UFT Contract: The Growing Divide - the Salary Gap Between UFT/Unity Caucus Leaders and Members Grows With New Contract

MORE,

Love your blog!

A pamphlet called "Before You Vote" hit my school Friday and people went nuts. It lists the $32.5 million in salaries of 606 UFT employees starting from Mulgrew ($276K)  on down- some of these people are making $100K and above and are trying to sell us a 1% contract--people are miffed.

My school has a Unity stooge for CL and he was desperate to collect all copies to destroy them!

I think this may be worth a story. I got curious and pulled the same data from 2012 with the US Department of Labor's Office of Labor Management Standards and it does NOT include pensions, payments or other compensation that these people are getting from the DOE or other sources!

The desperation we see from the Unity crowd to push this contract is intense. We know all the political reasons. How about the financial ones? They get the raise with none of the risks.

If MORE ever got close to chasing these guys out they would blow up the UFT before giving up their positions.

We received the above anonymously. This data is from 2012 so just add to the totals what the new contract gives them. Working for the UFT full time at the top levels is very lucrative. And you don't even have to teach. [I know, I know, you all make tremendous sacrifices for the rest of us.] A

I extracted the first roughly 100 names with 6 figure salaries. Note that your district rep and any other union officials who must teach a period a day are paid full salary by the DOE and then reimbursed the difference so all they show is additional compensation from the UFT for their work after school, weekends, etc. In the past the total reimbursement was over $4 million.

Oh, not in this chart is that little perk this July - the all expense trip to Los Angelos for at least 800 - and maybe a thousand Unity people - to the AFT convention. Figure about $2000 at least for each -- use the common core standards pushed by Randi to do the math.

Name	Title	Gross Salary	Other Compensation	Total
MICHAEL MULGREW	PRESIDENT	$250,400	$25,468	$275,868
DAVID HICKEY	CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER	$236,720	$6,215	$242,935
MICHAEL MENDEL	SPECIAL ASST.	$212,237	$14,696	$226,933
ELOISE ENGLER	SPECIAL REP.	$190,258	$35,331	$225,589
JOSE VARGAS	BORO REP.	$170,400	$29,065	$199,465
CAROL GERSTL	GENERAL COUNSEL	$183,750	$7,649	$191,399
LEROY BARR	SPECIAL REP.	$176,150	$14,506	$190,656
EVELYN DEJESUS	BORO REP.	$170,400	$15,183	$185,583
ADAM ROSS	GENERAL COUNSEL	$183,059	$2,080	$185,139
RICHARD RILEY	COMMUNICATIONS	$184,154	$830	$184,984
HOWARD SCHOOR	BORO REP.	$170,400	$14,580	$184,980
EMIL PIETROMONACO	BORO REP.	$170,400	$14,023	$184,423
RONA FREISER	BORO REP.	$170,400	$9,611	$180,011
CHARLES BAKER	CONTROLLER	$179,928	$0	$179,928
JACQUELINE GOTTLIEB	AD SALES REP	$178,275	$0	$178,275
CHRISTINE PROCTOR	INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST	$160,084	$14,313	$174,397
PAUL EGAN	SPECIAL REP.	$150,400	$21,638	$172,038
ROBERT ASTROWSKY	SPECIAL REP.	$170,000	$1,569	$171,569
LUCILLE SWAIM	SPECIAL ASST.	$169,996	$250	$170,246
RONNIE DAVIS	COMMUNICATIONS	$170,000	$0	$170,000
PIERROT RAYMOND	SPECIAL ASST.	$160,754	$8,318	$169,072
JEFFREY GOLDSTEIN	SPECIAL REP.	$168,527	$14	$168,541
KAREN ALFORD	SPECIAL REP.	$156,814	$7,658	$164,472
CARMEN ALVAREZ-SCAGLION	SPECIAL REP.	$162,534	$879	$163,431
MAUREEN SALTER	COMMUNICATIONS	$156,748	$3,731	$160,479
BRIAN GIBBONS	ASST. TO PRESIDENT	$152,250	$6,143	$158,393
MICHAEL KINK	SRASTPRES	$150,000	$6,011	$156,011
DAVID KAZANSKY	SPECIAL REP.	$142,867	$11,646	$154,513
ANTHONY HARMON	SPECIAL REP.	$142,400	$12,057	$154,457
ELLEN GALLIN PROCIDA	SPECIAL REP.	$142,867	$7,157	$150,024
CHRISTOPHER FLAHERTY	DIRECTOR-ADMIN.SVCS.	$149,581	$0	$149,581
MILES TRAGER	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$14,737	$147,604
DEIDRE MC FADYEN	EDITOR	$145,721	$1,356	$147,077
MARCIA TEXIDOR	DIRECTOR - PERSONNEL	$143,745	$0	$143,745
BARBARA SHILLER	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$10,748	$143,615
ANTHONY SCLAFANI	SPECIAL REP.	$137,047	$6,112	$143,159
WASHINGTON SANCHEZ	SPECIAL REP.	$137,047	$5,566	$142,613
FRANCINE STREICH	SPECIAL REP.	$139,090	$3,073	$142,163
ANNE GOLDMAN	SPECIAL REP.	$132,467	$9,558	$142,025
DERMOT SMYTH	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$9,066	$141,933
JACQUELINE BENNETT	SPECIAL REP.	$137,047	$4,869	$141,916
ZINA BURTON-MYRICK	SPECIAL REP.	$135,027	$6,299	$141,326
JOSEPH LOVERDE,JR	WRITER	$137,813	$3,460	$141,273
JOHN PAPAS	ASST.CONTROLLER	$140,569	$288	$140,857
SANDRA DUNN-YULES	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$7,657	$140,524
DEBRA POULOS	SPECIAL REP.	$137,799	$2,056	$139,855
JANELLA HINDS	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$6,596	$139,463
BRIGET ANNE REIN	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$6,558	$139,425
BRUCE ZIHAL	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$6,480	$139,347
MARGARET BORRELLI	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$6,253	$139,120
JOSEPH COLLETTI	SPECIAL REP.	$136,184	$2,874	$139,058
LILLIAN KOHLER	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$6,023	$138,890
MICHELLE DANIELS	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$5,462	$138,329
ALBANIA SEPULVEDA	SPECIAL REP.	$132,467	$5,800	$138,267
MARY ATKINSON	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$4,998	$137,865
JEFFREY POVALITIS	SPECIAL REP.	$132,467	$5,216	$137,683
JASON RABINOWITZ	DIRECTOR SPEC. PROJ.	$136,090	$894	$136,984
MARTHA LANE	SPECIAL REP.	$132,467	$4,280	$136,747
LAURA TAMBURO	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$3,587	$136,454
AMY ARUNDELL	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$3,544	$136,411
STEVEN CASTELLANO	BLDG. MANAGER	$136,329	$0	$136,329
ELIZABETH PEREZ	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$3,128	$135,995
CARL CAMBRIA	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$3,085	$135,952
THERESA SAMUELS	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$2,982	$135,849
WILMA VELAZQUEZ	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$2,966	$135,833
SHARON RIPLEY	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$2,835	$135,702
DIANE MAZZOLA	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$2,310	$135,177
MARK COLLINS	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$2,069	$134,936
JEFFREY HUART	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$1,517	$134,384
STEPHEN GAPPELBERG	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$1,431	$134,298
EUGENE RUBIN	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$1,253	$134,120
THOMAS BROWN	SPECIAL REP.	$132,867	$1,146	$134,013
DEBRA PENNY	SPECIAL REP.	$121,170	$8,031	$129,201
PATRICIA CRISPINO	SPECIAL REP.	$124,130	$4,257	$128,387
ANGELA KAHN	SPECIAL REP.	$116,323	$8,087	$124,410
PHILIPP KRAKER	MNGR.-ACCOUNTING	$123,000	$0	$123,000
CHRISTINE MATHEWS	COMMUNICATIONS	$110,474	$0	$110,474
FLLOYD BRYAN	ASST.MGR.-TELECOM.	$91,526	$18,638	$110,164
TAMMIE MILLER	COORDINATOR	$98,869	$11,262	$110,131
ALBERT FRAZIA	ASST.DIR.-SHIP	$107,553	$0	$107,553
JOYCE LEVENSON	SPECIAL REP.	$104,111	$3,192	$107,303
IRENE LOSPENUSO	DIRECTOR - SHIP	$107,040	$161	$107,201
ANN MARTIN	MNGR.-ACCOUNTING	$106,518	$0	$106,518
ILENE WEINERMAN	SPECIAL REP.	$103,130	$3,371	$106,501
JOHN TUOHY	MNGR.-ACCOUNTING	$105,680	$0	$105,680
CLAUDETTE EDWARDS	ADMIN.ASST.	$105,304	$0	$105,304
MICHAEL HIRSCH	WRITER	$105,028	$10	$105,038
ELINOR SPIELBERG	WRITER	$104,202	$27	$104,229
OSCAR RIVERA	MNGR. - PRINT/MAIL	$102,072	$194	$102,266
SHELVY YOUNG-ABRAMS	SPECIAL REP.	$99,522	$2,704	$102,226
MARY MCADOO	COMMUNICATIONS	$100,006	$1,250	$101,256
DEBORAH RUBIN	DIRECTOR - HCC	$100,998	$0	$100,998
MARSHA KELLY	PERSONNEL ADMIN.	$98,725	$0	$98,725
PETER KADUSHIN	COMMUNICATIONS	$96,911	$1,245	$98,156
JASON GOLDMAN	LEGISLATION	$76,005	$21,441	$97,446
AINSWORTH LINTON	COORDINATOR	$94,527	$284	$94,811
DANIEL ACOSTA	FIELD REP.	$93,859	$0	$93,859

NYC Teacher David Garcia-Rosen Battles DOE for More Small Schools Sports Teams

The leadership of the DOE continues to believe offering me a job at the PSAL is the solution. They continue to defend the PSAL which is one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country. I can’t go work for the PSAL, when they continue to defend their current funding model at the very few meetings they grant me... David Garcia-Rosen, NYC teacher and founder of Small Schools Athletic League.

.....the city is spending more of its $23 million athletics budget on large, wealthy schools over smaller high schools in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. “The Department of Education can’t continue to fund world-class athletic programs at schools with white students, leaving the most segregated schools begging for teams year after year,” [Garcia-Rosen] said. The city added 84 new teams to 50 high schools with the lowest percentages of black and Latino students last year — and the 50 high schools with the largest amount of those students got 22 new teams, an SSAL analysis found.... NY Post

About 20 years ago, New York began dismantling many of the megafactory high schools with 4,000 or more students, which were not able to prepare their students for the world. The large schools that survived were doing well, and had larger populations of white students. The traditional way of providing sports programs — the P.S.A.L. system — did not keep up with the expanding number of small schools... NY Times

I ran into David Garcia-Rosen, who I met years ago at Teachers Unite meetings, at a UFT event at the Hilton recently where he was promoting the Small Schools Athletic League, which he founded at his school in 2011. We didn't have time to chat much so I emailed Teachers Unite director Sally Lee to tell her I met David - and she filled me in on the story. That David, a remarkable teacher who often raised issues around testing, had taken his brainchild to offer sports programs to the small schools being denied them to his principal who agreed to let him spearhead the program.

David's story is an indictment of the ed deform mantra of closing large schools and replacing them with small, under-financed small schools. Guess where the large high schools remain open? Where there are a higher percentage of white kids.

....principals at the small schools began to use their own in-house budgets to pay for the teams — hiring referees, getting equipment and so forth. Last year, the league got a one-time city grant of $250,000, which its members say is about one-fifth of what it needs.

 We have always maintained that while not opposing the idea of small schools, the way the DOE implemented the policy often cheated students of the benefits that large schools offer. Athletics is a key issue.

Kudos to David for trying to find a solution and for a while it looked like his concept would be a GO.

Garcia-Rosen acknowledged that the city had offered to incorporate the small-schools league as a division of the Public Schools Athletic League next year, and had offered him a job in the PSAL. (The small-schools league has been funded by principals in the past, though the department provided a $250,000 grant this January.) But he said the city offered few details about how the small-schools division would be supported or how he would fit into the hierarchy of the department.... Chalkbeat

Was the job offer a bribe and a way to bury him inside the bureacracy and hold him and his program hostage? It seems only the UFT/Unity leadership has any faith in the honesty of the DOE.

Currently, David is the dean at his school.So David, being a 16-year vet of the dysfunctionality at the DOE, has decided to pull the plug on the program and file a federal civil rights lawsuit (see below for his letter.)

Is there a better story exposing the bullshit still goes on at the DOE? Look at their response and to NY Times reporter Jim Dwyer for being the only member of the press to expose their hypocrisy.

Was the new league not filling a need? The Education Department replied that 90 percent of New York City students attend a school with access to P.S.A.L. programs. That is, if a school fields a team in a single sport, every student in the school is counted as having “access” to the official public school sports league. So the number is a statistical delusion.

Dwyer reports Farina's response at a City Council hearing about the small schools league. 

For many, she said, sports was “what brought them to school. We are committed to expanding this and making it work. It makes a difference in kids’ lives.”

 Except when it doesn't.

Here are links to the articles.

• Chalkbeat,
• Schoolbook,
• NY Daily News,
• NY Post,
• NY Times

His full letter is below (from Chalkbeat).

Good Morning Student-Athletes, Coaches, Administrators, and Allies,
 It is with great sadness that I report we have not been able to come to an agreement with the Department of Education to continue the Small Schools Athletic League next year.

Tomorrow morning, I will file a complaint with the United States Department of Education’s Office of  Civil Rights stating that the New York City Department of Education is in direct violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the way they fund high school sports.

The Department of Education can’t continue to fund world class athletic programs at schools with white students, leaving the most segregated schools begging for teams year after year. On the 60th anniversary of “Brown vs The Board of Education”, it is unbelievable that New York City continues to support one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country.

I built this league in September of 2011, because the Public School Athletic League said there was no way for them to bring interscholastic sports to small high schools. They told me to prove it could be done. We have done that with a league that currently has over 90 teams from 42 high schools with 1700 student-athletes.

I have been in the DOE for 16 years and it has never been about simply creating and running a league.
It is about every student in New York City having the right to play high school sports.

The leadership of the DOE continues to believe offering me a job at the PSAL is the solution. They continue to defend the PSAL which is one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country. I can’t go work for the PSAL, when they continue to defend their current funding model at the very few meetings they grant me.

Even after receiving my research in May of 2013, they went on to make the situation worse in 2014.
In Fiscal Year 2014, the 50 high schools with the least students of color got 84 new PSAL teams, even though they already had the most. The 277 high schools with the most students of color got the same amount. Not one team was granted to the high schools that are 100% students of color.

I will continue to fight not only for the student-athletes of the SSAL, but for all the student-athletes in New York City whose lives can be changed through the power of sports. I can assure you I will not stop fighting until every student in New York City has equal access to high school sports.
I hope to see many of you at the DOE Budget hearing tomorrow morning at City Hall, 9:45 AM. I will be there with SSAL student-athletes to deliver the thousands of signatures and letters we have collected over the past year.
Sincerely,
David Garcia-Rosen
Founder/Director Small Schools Athletic League

Leonie Haimson/Class Size Matters: Skinny Awards Dinner, June 9

I've been to every one of these events and for those fighting ed deform there is no better place to be on a June evening with a gaggle of like-minded folks. I've been to every one and am going again this year. The Skinny Award (a slam at the Broad award) is a major fundraiser for the amazing work Leonie does. She is honoring principals Carol Burris and Liz Phillips. And the great Patrick Sullivan. Past winners include MOREistas James Eterno and Julie Cavanagh. Arthur Goldstein and Gary Rubinstein were honored last year.

Dear friends,

Our annual Skinny Award Dinner is only three weeks away.  This year Class Size Matters will be honoring three terrific leaders in the fight to preserve and strengthen our public schools:  Liz Phillips, principal of PS 321 in Brooklyn, and Carol Burris, principal of South Side HS on Long Island, both of whom have spoken out publicly against the high-stakes and low quality of the NY State exams.  

We are also honoring our Board chair, Patrick Sullivan, former Manhattan representative to the Panel on Education Policy, who stood up for parents and challenged the DOE to justify their irrational policies during the Bloomberg years.

The dinner will be held on Monday, June 9 at 6:30 PM, at Bocca Di Bacco, 191 7th Ave (21st St).

Please join us for a rare opportunity to enjoy a four course dinner with wine and celebrate three heroes who have given us the real "skinny" on NYC schools.
We have a lot to celebrate this year, including our successful challenge of inBloom’s plans to collect and disclose the personal student information of millions of students to for-profit vendors, without parental notification or consent.  We led the battle for student privacy  here in NY, where last month legislation was passed to  prevent the State from participating in this project.  inBloom was funded with $100 million of Gates Foundation money, and had an operating system built by Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless/Amplify, run by Joel Klein.   

Even earlier, we had also reached out to other parents in the eight other inBloom states to inform them of this plan, and because of protests, every single state pulled out.  A few weeks ago, inBloom announced it was closing its doors. 

Please reserve your ticket now, or if you cannot attend, please make a tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters, so we can continue our efforts to reduce class size, alleviate school overcrowding and protect student privacy. 

Thanks so much, Leonie   
PS Diane Ravitch who just had knee replacement surgery will hopefully be there as well!

 

Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters

124 Waverly Pl.

New York, NY 10011

212-674-7320

leonie@classsizematters.org

www.classsizematters.org

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

Rent for Eva's 3 charters to cost city $5.4 million a year-- without a whimper from UFT or de Blasio

If rent for three of Eva’s charter schools will cost $5.4 M per year, can you imagine the hundreds of millions of dollars in future costs to the city and state as every existing co-located, new or expanded charter can demand free facilities and/or rent?... Leonie Haimson

REPORT: IBO’s analysis of the Mayor’s Executive Budget for 2015 includes our latest economic forecast and tax revenue projections for the city as well as estimates of spending under the Mayor’s plan. We incorporate the revised financial plan, issued just yesterday afternoon by the de Blasio Administration, in presenting our estimates of budget gaps and surpluses. The report also includes our most current projections for local job growth: http://bit.ly/1kaP0v4. 

Excerpt: State funding for charter schools in New York City, which flows through the education department’s budget, is increasing by $77 million. Some of the additional city-generated funding is being used to expand arts education ($23million) and to pay the rental costs for three charter schools as required under new state legislation ($5.4 million). The new state charter school funding is a supplement to the city’s current share of spending for charter schools, which IBO estimates is $1.1 billion this year.

 

UFT Contract: Discrimination Against Women on Child Care Leave

Woman (and some men) on maternity leave -  unfairness and bias against mothers taking care of their children in this contract. No "signing bonus" and will not get retro, not only on leave, but will only get it in payments after return.... Comment from a MOREista with a young child

Yes, some men, but mostly women. From the early days of ed deform I was pointing to how the entire concept of making teachers work 12 hour days was anti-women with families. Their ideal teachers were childless without having to take days off to care for a sick child or race home for childcare.

The same charges came up in the 1995 contract rejection when the Unity Caucus leadership, in Randi's first contract negotiation screw-up, pushed maximum salary from 20 to 25 years - pretty outrageous. Women who took time off for childcare were a major factor in the rejection. When Randi (who was not president at that time) came back with 22 years 6 months later, people (even those in the opposition) took that as a win when in actuality it was a loss --- 2 more years to reach max than before. But so is the way of the Unity -- give ice water in winter and claim it's hot tea.

I have written before on this issue: UFT Contract: An Attack on Women.

MORE Lower Manhattan Happy Hour Friday, May 30, 4-6PM

REMINDER: If you teach in Manhattan join us.

DISTRICT 1 and 2 Happy Hour 

will be a place to discuss the proposed contract and other educational issues we face! 

Friday, May 30th (4-6)

LOCAL 138, 

138 Ludlow, between Rivington and Stanton

 (F, J, M to Delancey) 

Back room is reserved 

Feel free to spread the word and bring others.

UFT Contract Exit Polls Contradict NY Times Article on Contract

At my school, the xxxxxx, the chapter elected to conduct an "exit poll" to assess how we as a chapter voted on the contract proposal.

These are the unofficial results of the xxxx vote.

Total UFT members: ....45 

Total voting "YES" - ......16

Total voting "NO" - ........26

Abstentions: .....................3

---A MORE Chapter Leader

Interesting, given today's NY Times article by Al Baker (As Ballot Count Nears, City’s Teachers Debate Whether to Ratify Contract) indicating passing the contract would be pretty much a given. It is one of the better and more balanced pieces Baker has written -- Baker did seem to go out of his way to talk to people at some schools with MORE people in them - PS 261 (though he didn't seem to realize that) and Megan Moskop, our awesome dynamo:

Leaders of one caucus within the union, the Movement of Rank and File Educators, have decided to vote no on the contract and are hosting informal discussions to urge members to think critically before voting. “It seems misleading to me that our union is saying, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, your health care costs won’t go up,’ when that isn’t something they can promise,” said Megan Moskop, 27, a teacher at Middle School 324 in Washington Heights who is a caucus member.

PS 261 and MS 324 will both probably a number of NO votes against the contract. We reported the exit poll from Bertraum (UFT Contract: Murry Bergtraum Exit Poll - 71 No, ...).

What does this mean? Where there are MORE people and where independent voices like Roseanne McCosh.. are discussing the contract in an open and democratic manner, people by big numbers are voting NO. In places with Unity chapter leaders selling the contract -- which is different from presenting a fair view -- with the help of the union publicity machine and staffers -- the schools will vote overwhelmingly YES. The reason the contract will pass are that there are a lot of more schools in the latter category.

Unity has targeted schools with MORE people for extra leafleting and visits -- using our dues on the union dime.

We already voted, but somebody who said they were "from the UFT" came in and distributed these today... No identification as to who put them out.  If they are sending staffers around on union time to do this in my opinion that's a serious problem.  People in my school were really offended by how our DR and her flunky talked to them the other day and they are not happy about how their dues money is being used for this kind of campaigning... MORE Chapter Leader

Another MORE member responded:

I'll bet his name is Dermont Smyth. He is a special rep for Queens Borough Office. He came -uninvited- to my school today around 8 to specifically flier mailboxes. He treated my CL with... disdain. He also failed to follow the building security procedures of going to the main office after sign in and of wearing the guest name tag.  Instead,  he placed fliers in mailboxes and was at some point  seen roaming around the first floor by another teacher.

Why did I block out the name of the school? Since Unity targets schools with MOREistas or other critics for "special re-education" campaigns, why give them a helping hand?