Thursday, January 17, 2013

On Eval Deal, What Do UFT Leaders Fear Most: External or Internal Criticism?

Given the idea out there that Mulgrew is between a rock and a hard place, my thesis is that the hard place is not so hard while the deadline of the rock is. 
They do not want to get into this fight with Bloomberg for the rest of the school year. They will take their chances with the members who are upset and their proven ability to manage them.
They know that Bloomberg will take the lost money out of their hides by threatening layoffs and that will be tied to keeping the "effective" -- young, white, E4E types (can't you hear the wails) and getting rid of senior teachers and tenure. In fact this coming assault is one of the behind the scenes talking points by Unity. After all, the very essence of the evaluation deal is getting rid of tenure in a less messy way.

The Daily News which never cared very much about the excessive rises in class size suddenly is crying over the possibility.  Boo, hoo.
 
Thurs, Jan. 17, 10:30 AM.

Given we are hours away from the Delegate Assembly and the deadline for an agreement and the possible loss of $250 million in state aid, there is some speculation that it will be impossible to reach a deal in time for the delegates to read and absorb the details in time to make an intelligent decision. Then add to that the fact that they are supposedly casting a vote to represent the people who elected them, none of whom will get to see the details.

So how does this situation equate with reality?

Let me point you to some of this speculation before I delve into my analysis.

Philissa Cramer at  Gotham Schools has an extensive piece analyzing many of the options the mayor, the DOE and the UFT have pro and con.

Tim Clifford at Schoolbook goes deep.

Reality-Based Educator has a few posts on the approaching deadline, including a link to a Daily News editorial saying talks are dead in the water.
Last night:29 Hours And Counting: So far, no deal on APPR, followed by this morning:  No Evaluation Agreement Announcement Yet.

The press is going ape over the loss of the money if there is no deal.
At last night's PEP I raised the Francesco Portelos case (Protect Portelos)
to point out that not only does Walcott NOT to teach as just one example of the enormous waste in the DOE.

The Daily News which never cared very much about the excessive rises in class size suddenly is crying over the possibility. The UFT, which should not only be pointing out all the money the DOE wastes but also how if we do sign a deal not one cent will go towards reducing class size or directly into the classroom. That should have been their commercials, prepping the public for a rejection of the deal instead of crying (like E4E and Students First) that we need a deal.

And that is what makes me suspicious that this is all being scripted. Today, at 4:30, someone runs into the DA waving sheets of paper, saying we have a tentative deal which is then passed around to the delegates for a quick read while Mulgrew spends an hour explaining it, followed by a batch of Unity speakers defending it, with a few MOREs thrown in to oppose, and then a quick vote.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but I've seen this act before with other agreements where the leadership does a bums rush to get people to vote (especially since they know they have the house --- you can bet every Unity person was told to show, including as many of the 300 retiree delegates who are not in Florida).

Sounds almost impossible to believe this can happen, which is why some people think this DA can not feasibly be about a vote for a deal and leave the leadership with any credibility with the members and even segment of the public. And I can just see some of my pals in the press who have been around for a while (leave out the NY Times ed people who clearly do not have a clue) rolling their eyes.

RBE's experience, like mine, is that the UFT leadership has never resisted the pressures before so that makes a deal likely. But he does point to the pitfalls for Mulgrew and Unity Caucus in terms of member reaction. And if you read my posts from last night (UPDATE: MORE Statement on Rally)
you can see that some schools with an activist chapter leader explaining all the issues are turning against any deal. Unfortunately, not enough.

I do not believe the UFT leaders are really as worried about member reaction as some think and in fact as an external PR factory (poorly run at that) they put priority on their perception in the public eye over that of the members though their internal PR machine using brute force has much more effective. And that is what they are counting on if they put forth a deal today. My guess is that the DA will vote 70-30 for whatever they put forth and that will be hailed as a victory for democracy.

They have weathered these storms in the past. And in fact are very sure that can manage the members way more easily than they can the press and ed deformers. They have a lot of experience doing that, given they pretty much control all the means of communication within the UFT. Which is why the biggest long-term threat to them would be an alternative like MORE inside the UFT that would have the ability to counter their spin in every school in the city.

If you are looking for an 8 month old group like MORE to do that, you are missing the essentials of what it will take to build an organization to be able to manage that. Even CORE has 2 years to build in Chicago before being able to challenge seriously and they only had a third of the number of schools and geographical area to cover.

Given the idea out there that Mulgrew is between a rock and a hard place, my thesis is that the hard place is not so hard while the deadline of the rock is. They know that Bloomberg will take the lost money out of their hides by threatening layoffs and that will be tied to keeping the "effective" -- young, white, E4E types and getting rid of senior teachers and tenure. In fact this coming assault is one of the behind the scenes talking points by Unity. After all, the very essence of the evaluation deal is getting rid of tenure in a less messy way.

They do not want to get into this fight with Bloomberg for the rest of the school year. They will take their chances with the members who are upset. (Never forget how they controlled the reaction to the 2005 contract, which started us on this decline.)

First, back up the UFT elections just enough to give the entire horde of people working at UFT HQ and in the boroughs to inundate the schools to explain how good a deal this is before the election when MORE will not have access to the schools other than the ones where they have a live body to counter the UFT line.

Next, every single school would get a visit from a UFT honcho. After about 6 weeks of softening people up and attacking MORE for opposing the deal as being merely negative and obstructionist and really wanting to lead you all down the road to a strike and so on and so on.

Meanwhile, they get sort-of accolades from the critics, which is really what they care about.

Given the realities of the way the UFT elections is rigged, people are paying way too much attention to it. And don't forget Unity has New Action as the house opposition. Teachers not happy with Unity who have not heard of MORE, given 2 non-Unity choices on the ballot, may well vote New Action without realizing they are also voting for Mulgrew and a batch of other Unity people. So whatever vote NA gets also goes to pad Mulgrew's numbers.

In the UFT the real elections are the chapter leader elections every 3 years (next one is spring 2015) where the battle for control of the schools take place. Unity uses their training sessions for new chapter leaders to grab them into Unity, a black hole from which they never emerge given subtle and not so subtle offers of jobs and perks, hard to resist for many people who have not been active before.

For any alternative like MORE to get real traction, it must begin to capture these elections while trying to recruit as many current CLs who are independent -- and that is what part of today's events are about. Some people will be showing up who usually do not show and maybe something strikes them to get involves in opposing the Unity machine.

Now MORE is not taking a position today as an attack on the union leadership but as an attempt to pressure them to do the right thing.
The rally outside the DA is directed against the junk science teacher eval schemes that are being foisted upon us, and demands that the rank and file have a say in a ratification of any agreement. It calls for our union to end the self destructive "collaboration" with union hating corporate "reformers" and politicians in both political parties. It is our union even when it is wrong. The rally is not against the UFT leadership.
I for one do not think Unity generally does the right thing but the younger activists in MORE who have not been fighting the Unity machine for 43 years actually have some hope. So they are not viewing today's action as part of a the election campaign. As a good soldier, I am going along. Luckily MORE is a democratic organization where every person has the right to express their personal views without facing expulsion.


----------
Later if I get some time I will post some of the arguments the union is and will be using to soften up the members.

I will be there from around 3PM on with leaflets and will be working outside with whatever people who show and want to make their voices heard even if they can't go in.

After the DA some of us will gather outside the building for a brief huddle -- all are invited -- maybe with some comments from Julie Cavanagh and Jack -- and then a bunch will go off to a local bar to celebrate or drown our sorrows.  All are invited to join us.

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

UPDATE: MORE Statement on Rally

At my chapter meeting today, there was a unanimous vote of the 30 staff present that I should vote NO! including E4E people --- Bklyn Elem CL
We also had a meeting today and a unanimous vote to vote no. Even the unity member voted no! --- Qns Middle School CL
A number if our teachers joined MoRE today! And definitely are demanding a Vote No! --- Bklyn elem school teacher
Reports coming of unanimous votes in schools today urging a NO vote on any deal. These are schools with MORE activists in them, a totally different reaction from schools run by Unity.  Imagine if one day MORE had activists in most of the schools?

MORE is calling for the UFT to refuse any agreement until there is a reasonable law passed.

More MORE.
Below is an official statement from MORE about the purpose of the rally. I personally believe there is a deal and has been for days and it would only fall apart of the union leadership senses a revolt from below that goes much deeper than the organizing a group like MORE does. Like I mean deep into the Unity Caucus faithful. If the rank and file in Unity are having problems themselves (and there are some signs of fraying at the edges) or are finding they are not able to convince the people in their schools, then the leadership may feel they have to backtrack somewhat. But given their overwhelming interest in keeping their rep with ed deformers as the "reasonable" union and their need to -- in the immortal words of Unity hack Peter Goodman, "satisfy the Rhee crowd" my sense it they feel they can control the members (by sending out their hordes into the school to sell the agreement) easier than the negative public reaction.

See speculation on the UFT being possibly willing to walk away and take the PR hit --- at RBE (29 Hours And Counting) and at Gotham Schools.


* Please attend Thursday rally - 3:30 PM in front of 52 Broadway *
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

As of this writing it is still unclear if there will be an agreement between the UFT and the DOE about teacher evaluations.

The rally outside the DA tomorrow is directed against the junk science teacher eval schemes that are being foisted upon us, and demands that the rank and file have a say in a ratification of any agreement. It calls for our union to end the self destructive "collaboration" with union hating corporate "reformers" and politicians in both political parties. It is our union even when it is wrong. The rally is not against the UFT leadership.

If there is no agreement offered on Thursday it signals an intensification of the anti union campaign and we have to be prepared to join in the defense of our union even while we challenge its leaders in the upcoming election. No agreement will mean that Bloomberg and his cronies feel they can better advance their anti union/privatization program by smearing the UFT for forfeiting the increased state aid money. However, it will also represent a recognition by the union leadership of the limits of what they can sell to an angry UFT rank and file.

On the other hand, if an agreement is presented we urge delegates to vote no. They are [still] our delegates even if they generally follow the Unity leadership. MORE stands for for a positive alternative to concessionary bargaining based on rank and file and community based resistance. Giving in to the bully only whets the bully's appetite. Appeasing the aggressor never worked, even for the appeasers. The UFT leadership desperately wants to be able to sell something to the DA as a victory. We know this is false even if they do reach an agreement.

We demand a decent contract, decent working and learning conditions and an end to the mayoral dictatorship which former UFT President Weingarten helped to put in place. We are calling for the UFT leadership to get up off their knees, organize the membership and join the growing movement against the corporate takeover of public education.

Slogans for signs:

Bloomberg's Education Policy: Ineffective
Value Added = Junk Science
Don't Blame Teachers for the Effects of Poverty

 

Rally to Demand a Member-Wide Vote this Thursday at the UFT

I picked this off DOENUTS blog. More stuff coming. And more MORE stuff coming. One of the young MORE activists made up this sheet for her staff and for anyone who wants to print. (email me for the file). This young teacher just got tenure and is very happy -- don't believe the lies of groups like E4E -- young teachers desperately want and support tenure.

*It's best if you print them out on an 81/2 x 11 sticker sheet and then cut them.
 

Rally to Demand a Member-Wide Vote this Thursday at the UFT

If you read this post from GothamSchools, you'll see that the efforts of MORE may (stress may) be having an effect on our leadership's decision-making process. Get your butt on the train tomorrow and get to the rally. If you can get the delegate card from your school's Delegate or Chapter Leader, then DO IT!! And go and vote no at the DA!! Also:
  • Check in with ednotes for any updates or to download literature
  • Tweet -frequently!- along the hashtag #VoteNoEval or #UFTDA
All UFT chapter leader and delegates should Vote NO so that they can bring back the agreement to their chapters for a full vote.
Stay up to date with the latest details by joining our email list by request at more@morecaucusnyc.org or follow us at Twitter.com @morecaucusnyc
morecaucusnyc.org
Join MORE this Thursday to demand a member wide vote on our new evaluation system at 52 Broadway NYC UFT Headquarters on Thursday 1/17 beginning at 3:30 for a rally before the Delegate Assembly (DA). All educators and concerned citizens are encouraged to come and have their voices heard.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

MORE: Rally to Demand a Member-Wide Vote this Thursday at the UFT

This was posted at MORE on Jan. 14 and below that is the downloadable leaflet on scribd (when it is up and running) if you want to share it with people in your school.

You can read the Jan. 12 MORE post here: MORE Statement on the Pending Evaluation Agreement Between the DOE and the UFT


I will be at the rally early with leaflets for people to give out and any help would be appreciated. And then there is the after DA event at a local bar where we will drown our sorrows or celebrate our joy.

Rally to Demand a Member-Wide Vote this Thursday at the UFT


Join MORE this Thursday to demand a member wide vote on our new evaluation system at 52 Broadway NYC UFT Headquarters on Thursday 1/17 beginning at 3:30 for a rally before the Delegate Assembly (DA). All educators and concerned citizens are encouraged to come and have their voices heard.

The indications are very strong the UFT leadership will reach an evaluation agreement with the Department of Education in just a few days and present it the Delegate Assembly without membership input nor education around finer aspects of the deal.This agreement will radically change our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions without any input from the almost 76,000 teachers of the United Federation of Teachers. This is outrageous!We will send out a digital version of our flier soon-please sign up to email below. We will have copies at DA for distribution starting at 3:30. Bring signs, fliers, poster-oak tag, markers, clipboards, and pens, we will need volunteers to gather names, emails, and phone #’s All UFT chapter leader and delegate should Vote NO so that they can bring back the agreement to their chapters for a full vote.

Stay up to date with the latest details by joining our email list by request at more@morecaucusnyc.org or follow us at Twitter.com @morecaucusnyc

NYSUT/AFT Uses Fear Tactics to Urge Rejection of Carol Burris Petition

The Burris petition’s call upon the Governor and Legislature to place a moratorium on high stakes testing would, if adopted without federal action, put New York’s public schools at risk of loss of federal Title funding, on which they so depend to support students. Indeed, there is the potential that action on this issue at the state level could result in the forfeiture of funds already paid out by the USDOE—a result that would be devastating to our schools and students.--- New York State United Teachers, a subsidiary of the UFT*
Well, here they go again. Apparently, the fact that top level principals like Carol Burris is a hero to many teachers for leading the fight against a faulty evaluation system while the UFT/NYSUT/AFT has sat on a spiky fence (or worse, played the other side), has once again irked the NYSUT leaders.

*In NYSUT the 200,000 member UFT is the tail that wags the dog. So when Unity Caucus clones come calling with a message that Mulgrew was not the guy who made the eval deal for a state law with Tischless and King, don't believe it.

I got into somewhat of a running battle the other day when a tweet came in asking me what it would take to get the teacher unions to take a strong stand against HST. I said they never would and she seemed confused as to why they wouldn't. I couldn't delve into the details at that time but ended up with responses from Weingarten and Leo Casey defending their record on HST, to a wonk like me, really funny stuff which I will post on a follow-up.

Meanwhile you should read a great post from RBE at Perdido Street School today listing some of the ways the union has supported HST:
Reading The Tea Leaves On Mulgrew's Evaluation Update

Here is the full NYSUT missive: 
Subject: from NYSUT sent to members.

It has come to our attention that a petition is being circulated by Carol Burris, a principal at a Long Island school district, which is entitled “Petition to Governor Cuomo and the Legislature to End High Stakes Testing”. The petition demands that the state place a moratorium on “high stakes” testing. We have been receiving some inquiries about NYSUT’s response and recommendations relating to this petition.

First, NYSUT’s Tell It Like It Is initiative is NYSUT's strongly recommended approach to communicating the concerns that we share about testing, because it allows for a more meaningful, personal, fact-based response than an e-petition. Any member considering signing the petition should be encouraged to instead participate in the Tell It initiative, which is already well underway, will continue up to the NYSUT RA, and is having a positive impact.

Second, action to reduce reliance on testing must come from the federal government, which has conditioned funding to the states on compliance with federal testing requirements. We must persuade the federal government to change its testing requirements. This is why AFT has initiated, and NYSUT strongly supports, a petition drive directed to federal policy makers. We encourage our members to sign the AFT petition, which is directed to the right audience. The Burris petition’s call upon the Governor and Legislature to place a moratorium on high stakes testing would, if adopted without federal action, put New York’s public schools at risk of loss of federal Title funding, on which they so depend to support students. Indeed, there is the potential that action on this issue at the state level could result in the forfeiture of funds already paid out by the USDOE—a result that would be devastating to our schools and students.

NYSUT believes that the dual initiatives of expressing to NYSED the real and serious concerns that our members have about the current testing program through NYSUT’s Tell It Like It Is, and of advocating for changes in the federal testing policy through AFT’s petition, are the best and most responsible strategies to protect and support our students and our members.

As always, you are welcome to contact me with questions or concerns.
==================
 
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.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Were You Around..Kaufman vs Turner on UFT Day of Inaction, Part 3

I don’t know if you personally feel the full impact of our Union’s malfeasance at your school ... Jeff Kaufman to fellow chapter leader
Our Tele Nova saga continues.

Part 1: Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?


Part 2: Jeff Kaufman Vs. Charley Turner and Why You Should be Outside the UFT Deleagate Assembly This Thursday

Part 3, where Jeff responds to a pro Turner Chapter leader, who based on his email below is in Unity -- ya think?
Were you around when we lost seniority; when our grievance procedure was decimated; when we did nothing to stop closing schools or fight the insipid rip off of public education by allowing the anti-union Charter movement to take a strong hold in New York?
Were you around when we stopped electing district reps or when we were no longer consulted about dues increases or the levels of salary and benefits (including double dipped pensions) our leaders receive? Were you around when our leaders supported anti-education politicians including Pataki and Bloomberg, yes, Bloomberg?

Were you around when our contract negotiators, with a few conceded changes created an army of ATRs who were told not to complain since they were being paid as they are constantly abused in schools and have received U ratings at much greater rates than any other group?

Were you around when our leaders lied to us about how school budgets would reflect the costs of staff salaries so that experienced teachers would be routinely discriminated against?
Were you around when our leaders allowed hundreds of teachers accused of a variety of improper conduct or incompetence to be left to be totally unrepresented in kangaroo U rating appeal hearings and improperly investigated termination hearings?

-------, I don’t know if you personally feel the full impact of our Union’s malfeasance at [your school] and honestly I hope you never do. But most of the membership, the dues paying and hardworking members of our profession work in schools where we have lost our voice and have become the focus of the blame for the downfall of public education and look to our leaders for some help and direction only to be disappointed, contract after contract.

As our Brothers and Sister did in Chicago it’s time for our leaders to go back to school. We will take back the UFT for our members. I hope you choose the right side.

Sorry Charley.

Jeff Kaufman
Chapter Leader
Aspirations High School

Here is the email Jeff is responding to -- and I love this line which I have been hearing for 42 years: When this education deform era wanes  [INSERT CRISIS OF THE MOMENT] (and it will), we can debate the value of our spirited points of view again.

This guy is probably too new to get that the Unity leadership has never allowed debating the value of any points of view other than their own and if you do you get charged with being anti-union and a traitor, sort of where this guy is touching on.
RE: Day of action flyer

It is at this point that I feel that I have to stand up for the people in our organization that lead us, that help us, that advise us, that support us and that have been leading the fight side by side with us. I stand by the people that work side by side with us in our every day fight for what is right for our members, our students, our schools and for public education as we know it should be.

While I believe that we must struggle to achieve our ideals I feel that "perfect must not be the enemy of good". We must do the best we can for the teachers we work for, and the students we teach.

We are involved in a monumental struggle against a Mayor that seeks to dismantle our school sytem and our Union. Yet we are sitting at our computers engaged in a debate over the meaningfulness of flyers! Really. Is that what we are about? A flyer is just another tool of the many that we have that help us to lead our chapters. If people feel that complaining about a call to action is more important than actually taking action; I cannot agree to that.

That the Department of Education has become a dysfunctional bureaucracy is clear to every teacher in New York City. The fact that the networks are incompetent is also painfully clear. The fact that Leadership Academy principals, and their supporters in Tweed have mismanaged our school system, damaged our students, and have wounded our beloved communities by destroying our schools is painfully clear to every single New Yorker. He and his chancellors want to destroy our profession, and sowing division among us is a powerful tool.

I am UFT and proud. I go to marches, meetings, and when the opportunity presents itself I try to lead. I will not be a whiner. I will not fault people who work themselves to the bone to do what's right. I will put my money where my mouth is. Given the opportunity I will respond to a call to action.

This is the eleventh hour. It is at this time where we must march side by side. We must put on our union shirts, and put away our grudges. We are a UNION, not a division. We will rise and fall based on how strong we are when we stand together. Nothing less than the fate of our schools hang in the balance. When this education deform era wanes (and it will), we can debate the value of our spirited points of view again.

But right now let's stand together for the good of our profession, and do what is right and good for our schools. After all, we are a Union of Professionals.

MORE, Change the Stakes Support Garfield HS Teacher Test Resisters

Joint Tweed/UFT Firing Squad
A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s public schools, teachers and especially students." -- Adam Urbanski, President Rochester Teachers Union
Can you imagine the UFT supporting teachers here if they led a test boycott here? They would assist the Tweedies in choosing the firing squad. I'll tell you more at another time of my tweeting war with Randi and Leo over whether the UFT really opposes high stakes testing. {Hey guys, I'm waiting for AFT/UFT messages of support to these teachers. Ho hum, better not wait too long.}

Fred Smith from Change the Stakes commented:

The revolution is near.  Time to dump all of the T in the harbor...  Examinations and privatization without representation are tyranny.  The colonies are feeling it.
 
Meanwhile, the UFT--which has denied its rank and file a voice in the matter and has stood in the way of an organized, mutually-empowering parent alliance--is now ready to compromise with its demonizers and bashers.  While the movement to oppose high stakes testing is on the march, the union is conspiring to subject its members to test-polluted teacher evaluations.
 
Two pieces of advice to the so-called UFT leadership:  Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.  And recognize what Walt Kelly (Pogo) said. "We have met the enemy and it is us."


We were one of the first out of the box (thanks to Brian Jones, MORE candidate for UFT Secretary) with reports of the Seattle teacher test boycott an hour before their press conference: Seattle Teachers Revolt Against High Stakes Test.

Since then the response has made heroes out of the teachers, who will undoubtedly face serious repercussions.

Susan Ohanian suggests:
I don't usually sign or share Change petitions  because of some of their past hijinks. But the Garfield teachers in Seattle are using Change for their petition, so I'm urging everyone to sign it. They need hundreds of thousands of signatures supporting them. This is not a high stakes test but saying NO! is a huge step for teachers. Let's scare Obama-Duncan and Bill Gates by showing that there are seeds of resistance out there. http://tinyurl.com/apvf7bg
Parent activist in Seattle Dora Taylor:
What can I say…Seattle teachers rock!!!!

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/the-weekly-update-what-can-i-say-seattle-teachers-rock/
Dora reports that the PTA and the Seattle Teachers Union support the teachers and "Within hours, teachers at Ballard High School followed suit."
(See statements of support below the Change the Stakes support message.)

Can you imagine the UFT supporting teachers here if they did that here? They would assist the Tweedies in choosing the firing squad.

Ravitch posted this on the resistance:
Adam Urbanski, head of the Rochester (NY) Teachers Union, offers this advice:
"In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote, 'There are just laws and unjust laws. And we are obligated to disobey the unjust laws.' A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s public schools, teachers and especially students."

MORE used its meatgrinder approach (where a number of people get to chip in) to forge this statement:

In Solidarity with Garfield H.S. Teachers

11 Jan Statement from the Movement of Rank and File Educators, The Social Justice Caucus of the UFT (United Federation of Teachers)
In Solidarity with Garfield H.S. Teachers

We, the members of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) stand in solidarity with the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle who are refusing to administer standardized tests this semester. Risking their own livelihoods to stand up for authentic teaching and learning and against the proliferation of high-stakes standardized testing, they are fighting for teachers, educators, parents and, students nationwide. All over this country, teachers and students are frustrated, demoralized, and bored by the increasing pressure to raise standardized test scores and to equate those scores with learning. All of the “data” generated by these tests have become a stick to beat students, teachers, and unions, and have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. We agree with the teachers of Garfield High School that these tests represent a profound waste of time and money, especially while too many of our schools are starved of basic resources. We stand in solidarity with these brave educators, and encourage parents, teachers and students nationwide to support them as well.

Movement Of Rank & File Educators (MORE)
Please “Like” The Teacher’s of Garfield H.S. Seattle Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityWithGarfieldHighSchoolTestingBoycott
Change the Stakes joined the chorus.
We, the members of Change The Stakes stand in solidarity with the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle who are refusing to administer standardized, high-stakes tests to their students as they see these as a "waste of time and money".  Teachers at Garfield High School are setting an example for other teachers and parents to rally against these tests that have been, and continue, to distort education for our children and the stability of the teaching profession. It is clear that the feelings here in New York about these tests are felt nation-wide. As parents and teachers of Change The Stakes we are grateful for your courage and we share your struggle. May more teachers and parents take the stand against these standardized measures that have only created fear of school by students and teachers.


In solidarity,
CHANGE THE STAKES

The Garfield High School PTSA issued the following statement today in support of the teachers:

From the Garfield High School PTSA Board Members
Written by President, Phil Sherburne
You may have seen in the news that the Garfield teachers have decided that they are no longer going to give the MAP tests to 9th grade students at Garfield. These are tests that are given three times during the 9th grade year to assess a student’s performance level in reading and math and their progress during the course of the year. These tests have nothing to do with a student’s grades or their progress toward graduation. The test results are just information for the teachers and the school district.
However, because the tests have no consequences for the student, many students do not take them seriously. As a result the test results do not really measure a student’s knowledge level. Teachers also object because the tests are not connected to what is being taught in the classroom and they take up a lot of time. Further, the teachers are concerned that the test results might be used to evaluate teachers which they believe would be inappropriate. The teachers believe that the grades the students are earning in the classroom are much better measures of the student’s knowledge level and educational progress.
The Garfield PTSA shares the concerns of the teachers at Garfield with the MAP testing and supports termination of these tests. There are many students who start the 9th grade who cannot perform 9th grade level math and english work. Some students are far behind. The real issue is what the school district is going to do, starting early in a student’s educational life, to help as many students as possible perform at grade level. A major effort to get students to grade level performance and to keep them there through graduation requires a focus and resources that we have not seen from the District or the Legislature. It is this focus on improving student achievement and providing the resources to accomplish it that deserves all our attention.

According to the Seattle Times in an article titled Union supports Garfield teachers’ refusal to give district test:
In the statement, SEA President Jonathan Knapp said he wants the district to set a date to stop using the MAP exams.  He also said that concerns over those tests are part of larger questions about the costs of testing, and how much time schools devote to it.
The union listed its concerns as follows:
  • The test does not line up with state standards.
  • The test does not line up with district curriculum.
  • The test takes valuable time away from student learning.
  • Many students do not take the test seriously.
  • The testing time frame takes valuable time away from students in the school being able to access computer labs and libraries for other projects.
  • The data obtained is of minimal use to teachers in planning lessons and meeting individual student needs.
    ---------------

    Standardized test backlash: Some Seattle teachers just say 'no'

    Resistance to standardized tests has been simmering for years, but now a group of Seattle teachers is in open revolt. No longer will they administer the tests, they say, citing a waste of public resources.

    By Dean Paton | Christian Science Monitor – 20 hrs ago
    · 

    Forty-five minutes after school let out Thursday afternoon, 19 teachers here at Seattle's Garfield High School worked their way to the front of an already-crowded classroom, then turned, leaned their backs against the wall of whiteboards, and fired the first salvo of open defiance against high-stakes standardized testing in America's public schools.
    To a room full of TV cameras, reporters, students, and colleagues, the teachers announced their refusal to administer a standardized test that ninth-graders across the district are mandated to take in the first part of January. Known as the MAP test – for Measures of Academic Progress – it is intended to evaluate student progress and skill in reading and math.
    First one teacher, then another, and then more stepped forward to charge that the test wastes time, money, and dwindling school resources. It is also used to evaluate teacher quality.
    “Our teachers have come together and agreed that the MAP test is not good for our students, nor is it an appropriate or useful tool in measuring progress,” said Kris McBride, academic dean and testing coordinator at Garfield High. “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.”
    RECOMMENDED: Are you as well read as the average 10th grader?
    Garfield’s civil yet disobedient faculty appears to be the first group of teachers nationally to defy district edicts concerning a standardized test, but the backlash against high-stakes testing has been percolating in other parts of the country.
  • The New York State Principals association recently issued a scathing letter, nearly four pages of “unintended negative consequences” it claims such tests foment.
  • In Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr has called for a three-year moratorium on standardized testing.
  • In north Texas last year, superintendents of several high-performing school districts signed a letter to state officials and lawmakers saying high-stakes standardized testing is “strangling our public schools.” As of Jan. 8, 880 districts that educate more than 4.4 million Texas students have adopted a resolution opposing these tests.
“This high-stakes testing – there needs to be a moratorium on it, because it’s out of control,” says Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, N.Y. “None of these tests really have anything to do with curriculum. Maybe they have a little bit to do with math. But that’s it.”

Dr. Burris co-authored the letter for the New York State principals. On Dec. 31, she started a petition in New York opposing high-stakes testing. In 10 days, she says, 5,500 administrators, teachers, and parents have signed it.
“Parents are stressed. Teachers are stressed. Kids are stressed by these tests more than parents,” Burris says. “And when you tie teachers’ evaluations to these tests, the teachers end up focusing their lessons on the tests. And that’s starting to destroy elementary education.”

At Montgomery County Public Schools, America’s 17th largest district, Dr. Starr says the conflicting demands of the No Child Left Behind Act and the emerging Common Core State Standards Initiative (sanctioned by 46 states and the District of Columbia) are overwhelming districts, teachers, and resources.

“It’s not because I’m opposed to all standardized testing. Standardized tests do have a place,” he says. “But more and more folks are starting to recognize these standardized tests are not designed to do what we’re being asked to do with them. They’re a very narrow measure.”

Starr says many standardized tests detract from teachers’ ability to prepare students effectively: “This isn’t about saying, ‘Do away with all standardized testing.’ It’s about saying, ‘Do away with tests that are not aligned with what kids will actually need to do in the 21st century.’ ”
Starr’s words could well have been uttered here at Garfield.

“In 26 years of teaching,” says Kit McCormack, who teaches English, “this is the first time I’ve said, ‘I’m not giving this test.’ It’s not that I think my ninth-graders should not be tested. I want my ninth-graders to be tested. I teach to the Common Core standards, and I am happy to teach those standards. Bottom line is: The test is not useful to my students.”
Ms. McBride, the academic dean, said Garfield teachers “have a myriad of reasons for not administering the MAP test,” including “no evidence” the test is aligned with state and local curriculum, that it’s “filled with things that aren’t a part of the curriculum at all,” and that the district uses student test scores to grade teachers, even though the company that markets the test says it should not be used to assess teacher effectiveness.
“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, just did it as quickly as possible so they could do something more useful with their time.”
When someone asked the teachers if they were worried about what lessons students might take away from their collective defiance of the district, Mario Shauvette, chairman of the math department, stepped forward. “I’m teaching by example,” he said. “If I don’t step up now, who will? I’m taking charge of what I do here.”
Officials from Seattle Public Schools refused to discuss the faculty’s announcement, but it issued a three-paragraph e-mail that included a general admonition: “Seattle Public Schools expects our teachers to administer all required tests, pursuant to our policies and procedures.”
Seattle school officials say the MAP test, which is given as many as three times per year, "helps improve academic decision-making and accountability." Moreover, district officials say they are reviewing the effectiveness of the MAP program, including input from teachers and principals, and expect to report results this spring.

The teachers know they’re violating district policy, as well as their union contract. They realize consequences could be severe. “But the people down at district headquarters are wise people, good people,” said history teacher Jesse Hagopian. “We all want what’s best for our students, and the faculty here is confident we can work together and come up with ways of evaluating our kids that are a lot more effective than this test.”

------
FairTest                                
National
Center for Fair & Open Testing
                                                                        for further information:
                                                                        Dr. Monty Neill   (617) 477-9792
                                                                        Bob Schaeffer     (239) 395-6773

for immediate release Monday, January 14, 2013
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT REFORM LEADERS ENDORSE
SEATTLE TEACHERS’ SCHOOL TEST BOYCOTT;
CALL FOR MORE EDUCATORS, PARENTS TO “JOIN IN”
The country’s leading testing reform organization today announced its support for the boycott of Seattle Public Schools’ Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) exam launched by teachers at Garfield High School. National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) Executive Director Dr. Monty Neill said, “Children across the U.S. suffer from far too much standardized testing that is misused to judge students, teachers and schools. We applaud Garfield High educators who refused to administer these useless exams and urge others to join in.”
Dr. Neill explained, “Seattle requires administration of the MAP tests three times per year. This eliminates days of valuable teaching time and ties up the school’s computer labs for weeks. The tests are used to judge teachers even though they are not aligned with the state’s standards and not instructionally helpful. The Northwest Evaluation Association, which makes the test, says the MAPs are not accurate enough to evaluate individual teachers. No wonder some Seattle parents began opting their children out of these pointless tests even before the teachers’ boycott.”
“Nationally, students are inundated with tests far beyond the ‘No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB) requirement to assess students annually in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school,” Dr. Neill continued. “States and especially large city districts have piled on many more tests. For example, Chicago tests kindergarteners 14 or more times per year. Many of these tests were added to obtain federal NCLB waivers, which force states and districts to impose more exams so they can judge teachers by student scores.”
According to FairTest, the high stakes attached to tests have led to narrowing curriculum, teaching to the test, score inflation and cheating scandals. Despite the focus on tests, scores gains on the independent National Assessment of Educational Progress have slowed since the 2002 start of NCLB and are well below pre-NCLB score increases. Score gaps between whites and African Americans and Latinos have stopped narrowing.
“High-stakes testing is undermining the quality of U.S. schools and the education our children deserve,” Dr. Neill concluded. “Teachers and parents who boycott standardized exams are taking the lead to reduce over-testing and the consequences attached to it. President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Congress, governors, state legislators, and local school officials need to heed these voices and stop imposing unnecessary and educational harmful testing.”

PS 15K Unanimous in Rejection of Ed Eval Deal

Statement regarding the UFT’s “Day of Action.”

We at P.S. 15 in Brooklyn, NY feel that today's "Day of Action" is an embarrassment. The UFT wants us passing out flyers asking the mayor to make a deal that we don't want; and in the event there is a deal, the UFT leadership has fought against all of our members being able to vote on it. We are outraged - considering this potential deal will have significant consequences on our jobs and classrooms.

Monday January 14, 2013
We as UFT members strongly oppose any deals regarding teacher performance evaluations. We believe that they are based on faulty high-stakes testing data and subjective performance reviews.

As union members we expect the UFT to support us in a positive direction rather than settle for a deal that would undermine the integrity of our profession and is not in the best interest of any student.

It is alarming/disheartening that we have been working without a contract for the last four years. Our dissatisfaction with the trends of this current leadership is the reason so many of us are considering voting for an alternative caucus, such as MORE. We demand leaders who support us as professionals and who will negotiate a contract that is in the best interest of New York City teachers and students alike.
100% of chapter signed it.

Jeff Kaufman Vs. Charley Turner and Why You Should be Outside the UFT Deleagate Assembly This Thursday

My distribution list is exclusively dedicated to communicating important information to my chapter leaders. It is not to be use by you to spread you bile. ---Charley Turner, UFT District Rep, Brooklyn HS to Jeff Kaufman

My chapter and I are with Jeff on this one ...Brooklyn HS CL



I started running this delicious account between Jeff Kaufman, Charlie Turner and other CLs in the Brooklyn HS district. (See Part 1: Jeff Kaufman to UFT on Day of Action: You guys are kidding, right?) Part 3 is coming later.

Read this and tell me how you can stay away from the rally outside the UFT DA this Thursday starting at 3:30 and continuing I hope throughout the meeting as a way to urge the delegates to vote NO. The UFT is telling people there may not be a vote if there is no agreement and then the meeting will focus on actions to counter the expected assault on the union for losing the money. My sense is that it is not in the DNA of Unity to stand up to such an onslaught.

Remember what Peter Goodman said in his blog that compared MORE to the tea party for resisting the eval (Unity Hack Peter Goodman Compares MORE to Tea Party for Opposing Any Deal on Evaluation):
The union must satisfy the membership and the mayor the public at large – especially the print media and the pro-(de)reform factions, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and StudentsFirstNY, the Rhee klaven.
Yes, of course the union must satisfy Rhee and ed deformers ESPECIALLY more than the members (and note how Goodman uses the ed deform term I created -- I won't charge him). So do you think they have the spine to stand up, especially since Randi has at least one foot in their camp?


Better than Tele Nova, here is part 2 where Jeff responds to Turner's email which you can read below his response.
Thanks, Charley for your openness and willingness to engage in debate. Of course Chapter Leaders should only be instructed by one group. You provide a wonderful open forum. That’s why I make sure to attend every meeting. The Delegate Assembly is a sham and you know it. Randi used to use a phony Roberts’ Rules to stop debate; now Mulgrew just rams his crap through. The leaders who chair Delegate Assemblies have no interest in open debate and will do everything in their power to prevent debate and marginalize delegates with an opposing view. They even curtailed members’ right to speak to the Executive Board.

If you honestly believe what I write are rants you are more out of touch than I thought. Who elected you? Who do you represent? When I first became a Chapter Leader we elected District Reps. Randi stopped the practice and you have been beholden to the wrong end of the Union ladder…the top.

Our members cannot be trivialized. Our Chapter Leaders understand what is going on and despite a few that drink the Kool-Aid they actually work in the schools and know how bad it is. You will not be able to silence them any longer.

Best, as always,

Jeff Kaufman

Chapter Leader

Aspirations High School
------
Jeff,

Once again, I am not interested in listening to your rants. I asked you not to use my distribution list for such a purpose and now you have forced me to alter my communication with my chapter leaders. My distribution list is exclusively dedicated to communicating important information to my chapter leaders. It is not to be use by you to spread you bile. The place for debate is on the floor of the delegate assembly and in the blogs that are available for all those interested in reading and expressing their own opinions. I provide is timely information for chapter leaders to help them execute their position effectively and to provide the union’s message to them. Your messages are divisive and your motive is disgusting.

Charley Turner, UFT District Rep
Poor Charley, otherwise known in these parts as a POS, now has to modify how he distributes his Unity propaganda.

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

Weingarten and Sharpton, Perfect Together

Joining him will be Randi Weingarten; Lee Sanders, President of AFCEME; Arlene Holt Baker, of the AFL-CIO and "many more". So here's a supporter of union busting charters being supported by unions. You really can't make this stuff up.

Would MLK support the charter school movement as it creates a dual school system of educational apartheid? And the UFT gave Sharpton 50 Grand (does anyone really think that means social justice unionism?). So whose side are they really on?

This came from a contact in Philadelphia
Norm: Thought you might want to know that the "special guest speaker" at this year's MLK birthday celebration at Independence Mall in Philadelphia on January 19th will be the pro-charter, hedge fund supported Rev. Al Sharpton.




Sunday, January 13, 2013

Unity Hack Peter Goodman Compares MORE to Tea Party for Opposing Any Deal on Evaluation

The opposition party in the union will oppose any settlement... reminiscent of the Tea Party ---The union must satisfy the membership and the mayor the public at large – especially the print media and the pro-(de)reform factions, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and StudentsFirstNY, the Rhee klaven.... Peter Goodman
We DO NOT need to pander to Rhee, Students First or DFER. Our union's responsibility is to it's members --- MORE Classroom teacher, Pat Dobosz, MORE candidate for UFT Exec Bd, elementary division.
Here’s another Yogi Berra…it’s deja vu all over again. I love Unity apologists who work their spin to such a fever pitch the membership must be grateful for losing basic rights of tenure.  --- Jeff Kaufman, MORE candidate for UFT Executive Bd, At-large
Worse than Bloomberg comparing the UFT to the NRA, was this statement by Peter Goodman, long-time mouthpiece for the Unity Caucus, a guy who will find a way to justify anything the leadership decides on.

Here is the complete paragraph from his Unity shill blog masquerading as a neutral commentator.
The opposition party in the union will oppose any settlement; they want to use the teacher evaluation issue as the key plank in the upcoming union elections. They argue, “Don’t settle, allow the State to cut $250 million, stand up, reverse the law, and consider a strike.” Of course cutting $250 million could lead to layoffs for union members, the extremely popular governor could sponsor, and undoubtedly pass anti-union bills, i.e., eliminating seniority requirements, and perhaps going after existing pension tiers, no matter, appeal to the frustrated and angry in the upcoming election – reminiscent of the Tea Party who would rather see the nation default on its debts and tumble into a depression than to act in a bipartisan fashion.
 James Eterno smacked Goodman in a comment:
So it’s the worst thing in the world for Mayor Bloomberg to say the UFT is like the NRA but it’s just fine to compare those who oppose Mulgrew’s appeasement policies (the Movement of Rank and File Educators MORE) to the tea party when nothing could be further from the truth.
As did Jeff Kaufman:
And now we are Teabaggers because the whole system will cave if we stand up for our rights. Shame on you.
 Oh, don't worry Jeff, he has no shame.

And this point in the Goodman piece indicates one of the roots at what is wrong with Goodman and the UFT/Unity leadership:
The union must satisfy the membership and the mayor the public at large – especially the print media and the pro-(de)reform factions, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and StudentsFirstNY, the Rhee klaven.

Note, "especially" satisfy Rhee etc with the membership being an also ran, which in Goodman's list is an also ran.

Pat Dobosz, a MORE member responded:
We DO NOT need to pander to Rhee, Students First or DFER. Our union's responsibility is to it's members, especially the teachers right now who are going to be creamed by this evaluation system as the DOE wants principals to use it; to our students who will suffer under the testing regime that is coming into play with Common Core and Danielson. That $250 million isn't going to see the inside of a classroom, let alone the inside of a school building. And now Goodman is turning on fellow teachers comparing us to the Tea Party. What the h----------- does he care! He's retired, not affected by any of this and has been allowed to be a mouthpiece for the union all year. I would like to hear what our "elected leaders" (Mulgrew, Mendel, Robert Astrowsky, Karen Alford, Melvyn Aaronson etc.) have to say. Why are they allowing this hack to speak for them? Pretty cowardly tactic if you ask me. 

But who am I? Just a teacher.
Then there is this idea from Goodman:
Both sides, the union and the mayor, and his proxies, have to satisfy the requirements of the law.
A law the union helped craft and support -- the UFT is like the guy who kills his parents and pleads for mercy on the grounds he is an orphan.

Hey Peter, how has your support for the 2005 contract worked out? And your support for closing schools, including your role in the closing of my alma mater, Thomas Jefferson HS in East NY. How has the replacement by 4 failing schools, some chaotic, worked out?

Note that Goodman singularizes "the opposition" and is talking about MORE, and not talking about New Action, the Unity house opposition which will take a "sort of" position on the evaluation deal but not strong enough to get Unity angry at it enough to throw them off the Executive Board. New Action will present itself in the election as the "responsible" opposition that will act in a bipartisan fashion. How as the decade old deal with Unity worked out for New Action in terms of gaining support? Their percentage of the vote has dropped from the mid twenties and the ability to win the high school exec bd seats on their own to 10% at most and a reliance on Unity support to win any exec bd seats.

James Eterno, MORE candidate for UFT Exec Bd, High School Division, left a comment:
  1. So it’s the worst thing in the world for Mayor Bloomberg to say the UFT is like the NRA but it’s just fine to compare those who oppose Mulgrew’s appeasement policies (the Movement of Rank and File Educators MORE) to the tea party when nothing could be further from the truth.
    Is your Unity Caucus so afraid to stand up to a lame duck mayor and a governor who has designs on the White House? You are fully aware the $250 million increase in state aid we would lose if there is no evaluation agreement is not like defaulting on the national debt and would not cause great difficulty in the school system. While the money is nothing to sneeze at, it could easily be absorbed and the UFT could expose much more than $250 million of waste within the system.
    Your post ignores some of what the new evaluation system mandates. We already know the new law requires more observations for veteran teachers than the current system. More importantly, the burden of proof in incompetence 3020A hearings is shifting from the Board of Education to the teacher. That will effectively end tenure as we know it.
    The concessionary unionism that your Unity Caucus practices is the real problem. It brought us the 2005 disaster of a contract that created the Absent Teacher Reserve pool along with other horrible givebacks. Unity Caucus created the huge mess with closing schools when they agreed to eliminate preferred placement for members when a school is closed back in that agreement. People from Unity ran around selling that pile of junk as a great victory.
    Then, in 2010 your caucus inexplicably backed the change in the law to allow our ratings to be based in part on value added, otherwise known as junk science, to get your hands on some race to the top pennies. Some states didn’t want the race to the top money which is a drop in the education budget bucket. Now you are running around telling us not to worry again because this evaluation system is basically unworkable.
    Some poor teacher, maybe me, will get fired and have to go to court and you say we need not worry because “If the expert community, including the organization that designed the NYS system, has no confidence that VAM scores should VAM be used to dismiss teachers? I wonder how an arbitrator or a court would rule.” I would rather not find out and use what the experts say to try to change the law now particularly since it appears we are giving in on evaluations without getting a contract. The law ties the two together (although it doesn’t mandate it); the union in Yonkers just used the evaluation deadline to secure a contract.
    Your piece then states, “When the economy improves, new job opportunities are created, will candidates line up to teach? I doubt it.” Isn’t the job of a union to improve our salary and working conditions? We’re not here to accept concessions, knowing they won’t work, and maybe fix things later. Is that your strategy?
    Didn’t UFT/NYSUT candidates do quite well in the recent election? Why can’t we take a stand? Are you afraid of Andrew Cuomo? Most people feel he has presidential aspirations. Isn’t he a Democrat? Taking on unions, particularly teacher unions, may play well in a Republican primary but not a Democratic primary.
    I don’t advocate a strike at this point because we are totally unprepared but Chicago proved in 2012 that fighting back is better than just giving in. We need a different kind of union that fiercely defends our rights and the rights of students not to be test taking machines.
    Where have you gone Charlie Cogen, Roger Parente and David Seldon? 

    And Jeff Kaufman, edlawfaqs
    Here’s another Yogi Berra…it’s deja vu all over again. I love Unity apologists who work their spin to such a fever pitch the membership must be grateful for losing basic rights of tenure. “The freedom to transfer to any school” didn’t the freedom to apply to any school and get rejected over lower paid entry teachers. “ATRs keep their pay” didn’t say how they would be harassed and forced to migrate throughout districts giving up their rights to be teachers. And now we are Teabaggers because the whole system will cave if we stand up for our rights. Shame on you.
Here is another response in a comment left by MORE member Sean Ahern, candidate for Exec Bd on Goodman's blog.
I see no simple or painless way out of the endless concessionary bargaining strategy that has been followed by the Unity caucus leadership for the past 40 years but this is the issue at hand and ridiculing the messengers of this fundamental fact is a disservice to teacher unionism and the communities we serve.

The UFT under the leadership of the Unity Caucus has amassed considerable assets and supports a large staff under the prohibitions of the Taylor Law but the current membership, the majority of whom will never make it to top pay or retirement, have lost considerable ground and stand to loose more. Compare the median teacher salary adjusted for inflation between 1974 and 2013. Compare the number of years on the job of the average teacher now with that of 40 years ago. There are facts that will not disappear however inconvenient they may be to supporters of concessionary bargaining. The conversation within the UFT should be about raising awareness of the challenges we face and unifying the membership around credible lines of defense of both learning and working conditions. Instead we are facing the prospect of a bum rush, a stampede engineered by our own leadership. This is the space in which the opposition dares to pose an alternative.

Bloomberg was granted dictatorial control over the school system (with Randi Weingarten’s approval) and he ran it for years when the city’s revenue stream was robust before the crash. What are the facts?

School closings and charter co locations over the expressed will of the PA, SLT, CEC, UFT C/L, City Council members in the affected districts which are disproportionately Black, Latino and working class. The UFT can put its considerable resources to work in building a city wide, if not nationwide resistance to the corporate education reformers but instead our leaders once again appear ready to cave in.
Look for Unity and New Action election literature following Goodman's line of attack.