NPE: News on Diane's Book, CPS Bulldozes La Casita in the Night, More States Starting to Question Common Core

Volume 1, Issue: #21 August 22, 2013

Inside NPE News Diane's New Book Opens Heated Dialogue CPS Destroys La Casita Under Cover of Night Philly Gets Grant for Schools to Start On Time States Line Up to Question the Common Core Tennessee Ties Teacher Licensing to Evaluations Tell NPE Your Story As the summer comes to an end, it's the perfect time to reflect on your summer experiences in the fight to save our schools. Send your story to us at networkforpubliceducation @gmail.com and you could appear in our next newsletter!

Greetings! Welcome to the twenty-first edition of our newsletter. This week's newsletter is overflowing with news from across the country, including the CPS demolition of La Casita in Chicago, dire budget cuts and what they'll mean for Philly's schools, and states that are starting to question whether implementing a Common Core curriculum is really a good idea. Plus, Diane's new book is coming soon, and already it is beginning to stir up heated criticism and ardent support. Read it all here!  And like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and JOIN US at our website. Diane's New Book Opens Heated Dialogue Diane's new book draws pre-publication criticism, but why are Diane and others being monitored and ignored? Diane's new book will not be released for another month, but already we are seeing a glimpse of the dialogue it may open up. After Peter Cunningam (Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach in the U.S. Department of Education) published 'Ravitch Redux' online, many of Diane and NPE's supporters popped up immediately to decry Cunningham's piece in blog posts and other social media (we have a list of links to particularly great pieces below).  More importantly than being "shoddy and unsubstantiated," Cunningham's piece points to a significant truth: Diane and other members of the fight to save our schools are being systematically monitored and ignored by education officials. Cunningham and others are clearly hearing the critiques posed by Diane and other members of the genuine education reform community. However, instead of listening to any opposing opinions, Cunningham and others are choosing to monitor dissenters and attack any criticisms of their corporately backed policies. In his piece 'Monitored and Ignored--Ravitch and the Rest of Us,' Anthony Cody suggests one way that we can fight this phenomenon: preorder Diane's book now, and when you do so, order an extra copy and send it to your Congress person or state legislator. We must raise our voices and change the status quo, go from from being 'monitored and ignored' to watched and listened to.  Here are some more well-written and provocative pieces we encourage you to read about the attack on Diane's book: 'Fifty Shades of Ravitch: A Book Review' by Reclaim Reform  'Just When You Think It's Safe to Go Back into the Media' by Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face  'Arne Duncan Sics His Flying Monkeys on Diane Ravitch' by NYC Educator CPS Destroys La Casita Under Cover of Night Pilsen community woke up on Saturday to find out its community center will be replaced with a private school's soccer field A dad holds a moving bulldozer away from La Casita at Whittier Elementary School. (Photo courtesy of Tracy Barrientos via Xian Barrett.) On Saturday morning, Chicagoans woke up to the sound of bulldozers approaching La Casita, the field house belonging to Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen. The demolition of the field house by the CPS caused uproar among members of the school community. Twitter and Instagram were bombarded by the tags #Whittier and #LaCasita. The Internet was quickly ablaze with pictures of parents and students protesting the demolition crews and security guards holding them back. Whittier Elementary School is not any ordinary school-it is a school with an incredibly strong community and history of intensely engaged parents.  In 2010, parents staged a 43-day sit-in to save the school's field house, which was also used as a makeshift library for the students and a volunteer-run community center. At the time, the community won and the CPS agreed to keep the field house in place. Anger over the demolition increased as new information came to light. Members of the community were outraged when they discovered that Mayor Emmanuel plans to replace the community center with a soccer field that will serve a neighboring private school, Cristo Rey.  Parents from the previous sit-in still have a letter in hand from the CPS in which it promises to renovate, not demolish, the field house. Not only did the CPS break this promise, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel ordered the demolition without even acquiring a legally required permit to do so. The CPS claims that it was within its rights to tear down the building, but many are questioning the legality of the action, pointing to the fact that the CPS felt the need to hide the demolition by holding it overnight. Despite legal concerns and previous promises, the CPS ultimately did demolish La Casita, after which members of the Pilsen community held a vigil for their beloved community center. Without a doubt, this demolition will only increase the already extremely high tensions between Chicago school communities and the CPS.  Philly Gets Grant for Schools to Start On Time Philadelphia's schools will open on time, but at what cost? The Philadelphia Student Union is one of many groups protesting major cuts in funding and staffing for Philly's public schools. This week brought with it more news on how dire the financial crisis for Philadelphia's public schools really are. Faced with a $304 million budget shortfall for the district, the city managed to receive a $50 million grant that will allow it to continue functioning. The first day of school will not be delayed, but at what cost? Parents protest that while the $50 million grant may allow schools to open, it is not nearly enough to allow schools to continue holding classes and extracurricular programs that students need. "Nobody is talking about what it takes to get a child educated. It's just about what the lowest number is needed to get the bare minimum," says Helen Gym, who has 3 children in the city's public schools. "That's what we're talking about here: the deliberate starvation of one of the nation's biggest school districts." Many agree with Grey's assessment of the situation, including Philly's public school students, who have begun to unionize and protest the district. The students argue that the city is looking for how it can spend as little as possible on public school students, regardless of whether the amount will suffice to provide the students with a good education.  To follow this story further, please visit our website, where you can also read the story 'Why America Should Care About Philadelphia's Children.' States Line Up to Question the Common Core NY, Florida, Maine newest states to hesitate on implementation FACCE is one of several groups that are protesting planned Common Core implementation in Florida. According to a recent PDK-Gallup poll, a well-regarded annual poll, most parents dislike high-stakes testing, a practice that has become increasingly implemented in recent years. This poll comes at a time when states are beginning to implement harsher standards for high-stakes testing, based on the Common Core curriculum. There have been many critiques of the Common Core curriculum, including fears that it replaces ELA curriculum substance with test prep and that its test implementation is almost exclusively in the hands of mega-publisher Pearson, a company that has committed quite a few mistakes in its testing practices and score reporting.  Up until now, higher-up officials and politicians have been largely dismissive of Common Core critiques. However, some states that have announced that they will implement the Common Core are beginning to have doubts.  In New York, critics of both the Common Core and high-stakes testing have been protesting both practices after a statewide test based on Common Core standards caused New York's test scores to drop 30% from last year. On Saturday, 1,500 people gathered in Long Island to denounce the Common Core. Now, the New York legislature is holding hearings in September to review testing practices and revisit whether the Common Core is worth implementing.  In Maine, two groups announced this week that they are looking to hold a statewide vote to repeal the implementation of the Common Core standards, a move that is the first of its kind in the country. The Maine Equal Rights Center and No Common Core Maine plan to submit a ballot measure proposal to the state to repeal the standards. In Florida, the Common Core standards have invited criticism from school communities, and a group called Florida Parents Against Common Core is urging Floridians to call state officials and protest the implementation of Common Core Standards. Furthermore, Common Core standards have caused political turmoil within the state's Republican party. Conservatives and Tea Party groups are outraged by the standards, claiming that implementing national standards is a mistake because curricular decisions should be made by state governments and local elected school boards. Tennessee Ties Licensing to Evaluations Photo by Ron Cogswell, Creative Commons license. Many states have begun to tie teacher evaluations to teacher salary and tenure, a practice that is critiqued by teachers and school communities as unfair. These evaluations are poor measurements of ability, they say, as they are based on arbitrary evidence such as students'  test scores and do not take classroom practices into consideration.  While many are arguing that teacher evaluations should play a less significant role in serving teachers consequences such as decreased salary and lost tenure opportunities, some states are actually making the stakes higher in teacher evaluations. Most noticeably, this week Tennessee announced that it plans to tie teacher evaluations to certification, taking away teaching licenses from teachers whose students perform poorly on standardized tests--a practice that has been found to be unjust. The Tennessee Education Association strongly opposed the move, and protested at hearings and forums held to discuss the plan.  The plan was approved earlier this week, but critics insist that they will continue to fight the decision. Tell NPE  Your Story   NPE wants to hear from you! We would like to publish real stories about the effects of misguided school reforms on our Friends & Allies. Please share this and send responses to networkforpubliceducation@gmail.com. Please forward this newsletter far and wide!    In solidarity,   The Network For Public Education

Brian D'Agostino in DN: Mike’s school management muddle: Choice vs. centralization—a contradiction

I've known Brian for about a decade.  I know his story and that of people in his family. He's seen the bad and the ugly of Bloomberg's management of the school system. I so believe there's some good  - which I believe an archeologist one day may find vestiges of one day.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/mike-school-management-muddle-article-1.1433726

Mike’s school management muddle:

Choice vs. centralization—a contradiction

By Brian D'Agostino / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, August 22, 2013, 11:19 AM

No future mayor can improve New York’s public schools without a sound evaluation of the Bloomberg legacy. Yet none of the politicians and pundits who have spoken at length on this subject has noticed the fundamental contradiction at the heart of this mayor’s entire school reform experiment.

On the one hand, Mayor Bloomberg has aggressively promoted choice in the form of charter and other small schools and an open market for hiring teachers. On the other hand, he has aggressively negated choice by centralizing key decision-making about individual schools in the chancellor’s Tweed Courthouse headquarters.

This concentration of power has taken many forms. For example, the chancellor has chosen to close dozens of schools with little input from their stakeholders, often over their strenuous objections. His administration has also converted the hiring of principals and assistant principals — which previously included significant input from teachers and parents — into a process typically dominated by centrally appointed “network leaders.”

Who, then, is really empowered to determine educational quality — the local stakeholders, as the rhetoric about choice suggests, or the educrats at Tweed?

For Bloomberg, this contradiction does not exist. He believes that educational quality can be reduced to numerical data and that rational decisions — whether by policymakers or stakeholders — should be driven by those numbers. The most important of these metrics are gains on state test scores for the lower grades and four-year graduation rates for high schools.

These “hard data” provide the mayor and chancellor with an educational equivalent of the corporate bottom line. And just as Wall Street evaluates companies by the criterion of profit, the administration has chosen which schools to close and which educators to reward and fire primarily on the metric of test scores or graduation rates. If stakeholders don’t agree with these decisions, it must be because they have a vested interest in a dysfunctional status quo.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. If teachers can lose their jobs or receive merit pay based on improvements or declines in test scores, many will focus on raising the scores even if it means neglecting their students’ individual learning needs. This corruption of instruction will then corrupt the data, because teaching to the test or cheating can produce better data than putting children first, invalidating comparisons between teachers based on the test scores.

The same applies to principals and schools. Test scores and graduation rates provide at best a partial picture of educational quality and at worst can be highly unreliable and misleading.

There is a better way: Truly believe in the language of parental choice you endlessly recite.

Free educators to do the best jobs they can, then let stakeholders decide what is good or bad about their own schools and what should be done to improve them. Some teachers and parents think that traditional skill-building is the essence of a good education; others emphasize progressive pedagogy and critical thinking. Some think high test scores are important; others prefer portfolio-type assessments.

Let a thousand flowers bloom. The Common Core testing fiasco shows what happens when educrats impose centrally planned systems. If a school is bad by any criteria, teachers won’t want to work there and parents won’t want to keep their children there. A school of choice that does not meet the needs of its stakeholders will lose enrollment until it has to close its doors. There is no need or value for policymakers to play God on the basis of centrally managed, “objective” criteria.

Bloomberg’s unprecedented arrogation of power over the public school system has gone hand in hand with an unprecedented expansion of testing, test preparation, data collection and incentive systems. Research has shown some improvement in test scores under this regime, but this may mean that students have received more testlike instruction, not that they have learned more.

Meanwhile, teacher morale has plummeted, good principals are leaving the system and students and parents have become more alienated from their schools than ever before.

The next mayor needs to break with this paradigm. Instead of a school system that holds educators accountable for their test scores to remote power holders, New York needs a system in which administrators, teachers, parents and students hold one another accountable for quality, as defined by the stakeholders themselves.

D’Agostino teaches history at Empire State College and taught for 11 years in New York City public schools. He is author of The Middle Class Fights Back: How Progressive Movements Can Restore Democracy in America .

Christine Quinn's campaign events are "EMBARGOED UNTIL DATE AND TIME OF EVENT"

Why Is Christine Quinn Hiding Public Appearances from the Public? Every morning I receive an email from Azi Paybarah with the best coverage of NYC politics at Capital New York.

And he always lists the campaign appearances of all the candidates.
Except Christine Quinn where this appears.

Christine Quinn's campaign events are "EMBARGOED UNTIL DATE AND TIME OF EVENT"

Which means the press knows but are not allowed to tell anyone till the event actually takes place.

Below that we actually get to see where all the other candidates will be today - and every day. Except for Quinn.

Jumping All Over Paul Krugman on Common Core

Is it my fault that the other day I challenged Krugman to bring his sensible analysis to education issues (Howler Howls at Krugman and Press Corps)? I compared him so favorably to his  nincompoop NY Times fellow columnists Brooks and Kristof? Ooops! Krugman must have heard me, but his sensibility deserted him.

The blogging crew is out in full force, leaving me nothing much to say - other than a message to Michael Oppenheimer (Leonie's husband) who teaches at Princeton with Krugman: get him straight on what is going on.

NYC Educator

Krugman Becomes a Duncan Dittohead - It's pretty suspicious that, on the eve of Diane Ravitch's book release, the dunces are in confederacy against her, and for Common Core. It's particular...

Raginghorseblog

New York Times Editorials Reveal A Complete Ignorance of Common Core - But two days after a sizable anti-Common Core rally in suburban Port Jefferson, Long Island, the venerable New York Times saw fit to publish not one but tw...

 

Daily Howler: What is Bill Keller talking about!

 

Perdido: Photos From Port Jefferson "StudentsNotScores" Rally

Via the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association site, here are some great photos from Saturday's rally at Comsewogue High School against the Common Core testing regime:  

Perdido: Education Reformers Are Trying To Smear Common Core Critics As Know-Nothings And Cretins Former NY Times editor and current columnist Bill Keller attacked opponents to th

Here Comes Student Ratings of Teachers (Grades 3-12) as Part of Teacher Eval

I personally wouldn't mind having students tell me what they think -- it would sensitize me to their point of view. But do it this way? No way.

Leonie sent this hot potato along.

I have a real problem with any [very expensive] survey like this that does not control for the factor of class size.  I have emailed Ferguson in the past  -- the Harvard prof who developed this survey -- with no response.

The state required that the results of this survey be part of the teacher eval system w/out the UFT's consent.

Stories
http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/2013/08/19/students-teachers/

Correction: An earlier version of this story said that the committee voted on the contract on August 19, the committee will vote on the contract on August 26.

City students will begin grading their teachers under the new teacher evaluation system rolling out next school year.

On Monday, the New York City Department of Education’s Committee on Contracts will vote on a one-year, $5.9 million contract for a system of student surveys that will allow 3rd through 12th graders to evaluate their teachers.

While during the first year of the new teacher evaluation system the results of these surveys will not be included in the teacher evaluation formula, next year teachers’ marks on these surveys will account for five of the 60 percent of teacher evaluation scores not determined by student performance on state tests.

With more than 700,000 students enrolled in city public schools in those grades, the year-one survey contract will cost about $8 a student.

The Tripod student survey of teachers, created by a Harvard economist, will go to every 3rd to 12th grader starting this school year. The above is a sample from a Gates Foundation–sponsored study.

The city will be contracting with Cambridge Education LLC of Westwood, Mass., a division of the Mott MacDonald Group, a global consulting firm, for the services. While Dr. Ronald Ferguson, director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, developed the program, Cambridge Education owns the intellectual property and is the sole licensed provider of the surveys.

Ferguson’s program, called the Tripod Project, asks students questions aimed at evaluating their teachers on the “Seven Cs:” caring about students, captivating students, conferring with students, controlling behavior, clarifying lessons, challenging students and consolidating knowledge. (Some past Tripod surveys can be found here.)

In its promotional documents, Cambridge Education asserted that “no observer, no matter how well trained, has more first-hand experience than the students in any particular classroom. Tripod student survey assessments are designed to capture key dimensions of classroom life and teaching practice as students experience them, first-hand in real time.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching program, which sought to develop and test different measures of teacher effectiveness, tested the usefulness of these student surveys in 2010, giving 100,000 students Tripod surveys. Researchers found a positive correlation between high ratings on the student surveys of teachers and high rankings on teacher observations by superiors and growth in standardized test scores.

Other research has come to different conclusions. The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards & Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School of Education & Information Studies found no correlation between Tripod survey results and student performance on standardized tests, though did suggest the surveys were valuable nonetheless.

Cambridge Education is the only teacher-evaluation firm currently authorized by the state education department to conduct such surveys in local districts, which have the option of adopting them. In the case of New York City, however, the state ordered that these evaluations be a part of the teacher evaluation plan it created through binding arbitration between the teachers’ union and the city, after they failed to reach a deal.

According to Jonathan Burman, a New York State Education Department spokesman, the city requested that Tripod be a part of the evaluation system.

Encouraged by the Gates study, the New York City Department of Education first started using the Tripod program in some of the schools that participated in a Teacher Effectiveness pilot program. The UFT has been against the use of student surveys since and objected to their use in the teacher evaluation system.

In 2012, Gotham Schools reported that United Federation of Teachers Secretary Michael Mendel said that the union’s position was that it is wrong to ask students to make high-stakes decisions about their teachers because it could incite teachers to put students’ approval first.

Cambridge Education has a history of working with the state education department. In 2012, the state used federal stimulus dollars to enter into a contract with the company for the design of a principal evaluation system.

New York is not alone in embracing Tripod. Hawaii will spend $1.1 million next year for the surveys, while Memphis schools will spend $500,000. In Connecticut, districts may elect to have 5 percent of their teacher’s scores be based on Tripod results. Santa Rosa County, Florida, will do the same.

While New York City will only be using the surveys in grades 3 through 12, Cambridge Education offers surveys for students in grades Kindergarten through 12.

Why Leticia James for Public Advocate? Watch this Video

This is nothing more than an attempt to beat the clock to the end of this administration to privatize public schools and bust unions... Tish James at PEP, Dec. 2012.

Leticia James for Public Advocate

This Friday is the last day that she can take in campaign contributions before the primary.http://www.letitiajames2013.com/
 
Not many people know of her and her chances of winning are not great but I’ve admired her for some time for her stands on charter schools invading public schools and other issues.
If you are involved in education in any way, as teacher or parent or activist or concerned citizen, Tish James is the way to go. (Besides, chief opponent Daniel Squadron is being shilled by the increasingly sleazy Chuch Shumer. 'Nuff said.)

See her dynamic speech at the December, 2012 Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tURc0tBGXw

MORE Weekly Update: Come to our summer series on building an active UFT chapter in your school

... come to our Summer Series event on August 22nd at Local 138, and our newly redesigned website at morecaucusnyc.org View this email in your browser

Weekly Update #64 August 23, 2013 Share Tweet Forward to Friend

Join MORE Today MARCH ON WASHINGTON Realize the Dream Sat, 8/24  COMMITTEES: High Stake Testing Committee testing@morecaucusnyc.org Next Meeting with Change The Stakes Fri, 8/27, Follw link for info Steering Committee steering@morecaucusnyc.org Thurs,  8/22, 2pm Berkli Cafe, 63 Delancey St. Meeting minutes here Contract Committee contract@morecaucusnyc.org Newsletter Committee news@morecaucusnyc.org Chapter Organizing Committee chapters@morecaucusnyc.org See box below for CL Happy Hours Meeting minutes here Media Committee media@morecaucusnyc.org FALL GENERAL MEETINGS 3rd Saturday - Noon to 3pm Sep 21 (Evaluations) Oct 19 & Nov 16 Locations & other topics TBA - reply if you have suggestions STAYING IN TOUCH:  Comments? Suggestions? Email update@morecacusnyc.org with items for future updates Want more info? Click below to join our listservs:  News (announcements/articles) Discussion (debate/back-and-forth) Chapter Leader (discussion for chapter activists) Facebook Twitter Email MORE Needs help with folks who can work in the following roles:  Organizing Campaign Against Test-Based Evaluations, Treasurer, Social Committee, Fundraising Please reply if you are interested in helping out The First Days of School: How To Build an Active Chapter Organizing and mobilizing your school to fight back against abusive administrators and profit driven reform Thursday August 22nd, 4pm - 7pm Local 138 Bar - 138 Ludlow St. betw. Stanton/Rivington The first days of school are a busy time for teachers. In addition to setting up our classrooms and preparing lessons for incoming students, we are typically inundated with mandates and requests from administration. Join the Movement of Rank and File Educators for a discussion and training session for all teachers (not just chapter leaders and delegates) on the First Days of School, and how we can get off on the right foot educating, organizing, and mobilizing our coworkers. Topics include: Nuts and bolts of chapter building and contract enforcement Overcoming apathy and difficult supervisors Dealing with the new evaluation system (see James Eterno's excellent analysis) NY Testpocalypse? Read cricitical analysis of the Common Core test disaster from: Ravitch: UFT: Call Arthur Goldstein, Classroom Teacher Vilson: Stop & Frisk these Test Scores Winerip: Principal Speaks Out Raging Horse: Why Does John King Still Have a Job? GREETINGS FROM CHICAGO! The MORE contingent at the Social Justice Union conference hosted by CTU's Caucus of Rank and File Educators. Read more at morecaucusnyc.org by Julie Cavanagh and Mike Schirtzer, and at  LaborNotes.org Moving? If you are changing schools, phone numbers, or addresses, make sure we can stay in touch by updating your information with MORE.

Copyright © 2013 MORE Caucus, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are excited about changing the UFT and signed up at a MORE meeting or our website, MORECaucusNYC.org.

Hilarious Parent Report on Tweed/DOE Test Disaster Briefing

I went to the one on Thursday evening and got the impression that they were trying harder, because the tests were harder and the students weren't prepared so they tried harder ..  and then Walcott had to leave to go to Hostos (where they don't have to try harder) to dance with the Alvin Ailey dance troupe. Thomases took over and he tried harder but then Alice Wong figured it was time to end because he was trying so hard he was exhausted. Whoever the next Mayor is, the scores will go up and s/he will be very thankful to those who tried harder.

Howler Howls at Krugman and Press Corps

This column comes quite close to being deceptive. As a matter of fact... it goes over that line....
The breakdown of the mainstream press corps has been a giant problem for decades. Another huge problem: the way the guild will airbrush this problem away.  Daily Howler on Krugman column.

I'm a Paul Krugman fan. It is the first thing I read in the Times every Monday and Friday. As I was reading the Krugman piece this past Friday (Moment of Truthiness) something was bothering me when he wrote about the open distortions and mistruths that are never challenged:

aren’t there umpires for this sort of thing—trusted, nonpartisan authorities who can and will call out purveyors of falsehood? Once upon a time, I think, there were. But these days the partisan divide runs very deep, and even those who try to play umpire seem afraid to call out falsehood. 

My immediate thought was, yes, there is supposed to be an umpire. It is called the  press. Like, just maybe the very paper Krugman works for, which, to take education coverage as an example, will print any lie or distortion coming from Arne Duncan, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee (where are stories on her cheating while the Times hammered Atlanta), Bloomberg, et al.

You'll note that Krugman never goes near the education issue while his colleagues Brooks and Kristof go wilding on teachers and their unions. Krugman talks about the Republican privatization agenda but doesn't connect the Democratic neo-liberal agenda which doesn't stray all that far. Dems may want more government spending but they want to hand the money spent to privatizers, at times making tea party anti-government types look rational.

Anyway, I was glad to see the Daily Howler (In our view, Krugman goes over the line!) take direct aim at Krugman's piece and the press corps in general though I think, as former teacher who does cover ed issues, he doesn't take enough aim at the biased ed deform press.

Press corps gets airbrushed away: Has our political system “been so degraded by misinformation and disinformation that it can no longer function?” That’s the question with which Paul Krugman started yesterday’s column. Plainly, we’d say the answer is yes. We'd say our system has been disabled that way for a rather long time. In our view, misinformation and disinformation were thoroughly clogging the system at least by the start of the Clinton-Gore years. By the end of those years, the disinformation drowned us. In that sense, Krugman was raising a very good question. If anything, he was raising this question a bit late in the game.

Good. Howler ties the Clintons to the game. But his aim is on the press corps and Krugman's letting them off the hook.

Krugman correctly suggests that our system has been degraded by misinformation to the point of breakdown. But can you see who’s been airbrushed out of the tableau he’s painting? In the passage we have posted, Krugman portrays a troubling dance between politicians and voters. Not a word is included about a third group—our badly degraded press corps. Remarkably, the press corps doesn’t exist in this column. It’s airbrushing all the way down!

Traditionally, the press corps is supposed to address misstatements by politicians! This is a very basic part of the way our system is supposed to work. Traditionally, even eighth graders have been entrusted with this basic knowledge. America’s press corps, the so-called “fourth estate,” has always played a key role in their civics texts. Krugman wiped this group off the face of the earth.

Well, some people -- those in the battle against ed deform -- certainly might agree that if the ed press corps didn't exist we just might be better off. But then again, I might ask Howler to pay more attention to the ed deform crowd and their supporters in the media (like Education Shmation).

Chicago: Rahm sends police to protect crew sent to destroy historic community center... Rahm, Barbara Byrd Bennett order destruction of 'La Casita'

Norm, Lisa, Gloria, George Schmidt with La Casita Occupier, July 2011 (Thnks to Gloria)

Reports all day coming in from Substance on this open warfare by the ed deformer/neo-liberals on the community. You can follow events on the Substance web site.

Two years ago at our last meetings in Chicago we went to La Casita for a few hours to talk to people - George Schmidt gave us a tour. I will hunt down that video and post it tomorrow.

We are at war. It has been declared on us. We are in middle of a field without cover (of our union especially) and they are using every weapon they can throw at us and somehow the real reformers are still standing - and fighting back with pea shooters (and Ravitch) against drones, tanks, mortars, cluster bombs, etc. 

Here are links to reports in reverse order.

THEY TORE IT DOWN BEFORE OUR EYES!' CPS contractor begins to destroy La Casita despite library treasures and supposed 'asbestos danger'

By Kati Gilson - August 17th, 2013 | 2 comments

LA CASITA IS NO MORE. By a little after ten o'clock in the morning, Board of Education contractors had leveled the library that had been created by the demands of a community that did not . . .

La Casita protests continue through the night of August 16 - August 17, 2013 after police arrest three people... Chicago Public Schools blocked trying to demolish iconic 'La Casita' community center

By Kati Gilson - August 17th, 2013 | 1 comment

It all started when a 6:45 dance class at La Casita was about to start. At 6:30, a community meeting was being held within the building called "La Casita," the "Little House" adjacent to Whittier . . .

Rahm sends police to protect crew sent to destroy historic community center... Rahm, Barbara Byrd Bennett order destruction of 'La Casita'

By John Kugler - August 17th, 2013 | 1 comment

In a brazen move reminiscent of the midnight destruction of Meigs Field by his predecessor, Richard M. Daley, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his handpicked schools "Chief Executive Officer" Barbara Byrd Bennett dispatched the Chicago . . .

AFT Drops Hammer on Dearborn Federation of School Employees

If I could Photoshop guess whose face you'd see?

Randi must think she is Lincoln after the Fort Sumpter attack. Are you surprised that our wonderful national union leaders in the AFT would resort to goon tactics when questions of secession arise within a local?

These AFT people showed up at 1107 Washington , the DFSE office on Monday, July 22 at 9:00 a.m. demanding the keys, files, passwords, home addresses, and everything else!!!!!  They were asked to leave and refused. The Dearborn Police were called and they asked them to leave. The AFT told the police they were not leaving. The police escorted the AFT reps to the sidewalk and told them not to come back without a Court Order.   Before AFT left, they unplugged our computers.

Are you surprised that our wonderful national union leaders in the AFT would resort to goon tactics when questions of secession arise within a local? (I've always said that if an opposition ever won a close election in NYC Unity would never turn over the keys to 52 Broadway. They would go to the AFT to protest the election.)

But I do have mixed feelings about locals that want to leave the AFT. I'd rather see them stay and battle. Imagine of the FMPR's 40,000 members had remained to join with other anti-ed deformers?

Mike Antonucci of EIA has tracked these AFT invasions for years and even though Mike has an anti-union bent he is often the only one to report on these events and Ed Notes has picked up on them.

Here is one report we did:

Ed Notes Online: Puerto Rican Teachers Union (FMPR) and the AFT

Feb 24, 2008

The FMPR has successfully fought government attempts to squash the voice of teachers and community in decision-making in Puerto Rico's school system. The FMPR effectively seceded in 2006 from American Federation of 

And another:

Ed Notes Online: Labor Dept. Rules Randi Take Over of Nurses ...

Aug 25, 2010

Last year we reported on how Randi Weingarten sent in the AFT goons to invade the offices of a nurses local in Portland Oregon after they held a meeting to discuss disaffiliation from the AFT (see below for links). We had ...

Here is Mike's July 30 report which I had sitting in draft version and forgot to post.

AFT Troops Topple Another Local Affiliate

Written By: Mike Antonucci - Jul• 30•13

Let’s face it, the National Education Association is a bunch of amateurs when it comes to dropping the hammer on an uppity affiliate. The national office of the American Federation of Teachers simply won’t tolerate any talk of local affiliates abandoning the reservation and making their own way.
AFT has a long tradition of staging a coup de  main in locals that disaffiliated, or even tried to disaffiliate. The union failed to crush an uprising in Puerto Rico, but it still employed the same tactics against the Colorado Federation of Public Employees and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. In the latter case, the U.S. Department of Labor declared AFT’s actions unlawful. And moot.

The latest target of AFT’s wrath is the Dearborn Federation of School Employees (DFSE), a 900-member education support employee local in Michigan. AFT claims in a civil suit against DFSE that the union president conducted a disaffiliation vote in April without following the by-laws. According to the Detroit News, AFT “held an evidentiary hearing June 14 and placed the local under temporary trusteeship.”

“The incumbent officers aren’t prepared to comply with AFT orders. … They want to hang on as long as they can,” said AFT attorney Bruce Miller. “We want them to relinquish their office, AFT will take over the local and restore democratic practices and pull together the warring factions. All of the votes were against getting out of the AFT.”

As you might imagine, those incumbent officers have a different tale to tell. In an open letter to members, DFSE president Sharon Korhonen and five other union officers describe an out-of-control national affiliate:

No one is taking this union over. Do not listen to lies. These AFT people showed up at 1107 Washington , the DFSE office on Monday, July 22 at 9:00 a.m. demanding the keys, files, passwords, home addresses, and everything else!!!!! They were asked to leave and refused. The Dearborn Police were called and they asked them to leave. The AFT told the police they were not leaving. The police escorted the AFT reps to the sidewalk and told them not to come back without a Court Order. Before AFT left, they unplugged our computers.

…If AFT’s sole interest is to ensure the well being of the DFSE members, they have an odd way of doing it. On the accusations of three members, AFT has attempted to take over the office, send the office help home, disconnect the computers and take over your union dues. They have limited the actions of our lawyer and frozen our money, making it impossible to pay utilities, rent and HFCC scholarships, among other obligations.

Membership involvement does “continue to be a hallmark of a strong union,” and that is why we are relying on your active participation to create a stronger DFSE. Let’s take off the gloves and get in this fight. AFT’s actions by their statement, has been instigated by three disgruntled members. Didn’t think in this country you could seize control and force a new election when three members are unhappy with the outcome of the last election. Dictators gain power when people don’t think and don’t seek the truth.

It looks like this will be hashed out in county court. I suggest that local affiliates with a notion about leaving AFT plan accordingly.

Here is the complete DFSE letter posted at http://dfse4750.net/

Letter to DSFE members

July 25, 2013

To All DFSE Members,

This is in response to a letter that was sent to many of you, including former DFSE members currently working at HFCC. You have the right to know what is not true.

No one is taking this union over. Do not listen to lies. These AFT people showed up at 1107 Washington , the DFSE office on Monday, July 22 at 9:00 a.m. demanding the keys, files, passwords, home addresses, and everything else!!!!!  They were asked to leave and refused. The Dearborn Police were called and they asked them to leave. The AFT told the police they were not leaving. The police escorted the AFT reps to the sidewalk and told them not to come back without a Court Order.   Before AFT left, they unplugged our computers.

There was never retaliation against any union members. According to our Constitution, Article XXVII, section 12, Any member of the Executive Board accused of malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance shall be suspended from the Executive Board pending trial. Two members of the DFSE Executive board were charged by other members, not the president.

The allegations of repeated attempts to disaffiliate from AFT stems from the April issue of the Forward which was to provide space for both sides. The “Con” side was written by a para pro and the AFT representative, Ginger, was asked to write the “Pro” side. Publication deadlines were extended twice for the AFT rep, yet no arguments were submitted.

Any real hearings on decisions that would affect the direction of the local were addressed at monthly union meetings. No one was stopped from speaking, including members of the Executive Board. The allegation that erroneous information was sent is one concerning a court case dropped by AFT, which could have been about our 3% illegally taken from us in 2010. AFT was asked for clarification before the e-mail was sent. No call back, no clarification was given. No response. We attached a copy of the Court Order showing the case was withdrawn. AFT provided nothing.

If AFT’s sole interest is to ensure the well being of the DFSE members, they have an odd way of doing it. On the accusations of three members, AFT has attempted to take over the office, send the office help home, disconnect the computers and take over your union dues.. They have limited the actions of our lawyer and frozen our money, making it impossible to pay utilities, rent and HFCC scholarships, among other obligations.

Membership involvement does “continue to be a hallmark of a strong union,” and that is why we are relying on your active participation to create a stronger DFSE. Let’s take off the gloves and get in this fight. AFT’s actions by their statement, has been instigated by three disgruntled members. Didn’t think in this country you could seize control and force a new election when three members are unhappy with the outcome of the last election. Dictators gain power when people don’t think and don’t seek the truth...AFT is going around to different buildings telling partial truths and avoiding questions by saying that they DON’T know what their lawyers are doing and what the “show cause hearing” is about.

The” AFT Team” that are going around having meetings with members, talk about lost, missing funds, even though an independent CPA has audited the DFSE books each and every year with no irregularities, missing, lost or stolen funds. Independent CPAs are required by law to include such findings in their reports. Financial reports are given at every meeting. Reports have been redesigned many times to provide the membership the information they requested. Audits were done by a CPA and available at each union meeting. An official copy has never been passed out to members, but is always available for viewing.

A Union to be effective must stand together for the GOOD OF ALL MEMBERS, not any one person or any one group’s interest. Your Union has always demonstrated its ability to defend its members to the fullest and will defend the members and the majority against this and all atrocities.

This Union, as it has always done, will continue to tell it’s members the truth, answer all questions and give the members answers to all the rumors. If you have any questions, or hear any rumors call the DFSE office at 313-274-5900 for the truth.