Why Seattle Teacher Strike Matters - MORE and Port Jefferson Station Express Support

There's no little irony that social justice oriented teacher unions are leading the way in militancy and a willingness to strike while UFT/Unity type unions are passive. That's why I love it when so-called action oriented UFTers opposed to the leadership try to put down MORE as too "social justicey". They just don't get it.

They should take a good look at Seattle - and Chicago where SJ caucuses - MORE brothers and sisters - CORE and SEE are leading the way against ed deform -

MORE people are informing their chapters about these events so UFTers who want to fight back understand what it will take - teachers at the school level must go out and work with parents and community to build the kind of support necessary for us to fight back effectively. Or MORE's support for the #FightForDyett – Support the Hunger Strike against School Closings - in Chicago where parents are fighting to keep a school from being closed and savaged by ed deformers. (Chicago teachers lost 10,000 jobs over the past 15 years of deform).

MORE's Lauren Cohen, Chapter leader at PS 321K, one of the leading opt-out schools in the city, helped organize this support photo:

MORE/ST/UCORE/UFT Chapter Leader Lauren Cohen and her PS 321K chapter

When I began teaching the UFT had a "no contract, no work" mantra - meaning that the day after a contract expired we would be on strike. That only happened in 1967 - and not long after that mantra disappeared, thus leaving us go years without a contract.

Not since 1975 has the UFT been on strike. We know all about the Taylor Law 2 for 1 penalties, the removal of dues checkoff and severe financial - if not crippling - penalties against the union. All these rules came as a result of the 1967 and 1968 UFT strikes. The 1975 strike was an anomaly - no contract on the table - but massive cuts - the leadership did not want to go on strike but was forced to by an outraged membership who saw their schools crippled by massive budget cuts that resulted in the loss of 15,000 jobs. Shanker even went to jail - which we, part of the opposition (Coalition of School Workers - CSW) - considered a rigged show so he could end the strike and make a crippling deal to save the city with our pensions while the working teachers got screwed (shortened school days, loss of preps, frozen everything - like no repairs). The system didn't begin to recover for 15 years. And soon after came ed deform. Unity Caucus has been the steward of 40 years of disaster - 47 if you add in the '68 strike.

Since then our own union leaders have used the threat of a strike against the members -- giving up the major weapon. 

Either other states don't have such onerous penalties or the unions just don't worry about it.

The Chicago Teacher Union 2012 strike as schools opened was a major event and they are talking about going on strike again - but this time, as my pal George Schmidt urges, it will be a winter strike which will have a bigger impact that one in balmy fall days. Male teachers are already beginning to grow their winter beards.

It is no accident that the Social Justice unionism movement in Chicago has caught on in so many other cities - as evidenced by our national UCORE coalition from 15 states. A growing SJ oriented caucus in Seattle, where Jesse Hagopian came within a hair of winning the recent election as president, has played an important role in the strike - gaining parent and community support - and how ironic it is in the home territory of Bill Gates - and how delicious that the State of Washington courts ruled charter schools unconstitutional?

When we were in Seattle for the Bill Gates AFT convention in 2010, the local union, which I believe is NEA, has minimal presence - though some of them did hold an anti-Arne Duncan demo when he came to lunch at a restaurant. Due to the work of a caucus - Social Equality Educators (SEE) - there is a world of change as evidenced by the strike.

Socialist Worker has an article summing it up: Teachers draw the line for Seattle schools


Beth Dimino and Brian St. Pierre of Port Jefferson Station come out strongly on Seattle Teacher Strike and call for NYSUT to do the same.

Seattle Teachers On Strike!

The Seattle Education Association is ready to strike tomorrow, on the first day of school in their district, if negotiations tonight do not reach an agreement. In a situation reminiscent of the Chicago Teachers Union's 2012 strike, the teachers in Seattle are ready to strike for more than just typical "bread and butter" union issues. While things such as salary increases and length of work day a... See More

PJSTA Passes Reso in Support of SEA; Launches Solidarity Campaign

At today’s Representative Council meeting the PJSTA’s governing body passed a resolution in support of the Seattle Education Association who are currently on strike in Seattle as they fight for the schools Seattle’s students deserve.  Additionally the PJSTA pledged to launch a solidarity campaign in our schools and asked NYSUT to similarly support the SEA while encouraging it’s locals to issue their own resolutions in support of the SEA. Details on the solidarity campaign will hit the buildings tomorrow.
Here is the text of the resolution…

 

Jitu Brown #FightforDyett from Michael Elliot

Michael Elliot:
I met Jitu Brown at the Network for Public Education Conference in Chicago last April. He shared a story with me about Florence B Price Elementary School and Jackie Robinson Elementary School in Chicago, and their destruction at the hands of Chicago Public Schools. Its a tragic story that is echoed around the country, where the voices of communities are ignored and politics takes over. 

Michael is a film maker/editor, a parent who has been activated by the opt-out and anti-high stakes testing movement and a Change the Stakes stalwart.

https://vimeo.com/138892667


Jitu Brown #FightforDyett from Michael Elliot on Vimeo.

Another reason to love Michael

As Schools Open Why Do I Still Get Butterflies? - School Scope, The Wave

This is my back to school column for this Friday. In my early years of retirement I felt joy at not going in. Now I feel the same knot my teacher friends do. I may just spend the day drinking.

As Schools Open Why Do I Still Get Butterflies?

By Norm Scott

Maybe Jews have it right. Match the New Year to the beginning of the school year. I can just see those ancient wise men over 5773 years ago saying, “My kids are going back to school – thank God – let’s celebrate.”

The back to school calendar controlled my life as a student and a teacher from the age of 5 though 57 when I retired. Thirteen years later, being so involved with education issues and working with teachers plus living in a beach community like Rockaway where Labor Day is a sort of culminating event, I still operate on ta September to June calendar, with summer occupying separate niche. I set up all my folders of junk on my computer that way. My brand new folder for this column: 2015-16.

I’m writing this on the day after Labor Day. I live down the block from PS 114 and watch the teachers pull up in their cars and head over to school for a day of meetings and setting up classrooms for tomorrow’s opening when kids show up. Some won’t be leaving until 6PM tonight. Many started coming in last week to do all the things that cannot be done in just a few hours today.

Tonight is the real day of butterflies as people get themselves mentally ready to meet their students. For me, in my 35 years in the system, tonight is the realization that my freedom is gone for the next 10 months as I would eat, think, dream of the tasks that have to be done. It is not just the physical freedom that ends today, but the mental freedom and relief.

It has actually been 31 years since I had major responsibility for setting up a classroom and preparing to spend a year with 30 students. After 18 years of teaching my own class, the rest of my career was as a computer cluster teacher and then a district tech support person – such light lifting compared to the first part of my career. But that experience totally energized me with excitement and enthusiasm. I loved setting up my room and meeting the new kids, though on the first few days I missed the kids from the year before so badly. It took about 2 weeks before I forgot them – experience teaches you that by June I would be crazy for these kids and miss them just as much when the next year began. Teaching in that first part of my career was like a drug. But then again, I had relative freedom to teach until a test-driven principal began to put into effect the kinds of controls that have come under ed deform. It was at that point – in the early 80s after 15 classes that I had thoughts of leaving the self-contained classroom.

Given what I am hearing today, there is no way I could teach under the conditions being imposed on teachers. Last week I was talking to one of the young actors at the Rockaway Theatre Company who is/was studying to be a teacher. “I’m thinking of switching,” he said. “Every teacher is telling me how bad it is.” Now we are hearing early warning signs of a massive teacher shortage, especially as the economy heats up and there are more options.

I stay involved with the mostly 30-something teachers in the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE)- http://morecaucusnyc.org/ -  because they offer some hope for the future of the teaching profession as great teachers and activists, willing to stand up to the forces of the corporate education deform assault on the public school system and an often complicit UFT. MORE works with the parents of Change the Stakes, which is the leader of the opt out of the tests movement here in the city. 20% of students in NY State opted out last year. That number will grow despite attacks from the ed deformers and their lackeys in the corporate press – eat that Cuomo.

MORE has published a back to school guide for teachers under the gun of an unfair rating system with important and useful information regarding the “Advance” ratings that NYC teachers received in their NYC DOE email, written by a MORE chapter leader to his fellow teachers: Letter To Members On Ratings. http://morecaucusnyc.org/2015/09/03/letter-to-members-on-ratings/.

Norm has dragged himself off the beach to write this column and will drag himself back to the now empty beach until next time. He has a new Iphone and will blog from the beach at ednotesonline.org.

The Wave, September 11, 2015

Union Election Lessons -If Unity Lost they will Go to Court - Hawaii is an example

When caucuses from around the nation (UCORE) met in Newark last month we had a presentation from Amy Perruso who was one of the statewide

Amy Perruso, HSTA Secty-Treasurer

winners in Hawaii in the election challenged by the incumbents (See below for her report and links to the story). Note that the judge ruled to call another election -- which they won by a bigger margin ---- but if you think the courts are our side, think again. (I would bet my pension that if Unity lost and went to court the court would rule for a do-over.)

People do not give up power very easily and given the controlling role Unity Caucus plays at the city, state, national - and even international levels - expect a major battle in the courts if Unity should ever lose -- but readers of Ed Notes know that unless the UFT constitution is changed drastically to control the retiree influence and restructure the union to tamp down on at-large voting - losing for Unity is impossible.

To Unity, losing would be if MORE won ANY seats on the UFT Exec Bd even if only 5% of the seats. Or if MORE received a substantial uptick in votes that would establish a more viable opposition with deep reach into the schools. Unity will do whatever possible to prevent these things from happening.

And don't expect the constitution to change given that process must go through the Delegate Assembly and a 100% controlled UFT Exec Bd. [One good reason for MORE to try to gain a foothold on the EB - and Unity will do what it can to prevent that - even supporting 3rd party groups behind the scenes to tamp down the MORE vote.] In 1994 when the NAC coalition didn't win any EB seats, Unity used the occasion to change the election rules in their favor.

Unity doesn't really have to steal an election because it does the work before hand. The UFT/NYSUT/AFT leadership under Randi Weingarten figured out more sophisticated ways of undermine an opposition by buying them off with the offer of jobs, influence, seat at the table or helping behind the scenes to form multiple opposition groups so the membership never has the clear choice between 2 caucuses. In the 90s we saw some 3rd parties on the ballot that on the surface didn't seem to have the capability of getting enough signatures on petitions - the thought was that Unity accepted what they had or even signed the petitions for them. (I imagine a caucus can challenge the signatures if it wanted to.)

Unity prefers to have multiple opposition groups to avoid a one on one election. Years ago they made it relatively easy to get on the ballot - it looked initially like a democratic move - but we realized there was a lot of method to their "democracy." You don't even have to be a caucus to run for something - if you can get 100 signatures you can run for any position except officer. If you can get 900 signatures you can run for president.

Can Unity steal an election?
When people charge that the UFT leadership is manipulating the ballot count in union elections I always scoff. The opposition isn't close enough for them to risk stealing the election. And besides, Unity vote totals don't look so good either. But if we ever start getting close, I have no doubt they will get desperate and anything is possible. When Unity lost the high school VP election in 1985 they went to court to challenge the election - a supreme case of chutzpah. (They waited to change the rules to keep this from happening again when they had total control of the EB in 1994).

The union hires the American Arbitration Association (AAA)
to run the election. When you watch the count you notice that the UFT official in charge - often Unity Caucus leader Leroy Barr - is consulted on all major decisions regarding the vote. Clearly, the UFT/Unity is paying the AAA over many years and the AAA doesn't want to lose the contract - so anything is possible. We send observers on vote count day -- but we not on the days before when envelopes are opened. But on the whole we have rights to ask questions and watch as ballots are fed into the machine. I haven't figured out how they could corrupt this process.


But organizations hired to handle the vote have been found complicit of fraud in the past - so nothing is impossible.

One way that could is to move voting into the schools - like the contract vote - where Unity CLs can have all sorts of free reign. With 92% voting on the contract, a good case can be made for making this move to increase general election totals. That's how they vote in Chicago and when CORE won in 2010, George Schmidt handled security at the school level -  to make sure the Unity-like party in power didn't get their people to manipulate the  ballots at the school level.

I am opposed to school level voting at this time because Unity controls too many schools. I would stick with the current system. It is up to the opposition to create enough of an infrastructure at the school level and get out the vote - if it can't do that it doesn't deserve to win anyway.


The statewide election in Hawaii is an example of incumbents losing an election and doing a do-over. Here is a summary of Amy Perruso's  report at the Newark conference. (She gave me permission to share it.)

Her campaign statement for Hawaii State Teachers Association - HSTA

Amy Perruso - Hawaii Teachers for Change

Amy’s story: She hopes we won’t have to re-learn her painful lessons. At first, didn’t have a caucus, but 3 top slate officers were activists on different issues. 
Corey (new pres)-contract, work-to-rule, heat abatement.
Justin-progressive dems, radical voice w/in NEA.
Amy- focused on testing and professional autonomy. 
She came to UCORE last year w/ no intention of running for office. Started to organize circle. Base is statewide. Chapter is conservative, so organized more outside it. Paths began crossing. Corey already had political ambition to run for pres. asked Amy and Justin to run, faith in each other. Not from a small clique, not even sure about being on the same page. Had to push each other to hammer out parameters and shared values. Intense discussion of shared platform, primarily around fighting teacher eval. and; democratic Social Justice Uunion.

1st lesson: You need to follow all the rules and exceed them! Dot every I, cross every T, etc. double ## of petition signatures, etc.

Really didn’t expect to win, didn’t have base @ her school. Won from speaking to frustration of teachers statewide. Had already been doing the work, being the voice of opposition for a long time. Also, union was hollow, not organized. 

Whole campaign was on groundwork of principles, and then union was coming out publicly with wrong answers, so we could stand up and say, “actually we think this” we didn’t anticipate how stupid leadership would be. (i.e. when a legislator said we should be paid more, union leadership chided him for “raising members expectations.”) “be ready to dance.” 


Board of directors threw out election results, had another election on the last day of school. Appalling.

What to do? Culture of conformity and acquiescence, but decided to file a lawsuit, got good press coverage. Journalists had good analysis and coverage. Prestigious labor law firm agreed to do it pro-bono. Held a press conference, etc.  Then won second election by even a bigger margin. Raised teacher and public awareness, outrage.

MUST SUSTAIN YOURSELF IN THE FIGHT. And know lawyers.

Pushing nationals more largely to uphold democratic unionism. When we went to court, judge said, law applies to private sector unions, not public. Still worthwhile to have threat of lawsuit. Have to be willing to appeal to the law. Lawsuit brought media, and so does having members come out in force.

Here are links to the Hawaii story and others:

Rumore wins in Buffalo - Ed Notes Online - Blogger

May 19, 2015

And from the oft-anti- union Educational Intelligence Agency (EIA) comes this news on the election in Hawaii where the losers are fusing to leave. As Glenn Tepper emailed: This is deja vu all over again, circa UFT 1980's…

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Labor Notes and EIA's Antonucci on Hawaii "Stolen" - Ed ...

May 22, 2015

In Hawaii from reports below, about a dozen teachers didn't get ballots - which apparently were sent out to them after the complaint - and the people in power are using that to toss out the results: As reported in Labor Notes: ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

 

Union News Update from PJSTA - Ed Notes Online - Blogger

May 20, 2015

Out in Hawaii, a slate of opposition candidates called Hawaii Teachers for Change challenged for the leadership of their statewide union. After they won the president and secretary treasurer seats, the incumbents voted not to ...

Stolen Election? Reformers in Hawaii Fight to Take Office ...

www.labornotes.org/.../stolen-election-reformers-hawaii-figh...

Labor Notes

May 21, 2015 - At the union's most recent convention, she said, Hawaii Teachers for Change ... highly visible education activists before they ran for union leadership. ... A version of this article appeared in Labor Notes #435 June 2015.

Missing: fraud

ICEUFT Blog: MIXED ELECTION RESULTS FOR ...

iceuftblog.blogspot.com/.../mixed-election-results-for-challengers.html

May 18, 2015 - Meanwhile, out in Hawaii the teachers' union leadership lost the election and now ... We hear you loud and clear and we will continue to advocate for all of you and for our schools and public education. ... ed notes online said.

Hawaii Teachers Deserve Better From Their Leadership ...

www.civilbeat.com/.../hawaii-teachers-deserve-better-from-their-leadersh...

May 19, 2015 - The 13,500-member Hawaii State Teachers Association is holding officer ... Union members began voting in mid April, but when results initially came in, ... If there were "irregularities," a word which connotes purposeful fraud ...

Hawaii Teacher's Bid to Halt New Union Election Fails in ...

www.civilbeat.com/.../hawaii-teachers-bid-to-halt-new-union-election-fai...

May 29, 2015 - A new election for Hawaii teachers union leadership posts is expected to go forward after a state Circuit Court judge denied a teacher's request ...

Missing: fraud

Teachers Union Board Votes to Throw Out Election Results ...

www.civilbeat.com/.../teachers-union-board-votes-to-throw-out-election-...

May 17, 2015 - UPDATED: HSTA held an election and then a runoff vote for union ... after the Hawaii State Teachers Association Board voted Saturday night to ...

Missing: fraud

Campbell High teacher files lawsuit in HSTA election dispute

www.staradvertiser.com › News › Breaking

Honolulu Star‑Advertiser

May 27, 2015 - An ongoing dispute over the results of a recent Hawaii State Teachers Association election for president and other officers to lead the powerful ...

Hawaii Teachers Association Candidate Questionnaire ...

watchdogwire.com/.../hawaii-teachers-association-candidate-questionnair...

Apr 17, 2014 - One carefully-couched question challenges the teacher evaluation ... find the same quality articles that expose waste, fraud and abuse as well as ... Hawaii Teachers Association Candidate Questionnaire Challenges ... ACLU and NAACP suing Ferguson School District for having 'Unfair' election practices ...

May 29, 2015 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

www.hawaiifreepress.com/.../tabid/65/.../May-29-2015-News-Read.aspx

May 29, 2015 - Teacher sues over union election. Corrupt Halau ... Fraud. Psychological Factors Behind Hawaii's High Health Scores. HP: Here are three other ...

October 28, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

hawaiifreepress.com/.../tabid/65/ID/.../October-28-2010-News-Read.aspx

Oct 28, 2010 - Aiona-Finnegan launch Statewide bus tour Early Voting open Oct 19-30: ... handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in Hawaii for ... Wil Okabe and the teachers union feel strongly that Hawaii should ...

Public education in Hawaii - Ballotpedia

ballotpedia.org/Public_education_in_Hawaii

Ballotpedia

Aug 20, 2015 - There were 11,608 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 16 students, equal to ..... The mission statement of the Hawaii State Teachers Association reads: .... Vote fraud | ... Election Policy Logo.png.

Attack on Ed Deform: Unionization Closes Racial Wage Gap - Doesn't the Achievement Gap Get Closed Too?

“When unions were more powerful in the United States, income inequality was also smaller,” she said. “One component of that is de-unionization.”.. NYT

We can make the case that the entire program of ed deform, the center of which is to undermine teacher unions, has helped increase the achievement gap - which it has anyway due to all the other factors.

This hidden gem of an article was buried in the Saturday edition of the NY Times on a study released on Friday, the graveyard of news - pardon my paranoia. Want to really close achievement gap? Support unionization instead of attacking teachers in unions. Higher pay for parents of struggling students will be the biggest factor, not the bogus ratings of their teachers, in closing the achievement gap.

Sidebar: 

• Another assault on Ed Deform - in the WSJ, yet: New York Teacher Suing Education Department Sees More Swings in Job Review: Long Island educator’s rating shifts from ‘ineffective’ to ‘effective’ in section of 2014-15 review tied to state test results

Of course no one at the NY Times will make these connections - it doesn't fit the ed deform script.

Unionization Important to Closing Racial Wage Gap, Study Says

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/nyregion/unionization-important-to-closing-racial-wage-gap-study-says.html?ref=nyregion

By BENJAMIN MUELLER

September 4, 2015

A study released on Friday, noting the gains made by black union workers in New York City, said that raising the rate of unionization among black workers across the country would help narrow the racial pay gap.

The study, conducted by two professors affiliated with the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at the City University of New York, which issued the report, described high unionization rates for black workers who live in the city compared with national rates.

Nearly 40 percent of black workers who are city residents are union members, compared with roughly 13 percent of black workers nationally.

The difference between the rates of black and nonblack unionization is also especially pronounced in New York City. The black unionization rate is nearly double that of nonblacks in the city, a difference that is much smaller nationally.

The authors, Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce, found that black union members enjoyed higher wages than black nonunion workers, and were also likely to have better access to employer-sponsored health care benefits and pensions.

“Unionism offers black workers a substantial economic advantage in regard to earnings — to a greater degree than is the case for nonblacks, reflecting the fact that larger numbers of blacks than nonblacks are employed in low-wage jobs,” the study said.

Unionization shrunk the racial wage gap by roughly half, reflecting the tendency of unions to fight for more equal wage distribution across the workplace. Black nonunion workers who live in the city made about $4 less in median hourly earnings than their nonblack counterparts. Among union members, that difference dropped to $2.

Dr. Milkman, a sociology professor, said in an interview that the findings suggested one path to addressing racial disparities in pay and broader income inequality that have come under increasing scrutiny across the country.

“When unions were more powerful in the United States, income inequality was also smaller,” she said. “One component of that is de-unionization.”

She added, referring to the black unionization rate in New York City, “We knew it was better here, but the extent of that is surprising to even us.”

Dr. Milkman said the findings could be explained in part by the fact that the health care and transit industries, which are major parts of the city’s work force and have high proportions of black workers, are heavily unionized.

The study also found that the share of working city residents who identified themselves as union members continued to rebound, after concern swelled several years ago about the steady erosion of union influence in the city. One in four workers residing in the city were union members over an 18-month period from last year to this year, up from roughly one in five in 2012.

WSJ - U.S. Teachers’ Hours Among World’s Longest -

Take that deformers. But we know the answer of Cuomo types-- teachers just aren't productive enough - make 'em work harder, rate them and scrape them from the system. Let's see how the constant replacement parts work out.

1,097: Average number of hours U.S. teachers spend per year on instruction.

Students across the U.S. are enjoying or getting ready for summer vacation, but teachers may be looking forward to the break even more. American teachers are the most productive among major developed countries, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data from 2008 — the most recent available.
Among 27 member nations tracked by the OECD, U.S. primary-school educators spent 1,097 hours a year teaching despite only spending 36 weeks a year in the classroom — among the lowest among the countries tracked. That was more than 100 hours more than New Zealand, in second place at 985 hours, despite students in that country going to school for 39 weeks. The OECD average is 786 hours.
And that’s just the time teachers spend on instruction. Including hours teachers spend on work at home and outside the classroom, American primary-school educators spend 1,913 working in a year. According to data from the comparable year in a Labor Department survey, an average full-time employee works 1,932 hours a year spread out over 48 weeks (excluding two weeks vacation and federal holidays).
Despite the amount of time that teachers spend working, student achievement in the U.S. remains average in reading and science and slightly below average in math when compared to other nations in a separate OECD report. That remains a concern as education is one of the most important ways a country can foster long-term economic growth.
“Education is a large item of public expenditure in most countries. At the same time, it is also an essential investment for developing the long-run growth potential of countries and for responding to the fundamental changes in technology and demographics that are reshaping labor markets,” the OECD wrote.

MORE September (18, 19, 25) Events - Barebecues and Back to School Parties

 Some upcoming events


Barbecue and UFT Election Fund-Raiser

Friday, September 18

at 7:00pm

614 W 138th St

Back to school means time to celebrate each other and all the awesome work we do teaching!

It also means time to start gearing up for thr 2016 UFT elections next Spring! MORE will be running to build a more democratic, participatory union that fights for us, and for the better schools we deserve!

Come celebrate the start of the school year with us, and be a part of making our union MORE! #MORE2016!

We'll be grilling in the backyard, and of course there will be beverages, sides, dessert, and music.

Suggested Donation: $20
-------

MORE General Meeting
September 19 - Noon-3PM.
Location to be announced

----------

MORE Back to School Party!

September 25th 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.

 

Bronx/Uptown educators - come to a MORE Back to School Party!

-Meet other UFT chapter organizers for food, drink and fun
-Discuss how to organize and defend the UFT contract in your school 
-Help build a movement demand a more just educational system

Sponsored by Movement of Rank and File Educators

Mott Haven Bar and Grill (Formerly Bruckner Bar and Grill)  1 Bruckner Blvd, Bronx, NY

Directions via Mass Transit:  Take the 6 to 3rd Ave 138th St or the 4/5 to 138 Street Grand Concourse

Please RSVP on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1633685476914093/ or to bill.linville@gmail.com

 

Feeding Audrey II at the RTC Little Shop of Horrors Cast Party

Little Shop Feedings from John Panepinto on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/137801244


Little Shop Feedings from John Panepinto on Vimeo.

-->

Memo from the RTC: The Set of LSoH Has Been Struck

By Norm Scott

The Wave, Sept. 4, 2015

By 11:30 of the Monday after the previous day’s closing performance of Little Shop of Horrors, Tony Homsey’s crew had dismantled the magnificent set with the revolving stage (no one had room in their backyard) and the stage was bare. By 3PM, a chunk of the set for the October opening of the Peggy Page Directed Neil Simon play, “Plaza Suite” was up. (Many RTC regulars know Peggy from her amazing work behind the ticket counter, but are possibly not aware of how great a director she is).

The house pretty much was close to a sellout for all 4 performances by a heroic cast of on and off stage performers. Director Susan Corning is often modest about her work – but being part of a crew working with her is magic. And having the King of RTC, John Gilleece as his co-director and the Queen of RTC, Susan Jasper, as producer, didn’t hurt. See a video of the Skid Row number at https://vimeo.com/137864386. And a fun video at the cast party as everyone was fed into Audrey II. https://vimeo.com/137801244 (video by John Panepinto, who played the sadistic dentist.)

Not seen on stage were was the fabulous voice of RTC newcomer Kyle Benoit-Cartier as the behind the scenes voice of the plant. It is too bad the audience didn’t get to see much of Kyle, who had a small on stage part early in the show, because he is such a physical presence. I hope we see more of him.

Then there are the 2 puppeteers – our 13 year old wonder Steven Wagner (an upcoming 8^th grader at Scholars Academy who gave up one of his final days off to work with the construction crew), who, appropriately, played the young Audrey II flesh eating plant and Andy Guzman who operated the 2 grown up versions of the plant.

Andy operated the super-giant puppet for every performance from inside and many feel his mastery of puppeteering was one of the keys that made the show work so well. And at the Saturday night performance, Andy was a true hero when the supports for the giant puppet collapsed as the real Audrey was fed into the puppet and she fell on top of him, trapping him underneath. Quick thinking by the crew excavated Reanna Flemons, playing Audrey ( got chills everytime she belted out “Suddenly Seymour”), from the mouth of the puppet as the lighting crew turned off the lights so the audience wouldn’t notice. Andy was still trapped with the collapsed puppet on top of him and the show could have gone down the drain at that point. But he kept operating the damaged massive puppet for the rest of the show.

Such are the trials, tribulations and excitement of live theater. I have so many good things to say about the show that I would run out of room. The talent pool at RTC overflows. This cast was as diverse a cast as I’ve seen and with new talent flowing in there are even dreams of how the Urchins played by Janicke Steadman-Charles, Tenna Torres and Renee Steadman would do some amazing job in a show like Dream Girls. Imagine a show like that at our little outpost in Fort Tilden! Talk about bringing east and west Rockaway together. But let’s leave those dreams of Dream Girls for another day as I take a short break from my RTC columns for a while and will focus on my other column, School Scope, as a new school year of chaos begins.

Norm blogs at ednotesonline.org

UFT Caucus History/Math Lesson: Long Division - Part I

In a multi part series I will review the history of caucuses in the UFT from my perspective over the past 45 years. I will point to a history of divisions and fragmentation - I certainly played a role - I believe has served to undermine the growth of an effective counter to Unity and how MORE emerged as an alternative so-called "big umbrella" caucus in an effort too merge a variety of groups and interests.

Since my first involvement in UFT internal issues in 1970, my 4th year of teaching, I can remember very few elections - if any - where one opposition caucus went straight up against Unity Caucus. Most of the time there were either 3 caucuses running or caucuses that united for the elections only.

Over most of this time I never felt it particularly crucial to try to unite all opposition voices under one banner because it seemed so difficult to blend a wide variety of voices and politics and it just didn't seem worth the pain and trouble and angst. I had the philosophy of "let each caucus do its thing and organize the people it was capable of organizing."

I felt that way until soon after the 2010 UFT election - with the outcome for the ICT/TJC slate which is what led many of us to MORE which is just such an "umbrella" attempt - with all the ensuing pain and trouble and angst. So how did I get from there to here? Because all other models over the 40 years I was active seemed to end up going nowhere.

I became active in 1970 in a local group of activist teachers in District 14 (Williamsburg/Greenpoint and a slice of northern Bed-Stuy) called Another View. We weren't a caucus - we had no intention of running in a UFT election - we were advocates and provided analysis of a wide range of issues on education and beyond in addition to the local District 14. Our monthly newsletters were aimed at reaching into as many schools in the district as we could get it into -- while facing enormous hostility from a district UFT political machine allied with the people running the district on the local school board - almost all white in a 95% school population of kids of color. Our people often faced threats and harassment for daring to support us.

Then we met a similar group in District 16 and individuals from other districts and high schools around the city and a sort of nascent coalition was born that began to act as a caucus of sorts.

The major caucus that challenged Unity at the time was Teachers Action Caucus - TAC. They had a wide range of people in the schools united by their opposition to the UFT's 1968 strike. Many of them crossed the picket lines and TAC was branded by Unity as the "scabs". In addition, there was a strong influence in TAC of the by then pretty moribund Communist Party - Unity also branded them as such. Many of their leaders were older - the old Left. They were very damaged by the Red Scares and some of their former leaders had been fired in the purges of teachers in the 50s when they were part of the old TU - Teachers Union - which had existed since the 1920s before going defunct in 1964 not long after losing the collective bargaining election to what became Unity Caucus.

At some point - around 1973 - we joined TAC en masse, hoping to move them in more progressive "new left" position, with attention to issues we were concerned with that they did not seem to want to deal with. We met a stone wall and after a year we left en masse to form the Coalition of School Workers - not a caucus in the sense of running in UFT elections but continuing to work at the UFT delegate assembly and other venues of the union - central and local.

Then after the 1975 strike* [see below for elaboration] when we began to gain supporters for our strong stand against what we saw as a Unity sell-out, we began to suffer our own internal problems and a group split off from us to form a new caucus called New Directions  - led by an often effective but also a very controversial leader named Marc Pessin who eventually dominated the caucus, especially after purging the leftists - who formed yet another group called Chalk Dust. (He used tactics such as changing the location of a meeting without telling people who resisted him.)* [See a profile of Marc in Part II].

Oy!

So that was the scene as we hit the latter part of the 70s. Our group - CSW - eventually reached out to TAC to form an alliance for the 1977 UFT elections and even tried to get New Direction to join in -- but their megalomaniac leader would have not of that - wanting to assure he would get to run against Shanker. Our slate and ND pretty much split the opposition vote - about 25-30% of the total.

And thus was born multiple oppositions - a CSW/TAC and a New Directions slate - a bad message to even anti-Unity people who would ask "Why can't you guys all get together in one caucus and if you can't even do that why should we vote to put you in power, no matter how bad Unity is?" While our group still did not find it easy to work with TAC we bit the bullet.

By 1981 - one thing was clear - at the very least, the 3 groups should get together for UFT elections - and thus was born NAC - New Action Coalition -  not a merger of groups but a temporary cooperative for UFT elections  - TAC, ND and CSW - and then they would go their own way.

Of course there was a wrinkle even then - the controversial leader of New Directions declared he had to be the presidential candidate and even though just about everyone outside of New Directions had some disdain, if not outright dislike for that individual, his holding everyone hostage - threatening that he would run ND separately if we did not make him the candidate - people held their noses - knowing we would not win - and formed a united slate - and still won nothing.

It was not until 1985 - by that time my own group - CSW - had morphed into a tight friendship group that was not as much involved - that NAC won anything - the high school Vice Presidency - which Unity promptly challenged and tied up in court for almost half the term of office. The NAC coalition continued to run - in the late 80s New Directions had dumped the controversial leader - and let me say here - one of the truly great organizers I have met - (He had a 2nd act a decade later -which will come in Part II).

With some people from Chalk Dust joining the election coalition in 1991 -  NAC had its biggest success ever - winning 13 seats on the Exec Bd - the high school and junior high schools. But imagine this -- they all came from the different groups -- TAC, ND, Chalk Dust (the CSW didn't partake) and working together was not something they did easily. In fact, some people tell me the very issue of running in the elections created divisions in Chalk Dust and they ceased to exist soon after.

NAC won nothing in the 1993 elections but almost did win the middle school and high school vice presidential positions, which would have given NAC 2 out of 11 positions on the AdCom. Unity, in a state of panic after dodging that bullet immediately moved to change the constitution in 1994 to make this impossible in the future by removing the elem, ms, and hs divisional VP positions from being voted on in the divisions and making them at-large. Thus for the 1995 elections, middle, high and elementary school teachers no longer were the sole voters for their VP - everyone in the union got to vote, including retirees.

In 1995, NAC still existed with 2 main groups - the still somewhat leftish TAC - even though they did not raise many left wing positions - and New Directions - more center with some rightist elements. My memory is fading but I believe NAC may have won the 6 high school Exec Board seats in that election.

By that time it began to make sense for both TAC and ND to end the farce and merge into one group. And so they did in 1995/6 just in time to help lead the massive turn down of the first version of the 1995 contract negotiated by a relative newbie in the UFT named Randi Weingarten.*[see below for elaboration].

For the first time in over a generation, there was one caucus only in the UFT going head to head with Unity -- but that didn't last very long.

End Part I

Part II (1995-2001/2) will include the founding of Education Notes with support of the old CSW people, the rise of a new caucus, Progressive Action Caucus, the role of yet another caucus - Teachers for a Just Contract (founded in 1993 by remnants of Chalk Dust).

Part III 2002-2012): ( the New Action sellout to Randi in 2002/4, the consequent  rise of ICE (Ed Notes, CSW, New Action defectors and others) along with the move of TJC to run in the 2004  elections for the first time, GEM, NYCORE, Teachers Unite, formation of MORE.

Part 1V (2012-present): The trials and tribulations of MORE.

Supplemental
Response to comments on original publication:

Oh thank you for this history.. after part 2, would you do a piece on what happened in the 60s in bed stuy and browmsville amd what role did the uft play?

Replies

ed notes onlineFriday, September 4, 2015 at 11:25:00 PM EDT
I will try - but you can find out by reading Gerald Podair on the 68 strike. In short the UFT closed down the entire school system - along with their hidden partners - the principals and APs who were threatened by community control - for months. It is a long and complicated story - I was teaching at the time and went on strike - and only later when I became active with people who had crossed the lines did I learn a lot more. Still - I maintain that people looking to organize inside the UFT to challenge Unity could not cross the line and should have worked inside the union to try to end the strike. The lesson of TAC was an example - and until memories began to fade after a decade, they had to dodge the scab charge.

nonymousFriday, September 4, 2015 at 1:48:00 AM EDT

This is good stuff. I have been dying to know how all these parts of our local's puzzle came to be. 2 Questions: 1). There was a strike in '75? What was that about? 2). Randi negotiated a contract in '95. When it got turned back, why? And, how come membership had a spine then? Was it turned down at DA, or was it out to membership?

Man, this is important. We need to understand how we did this before. I've been waiting for someone to break it down. Keep it up.
-Nate

Replies

ed notes onlineFriday, September 4, 2015 at 11:30:00 PM EDT
Nate
The 75 strike was the last one and we all were docked 2 for one. They laid off 15,000 people and the rank and file rose up and forced the leadership to strike - Randi used to damper enthusiasm for strikes by saying Shanker told her that going on strike in 75 was the biggest mistake of his life. In fact his biggest mistake was 68.
As for the 95 contract - Randi would leave her school after a few hours and go to negotiate - having no feel for where the membership was at - and with Shanker nearing his end and Sandy Feldman distracted that she would be the new AFT president -- Randi botched it - they didn't bother pushing the contract much and New Action and independents like Bruce Markens who as the only non-Unity District rep led the charge to defeat the contract - and they did. Not being in a caucus I played no role other than in my own school where I debated the District Rep at a UFT meeting where I was the chapter leader.  It was not turned down at the DA - Unity controlled that - this was the membership -which was big - the first time ever and since.
But Unity regrouped - they came in with a slightly better deal and spent months selling it this time - and Randi learned a lesson - she was much smarter about how to control the membership after this debacle. They gave themselves enough time to go to the schools and sell it. The "militant" membership that turned it down 6 months earlier was no longer so militant by the time the union leadership finished beating them up. New Action and contract opponents did not have the resources to put up much of a battle.

Randi learned her lesson - every contract vote since was handled in ways that made turn down almost impossible - with every union official inundating the schools and spreading fear of negative consequences. We had our best chance in 2005 when we did get almost 40% of a NO Vote and the 2014 NO vote was about 25%.

NYC Educator on Unity Caucus and Why MORE

We are going to break the Unity wall and they are going to listen to us inside what they believe to be their house.  In truth, it's not their house.  It's our house. And the time for us to use it is long overdue.... Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator:  The Only Thing Unity Caucus Is Good At

Arthur has a dynamic piece up today - I was in the midst of writing about a similar topic but let's go with excerpts from Arthur's piece where he talks about the opposition.

Unity Caucus has a monopoly on power, the system is designed to maintain said monopoly, and if something shocking occurs, like an opposition figure winning the vice presidency, the system can be tweaked so that it never happens again. So that's just what they do. And if those annoying New Action folks should keep winning, well, you can always make some deal to have them support the sitting UFT President.
That deal, in fact, has fractured the opposition for years. It was genius on the part of then President Randi Weingarten. A fringe benefit was that those New Action members who didn't approve of the unholy alliance with Unity broke away, and formed another caucus, ICE. ICE actually managed to win a few seats on the UFT executive board until Unity tweaked the system so as to co-endorse New Action rather than fail to oppose them. Now if you were to combine the New Action votes with MORE votes, they would have actually defeated Unity last time.
Of course, there are always contingencies, so Randi Weingarten met with a disaffected teacher, and a week later, voila!, there was yet another caucus. Personally, I don't know or care what the intentions of that teacher were. I have reservations about MORE, but they have people I respect enormously and I will support them this election cycle, as I did the last. With them, there's certainly no coincidental meeting and no deal with Weingarten, Unity, or any person or entity that's made deals counter to the interests of teachers.

More Civil Disobedience: Rahm Emanuel rushed off stage by #FightForDyett protesters

@RahmEmanuel met w/ chants of "blood on your hands" from angry Chicago parents #FightForDyett http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-budget-forum-met-0901-20150831-story.html …


CNN Reports
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/rahm-emanuel-protesters-school-closings/index.html

Washington (CNN)Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced off the stage at a budget hearing Wednesday night by protesters angry over the closing of a Chicago high school.

Halfway through a public budget hearing, protesters began chanting and then a handful jumped up on the stage with Emanuel, according to The Chicago Tribune. Emanuel's security quickly surrounded him and then escorted him backstage. They later canceled the hearing.

Protesters have been on a hunger strike for 17 days trying to keep open Dyett High School in Chicago.

Tribune City Hall reporter Bill Ruthhart tweeted the scene from the room Wednesday night, "Demonstrators continue to take over the room at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget hearing. Emanuel remains backstage."

A call for comment to Emanuel's press office was not immediately returned Wednesday night.

Hunger strikers have been protesting the closing of Dyett amid a school consolidation spurred by Chicago budget woes. The school is set to be closed for a year while the city decides what to do next. 

Emanuel was forced into a run-off battle this year with Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, a liberal Democrat backed by the city's poorer residents and minorities who felt shut out by Emanuel. Emanuel, who wielded the support of more moderate Democrats and the business community, bested Garcia 56%-44%.

MORE's Jia Lee Quoted in The Nation: Exploding Rebellion Against Standardized Tests

Jia Lee, a New York City-based special education teacher with the Movement of Rank-and-file Educators caucus of the teachers union (MORE-UFT), sees political designs in Elia’s warnings. She is “in essence implying by her threats,” Lee says via e-mail, that parents’ choice to opt out “will have negative consequences for schools. More specifically, poor children of color are the targets. Since Title I schools are disproportionately Black and Latino.” 
...http://www.thenation.com/article/the-rebellion-against-standardized-tests-is-exploding/

We've been chronicling MOREs popping up all over the place in published articles. The best hope for defeating the onerous impact of the teacher rating system is the growing opt out movement from both left and right. Watch the UFT/AFT/NYSUT leadership be forced to give increasing support to the opt-out movement as the potential for organizing it offers their internal critics locally and nationally. Especially with this being a UFT election year.

By the time you start receiving piles of pro-Mulgrew glossies in your school (and possibly home) mailboxes, he will be positively in love with opt-out -- until the election is over.

MORE's Katie Lapham Takes Her Opt Out Cart to Brooklyn Neighborhoods

Katie,

Beautiful.  Absolutely inspired!  The medium is the message... Fred Smith, Change the Stakes

I love the individual and small group actions people in MORE are taking to build local communities of resistance. Former MORE steering committee member Katie Lapham is on the case. She and her daughter Nora attended the MORE summer series Chapter Leader training workshop. Nora may run for chapter leader - in 2035.

Follow the adventures of @OptOutCart on Twitter. I visit different NYC neighborhoods to share #OptOutNYC info with parents. I want kids to have the freedom to choose their own adventures so I also offer free books to NYC students. On Saturday, I went to a back-to-school event in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Let me know if you hear of other similar events that might interest me. I also welcome book donations... Katie Lapham

Civil Disobedience Against Ed Deform: MORE Supports #FightForDyett – Support the Hunger Strike against School Closings -

On August 17th, a group of 12 parents and community activists in the historic Bronzeville section of Chicago began a hunger strike to preserve the last open enrollment high school in their community.  Their fast, where they have consumed nothing but water and light liquids such as broth, is now in its third week... Daniel Katz, Ph.D. #FightForDyett Puts Parents’ Actual Bodies on the Line for Fully Public Education

I haven't been posting about the remarkable events going on in Chicago surrounding the community led hunger strike against a closing school. There have been so many eloquent postings on blogs, facebook and twitter there is not much I can add.

I know there are teachers under assault in the UFT by ed deform who may think this has nothing to do with them. It does have everything to do with their situation in this national and international privatization of public school systems.

MORE issued a bulletin expressing support for the Dyett parents. I am proud to be associated with the people of MORE who fight the small and big battles for the dignity of teachers, students and parents.

morecaucusnyc

#FightForDyett – Support the Hunger Strike against School Closings - MORE has sent the following letter of solidarity along with a monetary donation to support the Dyett hunger strikers in Chicago. Please post black and whit... 

MORE has sent the following letter of solidarity along with a monetary donation to support the Dyett hunger strikers in Chicago. 

Please post black and white pictures to twitter under the hashtag #FightForDyett to show your solidarity (or email to more@morecaucusnyc.org and we can tweet for you) – below see a few of the MORE members who have done so…



August 28, 2015
The Movement of Rank and File Educators, of the United Federation of Teachers, stand in solidarity with the Dyett Hunger Strikers: Jitu Brown, Prudence Brown, Anna Jones, Jeanette Taylor-Ramaan, Monique Redeaux-Smith, Aisha Wade-Bey, Nelson Soza, Cathy Dale, Robert Jones, Irene Robinson, April Stogner, Marc Kaplan and their entire community. Dyett is all of us.

We support the notion that the Dyett school community has a vision and solutions to preserving their public schools. We support the highest moral and ethical stand of putting their basic needs at the same place as their need for democratic decision making. The action of denying themselves basic sustenance to support life is the height to which they’ve reached in protecting their right to public schools their children deserve. 

As we send our solidarity, we call on those elected to represent their constituents to stand with their community when the only thing they are demanding is their school. 

Representative steering members of the MORE caucus,
John Antush, Lauren Cohen, Peter Lamphere August Leppelmeier, Jia Lee, Dan Lupkin, Megan Moskop, Mike Shirtzer, Kit Wainer

 

Michael Fiorillo on UFT/Unity Leadership

Help the misleaders of our union, who've spent the better part of a generation enabling those who would destroy the union, our rights, and public education itself?
Help them do what? Continue collaborating with Bill Gates and Eli Broad? Help them to continue pushing Common Core and the attendant testing regime on a demoralized, lied-to rank and file?
While there are many smart, honest and decent people in Unity Caucus whom I like and respect, they seem to be as powerless as the rank and file. As for the top leadership, not only would I not help them, but as the good people of Appalachia would say, I wouldn't piss on them if their hearts were on fire.
Let's all work hard to "help" these misleaders into the dustbin of history, where their betrayals will be seen for what they are, and take our union back from willful captives who brag about their collaboration with our enemies.
......Fiorillo response on NYC Educator bog:  Teaching in a Right-to-Work State

NYC Educator phrases things in a different way:

.... we must work to make UFT an organization responsive to those of us who see what's coming. Flawed though our union is, we must work to improve it rather than lie down and watch it be destroyed. As bad as things are, they could be much worse. A lot of us are working to make things better, and I expect to give more detail on that in this space in the coming weeks and months.

Friedrichs can hang over our heads like the Sword of Damocles, but we cannot give up. We cannot become North Carolina. If you think it can't happen here, take a look at Michigan and Wisconsin. No one thought it would happen there either. Because even if we win Friedrichs, that's just cutting one head off the monster. Surely another will grow in its place.

We need to be smarter and quicker than the reformies. Our current leadership has not proven up to the task. One way or another, we are going to help them, whether they like it or not. 

Norm in The Wave: “Little Shop” So Good, I Skipped the Beach

Here is my Wave RTC column from last Friday as the show was getting ready to close.

2015-08-28 / Community
 

“Little Shop” So Good, I Skipped the Beach
Memo from the RTC
By Norm Scott
I watched opening night of the Rockaway Theatre Company production of the musical sci-fi classic Little Shop of Horrors from an extreme front row right position, which was the only spot I could get to film due to the sold-out performance (my usual spot in the booth was occupied).

While I couldn’t see every part of the set, I could easily watch the audience and enjoyed their reactions as much as I enjoyed the show. It was quite gratifying, as a member of Tony Homsey’s set-building crew, to see them break out in applause when the set was revealed. And oh, the spectacular mood lighting by Andrew Woodbridge – and the music directed by Jeff Arzberger - crucial factors in creating the atmosphere.


Most people saw the 1990’s movie with Steve Martin’s memorable performance as the sadistic dentist and missed the play. Seeing it live beats the movie anytime. And John Panepinto’s performance as the dentist doesn’t take second place to Steve Martin.

The audience raved about the Urchins, played by Renee Steadman, Tenna Torres, and Janicke Steadman-Charles, three gals who could be mistaken for The Ronettes – and many of us hope we will be seeing them all again in future RTC productions.

The performance by three such powerful voices – in tandem and solo – is not to be missed. Vocals by Reanna Flemons as Audrey and Donald Gormanly as Seymour didn’t take second place, making this one of the most powerful vocal RTC productions.

RTC regular Fred Grieco as Mr. Mushnick delivers his usual professional level performance in addition to being a tasty treat for one out of control plant. And oh that plant, with master puppeteer Andrew Guzman with voice by RTC newcomer Kyle Benoit-Cartier, who uses his deep and resonant voice to make the kind of demands I often make at home when dinner is not served.

A friend from Long Island, who has become a fan of RTC productions, came with his family to the Saturday matinee and I drove over to say hello. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get to go to the beach. I’m thinking: Being able to see RTC productions from different angles is a treat, so why not take advantage for a bit? Why not hang out for a while and see the opening from the back of the theater?

Well, a “bit” turned into an hour as I watched the entire ACT I before having to go home beachless - and I would have come back to see the evening performance if we weren’t going out. I’m going back a few times for the final four performances, which included a rare Thursday night performance. I will certainly be at the Sunday matinee closing – I never miss a cast party.

You can see a promotional video on Facebook with the cast produced by LocalTheatreNY.com (which you should subscribe to for news of community and regional theater - why pay those Broadway prices for quality theater?). I also posted the video on my blog: http://ednotesonline.- blogspot.com/2015/08/video-meet-cast-of-rtcs-little-shop-of.html.

For dates, tickets and more information call 718-374-6400.