Shaking the UFT/Unity Tree

The mantra: One school at a time.

At MORE UFT Presidential candidate Julie Cavangh's school, PS 15 in Red Hook, almost the entire staff signed the letter below. And the number of people from PS 15 running on the MORE slate in the UFT elections keeps growing.

"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 and 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."

Given that Julie is in the school a letter like this is not all that surprising --- we find that wherever MORE has strong people representing the caucus, the staff often lines up with them. Just as where there are strong Unity people the staff often lines up with them.

The issue is what is happening in schools around the city? A great post a few days ago from Reality Based Educator at Perdido St. School gave us an idea.

Anger At The UFT Leadership Is Building In The Rank And File

The UFT leadership are a smug bunch.
They've been in power for a long time and the swagger they exhibit whenever they deign to come and talk to the rank and file makes me think that they think they're going to be in power for a lot longer.
Now I wouldn't bet against the Unity caucus staying in power in perpetuity or at least until the neo-liberals complete their privatization job on the NYC public school system, but I got an eye-opening look into something this week that I haven't seen much of in my 12 years as a UFT member - genuine outrage, anger and frustration aimed at the UFT leadership.
I graded Regents exams this week with teachers from a dozen different schools around Manhattan.
Many of them expressed outrage over the DOE, anger at Bloomberg and Walcott, and frustration over the latest ed deforms that are wreaking havoc across the system.
But there was also a lot of fire and brimstone aimed at Mulgrew and the UFT leadership for their collaboration with the deform movement and the DOE.

It seems that sending teachers to mark regents out of their schools and into shared space with other schools often turned into gripe sessions.

One teacher said, as we were talking about all the ways the UFT has caved to Bloomberg and the DOE since the infamous 2005 contract, "I can't think of one thing that they've really said no too that ended up really being no."
And it's true - they say there's too much emphasis on high stakes testing, but then they help develop the APPR system; they give the okay on the Teacher Data Reports with the assurance that the numbers will never see the light of day in public and when the DOE decides to publish them in the media, they half-heartedly fight that with ineffective lawsuits and the TDR's end up in the papers with names attached.
One teacher, now working in high school but then working in a middle school said "I can't tell you how angry that made me, when they published the Teacher Data Reports - angry at Bloomberg for doing it and angry at the union for not stopping him from doing it."
Someone else told a story about working in one of the SIG schools and how unhelpful and indeed toxic the union people were, almost as unhelpful and toxic as the DOE and network people were during the turnaround battles.
"All they wanted to do was sell us on the Danielson rubric and tell us how great it was.  But we were telling them that the administration was using it as a weapon against us and they didn't want to hear it.  They only wanted to hear how great the Danielson rubric was."
Someone else concurred.  "Yeah, the union people never really want to hear from you.  They want you to listen to them, not the other way around.  And that makes me really, really angry.  Why am I paying union dues?  What am I getting out of this?"
Someone said "Dental insurance?"
And everybody laughed. "Yeah - and shitty dental insurance at that!"

Someone else complained about all the perks the core UFT people get and wanted to know why they were getting those when so many rank and file members are fighting for their jobs. 

But to hear this same anger, outrage and frustration toward the union leadership in person from a whole swath of people from a dozen different schools was very informative for me. It means that the swaggering bullies in the UFT leadership had better watch out.

There is a huge amount of anger, outrage and frustration out there already and we haven't even gotten the APPR system yet with the official use of the 57 page Danielson rubric which you had better do well on or you're "I-Rated," and the Student Learning Objectives that require 170 folders with a dozen pieces of Common Core work graded per semester which you also had better do well on or you're "I-Rated," and the value added measurements based upon test scores which you had better show growth on or you're "I-Rated," and the additional meetings and paperwork that are going to come as a result of the APPR system.
Just wait until that stuff comes to fruition.

Yes, just wait. I always say that it is not in the DNA or in the guts of Unity leaders to really lead a fight back to save public education. To really do that you need a democratic union that would give the members a voice and the UFT cannot do that or risk losing even a share of their privileges. Did you know that even if MORE won a majority of the teacher vote in elem, ms and hs they would only get 23 out of 101 seats on the UFT Exec Bd? That is almost astounding to think of but they have so structured things to assure they can keep power. Don't get me wrong -- if this were ever to happen it would be cataclysmic and shake the teacher union movement to its roots.

RBE speculates on the future.

Now I hear this kind of anger, outrage and frustration toward the union leadership in the blogosphere all the time and I express this kind of anger, outrage and frustration myself toward the union leadership on this blog all the time.

My sense is that Mulgrew and his Unity hacks think they can bullshit their way through the APPR fallout just the way they have bullshitted their way through the odious '05 contract and the '07 extension to that, just the way they bullshitted their way through all the closings and the turnarounds, the TDR reports and the naming of names in the papers, and now the evaluation negotiations.

Experience says the UFT leadership are correct - they will be able to bullshit their way through APPR no matter how bad it is and maintain their power and privileges and double pensions.

But the anger, outrage and frustration I saw at the grading sessions this week leads me to believe that the UFT leadership will have a harder time bullshitting their way through the APPR fallout than they have over the other stuff in the past.

First, because all this stuff has built up - the odious '05 contract, the TDR's, the school closures, the co-location fights, the increase in "U-Ratings," the SIG mess, the Leadership Academy principals and the horror that is the ATR pool.  There is a lot in the pit already and when the APPR fallout hits, the pit is going to be close to overflowing.

And second, because we are now seeing anger, outrage and frustration aimed at the UFT leadership from teachers who used to be pretty apolitical folk but have found themselves politicized by the crimes perpetrated on them by the Tweedies that the UFT either ignored or couldn't do anything about.

Somebody mentioned MORE today during this discussion (not me, btw) and everybody at the table said they would be open to hearing from someone new, someone who would be willing to stand up for teachers rather than sell them out, somebody who would be more interested in political issues that mean something to teachers rather than just public relations opportunities to aggrandize themselves and further their own careers.

I'm not naive enough to think the Unity people won't win this coming election - Mulgrew will probably win another overwhelming "victory" that will put a smirk on his face and the double "g's" in his swagger.

But the same person who mentioned MORE at the grading session mentioned how Julie Cavanagh is an appealing leader who really could give Mulgrew a run for his money in the future.

I think that is right with one qualification - the future is farther off than this next UFT election.

We haven't hit bottom yet in the NYC system.

There is more horror to come, as Bloomberg attempts to go out causing as much chaos and destruction as he can.

And the state has some horrors up its sleeve too with APPR and the VAM.

I think after a year or two of that kind of devastation, the anger, outrage and frustration at the smug, swaggering Unity guys is going to be at a fever pitch and that will give some new blood - hopefully MORE - a real opening to do to Unity what CORE did to the entrenched CTU leadership.

If that happens, I will remember what I heard today from those teachers from a dozen different schools as they told their Tweed horror stories. 

I hope RBE is right but I have been so long at this game and always see the UFT leadership manage to send out its hordes to bullshit its way through these type of times. I saw it when the 95 contract was turned down and in the battle over the 2005 contract. The initial enthusisasm when ICE formed in late 2003 certainly fooled me. But maybe we messed it up. And given the way things move and the fact that we are 8 years behind the Chicago story which began in 1995, maybe we are on course. But unless MORE builds an effective organization all will be for naught. The power vacuum in the schools is what allows Unity to control. Challenge that and the game changes.

That is why I left this comment on Perdido St.

I can't stress enough how important it would be to get names and schools and recruit people to hand out MORE election lit to break the Unity monopoly.

Our best chance to win seats on the Ex Bd is in the high schools where Unity and New Action team up against MORE. 15,000 HS teachers did not vote in the last election. If we can get out this vote for MORE we can win at least a share of the Exec Bd but we need a mass of people to reach into every high school.

Email me offline with any names and schools and contact info. The election starts on Feb. 6.

I got some responses from this comment, including one from a large high school.

Norm,
Been following you as well as other bloggers for a long time. I teach at ---- High School where I would say the overwhelming majority of teachers have very little knowledge to what is happening with the new evaluation or any other aspect of ed deform. I would be interested in distributing any literature about MORE personally to as many teachers as possible in my school.

 So, this teacher right now is interested in leveling the playing field and informing teachers who are not really aware. Not be an active MORE person in a school that seems to be Unity controlled. In a follow-up conversation I was told that they never heard of Unity or MORE and have little knowledge of the kind of issues you read about every day on the blogs. This reader is educated due to the blogs and wants to share with the staff. A very good start.  To challenge Unity we need MORE --an active person who challenges the Unity line.

If RBE is right, that day is coming as conditions worsen and the UFT leaders flail helplessly, trying to pass the blame and telling people let's just wait out the mayor -- Beat Lhota -- in 2021.

 Here are some more comments from the blog:

Our school's DA will be voting down any new evaluation deal that uses flawed data and utilizes DOE "gotcha" hit squad tactics. Also, every teacher in my small school will be voting MORE. (I have personally spoke to each and every teacher and they are fuming mad at Mulgrew.

Reply

Replies

reality-based educatorJanuary 26, 2013 at 9:39 AM
That's great to hear - We're trying to do the same in my school. And I certainly saw that this week at Regents grading.

Susan Ohanian lays bare the roots of ed deform going back to the Clintons

History counts my chickadees, so if you want to understand the roots of ed deform read this entirely through. Susan doesn't get into the role Shanker and the union played in supporting so much of this as outlined in the Kahlenberg bio - which Kahlenberg paints as a good thing --- no wonder both the UFT/AFT and Broad backed the book. Thus when people accuse Randi of changing the direction of the union and that Shanker would roll over, they are wrong. Randi just continued the line with refinements that Shanker laid down.

I met Susan when I and John Lawhead went down to Birmingham Al for a conference Susan helped organize to fight NCLB and those few days with a great crew of activists were very important in my development. I didn't see Susan again until SOS 2011 in DC and hope to see her on her next visit for a speaking engagement on May 4.

Goals 2000: What's in a Name?
More than a decade after President Bush the Elder and the nation's governors adopted goals for education for the year 2000,Phi Delta Kappan asked me to write a cover story on what had resulted. I said it was time to ask, Whose good is being served? Now, in this era of Obama and Bill Gates, Race to the Top and the Common Core, it's useful to take a look at what drove Goals 2000. . . and how it has affected our present condition. Many of the players haven't changed, and although the current administration is more ruthless about it, neither have the goals.
by Susan Ohanian

GEORGE BUSH the Elder called it America 2000. Bill Clinton calls it Goals 2000. I call it an alphabet soup of bureaucratic interference in the lives of children, and I say to hell with it: CEI, CIM, NAEP, NAGB, NASDC, NBPTS, NCEE, NCEST, NEGP, NESIC, NSP, NTFEEG, OBE, OERI, OLT, SCANS, STW, TFTP, TIMSS, TSWE, and more. Much, much more. I admit that NCEST is my favorite acronym. Not because I ever remember what it stands for, but because the way you pronounce it suggests the intertwined relationships of the fiscal opportunists and ideologues promoting Goals 2000.
Goals 2000 is, of course, the offspring of A Nation at Risk, a teacher- and school-bashing report representing not so much an evaluation of pedagogical practices and student achievement as a Zeitgeist of the early 1980s. I wonder what Goals 2000 says about our current ethos -- as we cheerfully, nay, avidly, look forward to a new age when leaders across the country will echo New York's commissioner of education, Richard Mills, in insisting that subjecting fourth-graders to a test they can't pass is a "good strategy." What can we say about an era that coins the term "raising the bar" to describe the way it thinks young children should be treated?
Writing in these pages exactly 15 years ago, I described the cheap rhetoric emanating from the corporate and political remittance men and their band of consulting mercenaries as being akin to "a nasty swarm of bloodsucking mosquitoes. Their bites may not kill, but they sure don't help us do our job."1 At that time, operating from a third-grade teacher's realpolitik of "This, too, will pass," I shrugged off the documents as just so much ugly rhetoric. I didn't meet one teacher in a hundred who even bothered to read the offal. Everybody knew that being a teacher meant keeping your focus on children and not allowing yourself to be distracted by tiddly-pom.

Times have changed. This time, we can't afford to shrug off the assaults on public education in general and on children in particular as just one more round of pricks from parvenu opportunists looking for easy, vulnerable targets. (Why don't CEOs ever take out after the members of Congress the way they do teachers? Why don't members of Congress ever take out after CEOs the way they do teachers?) We must not be lulled by the fact that as they co-opt the jargon of our trade for their own purposes, the rhetoric of the corporate/politico connivers has cooled. I, for one, don't find much comfort in being called an incompetent in need of scripted lessons rather than a cancer on the nation's landscape. This time, the sharp talons of the vultures dig much deeper. Before, they just annoyed us; this time, they're sucking our blood. This time, they can kill us.

By the time Congress passed President Clinton's Goals 2000: Educate America Act in March 1994, the infrastructure was already in place. Take a look at Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools, by Louis Gerstner, Jr., chairman and CEO of IBM (with Roger Semerad, Denis Doyle, and William Johnston).2 The fact that it was published within a month of the passage of Goals 2000 is no coincidence. One of the noteworthy features of Goals 2000 is that Gerstner and his cronies got to name the problem as well as define the solution: claiming the need for choice, competition, and technology in the schools; defining students as human capital and the teaching/learning compact as a "protected monopoly" offering "goods and services"; describing the relationship between teachers and the communities they serve as that of "buyers and sellers." Gerstner and company talk about measuring school productivity "with unequivocal yardsticks" (p. 69). They speak of the need for national tests and "absolute standards," insisting that schools must compare themselves to each other the way "Xerox, for example, compares itself to L. L. Bean for inventory control" (p. 70). Now that's a fine notion: teaching as inventory control.

Gerstner and his crew address the big questions of education: "How much do students learn each month . . . ? How great are these learning gains per dollar spent?" (p. 69). They define the business of teaching as "the distribution of information" (p. 155). Functionaries writing state standards quickly warmed to this metaphor. At their April 1997 meeting, members of the California Academic Standards Commission of the state board of education, whose job it was to approve academic standards in the various disciplines, showed a similar fondness for teaching as the delivery of skills: "A fifth-grade teacher would have a firm grasp on what skills and knowledge had been conveyed in grades K-4, and would deliver kids to the next grade ready to continue with the next set of expectations." How many minutes does a fledgling teacher have to be in a real classroom before she realizes that students don't pass by her desk like goods on a conveyor belt? You can teach and teach and teach. You can even teach the California seventh-grade history standards.3 But all your teaching doesn't mean those pesky students are going to learn - or deliver their skills intact to next year's teacher.

Testing, now known as high-stakes testing, is the crucial part of all of this. It gives results that let people in the suburbs know whether their property values are trending up or down in a given year. The testing process works like this: states that may or may not have enough money to buy a textbook for every student and to stock every school with a library and a professional librarian spend megamillions to buy tests made by an anonymous committee that doesn't have a clue about the specific, idiosyncratic needs of the individual, nonstandard children in classrooms across America.

I know, I know, we must work for the greatest good. But maybe it's time that we question whose good is being served when 98% of the schools in a state fail the test. Whose good is being served when educrats buy these tests and base promotion policies on the results because if they don't, they won't get their federal Goals 2000 lucre? Whose good is being served when, instead of denouncing and dismantling high-stakes testing, quisling academics publish books on how to train children to feel better about taking the tests? Whose good is being served when hapless teachers are manipulated into teaching from an impossible canon decreed by the politico/corporate cartel? Members of Congress and executives at IBM can sleep easy, knowing that every seventh-grader in the land will soon be trained to identify William Tindale. (For a reason known only to them and the Almighty, the California Standardistos who wrote this curriculum imperative insist on this third-alternative spelling.)

Read more: http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=404

Teacher Uprising in Seattle: Garfield HS Test Boycott on Democracy Now

I don't want to lose that kind of money on a teacher's salary. But I'm willing to do it. Because that's the right thing to do. And it's also educational for my students to see me standing up for things that are right. --- Garfield HS Teacher

Teachers will not back down in face of Supe threat of 10 day suspension without pay. "Teachers will volunteer their time." This is must see as teacher Jesse Hagopian explains what the boycott is all about.

Here is the summary.

I am writing to share an interview we broadcast on Democracy Now! today regarding the unanimous vote to stop administering widely used standardized MAP tests at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, earlier this month. We are joined by one of these teachers, Jesse Hagopian, alongside a former high school teacher, assistant professor at the University of Washington, and author of "Unequal by Design: High-Stakes Testing and the Standardization of Inequality."

Watch it here: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/29/seattles_teacher_uprising_high_school_faculty

As you may already know, these teachers boycotting are calling these standardized tests wasteful and unfairly used to grade their performance - they are now facing threats of 10-day suspension without pay if they continue their boycott. However, teachers are not going to back down. Mallory Clarke, who teaches reading at Garfield High School, states, "I don't want to be away from my students for that length of time. I don't want to lose that kind of money on a teacher's salary. But I'm willing to do it. Because that's the right thing to do. And it's also educational for my students to see me standing up for things that are right."

Please feel free to share our report today by posting on your website, blog, Twitter and Facebook page. I have provided the link and video embed code below. The complete transcript will be posted soon on our website.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to speak more with you about this issue and/or our organization.

My best,
Susanna Choe
Social Media and Online Outreach Intern
Democracy Now!

***********

Search you tube and check out these videos:

Seattle Teachers' Boycott of High Stakes Tests Spreads
by paulgoodnews•5 days ago•8 views
Educators nationwide support growing Seattle teacher boycott of high stakes tests
NEW
3:47 
Seattle Teachers Boycott Standardized Test
by MOXNEWSd0tC0M•2 weeks ago•499 views
January 13, 2013 CNN MOXNews.com
4:10 
MAP Test Boycott Rally in Seattle, Wash. - Jan. 23, 2013
by NEAABS•4 days ago•289 views
National Education Association (NEA) members in Seattle, Wash., held a rally on Wednesday, January 23, 2012, to address their ...
NEW
44:14 
MAP boycott press conference 1/21/2013
by Eric Muhs•1 week ago•64 views
A press conference provides updates on the spread of the MAP test boycott started by Garfield High School teachers, and now ...
NEW
6:56 
Corporations wants students to be cogs in their profit machine...
by TheBigPictureRT•1 week ago•489 views
Academic Dean & Testing Coordinator-Garfield High School in Seattle, WA joins Thom Hartmann. Teachers in Seattle are fed up ...
HD

Susan Ohanian: The best rebuttal of the Common Core. The BEST.

Susan has a plethora of common core critiques. Now, not being directly involved in teaching anymore, I really don't pay much attention to the details of common core. "So why are you opposed," I am often asked? Because of the people and orgs who are supporting it: Every ed deformer and the UFT/AFT. When Tweed and the UFT are on the same side, watch out.

Susan also highlights an article by MORE candidate for UFT Secretary Brian Jones:

Teaching By the Numbers
Brian Jones

2013-01-22
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1068

New York City teacher Brian Jones explains  that standardized testing has more to do with controlling teachers than it does with improving learning.

Other bloggers like Ravitch and RBE have some CC pieces today:

• Perdido Street School

  How Damaging Will Common Core Be To Young Children?
  
• 
  Diane Ravitch's blog

  Special Education Teacher on Common Core

Here is a batch of Susan's CC stuff (Updated):

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A Weapon of Mass Distraction
Susan Ohanian with letter by Stephen Krashen
blog
2013-01-18
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=409

Here's a little quiz on the Common Core posted at the Christian Science Monitor.



Their side is winning.

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Sense of Urgency
L2Gura
Stories from School: Practice Meets Policy blog
2013-01-24
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=408

This teacher presents very clearly the harm Common Core rigor is doing to first graders--and then presents the only answer

 

Common Core State (sic) Standards: An Example of Data-less Decision Making
 Christopher H. Tienken
AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice
2011-01-01 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=400

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The Common Core State (sic) Standards Update on the Ten Commandments Susan Ohanian
blog
2013-01-25 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=406
Here's an update on the 10 Commandments.

------------------- Playtime's over, kindergartners: Standards Stressing Kids Out Susan Edelman
New York Post
2013-01-27 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=407
The Common Core Standards are making kindergartners cry. Small wonder.

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Where Bill Gates Got the Idea to Call CCSS 'State' Standards http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=706

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The Final Word on the Common Core http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=842

NON CC FROM SUSAN BELOW

Steve Krashen and I have a Test Your Public Ed Savvy quiz over at The Progressive. Please pass it on. The Progressive gives us a chance at talking to a different audience
http://www.progressive.org/test-your-public-ed-savvy
 
I have reprised my cover story for Phi Delta Kappan Goals 2000: What's in a Name? because it offers a quite thorough look at what brought us to where we are now. I am struck by how similar the language of ed reform is. I urge you to read this, definitely proof of that warning: Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it.
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=404
I've overloaded you with grim news. Don't miss the Good News: Bob Gliner's film is coming to PBS: Schools That Change Communities. We should rally around this film. It changes the conversation. http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=799
Plus some cartoons:
Why Isn't That Ever On the Test? http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=844
Improving on Reading Tests http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=843

Follow the Money Trail on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CCSS Funding http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=707
Whew!
Susan
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Goals 2000: What's in a Name? Susan Ohanian
Phi Delta Kappan
2013-01-26 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=404
I wrote this piece in 2000 and even I am surprised by how very depressingly current it still is. It is actually informative about how we got to where we are today.
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ASCD  Poll About Arts as Handmaidens of Common Core Subjects Susan Ohanian
blog
2012-01-24 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=401
One more attempt to reduce the important of the arts.

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Parents Beware! Teachers Had Better Wake Up Too Susan Ohanian with extensive quotes from 2 Parent
Daily Censored
2012-01-22 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=399
This is the massive data system funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will put your students' data up to the highest bidder and eat you alive. Why hasn't your union told you about any of this?

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To the editor Susan Ohanian
2012-01-23 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1514
Sarcasm is undoubtedly a mistake in letters to the editor, but I like the letter.
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To the editor
Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus, USC
Education Week
2012-01-23 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1514
GREAT letter.
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Go Team! Three Cheers!
Robert Bligh
2012-01-25 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1498
Go, Nebraska gadfly and true school reformer, Robert Bligh!
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Schools That Change Communities Film Coming to PBS Susan Ohanian
0000-00-00 http://susanohanian.org/show_yahoo.php?id=799
Schools That Change Communities

, a one hour documentary about schools that use their communities as classrooms has begun airing on many public broadcasting system stations across the country. Watch it. Order it for your school board and PTA.
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Order the CD of the resistance:
"No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy."
To order online (and hear samples from the songs) http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dhbdrake4
Other orders: Send $15 to Susan Ohanian
P. O. Box 26
Charlotte, VT 05445

 By the way, Susan is coming into town on May 4 to speak at a high stakes testing conference. I will keep you posted.

How is Danielson Being Used at Your School? MORE Calls for Reports From the Field

Ah, that's it! Monkeys are using the framework. The monkeys in question are the Bloomberg-era administrators who have spent no more than three years in an actual classroom. A framework crafted by a non-educator to be used by non-educators in order to judge actual educators. This makes perfect sense in the crazyland that is the NYC DOE. This is part and parcel of the deskilling of education. Not only are teachers in danger of being deskilled by being subject to Danielson but principals now are being deskilled by mindlessly ticking off a checklist. It seems as if many administrators are embracing this deskilling. -- Assailed Teacher

And UFT and DOE agree on Danielson (see below).

More from Assailed Teacher:

And never forget who helped to bring Danielson into our schools. It was our union and their Unity leadership who allowed Danielson to be used in 33 "struggling schools". When administrators in other schools started using it, the union cried and complained. Why did they complain? When you open the window you shouldn't be annoyed when flies get in.

From the MORE Blog

Calling All Teachers!

Help us file our “Reports From the Field” on MORE’s blog next week!

How is Danielson being used at your school? On your colleagues? On you?

We are hearing alarming reports about how Danielson is being used against our colleagues all across the city. While we anticipated this occurring, we’re still very concerned with what we are hearing. We are interested in hearing from you about how you have experienced the Danielson Framework being used in your classroom or your school.

Send us you testimonials! Help us make your experiences as public as possible! Click here to send us your testimonial. It will only take a moment and the experience you share can help colleagues all across the city.

Here is one "testimonial" I just received.

Not only is Danielson being used against teachers, so is the faux reading and writing program from Teachers College. Elementary teachers are slaves to this HORRIBLE excuse for a reading and writing program that has left our students ILLITERATE. Then we are BLAMED when our students do not succeed.

I recently made a presentation. People were genuinely unaware of the horrors of what's been going on in our schools. I brought up how NYC public schools for the most part DO NOT have curricula for reading, writing and math. And completely unqualified admin have been hired who either didn't know or didn't care of the harm being inflicted

But the fact is that inept admins were hired in order to remove coherent curriculum from our schools, then USE Danielson and TC and even that awful Everyday Math program to target teachers. UFT has not exposed this. But THIS is at the heart of the matter in my opinion. UFT looking the other way while teachers are being stripped of their ability to teach effectively. A total set up for failure for both students and teachers.

Talk about this and I believe you will really reach all the teachers.

Teachers are tired of not being able to teach.

Most of us (above age 30) at elementary level are sick about this. These kids are not being educated!!!! No content is ever taught. Kids learn it on their own through independent reading or partner work.

Then you have a wretch like my principal claiming she "loves" the TC "philosophy". BULL SHIT - she loves that there are so many avenues she can use to target a teacher since it's so lacking.

The UFT and DOE has just come to a deal regarding the use of the Danielson framework for observations prior to an agreement over evaluations. There doesn't seem to be anything new here but the understanding between the two parties is a bit more formalized now. Of course, any deal on evaluations will supersede this. Before you read the email sent out by the UFT, note this comment from a MORE chapter leader which indicates what total bullshit the UFT tosses at people:

No 6 in the Stip [See jpg below]. says that no reference to Danielson is allowed in formal obs. YET, when an AP wrote up an post ob of a member of mine and gave her a U, the post ob included cut and paste sentences from the Danielson rubric. The UFT said they will NOT pursue my grievance for this member to Step 2. 

Why?

Why indeed? Good question to ask your (formerly) friendly District Reps when they visit.

Dear Colleagues,

 

Attached is a copy of an agreement between the UFT and the DOE concerning the use of the Danielson rubric for both pilot schools and non-pilot schools.

 

This stipulation was a result of an Improper Practices Charge brought to PERB against the DOE.

 

I will summarize:

 

      1. For all schools, pilot or not, Danielson ratings of Highly Effective, Effective, Developing or Ineffective (known as HEDI) cannot be used or linked to any official rating, tenure determination or disciplinary proceeding.

 

    2. No observation for pilot or non-pilot school can be placed in the official file using the HEDI rating scale.

 

    3. Classroom observations for the file cannot include any reference to Danielson's rubric or a HEDI Rating.

 

    4. For pilot schools, no observation using the Danielson rubric can be placed in a teachers official file.

 

    5. For non-pilot schools, observations reports cannot contain verbatim language of any Danielson rubric or the language of the Danielson's Framework for Teaching or any HEDI rating. (In other words, it shouldn't be used at all!)

The stipulation outlines a complaint process that is a little different than our regular grievance process.  [ISN'T THIS A CHANGE IN THE CONTRACT THAT SHOULD BE VOTED ON BY THE MEMBERS?] So, read it carefully and share this information with your members.

 

Please make sure that you bring this document to the attention of your principal, especially the ones that insist on seeing everything in writing.

Parents Support MORE Too

Yes Virginia, building a social justice caucus aligned with parents is part of the game plan. MORE is forging parent and even college student liaison groups -- there was quite a nice crew at the MORE meeting on Saturday -- the MORE counterforce to the phony no-nothing Student First anti-teacher crew from Columbia. Here is a great letter sent out from parent activist Janine Sopp.

Dear Parents, Teachers and Friends,

You may already know about the Movement of Rank and File Educators, a new caucus of progressive educators who will be running in the 2013 UFT elections. As a parent working on issues of high stakes testing, increasing class sizes, charter school invasions and budget cuts, it thrills me to see another option and new energy stir within the teachers in our schools. Watching the events unfold in Chicago a few months ago and now in Seattle, our teachers can make a tremendous difference in changing the landscape of our public schools, especially in the face of those who seek to create systems that will unfairly rate our teachers, our schools and our children.

I am reaching out to see who would be willing to distribute the MORE leaflet in your school, placing them in the mailboxes of mailboxes of teachers, paras, secretaries, guidance counselors and anyone else who might like to know about this. Some of you are connected to a larger network and in this case could be very helpful to this grassroots effort to share this information. Please consider helping by distributing to your contacts. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do and would help get the word out with this very important opportunity. Simply email me back with the school(s) you are connected to and I will find out if this school is in need of a distributor. I will find the best way to get the leaflets to you. Your support is greatly appreciated. Feel free to visit MORE's website to learn more, and help spread the word, morecaucusnyc.org/.

Thanks and hope to see you soon. Below, the specifics from MORE.
Janine


Dear friends,

The Movement of Rank and File Educators is running in the 2013 UFT elections. We are very excited about our prospects but our task ahead is daunting. We need your help! Can you help us distribute campaign literature in schools in Brooklyn? It will help us if you can put our campaign literature in the mailboxes in your school. It will help even more if you can put campaign literature in other schools nearby. Finally, if you can get friends or co-workers to help us that will be a great help too!

If you are able to help please reply to this email. If you know of specific schools to which you can get campaign literature please let me know. If you just know of a zip code or district within which you can help let me know that and I'll let you know which schools we still need covered.

Thanks again,

Kit Wainer
KitWainer@yahoo.com

Hey Bud, Wanna Go to a Unity Caucus Meeting?

They need to discuss the elections and how to keep MORE info out of their schools. People should go and stand outside and ask these people why they support junk science. This is right after the Feb. 6 DA. So they will use this meeting to get their petitions signed. Someone should go and stand outside and do a head count to see just how many slugs there are. I'd go but would probably be shot.

One interesting point here is that Unity Caucus meetings timed to follow DAs often bring out a high number of Unity people to the DAs. Is there any connection to a possible agreement that will be "sprung" on people, leaving the opposition little time to prepare a response? 

Unity member,

There will be a general meeting of Unity Caucus on Wednesday, February 6th beginning at 6:30PM. We will meet at:

Fashion Industries High School, 225 West 24th Street, NYC, between 7th and 8th Avenues.

We need to discuss the general UFT elections taking place this spring. It's important that everyone is in attendance.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Fraternally,

LeRoy

LeRoy Barr, Chair

Obama's Education Legacy: The Worst President Ever?

The end of almost 200 years of public education, the end of the concept of the neighborhood school, the promotion of charters no matter how crooked and self-serving, the destruction of teaching of a profession, the wipe out of teacher unions which even with their problems have often been the major bulwark defending schools and the students in them, the enormous waste of public monies into bogus reforms... we can go on -- and feel free to add on.

With so much talk about Obama's legacy and his concern with what it will be one day -- and it may take a decade for the full impact to be felt --- some honest journalist/historian will take a look back and judge Obama very harshly and his "legacy" will pay a big price. Good for him.

Now people like Mark Naison think in the 2nd term the worm may be turning as Obama begins to realize his ed policies are turning into a disaster----

There is now major push back against Obama Administration Education policies on four fronts-School Closings, High Stakes Testing, Teacher Evaluations, and Favorable Treatment of Charter Schools. There are small signs the Administration is listening- among them Secretary of Education's silence and or neutrality during the Chicago Teachers Strike and the current teacher rebellion against the MAP test in Seattle. Keep the pressure up! Participate in local protests against these policies, sign relevant petitions, and if you can, come to Occupy DOE 2.0 in Washington April 4-7
http://www.facebook.com/events/298659770235984/?fref=ts

I'm not so sure given Obama's insulation from outside voices. Here is an interesting article on Lincoln’s School of Management from Sunday's NY Times business section where we can gleam both sides -- that Obama will not veer or that he will turn course --- think Lincoln's racist views on slavery where he wanted to export all people of color and even at one point before the Civil War broke out offered the South a deal where they could keep their slaves for 40 years until 1900 -- really horrifying if you think about it.

as President Obama embarks on a new term and business leaders struggle to keep pace with a rapidly changing global economy, the lessons of Lincoln seem as fresh as ever. They demonstrate the importance of resilience, forbearance, emotional intelligence, thoughtful listening and the consideration of all sides of an argument. They also show the value of staying true to a larger mission.

how he gathered advice and information from a wide range of people, including those who did not agree with him. This is important in building a business because you have to listen to customers, employees, suppliers and investors, including those who are critical of what you are doing.

 Which will Obama be? The Lincoln who listened to all sides and was able to modify his views on slavery or the Lincoln who didn't vary from his longer vision and while listening sticks to where he was coming from?

The full article is below.

COME TO TWEED ON TUESDAY TO SUPPORT STRIKING BUS DRIVERS

ATU Local 1181 is still on strike and they need our support.

The picketing at Tweed Courthouse/DOE Headquarters has been extended and the strikers will be out there next week from 8:30 am-5:30 pm.

Come out on Tuesday, Jan. 29  and walk the picket line with the Bus Drivers, Matrons and Mechanics as they demand job security for the workers and  safety for the students as they ride the buses to and from school! The Mayor would like to break their union just as he is working hard to do the same to ours!

When: Tuesday, Jan. 29

Where: Department Education, 52 Chambers Street

Subways: City Hall-N, Chambers- J,Z,  Brooklyn Bridge- 4,5,6,  Park Place- 2,3 Chambers- A,C

Time:  3:30-5:30pm

Bring signs that say: (suggestions)

Teachers/UFT support ATU Local 1181

Teachers support the Bus Drivers!

DOE: Safety Before Profit! Keep the EPP

We demand experienced Drivers and Matrons for our students!

Union busting NO! EPP YES!

(Add: MORE/UFT to the bottom)

Bring cameras!

For other picket locations, see:

 http://nysaflcio.org/strike-supportpicket-locations/

And here’s an update from PIST( Parents To Improve School Transportation)

http://www.pistnyc.org/

It is still on, the mayor is pretending the discussion needs to be between union and companies but union and even companies are saying talks are pretty pointless without the city being at the table.

Meanwhile buses are going out without properly certified matrons.  Parents are still PIST.  We are emphasizing that transportation is a related service on the IEP legal contract, a right,  not a privilege.

We have a leafleting campaign and other strategies but also there might be an outdoor action next weekend with solidarity squads from out of town, specifically the Boston school bus drivers.  

Eva Violation: Using Parents of Success Cheater Schools Funded With Public Money for Political Operation

The Success Charter outrages continue. It is time to call for an investigation of the use of schools to create a political operation. If they were private without feeding at the public trough, gey gezunt. But not with OUR money. Imagine if a public school principal organized parents to picket mayoral candidates and used school resources to do so. Of course they won't be picketing Christine Quinn I guess. And where is the UFT on this one?

Parents,
Last week the teachers union and several mayoral candidates called for a halt on all co-locations.  As you know, we depend on underutilized space in public school buildings to educate your child.  As your children grow and their younger siblings start school, we are going to need more space.  Without co-location, we won't be able to get it.  

This opposition to co-location is not about doing what is best for children.  It is about trying to please the teachers union.  Please take a look at the following link to learn more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/mr-mulgrew-pupils-article-1.1247
073

We can't let this happen.  We must take a stand.  On Thursday morning, parents from several of our schools in Harlem will be picketing outside the offices of the mayoral candidates who came out against co-location.  If you are interested in joining them, please contact Norah Cooney at norah.cooney@successacademies.org for more information. 

We are going to need all of our parents to show up for similar events in the future.  This fight is just beginning, and we will need your help!  It's time that mayoral candidates start listening to what parents want, and together we can make that happen. 

Warmly,
Eva Moskowitz

Jersey Jazzman and Fiorillo Blame Weingarten Over Impact of Newark Deal

In this post, Aftermath of the Newark Teachers Contract, JJ gives Randi the benefit of the doubt as negotiating the best contract she could. But he doesn't know Randi like we do here. Michael saved me the trouble of commenting as he points out why a certain segment of the UFT/AFT that we represent put the leadership squarely in the category of being on the other side of the fence -- that is when they are not straddling it as a way to try to convince the members they are on their side while the daily outrages against teachers pile up. Michael is of course just skimming the surface in this casual comment and doesn't even mention the role they played in the open support, lack of response to the charter invasion.

Michael Fiorillo said...

Giving people the benefit of the doubt is fine when there is a limited track record to judge them by.

That is hardly the case with Ms. Weingarten, who has persistently demonstrated her willingness to accept the premises of corporate education reform (empty sound bites for membership consumption and misdirection notwithstanding) and "collaborate" (her term, not mine) with those undermining the public schools and teachers.

As for evidence, look no further than

- her persistent support for mayoral control of
urban school districts, including unilateral
support for continuing it NYC in 2009, against
recommendations by her own governance
Governance Committee.

- her silence when Michael Bloomberg bought an
illegal third term, and her de facto endorsement
of that third term in 2009.

- her negotiating the catastrophic 2005 contract,
which eliminated seniority transfers and opened
the door to the epidemic of school closings
door to the epidemic that followed.

- her close relations with Eli Broad (who has
spoken of her as an "investment") and Bill Gates.

- her sponsoring of workshops featuring for-
profit opportunities in education at the oligarch-
dominated Aspen Institute.

- her successor and protege's agreeing to
teacher evaluation laws based on statistically-
unstable Value Added measures.

I'm sure many teachers who work in districts where Ms.Weingarten has helicoptered in and foisted contracts based on Broad/Gate policies could add to this list.

How many sell-outs are needed before we stop giving her the benefit of the doubt?

In fact, here is no doubt, Randi Weingarten is one of Them.

Here is a pertinent section of Jersey Jazzman's post:

There is, however, no doubt that the merit pay system will use standardized tests to determine who gets the bonuses. Which makes it even more amazing, to my mind, that the leadership of the Newark Teachers Union and their national umbrella organization, the American Federation of Teachers, supported the use of merit pay in the contract.
Because Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, has gone on record denouncing the use of tests to measure teacher effectiveness as "junk science." She's right - but she still supported its use to determine merit pay bonuses in the Newark contract. She even went so far as to tacitly agree with Chris Christie that the contract was a model for other districts - even if those districts don't have a California internet billionaire willing to drop a pile of money into their district.
So now Paterson's teachers have to reap what Weingarten has sown. What's worse is that the local - like the vast majority of locals in the state - is affiliated with the NJEA, and not the AFT. So Paterson's teachers have to live with the consequences of deal negotiated by labor leaders they didn't even elect.
I said this back when the members of the NTU were considering whether to take the deal that Weingarten and NTU's president, Joe Del Grosso, negotiated for them: despite my many misgivings, I can't blame any teacher in Newark for taking the deal. Those educators had worked without a contract for years, and a big pile of money was put in front of them, albeit with strings attached. I'm willing to give Weingarten and Del Grosso the benefit of the doubt that this was the best deal they could get, and I think it was fine to put the deal in front of the members (although a little more engagement with the teachers opposed to the deal would have gone a long way to help unity).

UFT Election Nuts and Bolts, Revised

The UFT election committee met this past week and even though these dates and numbers have to be officially ratified at the Feb. 4 UFT Executive Board meeting, it is expected that the official election campaign will begin with petitioning at the Feb. 6 Delegate Assembly when petitions will be available. On Feb. 7 they will be available in the borough offices. {if there are any changes I will update this post.}

The daunting task of petitioning forces anyone serious about running to join a slate. There are expected to be 3 slates: MORE, New Action and Unity.

Excuse the last post as the send button betrayed me.

Here are the crucial dates and deadlines:

Petitions available - Feb 6 at DA
Due - March 6

Someone counted 18 school days to get all this done. It would have been less if there was a full mid-winter break --- and be sure to remind people on those days why they are in school.

The tediousness of petitioning really hurts opposition groups since so much of their energy goes into getting the signatures needed to get on the ballot. Note that signing a petition is just helping get on the ballot, not an endorsement of vote. Thus many Unity people trolling for sigs will sign MORE and vice versa. The important thing is to get this crap out of the way so resources can be devoted to campaigning and lit distribution.

The sigs needed: 900 for the top officers, 100 for everyone else. Sounds easy? Not easy when trying to manage hundreds of candidates. It takes a total mobilization to get this done. (At the Feb. 9 MORE meeting we will be holding a petition signing party where everyone can sign all the petitions. So put that date on your calendar if you can come out and help.)

Ballots are sent out to the homes on April 3 and must be in the hands of  American Arbitration no later than April 24. The vote count will take place the next day at a hotel in Manhattan on April 25. The vote count is public and any UFT member may attend. What a fun day that is.

It is in this 3-week period right after the spring break (which takes away a week of campaigning) that the ground game of get out the vote must be played by MORE members and supporters to get people to return their ballots.

Some people think just reminding people is enough but UFT elections are not high on the agenda and the ballot often gets lost in a pile and thrown out. Some ground game players urge people to bring in the ballots to school and people mark them and the mail goes out en masse. The more schools that play the ground game the higher the vote totals for the MORE slate will be as most non-voters would tend to vote anti-Unity. Don't forget, 75% of the working members do not vote.


Well over 90% of the voters just check the slate box on the top page of the 20 page ballot and ignore all the names inside. The few who pick and chose candidates have no real impact -- you will see some people vary by no more than a few hundred votes, inconsequential.

Now for the confusion -- I tried to explain some of this at the MORE meeting and people were nodding out -- was it me or the material?


Here are the breakdowns of the new numbers on the executive board.

Ad Com grows from 11 to 12 with the addition of a VP for non DOE employees -- ie the home day care workers, nurses, etc. All UFT members vote for them and they appear on every ballot.

Ex Bd - 90 (up from 78) [Add the 12 Adcom who are defacto EB  members for a total of 102.]

Here is the breakdown:

EB at large - 48 (up from 42) -- All UFT members vote for these positions (including retirees)  and they will appear on every ballot. [This tactic gives Unity guaranteed control of the EB by making more at large than divisions - confusing, I know, but trust me].

Level -based - 42 (up from 36). People running for these positions will only appear on the ballots in the divisions they run in.

Elementary  - 11 -- only elementary school teachers may vote for them (not secretaries, guidance, social workers, etc.) If you are an elementary school teacher just checking the MORE box on the ballot is a vote for all 11. (We have a star-studded cast running for these slots -- great teachers, great union activists and even a movie star -- Jamie Fidler (star of American Teacher). There are about 35,000 elementary school teachers - pretty sad they get only 11 seats.

Middle School - 5 -- only middle school teachers may vote for them (not secretaries, guidance, social workers, etc.) If you are an middle school teacher just checking the MORE box on the ballot is a vote for all 11. We also have an amazing group running for these positions, including the always amazing Francesco Portelos. Last election there were about 12,000 in this category which is narrowed to traditional middle schools which are disappearing -- K-8 counts as elem and 6-12 as hs.

High School  - 7 (up from 6) -- only high school teachers may vote for them (not secretaries, guidance, social workers, etc.) If you are an high school teacher just checking the MORE box on the ballot is a vote for all 11. We also have an amazing group running for these positions: from the old ICE/TJC guard - Kit Wainer, James Eterno, Peter Lamphere -- as knowledgeable a group as you can find -- and the new guard: Emily Giles, (CL)  Rosie Fraschella, Seku Braithewaite and Nicole Reilly (CL).
There were about 19,000+ in this division in 2010.

*****In other words, the 70,000 Plus teachers get only 23 out of 102 seats on the EB and that folks is the basic underlying undemocratic nature of the UFT election process.

I feel MORE has the best shot at winning the high school EB positions but has to beat the Unity plus New Action totals, not impossible of there is a ground game in the high schools where an estimated 5000 out of 19000 people voted last time. A few more thousand votes would put MORE into these positions. Why would 7 out of 102 be meaningful? Let's leave this issue for another time.

Functional - 19 (up from 14). This massive division (over 50,000) , including all non-teachers --- retirees, social workers, psychologists, para, etc is where Unity has enormous strengths and will win this division overwhelmingly due to the retiree vote, but also to the absolute lock Unity makes sure to have over each functional chapter --- in case you don't know, paras have their own chapter leader and Unity keeps a lock on all these chapters -- which they use to also keep control of the DA.

I could point out that if MORE won even 60% of the actual teacher vote in elem, ms and hs they would only get 23 out of the 90 seats on the EB -- thus why there are 48 at large (retirees vote) plus 19 functional (retirees vote) and only 11 elementary, 5 middle and 7 high schools. In addition the elementary, middle school and hs veeps would all go to Unity too (retirees vote for top officers).

If you want to see the true undemocratic nature of the UFT just look at the paragraph above.

BUT -- if MORE captured the majority of the working teacher vote even with the 23 seats that would be a massive game changer in that MORE would have control at the school level and that would mean big changes at the DA. That is the long term goal of MORE -- not to win a few seats on the EBoard and be satisfied as New Action is from getting the gift from Unity but to fight for real changes in the UFT.

Do I think that over 75 people showed up yesterday at the MORE monthly meeting on an ice cold Saturday in January is a sign of something brewing? You bet I am. But if people out there just gripe without doing anything about supporting MORE in an active way, things will move very slowly.


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

The Rise and Fall of the UFT by Former UFT VP John O' Neill

Note how O'Neill talks about the very early days of the UFT as being as social justice and democratic a union as one could get -- some do not agree --- and that it was Shanker who took what was already a very successful operation under Charlie Cogan and Dave Selden and undermined it. Especially see page 178 for more on this. Shanker later -- 1974 undermined his mentor Shelden by running against him for AFT president and moving the AFT rightward.

https://uftrg.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/hughes1970.pdf

I was going through some old materials on my computer desktop and almost tossed this chapter of Annette Rubinstein's book "Schools Against Community Control." I'm sure there are historians with some knowledge of the split between O' Neill and Shanker over the 68 strike. O' Neill's interpretation here is one commonly accepted by the left. As one who did not cross the picket lines in 68, though I really had no clue as to the political forces I am always ambivalent about a bunch of issues. Some friends on the left do believe the Ford Foundation (under former Vietnam hawk McGeorge Bundy I believe) was out to divide the union from the community. Certainly an issue worth exploring again and again as those times were so important. Maybe when things settle down -- like in the summer -- MORE can do a series of discussions on this issue.

Note the analysis of the 1969 contract which I always used to say was the last good contract we got.

The Rise and Fall of the UFT by John Oneill 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/122373089/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-UFT-by-John-Oneill

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

Brooklyn Parents in Williamsburg/Greenpoint File Suit Against SUNY Charter Board

The crooks at SUNY would authorize a KKK charter without even asking if the sheets were washed. Eva Moskowitz and husband Eric Grannis with his Citizens of the World Charter are handed swaths of public school buildings. Our pals at WAGPOPS are not standing still for it and have found some real goodies and possible violations of state law.

Check out the details here http://www.scribd.com/doc/122236115/WAGPOPS-lawsuit-against-SUN where you can download and read at your pleasure.

D'Amato, Randi Mastro Back Thompson as Stalking Horse for Lhota

Former Comptroller Bill Thompson’s list of bundlers includes Randy Mastro, a former deputy Mayor to Rudolph Giuliani, who has raised about $60,000 for Thompson. Supporters also include lobbyist and fomer U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who bundled some $48,000 for Thompson primarily from developers and people in finance. And Richard Nasti, an executive lawyer for H.J. Kalikow — the real estate firm run by former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chair Peter Kalikow — raised another $19,800 for the candidate.

The info above was gathered by Ira Goldfine.

Remember how Bill Thompson ran an awful campaign and almost won against Bloomberg? It came out later that Bloomberg had been funding a museum being organized by Thompson's wife --- he was Bloomberg's choice for mayor. So now he is running to help divide the democratic ticket to make it easier for Lhota, who they want badly -- watch the NY Times pump this guy up as much as they can. And some pumping for Thompson as the Bloomberg/Giuliani people idea race would be Lhota/Thompson.

Ira responds to Randi's comment that Mastro is not a Bloomberg fan. But this is not about Bloomberg but making sure Lhota is the next Mayor. Does D'Amato really think Thompson is a winner? What a joke.

This is bigger then Bloomberg - this has everything to do with Lhota - check out this piece from the Daily News and to me its clear that this is about electing Lhota on behalf of the people that truly rule this city.

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/former_deputy_mayor_under_giuliani_9C4qNAV2ORSZ57AvQsGZ2K

Accuse and Remove: DOENuts on Portelos

Great post from DOENuts blog on Francesco Portelos, who is running with MORE for UFT Executive Board, Middle Schools. It is the article I had hoped to write but never could get my head around all the info involved and this is a real service to all.

There is so much involved in this case. I really got the full story from Francesco at last year's citywide robotics tournament on a Sunday in March 2012 at the Javits convention center where he gave up a Sunday to bring his robotics team there -- on that day Sue Edelman had written a piece in the NY Post that did not cast him in a favorable light I thought. I called her up livid about why the Post wasn't at Javits to show the kind of work he did. She said she'd send a photographer but never did.

What DOENuts did here is take this complicated story and put all the nuts and bolts in place with links to other stories. Really a comprehensive piece of work. And he even manages to bring my favorite topic, Hitler, into it.

He has been treated almost as shabbily by the UFT as he has by the DOE. And that story has not been fully told yet. Imagine him on the UFT Exec Bd where he'd be adding some much-needed spine.

Francesco has a TV show from the rubber room. http://protectportelos.org/dtoe-talk-show. Here is a link to Friday's broadcast where Francesco interviews MORE and changethestakes.org member Diana Zavala.

 I'll get you started then click the link to finish at the blog.

"Accuse and Remove" and Francesco Portelos

He is an experienced, qualified teacher of Science, Engineering Technology and Math (STEM). He is a former environmental engineer. He has written successful grants for his school, giving his students access to some of the best technology on the market today and he is one of the few city teachers who  has been celebrated in the newspapers (for adroitly retrieving the stolen iPhone of a colleague using online learning.).

And yet he is the typification of  persona non grata for the New York City Department of Education. In fact, some might say he is the persona non grata of the New York City Public Schools.

His name is Francesco Portelos. He's the Staten Island middle school teacher who televised himself from the rubber room back in October just to prove that the rubber rooms still exist (and that he was languishing in one of them). As of this writing, he has been there for 275 days (and counting!) 

In the almost full year since he has been taken out of his classroom, for what the department would only describe as "serious allegations", he has made himself famous, sued his employer for harassment and accused  his principal of misconduct.

And yet those "serious allegations" haven't amounted to much. Through numerous department investigations, he has not been found to have committed one act of employee misconduct (not one), and his Federal case, which accuses the department of violating federal whistle-blower law, has moved to its discovery phase -a clear indication that the presiding judge believes it to be a serious, evidence based allegation of employer harassment.

And that principal accusation? It provided evidence that she had committed theft of services at the school.

For the record, Mr. Portelos has been formally under investigations by SCI  (the mere mention of which strikes fear into the heart of most DOE employees) over twenty times during the past 361 days (and counting!). And although the accusations against him keep rolling in, it must  be noted that not one of these accusations has yet to materialize into a substantiated charge (NYCDOE speak for a formal conclusion of employee misconduct).

In other words, they haven't found any infractions!

And yet each day, for almost a year, he has left his home in Staten Island and reported for work in a rubber room in south Queens, where he carries out his duties: Nothing. 

Sounds messy, doesn't it? 

Portelos' story might make more sense when set against the backdrop of the last twelve years of policy in New York City's education department. That's the backdrop of a long running chancellor who aimed to give the city's principals as much leeway as they needed as they ran their buildings and it is the backdrop of a mayor who has been obsessed placing the label of "bad" upon as many teachers as he possibly can, with the hope of ridding the system of them.

Against this backdrop, we can clearly see the unintended consequences of the policy, first championed by former Chancellor Joel Klein, of supporting principals.

It was partially that policy that helped to produce the type of  principal that Linda Hill, of IS 49 of Staten Island, is. She allegedly committed the corrupt act of "double dipping" (paying herself hourly overtime from one budget line, while doing the same thing for the other) and allegedly committed what many would say is the more corrupt act of misusing the department's investigative resources (resources intended to ensure employee compliance of rules) so that she could go after a subordinate who threatened her position of power within her school.

While the first act is pedestrian in nature (somewhat akin to punching in at your second job while you're still punched in at your first) many identify the second act -more akin to Senator McCarthy accusing Murrow of being a communist because Murrow's show had challenged him and made him angry- as being far more vicious and destructive, as it has no other intent but to destroy the professional by following the course of defaming the person.

The defaming of Francesco Portelos the person began in December, 2011, after Portelos the professional, a member of his School's Leadership Team, discovered that the principal had submitted a budget without the input or consent of the SLT.

More at
http://nycdoenuts.blogspot.com/2013/01/hannibal-ad-portas.html

And links to some of Francesco's blogs:
'Don't Tread on Educators' and 'Educator's Survival Guide'