Cuomo Budget: PS 29k's Week of Action in Brooklyn

Hi Norm,
New York City parents and teachers will be out in full force this week to protest Gov. Cuomo's budget/education reforms. Not sure if this on your radar, but I figured you might be interested...
PS 29 in Brooklyn, which is my son's school, has something in the works every day, including a demonstration outside our Cobble Hill location on Thursday morning where kids and parents will be linking arms around the school building.
You can find the press release and contact info below along with the flyer being sent to parents (attached).

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me as well.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Rhonda Keyser, PS 29 PTA Vice President, Communications
CALL; 646-644-0828 or email rhondakeyser@gmail.com

PS 29 Parents and Students PROTECT OUR SCHOOLS Demonstration Opposing Governor Cuomo's Proposed Education Reform
Thursday, March 12th 8:00 am

Brooklyn, NY, March 9, 2015 – Hundreds of parents and students from top-performing public elementary school PS 29, in Cobble Hill, will launch a week of action culminating in a schoolwide demonstration at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 12, outside the school building at 425 Henry Street, imploring law-makers to make every effort to strip Governor Cuomo's proposed education reforms out of the state budget.

This action is part of a broad state-wide campaign opposing Governor Cuomo's proposed education reforms, which would increase the reliance of state English Language Arts and Math tests in teacher evaluation to 50 percent of their total evaluation, among other changes. Parents are alarmed that curriculum will inevitably be narrowed to a tight focus on rote testing and test prep, if the proposal become law.

To bring attention to the enrichments that could be lost, students from numerous extracurricular clubs will visually highlight the band, chorus, dance, drama, and other opportunities they would be missing if Governor Cuomo's plans are successful. The capstone of the event will come at 8:20 a.m. when students, parents and teachers join hands to encircle the entire school, symbolically protecting PS 29 from the dangers the education reforms could bring. This action will be staged concurrently at dozens of other schools around New York City.

Other actions include a District 15 Rally to Protect Public Education, outside Cuomo’s NYC office (633 3rd Avenue) from 4:30 to 6 p.m.on March 11 and a burgeoning #EvaluateThat social media campaign, featuring children talking across social media platforms on what they love about their school.

Organizers are asking constituents to contact their elected state senators and assemblymen and demand the proposed education reforms be removed from the budget.

For information and the full line up of activities, visit http://www.ps29brooklyn.org/cuomo-snapshot-data-action.

Best regards,
Lauren Young
Twitter: @LaurenYoung
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lauren-young/1/136/5b2

They can't take your pension, but they can take your health care plan

TWO entities can touch your pension: The IRS for taxes owed and a Family Court for child support. That’s it! I doubt an arbitrator can touch you pension. They are wages you earned already... Why the UFT doesn't make is more public. It is a Leadership Academy lie to bully and intimidate.
.....From MORE Chapter Leader listserve

This was in response to a question about a member being threatened with loss of pension. Here was the question:

A friend called me to say that a teacher had been removed from the school for some kind of charges related to sending a child to another class and not making sure the child make it to the other class. The principal said the teacher could lose her pension.

Astounding what slug principals will tell teachers. Yes, do fault the UFT from the top down to the district level, where the monthly meetings should be dealing with questions like this instead of being used to push the UFT political agenda.

But then there is this as a followup from a MORE CL:

Here’s something most don’t know and I just found out because it happened to a member in our school. A members was caught snoozing in class. A student took a picture. The member never told me and went on her own thinking if she confessed and promised they would be lenient. Wrong! She got a TWO week suspension without pay. But, get a load of this. She went to the doctor with her husband and were told their benefits were suspended.

I have alerted the UFT to NO response about this. One can just imagine a catastrophic scenario where emergency medical care can lead to financial ruin for this member.

Besides the lesson of not going alone; I would have demanded progressive discipline and gotten her a counseling memo or, worst case, letter to file, beware of the suspension of benefits.

As Simple as ABC: As Attacks on Hillary Escalate, Cuomo as Alternate?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Norm in The Wave: Oh, Sweet Suspensions, Wherefore Art Thou?

This School Scope column appeared in the Feb. 27 edition, www.rockawave.com. I ran into a lady at the Rockaway Theatre Company Friday night who said she finally understood something I wrote. A guy in the gym tells me every time I see him how he doesn't understand anything I write, so I'm getting somewhere.

Oh, Sweet Suspensions, Wherefore Art Thou?

By Norm Scott

“City planning significant changes to school discipline rules to cut down on suspending students,” proclaimed a headline in the Feb. 16 edition of The Daily News, resulting in yet another hail of attacks on the liberal policies of Mayor de Blasio and schools chancellor Carmen Farina for hastening the end of western civilization. The critics just love those charter schools in the city which suspended students at almost three times the rate of the public schools during the 2011-12 school year, the last year for which public data is available. 11 charter schools suspended more than 30 percent of their students according to Chalkbeat, the education blog. Given all that has been going on about race recently, it should be no surprise that discipline and suspension rates have also become hot racially tinged topics. The News reported, “Stats for the 2013-2014 school year show roughly 90% of 53,000 suspensions in city schools involved black or Hispanic kids.” On the other side, people raise the issue of whether these numbers represent racial bias.

Now, as a teacher, I was opposed to suspensions and harsh discipline, feeling that having to resort to them was an admission of failure on my part. Or an admission of failure to the administration. As an outspoken teacher, I never wanted to give my supervisors and edge on me by asking them for assistance. And if one of my kids got suspended, what do I do when he (most suspensions are boys) returned from a number of days out of school or my classroom? I preferred to deal with things in on my own.

Things can get pretty ridiculous in this debate. An editorial slamming the policy stated, “Principals will now have to get written approval from Department of Education headquarters before suspending a kindergarten-to-third-grade student, or a student in any grade who commits one of the most common infractions: insubordination.” I taught in elementary schools for 30 years and yes there was some bad behavior by kids in k-3 grades but suspend kids that age? A school can’t manage to figure out some alternative? If a child has serious emotional issues then they need help, not suspension. I never taught high school where some students may be more threatening if they engage in serious misbehavior and containing them in the school might be a problem. But there are answers for schools willing to explore alternatives to suspension. Restorative justice (RJ) programs where students must face and take responsibilities for their actions in front of a peer pressure group have been having enormous positive impacts on schools where discipline was an issue and have resulted in some remarkable transformations. Wary educators without direct knowledge of these programs fear they may be just a cover up for another failed onslaught in the blame the teacher game over the past 15 years.

My friend who teaches at a high school in Brooklyn was one such skeptic. Now he has the entire school involved in restorative justice programs. He reports, “I visited a few schools, one a 300 student school that had 150 suspensions (some students suspended multiple times). They dropped to 63 suspensions after they initiated a new disciplinary program in 2012/13. Now in the second year of implementation they have had only 2 principal's suspensions.” These are hard facts pointing to the success of RJ programs. He told me about mediation programs where “two students, who engaged in a verbal or physical fight, meet in a room, sit across from each other, and each one has a student representative  trained in meditation. Both students tell their side of the stories, the objective being to get both sides to understand the other, discuss calmly how they could have handled the situation differently and come to a compromise agreement on what will happen now. Most mediations end in the two students hugging and becoming friends.” If a school with a rational administration – not always easy to find – wants a shot at solving the suspension issue, then giving restorative justice a shot is the way to go.

Norm restores himself daily at his blog, ednotesonline.org.

Howie Schwach Remembers Beverly Hall, Former CSD 27 (including Rockaway) Superintendent

People forget that cheating scandal plagued Atlanta Supt. Beverly Hall, who just passed away, was a local Supt and DOE official here in NYC and was District Supt of District 27 (Ozone Park, Howard Beach and Rockaway).

I moved to Rockaway in 1979 but never paid much attention to the local school stuff in District 27 other than to read The Wave's Howie Schwach's reports in his School Scope columns (I took over the column when Howie became Wave editor over a decade ago.)
Howie left the paper after Hurricane Sandy and how has an online presence reporting on Rockaway events.

Here is Howie reporting on Hall's death and recalling events around her superintendency almost 25 years ago. Scandals in District 27 and other districts helped bring the death-knell of community control and the rise of the even more disastrous Bloomberg mayoral control. In fact, controls were being put in place to control these scandals when community control was killed. I would go back to that a modified version of that system in an instant.

http://www.onrockaway.com/page-16.html

Dr. Beverly Hall, former CSD 27, dies of cancer

Posted at 4:45 p.m. on March 6
    Dr. Beverly Hall, the woman who sparked a contentious battle for the superintendence of Rockaway’s School District 27 in the early 1990’s and later led the Atlanta (Georgia) schools when it was hit by a massive test cheating scandal died of cancer on March 2 at the age of 68.
     She will be memorialized at a service to be held on March 28 at 10 a.m. at Trinity St. John’s Church, 1142 Broadway in Hewlett.
     Many who worked in Rockaway schools at that time will remember Hall as a tough boss who brought the Carnegie Middle School Reorganization Program to the district.
     The battle between Hall and several other candidates for the position of School District 27 Superintendent quickly became racially-tinged and contentious with now- State Senator James Sanders, who was then the president of the school board, tainted by a vote-swapping plan to give Hall the job.
     Hall, then the principal of a Brooklyn public school had been nominated by Sanders, as the new superintendent of schools for the district. There were a number of other candidates, both black and white, and the district, in the wake of a contentious school board scandal in which three members were indicted for crimes that danced around racism and cronyism, was sensitive to the issues.
     Hall is black and many black parents demanded a minority superintendent for the district’s schools, which included Rockaway, Broad Channel and a large chunk of the mainland as well.
     Hall won a contentious election when one board member was removed for trading votes and others were charged with unethical acts. The entire scenario was one that forced to city to do away with school boards and go to the community education council model that still exists today.
     In 1994, Hall left to lead the city’s special programs. Then, she went to the Newark Public Schools as superintendent. From there, in 1999, she went to Atlanta, Georgia and made history be being indicted in a cheating scandal. She resigned from the Atlanta schools in disgrace in 2010, after being named National Superintendent of the Year” the prior year. Hall was charged, along with dozens of teachers and administrators.
     Hall pled not guilty to a racketeering charge and other lesser counts. Because she was battling cancer, however, she was deemed unfit to stand trial, and her case was continued even as the others went on trial last year.

 Dr. Beverly Hall, who sparked a contentious local school election and then was the center of a massive state cheating scandal in Georgia. 

End the weekend with some humor, thanks to Harry

Thanks to Mindy - I forget her full name

Harris Lirtzman compiled these and posted them on facebook. It was stuff like this published in the original ed notes hard copy that got people to read it.

For Lexophiles Everywhere:
1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.
30. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
31. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
32. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
33. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
34. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
35. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
36. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
37. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
38. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
39. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
40. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'
41. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
42. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
43. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'
44. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
45. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
46. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

When UFT members root for right to work - UPDATED

Norm, the day of reckoning for Weingarten and the ed deform movement will come when the US Supreme Court overturns mandatory union dues in Friedrich v CTA. I predict at least 1/2 of all UFT members will quit the union. --- a UFT member

So many people are so mad at the union leadership it has come to this for them. Imagine what might happen if people don't have to pay dues. I'm opposed to this scenario. What the Unity leadership should do is put forth a package of democratic reforms. But they won't. They would rather have 100% control of half a union.

I am updating this with the 2 comments this post has gotten so far, both anti-Unity but with very different perspectives.

Bronx ATRSunday, March 8, 2015 at 2:41:00 PM EDT

Extremely dangerous for all of us. I loathe the UFT and the people running it, but we need them. The UFT had better wake up and smell the coffee because I know the majority of the unrepresented 1800 ATRs and thousands of more untenured newbies will line up to rescind their membership and dues. If that happens things will completely fall apart for everyone.

AnonymousSunday, March 8, 2015 at 3:13:00 PM EDT

YES!!!! Where do I sign up to stop the union dues from leaving my check?

But, what will become of the union "leaders" if there's no dues? Hopefully - back in the classroom! That'll be a bigger punishment than losing their jobs! They would rather drop dead first.
I would love to see my slimy, corrupt district rep teaching again. I would pay big money for that!! Please, please God make it happen...

Boy, after 60 years of clutching onto power with their cold, dead hands, the latter sentiment certainly has some appeal. And I don't hold out much hope for the UFT reforming itself. 

What our commenters don't seem to realize is that many politicians - especially Democrats -- need the UFT as a strong enough entity to exert management and control over the members.

And as long as the UFT doesn't put up too much of a fight like they did in Chicago - some demos, rallies, etc are OK - as long as the backdoor deals are made - they will not undercut the power of Unity -- their partner in so many cases.

And the union will sell everything out to show how good they will be -- please, can they have some more porridge, please?

But if the Supreme Court actually does this, then the politicians are off the hook. Imagine a union where people willingly pay dues! I bet the teachers in Chicago would pay their dues.

 

Now, if the UFT ever did reform:

First up would be to show good faith and scale back the retiree vote. Next - elect District reps to bring some vestige of democracy down to the schools. Then reform the Exec Bd so it actually represents a wide swath of people. That MORE got more votes than New Action but no seats on the board is a travesty. But I am not arguing for MORE, whose vote was still paltry to get seats while rank and filers who don't want to be involved in a caucus are shut out. I would totally revamp the way the Board is elected -- maybe districts elect people so schools get a say. And certainly when a third of the UFT consists of elementary school teachers they should get more than 11 seats on a 100 seat board. High school rep almost 20% of working union members. They get 7 seats. Get rid of most at-large voting - where the entire union, including retirees vote for a majority of Exec Bd seats and the entire officer slate. Give retirees a VP on the officer slate - and that is who they get to vote for. And also 2 Ex Bd seats.

The bad decision making in the UFT/NYSUT/AFT complex is due to the shutting out of voices of dissent where a parliamentary process would lead to bargaining over positions and coming to some sense of concensus. If the union were democratic, the UFT charter school would have been seriously contended and monitored and not have been allowed to become the embarrassment it has turned into. And NYSUT would not have been calved. And Bill Gates would have not been allowed to set foot in our convention hall. Etc, etc, etc.

Video: Jia Lee, etc at Long Island Testing Forum, March 7, 2015

Students Not Scores Public Education Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmyEg-1ib0&feature=youtu.be

Video: Opt In/Opt Out Forum at PS 261 -

One of the most effective panels on Opt-our and testing I've seen.
Carol Burris, Anna Allanbrook, Rosa Perez-Rivera, Sam Coleman, Jeannette Deutermann -- with Brian Jones moderating.

Between them and the Q/A a lot of ground was covered.
A separate video for each speaker plus the Q&A.

Note - the Carol Burris Q&A is included in her segment.

https://vimeo.com/121427733


https://vimeo.com/121428438


https://vimeo.com/121427729


https://vimeo.com/121427731


https://vimeo.com/121427728


https://vimeo.com/121427727

Christie Uses Union to Tout Pres Creds - Is NJEA Still Playing Footsie with Christie?

While I love the NJEA anti-testing commercials, avreport of the Christie speech last night makes you want to smack yourself - or an NJEA official in the head.

NJ.Com reports:

Gov. Chris Christie isn't done touting his newly established working relationship with New Jersey's largest teachers' union. Less than two weeks after declaring in the Garden State during his annual budget address that the New Jersey Education Association "reached an unprecedented accord" aimed at tackling the state's pension woes, Christie touted the partnership - which the union criticized for being "overstated" - with a national audience. The governor, speaking tonight to about 600 Republicans in the presidential battleground state of Florida, trumpeted his new relationship with the NJEA. "If you can really believe it, we have been negotiating with the teachers' union for months to solve our pension and health benefits problem once and for all," Christie said.

Christie is dead to rights. Why even have a conversation with this slug? Some comments on Bob Braun's Ledger:

John Dewey HS Update: Principal Kathleen Elvin as Captain Queeg + New blog focused on schools fighting abusive principals

Elvin: Has madness struck?

IT'S A MADHOUSE, A MADHOUSE! As a new teacher at Dewey I am in constant fear of being rated poorly. I am in constant fear that I did not carry out the Do Now to Ms. Evin's liking. I am in constant fear that my enthusiasm for teaching will be sucked completely out of me. I am so sad and frightened... Comment on ed notes post: "No Change of Tone at John Dewey HS

The stories out of John Dewey HS in Brooklyn are getting more and more bizarre as Elvin heads into "rolling steel balls" and

Should be posted outside school for new teachers

"missing strawberries" territory. Her obsession with "Do Nows" is causing people to shake their heads. The major tragedy has been what she is doing to new, nontenured teachers who, as the above comment shows, live in fear. A rescue team from Tweed is needed to parachute those people out of the danger zone.

Can't you imagine Elvin testifying at her own 3020a hearing if she is brought up on charges, which she should be but won't because Tweed/Farina protects all principals unless they are proven serial killers, and even then I'm not too sure.



(If anyone knows how to superimpose Elvin onto Bogart, please do so and contact me.)

My post on the situation at Dewey in at the end of the 2014 school year has gotten over 200 comments and they still keep coming.

Dewey has one of the highest number of ineffective rated teachers by Elvin while at the same time she claims enormous success due to fraudulent credit recovery schemes. Red flag anyone?

Here are the latest comments:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "No Change of Tone at John Dewey HS: Principal Kat...":

Elvin doesn't belong in a school setting anymore. Because learning is such a positive experience enhancing the lives of teachers who give and those who are there to benefit from teachers who know so much and want to give to students, it requires a special type of person to promote a positive professional learning environment. A person such as this likes teachers, knows how to gently encourage them to grow and wants them to grow and find themselves as teachers. This isn't the experience at Dewey. There is not much positive about Elvin. She's full of hatred, resentment, poor judgement, and she never stops criticizing most teachers. She sees herself as an authority on everything and her squad of AP's goes along thinking that everything they do is highly effective also. Most, with the exception of the Math AP, are disconnected from students. Elvin herself has little to do with any of the students. She's now asking that teachers offer learning lunches for the students. She sees all staff as her slaves and seems to want to deplete them of all energy. Elvin, the authority on how learning takes place, should teach a class again or stay home. Her AP's should teach classes also. Many are poor teachers themselves and definitely don't teach as well as some of the more experienced educators in the school. We're listening. Elvin is despised by young and old as well. Each new AP who shows up at the school becomes a tool of destruction for her, targeting teachers, ambushing them, reporting back to Elvin what was and was not done. Elvin will search for evidence on you in your garbage pail. The entire school knows all that she does to damage teachers. What does any of this accomplish?

------

For anyone who was aware of the fraudulent credit practices promoted at Dewey by Elvin and her WPrep group, it's hoped that the many,many individuals who reported this fraud to OSI, to Albany, and to the DOE will see something done about it. At this time it is still occurring. Make no mistake, those of you who set up these programs, Elvin will point a finger at you to save herself when the time comes. You know who you are. 

Oh! Given the number of comments that come in when I focus on a school, I'm setting up a simple blog for people to post about their schools, which will be listed on the sidebar. I need at least a few teachers from a school to corroborate the stories.


I recently met with a group of teachers from a school in Brooklyn and we brainstormed some plans for them to organize resistance in the schools. I will be available to meet in Brooklyn, lower Manhattan and parts of Queens - after school at a local diner.

The blog will be called Schools Needing Assistance Project - SNAP. More to come.

How Unity caucus controls the UFT/NYSUT/AFT - An Analysis

Updated -

Arthur Goldstein at NYC Educator has a piece today - Weingarten Supports Hochul, Hochul Thanks Her by Supporting Moskowitz.


Randi Weingarten's made robo-calls for NYS Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul, who made a slug appearance in front of the Moskowitz rally. I had a piece on this the other day-   Demand Accountability From UFT/AFT/NYSUT/Unity Caucus..., as did RBE at Perdido St., Time To Ask Randi Weingarten About The Kathy Hochul Robocalls Again.

Arthur raises some essential questions regarding the continuous bad policy decisions being made by the union time and again.

....How many times do we need to fall on our asses before someone in leadership gets tired? How much inexcusable nonsense do working teachers need to experience before someone says enough?
......
when are we gonna learn from our mistakes? How many times are we gonna kowtow to people who hate us and everything we stand for just so they can crap all over us? I guess there's some logic to this, but my mind just can't get around it. Norm Scott regularly posts explanations, but even after he explains it I don't understand.

I'm apparently not able to articulate a clear explanation for the WHY behind the UFT's actions -- and let's make it clear, Unity Caucus, being the largest block in NYSUT and the AFT, controls both those organizations. So for those who try to make it seem Mulgrew is not Weingarten, that is just blowing smoke. All style and no substance in the difference.

Michael Fiorillo has a piece in the upcoming High School Voice newsletter on Unity control which we will try to get into as many high schools as possible (email me if you are willing to distribute.)

Chaz blog

The real problem is not just a small oligarchic leadership who sit in offices but the loyalists in Unity caucus who are actually in schools, many as chapter leaders, and still force feed the Unity line to the people they supposedly represent. Note the comments of people like Unity supporters Paula Washington and John Marvel on blog posts critical of the union as examples - loyalists rushing to rearrange the deck chairs.

You need to look at the institutions the union sets up and controls that extend their control into the schools.

If you attend one of the 50 district and functional chapter meetings which are aimed at chapter leaders, you will find a room dominated by Unity and controlled by the Unity person running the meeting. I know MORE CLs who feel there is little headway to be made with these people. In only one district I know of have MORE and other independent CLs been getting to a point of critical mass where their voices are being heard.

People focus way to much on the elections every 3 years. The really important elections take place this May and June for CLs.

[MORE chapter leader election workshops on March 14 at CUNY.]

Even if independents get elected, they are often pulled into the orbit of the union-employed District Rep and also union training weekends where they are shown the advantages of joining Unity - and many do right away. Then they are told the opposition is poison, radicals, crazies, etc. And they spread the word in their schools if someone asks about the opposition.

NYC Educator blog

One of our new people had a friend who basically knows nothing about the union with disparaging remarks about MORE, which astounded this person. Where did she get that from? It is the Unity Caucus rank and file who are fed the line and pass it on.

Co-opting the opposition is another tactic. They target certain people. They never give up on people other than people like Arthur, James Eterno, Jeff Kaufman and myself.

Many of the newer activists in MORE are being approached by union officials, if not outright offers to join "you will rise quickly in the union" but also more subtle -- we hear you, let's work together, join our working committees, etc. I call this "defanging" the opposition. Hey, it worked with New Action so effectively.

And for people who got involved with a group like MORE only recently, it can be heady stuff being approached with offers to give them a voice. Especially when Mulgrew himself is doing this - as Randi did with me for so many years - and yes, I admit fully to buying it for a long time. So I am not blaming them for being enticed. I can't tell you how many people who  used to distribute Ed Notes from 1998-2003 ended up being co-opted into Unity -- I usually know that happened when they suddenly stopped saying hello to me at the DA -- though they are more friendly at AFT conventions in other cities.

Call them incompetent on policy but in this venture of control they are as good as it can get -- the Unity of Chicago was incompetent and that opened the way for CORE. Unity will make sure that never happens here.

Pogue made this excellent comment on Arthur's piece.

I don't believe leadership and Unity are out of touch, I believe they make decisions on fear... The fear that those at the top of our union leadership will lose their power, fear they will lose their double pensions, fear they will lose all the perks that come with keeping destructive policies the way they are. I imagine backdoor meetings with politicians and rich policymakers are made up of UFT leadership being told what's going to happen, then being assisted on formulating how Unity can make it seem like they are fighting back. Unionized marionette strings, if you will.
I used to think leadership made honest mistakes, too many mistakes, one worse than the last, over the course of the past 15 years, have made it crystal clear they are collaborative and complicit in public education's problems.
Leadership and Unity are not stupid, they are just scared.

I've been putting forward the Vichy-like-collaborationist theory for some time. I don't mean to compare them to Nazi sympathizers but with the kind of thinking that would get a significant group of probably decent people in France to think that a cooperating Vichy was better than the Resistance - which by the way was left wing -- and that is a story for another time given that ANY opposition will always have a left wing because, well, that is where activists and organizers are likely to come from.

One of the major tactics of Unity is the indoctrinate its people that the opposition are oddballs leftists to scare people who might venture into that camp. That MORE has been attracting a broader range of people is a threat to Unity and thus Unity woos them to try to winnow down the opposition to the extent they can be more easily branded.

What disturbs me is when our friends get all riled up when they hear some left rhetoric and end up, unwittingly, enforcing the Unity plan.

Susan Ohanian Tweets at Randi re: Opting Out

Today, in a conversation about opting out, I Tweeted:
AFT/NEA refuse to learn from their own members.
Randi Weingarten replied:
@susanoha @MSGunderson @drloisweiner @TeachSolidarity @teachertomo @lapham_katie @NUTonline
-our members opinions differ widely on this
So I Tweeted this:
When Tests Fail: Opt Out wp.me/p556RL-R via @TroyLaRaviere
KUDOS!
@CTULocal1 Response?
@rweingarten response?
@NationalPTA response?
So far: No response from any of them. You can read Roy LaRaviere's declaration in the posts below.


Cartoons:
A Talent for Reading Backwards... http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=999
NY Times Editorial Board http://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=998
NO! http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=1076
Incredibly Sexy Standards Developer Dies, Smothered by Dictionaries http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_news.php?id=833
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When Tests Fail: Opt Out
Troy LaRaviere
blog 2015-03-05 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=786
A Chicago principal supports--and promotes--opting out of PARCC.
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Achieve Is Buying Teacher Lessons to Beef Up Their Common Core Vault
Susan Ohanian
blog
2015-03-03 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=785
This item raises the question: Is there anybody left who won't sell out for the almighty dollar?
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Thousands of students in New Jersey opt out of controversial PAARC tests
Anthony Johnson
WABC
2015-03-02 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=784
According to this report, Middlesex County had a 30% opt out rate. But the state ed commissioner reports a 'good day.'
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Educator's refusal to give PARCC called into question by district
 Eric Gorski with Ohanian comment
Denver Post
2015-03-01 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=783
Shabby article about Peggy Robertson's opt-out provokes HUGE outpouring of support.
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Bringing a Daughter Back From the Brink With Poems
Betsy MacWhinney
New York Times
2015-02-26 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=782
It is impossible to read this lovely piece about finding the right words for one's child without reflecting on the insanity of the Common Core pronouncements about what reading matter is 'informative.'
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As Common Core Testing Is Ushered In, Parents and Students Opt Out
Elizabeth A. Harris with Ohanian Comment
New York Times
2015-03-02 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=780
The article seems to indicate growing opposition to Common Core testing, and the NYT picks of comments reveals something else.
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‘Live with Kelly and Michael’ Top Teacher is quitting: I can’t ‘drill ‘em and kill ‘em’
Valerie Strauss
Wshington Post Answer Sheet
2015-02-23 http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=776
Teachers have to decide.
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Anti-Anecdotalism
Nicholas G. Carr
This Idea Must Die: ed. John Brockman
2015-02-25 http://susanohanian.org/data.php?id=581
The author speaks to the importance of anecdote.
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Calculus
Andrew Lih
2015-02-26 http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1206
A professor challenges the position of calculus as a hazing ritual.
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Change Comes from Children
Mike Martin
2015-01-20 http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1203
Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr., and the young people  who kept marching.
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To the editor
Stephen Krashen
Chicago Tribune
2015-03-04 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1750
Krashen letter affirms that parents are doing the right thing in opting out and that no research supports this irresponsible testing.
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To the editor
Stephen Krashen
Los Angeles Times
2015-02-28 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1749
Krashen refutes claims that NCLB test score gains were due to better test-prep. He shows they never happened. And look at who's making the claims.
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To the editor
Nancy Papas
New York Times
2015-02-28 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1748
In response to dreadful New York Times editorial on the need for testing, this letter has a great summing up line:  Students can't thrive at school if they must concentrate on surviving the outside world.
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To the editor
Evelyn Slockbower
New York Times
2015-02-28 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1747
Since the New York Times wouldn't even let me post an online comment about the dreadful editorial, I'm especially happy to see this letter.
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To the editor
Stephen Krashen, USC Professor Emeritus
Substance
2015-02-26 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1746
Krashen correctly labels online testing: A huge and ever-growing boondoggle that bleeds money from schools.
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Are These the 8 Worst PowerPoints the Government Has Ever Produced?
AJ Vicens
Mother Jones
2015-02-26 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1931
New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has ordered military commanders to ditch PowerPoint. Mother Jones shows why.
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iPads in School -- Not Even if Free
Thomas Ultican
blog
2015-03-01 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=1930
A physics/math teacher offers experienced argument against i-pad in class.
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The impact of one trip to the public library: Making books available may be the best incentive for reading.
Francisco Ramos  and Stephen Krashen
The Reading Teacher
0000-00-00 http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=568
While our current ed reformers argue about how many kids can dance to the tune of the Business Roundtable, Achieve, Inc., US Department of Education, and their allies, this short paper offers a simple idea for getting kids to read: Give them ready access to books of their choice.

Family for Excellent Schools tries to tell skeptical press: It was a ‘civic field trip’

This may be their very biggest "civics" lesson, you can diddle the media only so much.....

Article and video of Kittredge of FES claiming lots of district public schools participated in their charter rally & there were 13,000 who came, arousing incredulity among reporters: It was a ‘civic field trip’ – Lots of reporters scoffing at this on twitter.

http://go.shr.lc/1w5aXmZ 
You have to watch the video at the bottom of the Capital Confidential article.

A comment on the NYCEdNews listserve:

It was only a matter of tie before the world discovered a new bloviator, another O'Reilly, another Maestro. And this may be their very biggest "civics" lesson, you can diddle the media only so much.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes as I exited my 60s

March 4, 2015 - Post-Birthday

I have no easy way to thank all the people who messaged on facebook, texted, emailed and called - especially former students from the early 80s, including Maria Crespo from Sydney, Australia. I would have invited all of you to the birthday bash - if there was one. My wife actually threatened to throw one but I balked. She insisted doing it 20 years ago for my 50th and that was more than enough -- Joel is still mad for not being invited (shhhh - I'm making believe for his sake we didn't really have that wild party yesterday.)

I went to the gym on my birthday and when the machine asked for my age it was the first time I entered "70." The good thing is that I don't need as high a pulse rate to be rated "fit." Can't wait for 80.

Since I was a boy, my mom would get me a custard-filled eclair on my birthday, which my wife continued yesterday. In case you can't see, there IS whipped cream on my nose. (Wish my tongue were longer.)

She also bought me a shower radio in an effort to get me to shower more than once a month. (No photos of that gruesome sight.)

Then she took me out to Gato for a fabulous meal, including this pasta dish. We even took some leftovers home - very rare for me to leave anything on the plate.

When we started out at 5PM the weather was awful but on the way home it was just raining.

And when we got home there was this piece of fiction:

And then this morning, back to work on the house, where I will attempt to install a GFI in my garage.



I thought the weather would be bad today so I could stay home. But it is was not terrible and I had a busy day of attending a 3020a hearing and then was off to the PS 261 opt-out forum with my video camera - and what an amazing forum. Video will be up tomorrow.

Review of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman by Jasmine K. | Media Reviews: TEDUC 482, Winter 2015

This just came in -- an excellent summary of the movie we made with some critical comments. One of them points to the lack of student voices, a conscious decision to avoid a sense we were exploiting kids. We probably could have included more of their voices speaking out for their schools at PEP meetings -- we did some of that. In fact we open with student voices at a PEP.

Review of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman by Jasmine K. | Media Reviews: TEDUC 482, Winter 2015 commented on About

A group of New York City public school teachers and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement wrote and produced this …

[…] [1] The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman. A Grassroots Education Movement and Real Reform Studios Production. February 17, 2015, from, http://theinconvenienttruthbehindwaitingforsuperman.com/about/ […]

6:30 p.m.—Fariña takes part in an Educators 4 Excellence discussion about Common Core and special education. Scholastic Auditorium, 557 Broadway, Manhattan

An indefensible act by Farina.  

Does anything change from the Bloomberg admin, recognizing the E4E ed deform shills? I guess money talks.

MORE Chapter Leader Patrick Walsh comments:

What's changing is the ground beneath our feet as as absurdities like E$E are given ever more credibility and become more and more institutionalized.  An indefensible act by Farina.  

George Schmidt called me to say E4E has now landed in Chicago, where I'm sure Rahm and crew will give them access to the schools to try to undermine the union. 

Farina should be at the PS 261K event at 6:30 today, where educators like Carol Burris will be headlining a panel discussion, along with MOREs Sam Coleman and Brian Jones.

Demand Accountability From UFT/AFT/NYSUT/Unity Caucus leaders for continuous bad decisions on charters, fightback against Cuomo, etc.

When do people hold the union leadership accountable?

Thus we see in the midst of this crisis with Cuomo, some UFT members holding back their support over the union's "Who Me?"

The charter school disaster is just one of many less-publicized ones -- every single one of which had the endorsement of the entire Unity Caucus membership, with various levels of enthusiasm. People like commenters on this and other blogs like Paula Washington and John Marvel, who seem so silent on the charter question.

IF the UFT were a democratic organization where Unity Caucus endorses 100% of the Ex Bd seats and every one of the 800 UFT members supposedly representing the NYC teachers at NYSUT and AFT conventions and cheering and supporting every single position they are told to take.

 

There comes a time when the UFT must put a reform package for the way the UFT operates on the table before there can be trust.

And as for AQE -- someone show me anything other than minor divergence from UFT policy.

 

I see my colleagues in MORE joining in the anti-Cuomo campaign with enthusiasm even though in their schools they are putting out a broader message on testing, common core, charters and other issues the leadership wants to avoid putting on the table.

 

There is a sense amongst the opponents to Unity that they must temper their criticisms in times like these. I don't agree. I think now is the time to say - we will support union defense issues but tie that to demands for internal reform. 

 

I'll come back to this issue in an upcoming post. 

In the meantime -- nice to see NYC Educator and RBE hammering away.

 

NYC Educator

UFT's Charter Disaster--What Has Leadership Learned?

RBE: Time To Ask Randi Weingarten About The Kathy Hochul Robocalls Again

And for more on the charter blow-up -- not from UFT friendly sources by the way - Brent Staples at the Times is an ed deform slug but makes a few interesting points about UFT incompetence when it came time to running a school. It goes way beyond that. I don't ever accuse them of incompetence when it comes to manipulating and managing the membership.

charter accountability

The UFT Charter School met just one of its 38 academic goals last year, even as it struggled to serve a sufficient number of at-risk students, an analysis by the school’s authorizer shows.

• Chalkbeat

Meanwhile, critics say the school's failure is either evidence that the UFT neglected the school or was simply incapable of running a high-functioning one.

• New York Times

NYC Principals Lie and Threaten Over Opt-Out Should be Reported to UFT and DOE

We had a staff meeting.  We were told that we would not be protected, (and in a roundabout way, we were told we would be reported) if we in any way encouraged parents to opt their kids out of the test.  The following reasons were given:

1. It's completely illegal.  It is against State law for students not to take NYS exams.
2.  We would be killing our own MOSLs, as the kids who tend to opt out of the test are those who are likely to get higher scores.
3.  We do not accept opt-out letters, as opting out doesn't exist.

This teacher cannot go to her union for help even if the principal makes it up.

Jia Lee:

It's very much a tipping point. Those who are fearful of losing their grip (trickling top down) will make false threats. Any teacher has first amendment rights to speak out as a concerned citizen. The teacher in another state whose principal is threatening her job is fighting back, and her lawyer made a statement to that effect. 

All over the state, different districts are sending out a range of messages depending on their level of support, just as there is a range of support amongst schools in our city. Two principals are coming to my school on Thursday to state that they will not even look at test scores for admissions. Several admins emailed me after my testimony to applaud my call to action. 

When the threats start, that's how we know this movement is having an impact. It's important to know that now is the time to develop a critical mass. Francesca, if you know of even one parent who you can connect me to, hit me up. I'll do the work. 

A teacher responds:

I simply want to point out that there are still many schools at which the administration will actively go after teachers for "misconduct" for speaking to parents directly about this. I agree that it shows fear in the face of an impactful movement. But as we know from the voting down of a resolution at our recent DA, even our own union will not actively support it, and I think that is unacceptable.

Janine Sopp:

Thank you for sharing the pulse of many of the schools out there. These are the lies we need to shine the light on.  The CTS FAQ is about ready to share and addresses every lie your admin is claiming to be true.  Your union is another story.  When enough parents turn the time and opt out, they will have to recognize it as a real movement to address.  What happened today in NJ is certainly going to ripple accross the river to NYC.  If you've not seen this yet, this is Governor Christie's alma mater:

http://dianeravitch.net/2015/03/02/teachers-at-top-rated-high-school-in-newark-protest-parcc-and-30-days-of-destruction/

Teacher letters are hitting the pages of the news and I hope you see this as a sign that the voices of teachers is getting out more than ever.  I hope many of you will attend the Opt Out forum on Wednesday in Brooklyn and will also attend forums in D6 if you are in upper Manhattan.  Attending forums with parents is the best way to solidify this relationship and bring these ideas back to your school.  Find a parent you CAN turn to with information.  Simply share with them CtS or NYC Opt Out.  There is a movement afoot and those in charge may not want to surrender.

Mike Schirtzer

NYSUT have said they will defend teachers who speak out, but the reality is we have been subject to years of unchecked power of principals to do as they may in NYC, making teachers' lives miserable. Most teachers will not go against their principals.

From NYSUT

ADVICE FOR LOCAL LEADERS
We recognize that many members have strong feelings about this issue. Teachers are trying to reconcile their own roles as public school educators, private citizens and as parents too. As an organization, NYSUT has been clear that students should not be subjected to over-testing or burdened with field tests that are conducted for the main purpose of benefitting test makers. We are on record supporting districts that choose to opt out of field tests. NYSUT fully supports a parents’ right to choose what is best for their child – including parents who are teachers. Additional action is recommended at the local level.

•   Members should feel comfortable in exercising their right to speak out against the overemphasis and misuse of standardized tests.
•   NYSUT will defend teachers against disciplinary action if a district pursues 3020-a charges.
•   Students should not be subject to harmful ―sit and stare‖ policies. Encourage the district to work with stakeholders to develop appropriate policies for students who choose to opt out.
•   Ensure that there are processes in place to track students who refuse part of an assessment and teachers of these students are notified.
   

The Pen is Mightier... blog: Andy, Sandy and Friends

This post is so FUNNY! Amongst my favorite lines:
News Corporation CEO and Walking Dead extra Rupert Murdoch....

Andy, Sandy and Friends

Here are the key graphics.