective schools? Which must be passed as a basis for promotion or to fulfill graduation requirements? Surely, the city and state know and can give us these details for the current year.”

The state and city education officials act as though they own the children and can do whatever they want without supplying even the most basic information to parents.

This is wrong. This is contrary to democratic control of public education. The people in charge don’t know more. They just have more power. And they are using it in ways that disrespects parents and educators.