Leo Challenges Eva at AFT/Shanker Institute

It is a good thing when Leo and the AFT take on the Evil Madness so openly in the Shanker Institute report: Student Discipline, Race And Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools. I'm on the move, heading back to New York, so don't have time to read it all - I'm including it below. I noted this criticism from Leonie:

The continued insistence on the issue of backfilling I think is wrong-headed. Instead we should have data on attrition, which the state refuses to provide. Even if they backfill, does that negate the injustice of kicking out low-achievers? Moreover, if they do start backfilling, that will further disguise how many kids they kick out only to replace them with others. ... Leonie Haimson on Leo Casey's Shanker Institute report on Success Charter Discipline

Leo is Leonie's favorite person in the world as he so often attacks her when she dares to criticize the union's darling partners in crime in the de Blasio admin. When Leonie talks I listen but will take a closer look when I get home later.

Here's an excerpt:

At a recent press conference, Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz addressed the issue of student discipline. “It is horrifying,” she told reporters, that critics of her charter schools’ high suspension rates don’t realize “that five-year-olds do some pretty violent things.” Moskowitz then pivoted to her displeasure with student discipline in New York City (NYC) public schools, asserting that disorder and disrespect have become rampant."

Sure - suspending a 5 year old who does terrible things ought to work - work getting the parents to pull their kid and out them in a public school.


http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/student-discipline-race-and-eva-moskowitz%E2%80%99s-success-academy-charter-schools

Student Discipline, Race And Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools

by Leo Casey -- October 19, 2015

At a recent press conference, Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz addressed the issue of student discipline. “It is horrifying,” she told reporters, that critics of her charter schools’ high suspension rates don’t realize “that five-year-olds do some pretty violent things.” Moskowitz then pivoted to her displeasure with student discipline in New York City (NYC) public schools, asserting that disorder and disrespect have become rampant.
This is not the first time Moskowitz has taken aim at the city’s student discipline policies. Last spring, she used the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to criticize the efforts of Mayor Bill De Blasio and the NYC Department of Education to reform the student code of conduct and schools’ disciplinary procedures. Indeed, caustic commentary on student behavior and public school policy has become something of a trademark for Moskowitz.

The National Move to Reform Student Discipline Practices
To understand why, it is important to provide some context. The New York City public school policies that Moskowitz derides are part of a national reform effort, inspired by a body of research showing that overly punitive disciplinary policies are ineffective and discriminatory. Based on this research evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and School Discipline Consensus Project of the Council of State Governments have all gone on record on the harmful effects of employing such policies. The U.S. Education Department, the U.S. Justice Department, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, consortia of researchers, national foundations, and the Dignity in Schools advocacy coalition have all examined the state of student discipline in America’s schools in light of this research.1

Their findings? Suspensions and expulsions, the most severe forms of school discipline, are being used excessively in American schools, often for such minor infractions such as “talking back” or being out of uniform. Further, these severe punishments are being applied disproportionality to students of color, especially African-American and Latino boys, students with disabilities and LGBT youth.

As a result of these data, the U.S. Education Department and U.S. Justice Department issued guidance to schools, based on their finding that discriminatory uses of suspensions and expulsions were in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Since this guidance came from the federal agencies that are charged with the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, it added the force of the law to the powerful moral arguments for addressing the problem of discriminatory discipline. School districts and schools, public and charter, took notice. The more progressive minded, such as the new de Blasio administration of the New York City Department of Education, began to reform their disciplinary practices in accord with these regulations. As a consequence, the suspensions and expulsions from New York City’s public schools have been dramatically reduced.
Moskowitz makes no explicit mention of these developments in her attacks on the de Blasio administration, although a careful reading shows that they are a calculated response to them. Instead, with unverifiable anecdotes, cherry-picked statistics, and out-of-context quotations, Moskowitz dismisses New York City’s student discipline reforms as “edu-babble” and “nonsense.”2
In a revealing video interview that accompanied the Wall Street Journal op-ed, editorial board member Mary Kissel launches the conversation by declaring that the “Obama administration wants laxer discipline standards for minorities in public schools.” Moskowitz does not disagree. Under the cover of attacks on the policies and practices of New York City public schools, Moskowitz has delivered a shot across the bow of President Obama, retiring Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and incoming Acting Secretary John King. The message is, if you choose to enforce civil rights law when it comes to discipline in Success Academy charter schools, expect an all-out political war.

The Data on Success Academy Schools
Why would Moskowitz feel the need to lay down a gauntlet in opposition to a president and two secretaries of education who have all been vigorous charter school supporters? For that matter, why take on the entire civil rights community? To answer these questions, I decided to take a look at the data on suspensions from New York City schools, both public and charter. There are three repositories of these data: the Civil Rights Data Collection of the U.S. Education Department; the School Report Cards of the New York State Education Department; and the school discipline data reports of the NYC Department of Education to the City Council, as required by New York City’s Student Safety Act. (The UCLA Civil Rights Project provides a user friendly portal for viewing the federal data and, while the Student Safety Act data is not available on the internet, the New York Civil Liberties Union publishes useful annual Suspension Data Fact Sheets.) With three different repositories of data, one would think that it should be a simple matter to locate accurate information. But the reality is rather different.

Take the data published by the U.S. Education Department: The most recent available dataset is for the school year 2011-12, when the New York City Department of Education was under the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s NYC DoE reported suspension rates of 1.7 percent for secondary school students and 0.3 percent for elementary school students, figures which were far below the seven percent suspension rate it had provided under the Student Safety Act.3
But this inconsistency pales next to the data for Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools: Across all Success Academy schools, just two suspensions were reported to the U.S. Department of Education for 2011-12. During the same year, hundreds of suspensions were reported to the New York State Education Department, for an overall suspension rate of 17 percent.4
The numbers that Success Academy chose to report to the federal government were not only so radically at variance with those reported to the New York State Department of Education, but also so obviously wrong, as to appear contemptuous of the charter networks’ obligations under federal civil rights law.5
To provide the most complete picture possible of what is happening in both the Success Academy schools and regular New York City public schools, it was necessary to gather data from a number of different sources. Let us start with most recent dataset, for the year 2013-14, which was published late last spring as part of the New York State School Report Cards. According to the state data, in 2013-14, Success Academy Charter Schools had a total of 728 suspensions for a suspension rate of 11 percent, while the New York City public schools had a total of 9617 suspensions for a suspension rate of one percent.
We know that the NYC public school data is understated, however, because (just as in the case of its report to the U.S. Education Department cited above) only the most serious suspensions are ever reported to the New York State Education Department. Upon request, the New York City Department of Education supplied the Shanker Institute with the total number of all suspensions for the 2013-14 school year. These data showed 53,504 suspensions; yielding an annual suspension rate of five percent.6
From the standpoint of Success Academy, therefore, the most charitable reading of these numbers is that the charter school network suspended its students at more than double the rate of the New York City public schools, eleven percent to five percent.7
But these numbers are only the beginning of the story. New York charter school management has defended student suspension rates in their schools that are much higher than those of New York City district schools on the grounds that they educate more students with challenges – students living in poverty, students with special needs, and English Language Learners. The New York State Education Department data includes a fairly robust set of student demographics that make it possible to test this claim by comparing the student demographics of Success Academy charter schools and New York City public schools for the 2013-14 school year.8
In fact, on the most important measures, the student demographics of Success Academy schools indicate a lower need student population than are served by New York City public schools as a whole: while 81 percent of New York City public school students are “economically disadvantaged,” 74 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category; while 18 percent of New York City public school students have “learning disabilities,” 14 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category; and while 15 percent of New York City public school students are English language learners, only 5 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category.9
Thus, insofar as one credits the argument that a student population with greater needs will necessarily have more problems with behavior and more student suspensions, Success Academy schools should be suspending fewer – not more – students than the New York City public schools.
Why Age Matters
There is one more key issue of comparability that is often lost in these discussions: the age of students. As students enter into adolescence, misbehaviors generally increase and disciplinary consequences for those misbehaviors (such as suspensions) tend to climb in number. For a true “apples-to-apples” comparison, we should look at data for students in the same age groups. As it happens, during the years discussed here, Success Academy Charter Schools served no high school students and had very few students in middle school – in fact, over 90 percent of their students were in the elementary school grades of K through 5.
To adequately compare suspension rates in Success Academy Charter Schools with rates in the New York City public schools, we requested that the New York City Department of Education provide the Shanker Institute with a breakdown of student suspensions by grade level: In 2013-14, the elementary school grades had 6,634 suspensions, the middle school grades had 18,873 suspensions and the high school grades had 27,997 suspensions. That is, the elementary school grades accounted for nearly half of all New York City public school students (47 percent), but only 12 percent of all suspensions; the middle school grades accounted for 22 percent of all students, but 35 percent of all suspensions; and the high school grades accounted for 31 percent of all students, but 52 percent of all suspensions. In other words, in 2013-14, there was 1 suspension for every 67 students in the elementary school grades of New York City public schools and one suspension for every 11 students in the middle and high school grades. By contrast, in Success Academy Charter Schools, there was one suspension for every nine students in 2013-14, and these students were overwhelmingly concentrated in the elementary school grades – a higher suspension rate than for New York City public middle and high school students. Shockingly, when students of the same ages were compared, Success Academy Charter Schools was suspending students at a rate roughly seven times greater than in the New York City public schools.10
The Matter of Race
What were the race and ethnicity characteristics of Success Academy’s suspended students? Only the Civil Rights Data Collection of the U.S. Department of Education requires that districts and schools report the race and ethnicity of suspended students; but, as previously noted, since Success Academy reported only two of its hundreds of suspensions to the federal government, we have no direct source of information on this matter. We do know, however, that in the 2013-14 school year, seven of the eighteen Success Academy charter schools (Harlem Success I through V, Bed-Stuy Success I and Bronx Success I) accounted for nearly 90 percent of all suspensions, with suspension rates above the average for all Success Academy schools. In each of those schools, the combined share of African-American and Latino students was in the high 90 percent range.
While Success Academy is on the extreme end of the spectrum, the problem of excessive suspensions for African-American and Latino students runs deep across the charter school sector in New York City, as the Advocates for Children’s report, “Civil Rights Suspended,” has documented.
The challenge posed to Success Academy and similar charter schools by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education’s guidance on student discipline is serious. To be in conformance with civil rights law, these schools will need to make radical reforms to their “no excuses” school culture and practices. Now that Moskowitz has laid down the gauntlet on this issue, many eyes will be on the Obama administration for its response. Changing policies, practices and cultures to make schools into safe and welcoming places that do not resort to the excessive and discriminatory use of suspensions and expulsions is hard, challenging work.
Educators across the country will be watching closely to see if all schools are required to take it on. If the greatest transgressors of federal civil rights law are given a bye for political reasons, it is hard to see how the law can be successfully enforced anywhere. Public scrutiny of the issue is bound to grow in the wake of John Merrow’s powerful PBS News Hour piece on Success Academy’s suspension policy. The Obama administration’s initiative to end excessive and discriminatory suspensions and expulsions will ultimately stand or fall on its willingness to take on those, such as Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools, who openly refuse to abide by federal civil rights law.
Perhaps the specter of having to make these student discipline reforms was, by itself, sufficient cause for Moskowitz to take on the Obama administration, Duncan, King and the entire civil rights community. But it is not the only issue; Success Academy’s student discipline policies are also intimately tied to its practice of refusing to “backfill” empty student seats. I will take up the issue of “backfilling” in a follow-up post on Success Academy Public Schools.
*****
ENDNOTES
1 See the work of the U.S. Department of Education, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the UCLA Civil Rights Project, Discipline Disparities: A Research to Practice Collaborative, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the advocacy coalition Dignity in Schools.
2 By way of illustrations, consider the following two examples: First, there is the claim in Moskowitz’s op-ed, repeated in the video interview, that “4 percent of New York City high-school students carry a weapon to school; 2 percent carry a gun.” These statistics do not reflect the actual numbers of students who were found in possession of a weapon in their school – despite the fact that in New York City, the penalty for possession of a weapon in school is a suspension, and thus appears in the suspension data. But it appears that the real numbers were too low to suit Moskowitz’s purposes, since she claims to have obtained her alternative numbers from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene epidemiological report, “Firearm Deaths and Injuries in New York City,” a report that incorporates data from the NYC Youth Risk Behavior Survey. A fuller examination of this survey provides a different picture of school safety than Moskowitz portrays. Since 1997, the numbers of New York City high school youth who reported carrying a weapon of any sort have fallen by more than half, and the numbers who reported carrying a gun have been halved. Indeed, the rate of weapon and gun carrying among high school age youth in New York City is well below the national average. Moreover, the numbers of youth carrying weapons are not uniformly spread across the city, but concentrated in neighborhoods of high poverty – the South Bronx, Harlem and Central and Northern Brooklyn: the rates of firearm violence (death and injury) among high school and college age youth in these areas were at least twice the City’s average. Now that Success Academy has begun to open its own high schools, one could employ Moskowitz’s logic in this op-ed to Success Academy charter high schools located in its areas of concentration in the South Bronx, Harlem and Central and Northern Brooklyn, and conclude that 8-10 percent of their students would be carrying a weapon in school. It is a safe bet that when it comes to assessing the safety in her own schools, the CEO of Success Academy will be returning to the statistics of students actually found in possession of a weapon in school that she was so quick to disregard in discussing public high schools.
Second, Moskowitz mocks the use of “restorative practices” in New York City public schools by ridiculing a quote from a website, which has no connection either to New York City schools or to any of the significant forces in the movement to reform student discipline. The NYC Department of Education discipline code includes a description of the restorative practices that should be employed in city schools, explaining how practices such as peer mediation can be used to resolve student conflicts and disputes before they escalate into violence. But Moskowitz ignores this authoritative information.
3 New York City public schools distinguish between “Principal” suspensions, used for less serious misconduct and limited to no more than five days of suspension, and “Superintendent” suspensions, used for more serious misconduct and extending for as long as a year. As the name suggests, it is in the authority of the Principal to issue a Principal suspension, but a Superintendent suspension requires the approval of the Superintendent and a more formal and quasi-legal due process hearing conducted by the NYC Department of Education. Under Bloomberg, the NYC Department of Education appears to have been reporting only Superintendent suspensions, which accounted for only 19 percent of all suspensions. Since the U.S. Education Department category is “out of school suspensions,” which would cover any loss of school days, there would not appear to be a plausible reason for reporting only Superintendent suspensions.
4 There were seven Success Academy charter schools which had been in existence long enough to report data to the U.S Education Department for its 2011-12 report: five Harlem Success Academies and two Bronx Success Academies. There is an anomaly in the corresponding New York State Report Card for Bronx Success Academy 2, which is missing data for attendance and suspensions. I therefore calculated the overall figures for Success Academy using the six schools with data. In the next year of the New York State Report Card, which includes data for all seven of the original Success Academy schools and an additional two new schools, the overall suspension rate rose to 19 percent.
5 In the years of the Bloomberg administration, Moskowitz had a close ally on student discipline and other issues leading the NYC Department of Education. Over the course of the decade ending in 2011-12, suspensions in the Bloomberg-run NYC public schools more than doubled. So long as the disciplinary policies of the New York City public schools were increasingly punitive, Success Academy had cover for its own policies. But, with changes in student discipline policies arising under the de Blasio administration and the new leadership at the NYC Department of Education, the Success Academy’s record has become increasingly vulnerable.
6 For the 2013-14 student registers in New York City public schools, I have used the numbers from the Department of Education’s public portal.
7 In her Wall Street Journal op-ed, Eva Moskowitz states that there is an 11 percent suspension rate in Success Academy charter schools, as opposed to a four percent suspension rate in New York City public schools, but does not provide a source for these numbers.
8 There are two missing data points that, if they had been provided, would make the comparison more complete. While the NYSED demographics do include students with disabilities, it does not distinguish between those students with minimal disabilities and those students who have more serious disabilities. And while the NYSED demographics do include a measure of economic disadvantage which is more sophisticated than the crude free and reduced lunch status measure that is often used as a proxy for poverty, it does not break out homelessness, which is the most severe form of economic disadvantage. 
9 What is particularly striking about the lower levels of need in the Success Academy student population is that their charter schools have been sited in the historically highest need communities of New York City – Harlem, the South Bronx, and Northern and Central Brooklyn – which should have led to higher, not lower, levels of need. These results would give credence to the claims that Success Academy charter schools have been “creaming” these communities, enrolling a disproportionate number of students that have low levels of need.
10 A more precise estimate would be possible if city, state and federal education authorities required all schools and districts to report their suspensions by grade level. This is a needed policy adjustment.

Ruminating on the UFT Delegate Assembly, this Saturday's MORE conference and Other Matters

For the record, I don't always agree with everyone in MORE, or everything they do or say. But whether I agree with them or not, they are among the most dedicated unionists I know. A good number of them could have joined Unity, signed the oath, and gone to conventions to vote as Mulgrew instructed. Instead, they opt to lobby for member voice.....

I admire Jia [Lee] for bringing up the resolution, but I knew they would find a way to kill it. Once the Unity person complained of the MORE ad on the back of the resolution, the faithful knew how they were to vote. Then there was her nasty insinuation there was no "union bug" on the paper, as though MORE had the work outsourced to slave labor in some third-world banana republic......

I don't really understand the democracy inherent in a forum in which the chair talks about whatever for three fourths of the meeting, entertains a few questions, and needs to add extra time to allow a single motion. I wonder whether he wants people to come back, or whether he wants to drive them away so as to ensure the "highest decision-making body in the UFT" remains largely a forum for his pontifications and indulgences.

..... ... NYC Educator, DA Takeaway

Arthur Goldstein has some great stuff in this post. I hate to keep agreeing with this guy - and that he always beats me to the punch on so much good stuff.

With MORE's conference coming up this Saturday, it is good to hear some positive words about MORE given attacks from Unity caucus and the ultra-leftist lone voice in the UFT supporting Unity Caucus about that ridiculous union label thing. I print hundreds of copies of our leaflets on my home copy machine - after often doing the labor of laying them out - and these clowns try to make it look "as though MORE had the work outsourced to slave labor in some third-world banana republic." 

This is nothing more than an attempt by Unity and its allies to attack the opposition. So if we put "labor donated" on every leaflet all is OK?
Frankly, I don't always have the space when I lay out a leaflet to make the purists quibblers happy.

And I also agree on the MORE points - no one in MORE is always happy - MORE consists of real people - with different points of view and it is not always easy to try to blend these points into a coherent policy while maintaining democracy - it is always much easier to have a strong man/woman take charge - you know, the way Unity has been run for 60 years.

UFT Democracy Workshop by Fiorillo, Goldstein* and Scott  at MORE conference:

Arthur, Michael Fiorillo and I have been internal critics in MORE over some issues. This Saturday we are working together to do a workshop in union democracy -here is a rough description of the workshop:

The UFT has been structured by Unity Caucus in such a way as to enforce a fundamentally undemocratic system. We will review that structure, discuss what type of structure could be created to ensure a more democratically run union, and delve into the issue of whether such reforms can be implemented given the absolute control Unity has over every formal institution. Lurking behind all this is the possibility of losing the agency fee case and how that impacts on the issue of democracy.

*attendance depending in scheduling.

MORE on the conference tomorrow.

Here is the MORE Press Advisory.

NEWS ADVISORY: On 10/24 Teachers and Community Unite to Build Platform for New UFT Leadership

FOR PLANNING PURPOSES OR ANNOUNCEMENT

October 20, 2015

Contacts:

Megan Moskop (252) 367-0908

John Antush (917) 734-3907

media@morecaucusnyc.org

**News Advisory**

As NYC School Crisis Continues, Teachers Unite with Community to Challenge Unaccountable Union Leadership and Defend Public Education

Movement of Rank-and-File Educators to announce UFT Presidential candidate in bid to unseat union President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus

.

WHEN: Saturday, October 24, 2015

10am-6pm

RSVP for interviews during the day

WHERE: P.S. 58, The Carroll School

330 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY

WHAT: Fed up with classroom overcrowding, overuse of standardized testing, and understaffing, New York’s hardworking educators have lost patience with the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers and are coming together with the community to continue building a broad-based movement for change– in their union and in our schools.

The State of our Union, State of our Schools Conference will gather rank-and-file educators, community allies, parents, and students to shape a new vision for high-quality public education and craft a platform for the upcoming UFT elections. The Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE) will announce its candidate for union president at the conference.

For a complete list of speakers and workshops, view the attached flier, or visit the event page.

WHO: The Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE), is the social justice caucus of the UFT and largest force for change in the union. In the upcoming elections, MORE will challenge Unity Caucus, the bureaucratic political machine that has dominated New York’s teachers’ union for the past 50 years. Over the past decade, Unity has led the UFT into crisis, signing off on harmful policies such as overuse of standardized testing and pay increases that fail to keep pace with inflation, while using union funds to pay UFT President Michael Mulgrew over $260,000 per year and dole out salaries of over $100,000 per year to over 100 Unity Caucus political operatives on UFT staff.

Other conference endorsers are NYCORE- The New York Collaborative of Radical Educators, Change the Stakes, NYC OPTOUT, The Teacher Diversity Committee of New York, The Coalition for Public Education, NYS Stronger Together Caucus, and the Badass Teachers Association.

COMPELLING VISUALS:  Cheering crowds, workshop discussions, conversation. Interviews can be arranged with our presidential candidate, parents, teachers, students, and activists upon request.

RSVP: E-mail media@morecaucusnyc.org

###

The Movement of Rank and File Educators is the Social Justice Caucus of the United Federation of Teachers.  To learn MORE, visit www.morecaucusnyc.org

Eva Moskowitz Violated FERPA in Releasing Student Discipline Data

We can only think of the day when Eva has to do a PERP walk.

By releasing the details of this child’s disciplinary file in the letter below, a child who was interviewed and whose face was shown on the NewsHour, didn’t Eva Moskowitz violate FERPA? Moskowitz completely violated the family's and the student's privacy!

Every child and parent in his present school who recognizes him now has access to his discipline record.

Full letter is posted here: http://bit.ly/1ODDmJ4


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/kindergarten-young-suspend-student/

Ann.Powell@successacademies.org

EVA MOSKOWITZ DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM PBS NEWSHOUR FOR INACCURATE REPORTING

Newark Teacher Chastises Randi

Randi Weingarten’s latest pontification in the Huffington Post, “Race in America: Changing Reality by Facing It” was brought to my attention by Schools Matter blog. Her analysis of confronting white privilege is amusing at best. Unbeknownst to Weingarten, there are many white teachers who go every day to poor neighborhoods of color to teach the children. Four cities where the American Federation of Teachers predominates; New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Newark are famous for the multitudes of school closings in those same neighborhoods.

Weingarten claims that “As a woman, as a Jew, as a lesbian and as a labor leader in a time of great anti-union animus,” she has been subjected to bias in our society. As a member of only two of the four aforementioned groups, I would venture a guess that the societal prejudice she has confronted in her glass house pales by comparison to the unrelenting racism suffered by people of color in the United States.

My question is what is Randi Weingarten doing to protect children of color in the United States from losing their schools and their neighborhoods? What is the President of the American Federation of teachers doing to protect the public school teachers she is handsomely paid to represent? 

What is Her Highness doing to support public education in these fifty states? Newark, the city of my employment, is being bombarded by charter school expansion plans as enabled by our new Superintendent in cooperation with our traveling Governor. Is Randi Weingarten doing anything to mitigate the damage to the Newark Public Schools? Other than occasionally publishing pabulum, the only entity being advanced by Randi Weingarten is Randi Weingarten.

Abigail Shure

Never forget that Randi went in and worked with Christie to negotiate a Newark teacher contract. Where has that gotten them?
Some Ed Notes blasts from the past.

Ed Notes Online: Weingarten Praises Newark Merit Pay ...

Oct 19, 2012

“This agreement is a win for students, a win for teachers and a win for Newark," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement Thursday. "It recognizes the quality of educators' work, values ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Weingarten Negotiates Another Sell-Out in Newark, NEW ...

Oct 22, 2012

The only teachers union representative present was Randi Weingarten of AFT. Again, I have nothing but respect for Randi, who I think does a fine job representing teacher concerns in the media. But let's be honest: Chris ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Ed Notes Online: Randi, Cami and Newark: Anyone for a ...

Dec 22, 2013

These two have a long history together. The dynamic works like this: Randi gives Cami whatever she wants, then complains about Cami exercising the freedoms that Randi has given her. It's sort of like the dynamic Randi is ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Ed Notes Online: "Dear Randi" From a Newark Teacher

Feb 27, 2014

...your generosity in donating AFT funds to the Teacher Village being built to house Teach for America novices in Newark could not have come at a better time.... Newark teacher to AFT President Randi Weingarten (satire alert).

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Ed Notes Online: Randi Shows Up in Newark with Old Pal ...

Jan 29, 2014

I asked my friend if Randi walked out with her pal Cami. I've been saving this piece from Schools Matter for the past month that reviews Randi's history in Newark. I'll comment separately on the impact of the NYSUT split and ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

 

UFT Send District Reps to School to Discuss Friedrich - A School Where UFT Protected Awful Principal

This came in from a teacher at a school where there was a horrible principal for years who was protected not only by the DOE but by the UFT. Good luck in getting them to pay dues.

Just found out DR coming next week to my school to discuss Friedrich case.

I guess UFT reps worried about THEIR jobs.

Karma

And how about that principal in the Bronx who made the teachers throw out their desks?

DOE Recycles Failed Principals

Every report coming in from parents and teachers is that principal Donna Connelly is an all time loser - the kind of

case that should have been blaring from the UFT - did the district rep ever go to the schools this recycled lemon has been sent to time and again? I would bet that she has some connections to someone in the DOE and the UFT. Or the UFT doesn't want to step on certain principals due to its cozy relationship to the CSA.

DOE Recycles Failed Principals

Leonie Haimson reports:

Donna Connelly at Ps 24 in the Bronx has been controversial for years; she was pushed out of ps 3 by parents when my daughter was there, has been despised by teachers and also threw a reporter out of an SLT meeting a few years ago- illegally as the DoE spokesperson later explained.

In her latest craziest move, astonishingly, the DoE spokesperson appears to back her up.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/18/principal-forbid-teachers-to-sit-so-she-threw-out-their-desks/

I'm not astonished. It's been going on for decades. Principals can get away with anything.

Today: Jia Lee, Jamaal Bowman, Michael Flanagan and others Headline Oct. 17 Ed Justice Conference

Jamaal Bowman: Incredibly blessed to be a part of tomorrow. Almost 600 strong working on the most important issues in and related to education. Another major step toward the schools and society that we and our children deserve. It's on! 

Jia Lee, a non-stop energizer bunny who is all over the place, is helping headline this conference. I'm so sad to miss this today.

There has been no greater fighter against the deformers than Jia, who has the support of teachers and many parents who have deep outreach into the schools.

Call to Educational Justice!! Lean In for this NYC Conference

Daiyu Suzuki, Jia Lee, Jamaal Bowman, Michael Flanagan, Hugh Jordine

Saturday, October 17, 2015 from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM (EDT)

New York, NY

 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/call-to-educational-justice-lean-in-for-this-nyc-conference-tickets-18005499935

In New York State, the implementation of Common Core and high stakes testing have created unprecedented inequity. Test and punish policies disproportionately effect students of color, students with disabilities, English Language Learners and students living in poverty. School communities, from early childhood to higher education, survive on varying spectrums of the public school system, the most dire being school closures in the poorest communities. The root forces of compliance based policies and unyielding standardization have left very little room for common sense in collaborative problem solving. Parents, students, teachers, administrators, professors and concerned citizens have pulled together to uncover, expose and demand the source of inequities be put to an end.


In the last twenty years, we have faced unprecedented policies that clearly indicate strong market forces vying for public school dollars. These policies have not lead to results! Our communities continue to be downtrodden, our students continue to suffer, and parents continue to be silenced. The time is now to come together. Parents, teachers, students and community activist need to come together as one collective voice to impact how public education moves forward in the 21st century. We need all of you at the table for this historic event. 

JOIN US for this strategy focused day to discuss, connect the issues and strategize to push back against:

Profit driven privatization, top-down & oppressive decision making at all levels of education
Test Driven, rather than student driven, instruction and programming
Teacher evaluations based on high stakes standardized tests & Demonization of the teacher’s union
Increasing segregation in our public schools 

Activism is sparking in many different ways to empower public school stakeholders. The unforeseen consequences of privatization efforts have led to resistance in pockets throughout the city. The opt out movement, restorative justice practices and joined efforts to engage our elected officials are just a few. At the same time, there’s a sense of urgency to build a citywide community movement.

In an effort to enact true democratic decision making, the grassroots organizations from around the city and state will begin the 2015-2016 school year by joining together in a conference. Registrants will receive the full agenda. We need you there!

     

Do We Want Success Charters To Abuse 4 Year-olds Too? Eva Outrage Continues - Wants Public Pre-K Money But No Oversight

Eva doesn't want oversight because of what people will see.

Leonie Haimson Comments:

Success charters won't sign contracts to allow city to oversee its preK program yet presumably wants to continue to receive city funds for that purpose.

The city doesn't have to grant them these funds but according to this article wants as many charters as possible to have preK.

Question I have is given Success charters Abusive treatment of Kindergarten students as well documented in the recent PBS segment why should the city want them to have preK?

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/10/8579889/pre-k-contract-sparks-new-fight-between-success-academy-and-city-h

Leonie questions why the city even wants to have Success run a pre-k program where they can suspend kids they don't want so the parents pull them out of the school and allow them to cream even further.

Why Retirees Vote Unity - The UFT Retro Pay Story Still Resonating as Retirees Get Theirs

The UFT message to pregnant moms: if you are pregnant and not working when the next retro is due - screw you - or rather, you should have waited to screw until you got your retro.

 

Michael Fiorillo has left a new comment on your post "Comments on UFT Sellout of Teachers on Leave 

Our faux Tough Guy President's pathetic excuse is further belied by the fact that he made sure that retirees were made whole before anyone.

Not to suggest they were undeserving - we all deserved that money back in '09, and should have been made whole immediately, with interest - but where was their "continuous employment?"

Then again, what does he care? Like the so-called reformers he often shills for - witness his continuing support for Common Core, test-based evaluations and expedited firings - or passively allows to loot and pillage, it's obvious to me this man thinks teachers are chumps.

If you read Ed Notes you know my position is for the opposition to totally ignore the retiree issue related to their voting in UFT elections - at least until an opposition can show it can win enough votes from working UFT members in an election. Unity Caucus takes care of its retirees.

And so it did so once again - retirees did get their retro, teachers in leave did not. We are hearing about the Queens borough office maternity liason for the UFT - no one seems to be naming - and shaming her - publicly. (Someone leave a comment with her name.)

Arthur is on the case at NYC Educator

Callousness or Compassion?: Retro On Leave

 The Queens maternity liason for the U.F.T. rose to oppose the resolution.  First, she objected to the printing of the resolution on a page containing advertisements for an oppostion caucus, free of the "union bug."   Even the parliamentarian, himself, could not say whether it was permissible or not.

Wait - let me get this straight. She is objecting to a caucus for putting forth a resolution, something that has been done for the entire 45 years I have been involved? And no union bug - given that opposition caucuses have to cobble together their own printers and copy machines to be able to afford printing materials - or go to copy centers to print? I printed almost 400 copies of a double-sided leaflet at the last chapter leader meeting on my own copy machine - which left it wheezing and coughing and demanding to form its own union.

I get it - let's try to make the opposition spend a fortune on printing as a way to shut them down.

Arthur continues:

Then, she proceeded to oppose the motion on the grounds that people on leave must know what they're getting themselves into.  I would guess, however, if one is fighting off a deadly disease or surviving brain surgery, one doesn't have much of a choice.  If one is about to give birth, although the situation is usually infinitely more joyous, one may also lack much choice.

The Queens liason further stated that the resolution seemed vague and that all persons on leave would be made "whole again" when the next retro check rolls around, provided he or she has returned to work.  It is my understanding, however, that if one dies, not only will one never be made "whole again," but one's spouse, children or family will never be made "whole again" in more ways than one.  The money once earned will be gone.  Perhaps, retro is not a "God-given right," but the Union might have taken further pains to fight for it as a contractual right for those who might need it most.

The arguments used by the maternity liason struck me as callous, particulary to our colleagues fending off life-threatening illnesses and those who are the parents of children, much like the ones we have dedicated our lives to teach.  So many members of our profession are women and so many are mothers.  The system is stacked against them and the Union seems unphased--even the Queens Maternity Liason.  Given that all members were asked to create a sea of pink shirts at the October Delegate Assembly in recognition of breast cancer, the callousness was magnified many times over.  It felt like a flood.

One of our new MORE moms missed the retro by returning to work a day or 2 later.

And check out this Queens Maternity workshop for April 2016 - Join us and get answers to all your maternity and leave questions.

We know the answer to the retro question already -- hey, if you are pregnant and not working when the next retro is due - screw you - or rather, you should have waited to screw until you got your retro.

Maternity Workshop (Queens)
Date:April 14, 2016
Time:4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location:
UFT Queens borough office
97-77 Queens Blvd.
Rego Park, NY
US

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. RSVP by emailing kjordan@uft.org.

Try this common core math question - if you are pregnant in April when do you have to deliver and be back in time to get your retro?

Rally of Charter School Teachers, Most of Whom Secretly wish they had a union - even one like the UFT

...considering the extraordinarily high pressure work environment at Success Academy that is also verified by job review sites, it is hard to believe that very many of the promised teachers for next week’s rally feel comfortable declining to participate... Daniel Katz

Can we take a secret ballot of all those teachers attending the rally asking if they would like to be in a union?

Daniel Katz lays it out:

Eva Moskowtiz is Out of Control

I don’t know about you, but when my children’s unionized public school teachers take a half day, it is because they are in professional development workshops and related activities.  They certainly are not being taken from their schools to a rally organized by a lobbying group funded specifically to increase their influence with lawmakers in City Hall and in Albany.  In fact, try to imagine this scenario: Chancellor Farina organizes a half day of work for all city schools and then coordinates a rally for public schools with the UFT on the same day and 1000s of public school teachers, rather than using the half day for professional development, show up near city hall to provide the optics.  

I love that Eva always goes too far. She is her ultimate worst enemy.

Katz:

Fresh off their rally with charter school parents and students on October 7th, “Families” For Excellent Schools has announced that they will hold another rally on Wednesday the 21st of October.   This rally, which will be held in Manhattan’s Foley Square, will reportedly feature nearly 1,000 charter school teachers predominantly from Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy network.  While some teachers from Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, and KIPP are expected to be present, Ms. Moskowitz’s workforce will be the primary participants, and the network just so happens to have a scheduled half school day so that teachers can show up to the rally for the purpose of pressuring law makers into allowing more charter schools in the city.  Chew on that for a moment: a scheduled half day of school.  A political rally.  The teachers in attendance.

http://danielskatz.net/2015/10/15/eva-moskowtiz-is-out-of-control/

Comments on UFT Sellout of Teachers on Leave Re: Retro

I understand Mulgrew stated the city didn't want anyone on leave to get retro, that the city wanted continuous employment. Wasn't it his job to tell the city, "no?" Did Mulgrew explain why he didn't fight when he learned the city wanted to withhold money from any member who already earned it? It could be argued that members on a childcare leave need that money the most while they are caring for a baby with no income. Perhaps Mulgrew has a good reason for not fighting for these members. I'd like to know what it is. 
I desperately needed that money BECAUSE I am on a childcare leave.
The DOE doesn't allow staff to earn ANY part-time income while on a leave. At the same time they are withholding money we've earned when we need it the most, when our children need it the most. It makes no sense. That money is mine. I earned it and it could make a real difference for my family and my son.

Darren Marelli has left a new comment on your post "Mulgrew Against Moms: Jia Lee/MORE Raise Reso at DA

This comment from my good friend Darren Marelli brings home the outrage of what occurred during the DA and how the UFT negotiated the contract.

Darren played a major role in making our movie -http://theinconvenienttruthbehindwaitingforsuperman.com/watch-the-film/ - along with his wife Molly Bruhn. After the birth of their son, Max, they are taking turns with childcare leave.

Darren makes as strong a case as I've seen.

Roseanne McCosh also commented:

To the Maternity Leave Liaison Unity hack from Queens: How about those out with a serious illness? Should they have re"considered" that kidney transplant or cancerous tumor removal and post op care? Should they have "decided" to forgo medical treatment and opt for death? Death isn't even a viable option bc Unity negotiated a deal that gives our families NOTHING of the retro we already earned if we drop dead. We "got to handle our own business?" I assume you meant we "have to" not that we we "got to" or had the opportunity to. We didn't negotiate this piece of crap in our contract -- you and your Unity crew did. And "our business" includes OUR MONEY. So hand it over already. Shame on Unity for blaming people on approved leave for not "handling their business." Unity is seriously out of touch with the concerns of their membership. ...... Roseanne McCosh PS 8x

Those Wasted UFT Commercials

Does anyone know the cost of the TV commercials the UFT has been running?

A non-UFT member - an activist parent - asked this question.

And followed with:

These commercials, in which a bunch of smiling teachers and students assert that they are unified, ends with UFT President Mulgrew telling how NYC teachers do wonderful things.

Which they do.

But I do not believe that these ads, which must cost tens of thousands of dollars, will convince anyone of that, except their own members.

Of course - these commercials are as much for the membership - it is a UFT election year after all -- as the public.

I think that money could be much better utilized by devoting it to hiring additional parent organizers.

How about teacher organizers and support for schools with awful principals where parents are also affected?

UFT borough parent organizers do wonderful work, but they cannot possibly cover many schools with the frequency that is needed to engage parents in the battle against the dividers and privatizers.

Yes, I know some of these organizers. But among the wonderful work they do, they also are selling the UFT line on common core and testing -- and against opt out. I've witnessed it myself. In essence they are agents among parents of ed deform.

That battle will be won only by engaging parents where they are at.

It will be lost by aping a TV commercial campaign, many of which are useless, as even advertising execs know.

The early retail store magnate John Wanamaker stated: 50 % of the money I spend on advertising is totally wasted; I wish I knew which 50 %.
The UFT doesn’t know either, but gamble in that casino.

 Gamble with our money of course.

 

Mulgrew Against Moms: Jia Lee/MORE Raise Reso at DA, Rejected by Unity

A Unity Caucus member, who is the Maternity/Child Care Leave Liaison for the Queens UFT office, spoke against our resolution. “I explain to those going out on maternity leave they need to be on payroll  to get retro -- eventually they will be made whole. You decided to take your leave, you got to handle your own business, you have to consider things before taking leave”... MORE Report from the UFT Delegate Assembly

Translation: You decided to have a baby. You know that is not allowed under the new order of ed deform, which we support, which punishes mothers with children. Fuck you!

James Eterno, who wrote the resolution for MORE, has a full report on the ICE blog:  MULGREW'S UNITY MAJORITY TELLS PARENTS AND SICK MEMBERS ON UNPAID LEAVES TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES


NYC Educator lead his report with this:

DA Notes--UFT Unity Declines to Consider Helping Members On Leave

Here is an excerpt from a comment left on NYC Educator from Mary Ahern:

Like many of us, when I heard Greer(?) speaking against the motion I was outraged. At one point when she was lecturing on personal responsibility for planning I blurted out "How condescending!" to which Mulgrew pointed his finger at me and said "Stop it!"
After the DA, I was so mad I didn't even bother talking to Mulgrew but he came up to me on the way out and said, "You're just like me." I then gave him an earful. I said, "Maybe people choose to have children but nobody chooses to get cancer or serious illnesses or injuries and those members as well as those on maternity leave need this money more than we do!"
I'm still disgusted by the way Greer spoke against this resolution and I let her know how I felt. These are the people that UFT puts in place to "help" our members? Really??

More from MORE

Jia Lee, Chapter Leader of The Earth School, raised a resolution (see below) at tonight's UFT Delegate Assembly calling for the city or UFT to provide a no-interest loan for those UFT members who are on unpaid maternity, family, or medical leave and did not receive their first lump sum payment this week. Because they are not on active payroll the members who most need this money will not get it until 2017 at the earliest. If they never return they may never see their own hard-earned money. UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus which dominated the DA voted the motion down. They voted against our members who are mothers, caregivers, or who are sick and need to be out on leave.

Ms. Lee said "in my school we have moms who are on leave to take care of their children and we, as a union, need to find a way to get them the money we all got. If you read the resolution we are asking for no interest loans to the members who need it the most.” 

“Medical distress should not be financial distress.” Mulgrew said earlier in the evening in regards to the skyrocketing costs of prescriptions for our members. Ms. Lee referred back to that sentiment and said “I feel the same and that should apply to retro for our members on leave."

A Unity Caucus member, who is the Maternity/Child Care Leave Liaison for the Queens UFT office, spoke against our resolution. “I explain to those going out on maternity leave they need to be on payroll  to get retro -- eventually they will be made whole. You decided to take your leave, you got to handle your own business, you have to consider things before taking leave”.

Eterno also had a report on the full DA:

ICEUFT Blog

DELEGATE ASSEMBLY REPORT (unabridged live blogging)
 

MORE Moves Forward on UFT Election Choices

MORE Caucus is moving toward choosing its candidates and building its platform for the upcoming 2016 UFT elections and I expect a presidential candidate will be announced in the next 2 weeks. People involved pretty much know who it will be - a rather obvious choice. But the process of voting and process in an organization like MORE has to be played out. You know - that messy democracy thing.

One of the reasons I was against running last spring was some questions as to whether MORE would be distracted by an election that is often inconsequential from doing the kind of long-term building in the schools needed to ultimately challenge Unity Caucus at its core - in the schools where it has so much control - often through its use of the roughly 45-50 district reps to control the chapter leaders.

As I've often said, chapter leader elections, always held the year before the general UFT elections, are more important than the general election. Unity moves fast to co-opt the new CLs elected into the caucus to keep them from working with the opposition. That process is going on now through their weekend training sessions where they vet people.

I pushed for MORE to hold its own chapter leader training in early July and we had about 60 people, many new CLs, come out. That doesn't mean some don't end up joining Unity anyway because Unity has just a little bit more to offer in perks.

It was clear after my debate with Mike Schirtzer last May - The Great Scott-Schirtzer Debate: Boycott UFT Elections  that people in ICE and MORE wanted to run. Mike claimed a slam-dunk victory: Mike Schirtzer: Why MORE Will Run In The 2016 UFT ...

I said, like NFL drafts, it takes years to judge - and after the outcome next spring we will decide who won that debate based on whether MORE falls into the same election trap that all the other caucuses in the past have fallen into - including ICE.

If MORE runs the same kind of campaigns that ICE, TJC and New Action have run, it will find itself in the same place it started this year - with no growth and possibly shrinkage as people get disappointed in the process and the outcomes. But if MORE uses this opportunity to expand its local networks, there is hope for the future.

I posted the announcement send out by Karen Arneson regarding the MORE downtown Happy Hour, a continuing event that went on all last year as an example of the continuation of the kind of fundamental organizing work that must be done before, during and post-election cycles. That's how we met Karen in the first place about a year and a half ago. She came to a MORE happy hour and then jumped in with some of her colleagues. Karen and others like her are the key to building up a school-level force to challenge Unity. Her own school voted to replace a Unity chapter leader who shilled for the contract with a MORE supporter.

And this happened at a bunch of other schools.

I know, I know, these are relatively small drops in the bucket. But if MORE sticks to an organizing plan and doesn't fall into the UFT election trap cycle as so many others do, over time there will be changes. You will know when schools start showing up at the Delegate Assembly to challenge Unity.

MORE is holding a conference on October 24 with lots of amazing people. We decided on holding this conference back in the summer. And also decided to hold off on major election stuff until that takes place. So look for announcements after that date.

EIA, Antonucci on Union Hypocrisy on edTPA Partnership with Pearson

edTPA is a high-level collaboration between the education establishment and the poster child for corporate education reform. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on which side of the fence you occupy, but let’s not pretend it isn’t exactly what it appears to be.... EIA, The Continuing Saga of edTPA

Mike calls a spade a spade. The NEA and AFT are in up to their ears with the ed deformers no matter how they equivocate. Until we get union leaderships that refuse to cross the line, public education is behind the 8-ball.

What Mike doesn't do is spill the case against edTPA, which is about filtering certain people out of teaching, not improving the quality of teaching. The outrageous costs alone associated with teacher certification in edTPA leaves a certain class of economic people out -- you know that ed deform wants those Ivy League TFA types as the model, not people like those I taught.

The Continuing Saga of edTPA

Posted: 13 Oct 2015 10:27 AM PDT

Sympathy or schadenfreude – you can take your choice when it comes to the edTPA predicament in which the teachers’ unions find themselves.
edTPA is a performance assessment system for teacher candidates and it has all the education establishment pedigree you might want. It was developed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and Linda Darling-Hammond. It is supported by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). NEA and AFT officers sit on its policy advisory board, and the assessment was “purposefully designed to reflect the teaching tasks that are represented in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as it pertains to the skills and competencies attained as part of teacher preparation.” The unions have promoted national board certification since its inception.
Portfolios and video-taped lessons require a sophisticated scoring system and staff to operate it. The options for edTPA were limited, and why not choose the same folks who score submissions from national board candidates? Alas, those folks work at Pearson.
Pearson is part of the Axis of Education Evil, so a large group of union activists oppose edTPA, either not knowing or not caring how deeply involved their own organizations are in keeping it going. NEA has responded to this opposition with a number of contortions, and now the administrators of edTPA are in the unenviable position of trying to distance themselves from the people scoring their assessment.
edTPA just released its latest administrative report and came to the conclusion that edTPA is working great! It’s this kind of congratulatory self-assessment that led to the obsession with standardized tests in the first place.
But I’m not qualified to judge edTPA as an assessment system. I only want to read what they say about Pearson, and they come off pretty defensive about it.

SCALE is the sole developer of edTPA, and Stanford University is the exclusive owner of edTPA. The university has an agreement with Evaluation Systems, a unit of Pearson, to provide operational support for the national administration of edTPA.
…The design framework for edTPA and constructs assessed were established prior to the partnership with Evaluation Systems/Pearson and were informed by earlier work led by SCALE staff (National Board and PACT). Evaluation Systems was chosen as the operational partner to ensure that edTPA assessment development built by the profession and supported by foundation funds could be scaled up for national use. That is, the Evaluation Systems/Pearson group has no authority or decision-making role in the design and development of edTPA.

Translation: Our assessment is untainted by Pearson. Alternative translation: If you hate our assessment, you can’t blame Pearson. In any case, it is clear that Pearson is absolutely indispensable to edTPA:

Stanford University/SCALE engaged Evaluation Systems, a group of Pearson, as an operational partner in March 2011 to make edTPA available to a national educational audience. As the operational partner, Evaluation Systems provides the management system required for multistate use of edTPA, including the infrastructure that facilitates administration of the assessment for submission, scoring, and reporting of results from both national and regional scoring.
…Pearson (through edTPA.com – the candidate-facing program web site) provides operational assessment services associated with registration, scoring, and reporting of edTPA scores. Assessment services include use of the technology platform which registers the candidate, receives the portfolio, coordinates the logistics of scoring the portfolio, and reports the results to the candidate. Additionally, a faculty feedback feature is available through the Pearson Portfolio system, allowing candidates to request formative feedback from a designated faculty member based on SCALE’s guidelines of acceptable support. Assessment services also include the recruiting and management of qualified educators who serve as scorers, scoring supervisors, or trainers. Scorers are trained using a training curriculum developed by SCALE, specifically for use with edTPA rubrics. Scorers use standardized scoring procedures and are calibrated and monitored during scoring. Pearson also works with EPPs and state agencies to securely report candidate scores as appropriate. Through the ResultsAnalyzer tool, stakeholders are able to review and utilize their data sets as provided on each reporting date.
…Pearson uses a well-established and reliable software platform to screen submissions for originality of content.

edTPA is a high-level collaboration between the education establishment and the poster child for corporate education reform. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on which side of the fence you occupy, but let’s not pretend it isn’t exactly what it appears to be.

Eva and Success Academy Charter Exposed by John Merrow on PBS

Oh what fun when former charter fans like John Merrow finally get the picture. Watch Eva's face. We have been exposing the Eva scam since the day she started 9 years ago. Our movie 4 years ago did the kind of work that should have alerted Merrow and the rest of the press - suspend kids who might score low until their parents pull them out. Drive down the numbers of kids between kindergarten testing grades -- that is the way to beat the lottery which might lead to some low scoring kids slipping through.

The kid in the video who left Success is now in Jia Lee's school. She left this comment on Facebook:

Have to share this for so many reasons - I'm incredibly proud of Jamir, who attends our school in the East Village. His teachers, like all of my colleagues at the Earth School, believe in supporting the whole child. How we want to feel at school is discussed as a community and we develop, together, with our students, the strategies to help each other feel happy, supported, calm, engaged and safe. A code of conduct, like the kind described here, developed by an outside entity can be equated to a form of colonialism.

Jose Vilson has been doing some great stuff around this issue. I'm on the run but want to do a lot more on Jose's work in future posts.

Check out Diane's post with comments:

John Merrow Tangles with Eva Moskowitz over Suspending Kindergartners!

Links to the 9-minute video: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/kindergarten-young-suspend-student/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVfCMwLbiEs

Is kindergarten too young to suspend a student? At the largest charter school network in New York City, strict academic and behavior standards set t...

Message from MORE: Nearly 90% of Your Retro Money Is Being Withheld

We were told in 2014 that it was necessary to delay retro payments to avoid a city financial crisis, a budget shortfall that has since evaporated.... When your own union has to sell you on the deal, you know it's not good. Our friends in other city unions look at us and shake their heads.... MORE, http://morecaucusnyc.org/

I posted on this yesterday - Retro About Retro Pay  - with a link to Kevin Prosen's Jacobin piece from May 2014 about why we should have voted NO on the contract. MORE and others pointed out that the entire retro fiasco was - well, a fiasco. People who worked for the money but are not teaching at this moment don't get money. Then we hear about bumps in union dues - not clear what is going on there -- but Unity made sure to remove voting for dues increases many years ago and automated the process -- before a Frierich decision comes down from the Court Unity might want to think about how this will play out.

I think there may be a delegate assembly today where Mulgrew will probably give some responses to the retro issue. Check Arthur Goldstein's NYC Educator blog later today or tomorrow for a report.

Here is today's MORE Post - and note about our State of the Union all-day conference on Oct. 24 - I and Michael Fiorillo are doing a workshop on union democracy - or lack thereof - and will present some ideas on how to change that.

Nearly 90% of Your Retro Money Is Being Withheld

UFT members will be receiving only 12.5% of what is owed to us from 2009. We will not receive our full retro until 2020. Our fellow UFT members who are on maternity leave, family leave, or medical leave will be getting zero. This is nothing to celebrate, yet Mulgrew and his unity caucus leadership sent out a happy message with the piggy bank image you see above. We were told in 2014 that it was necessary to delay retro payments to avoid a city financial crisis, a budget shortfall that has since evaporated. We deserve what every other union received, we deserve the full back pay that is owed to us.

When your own union has to sell you on the deal, you know it's not good. Our friends in other city unions look at us and shake their heads. Look at our brothers and sisters who are Firefighters, they received 8% raises from 2008-2010 that we did not and will be receiving their full retroactive upon ratifying their contract. They don’t have to wait for 5 installments of money that is rightfully ours.  We constantly settle for less than others and then are told by Mulgrew to be thankful for what we have. New York City will have a 6 billion dollar surplus. but we were told they were broke. It was a lie. Our members are educated professionals and deserve to be treated as such. It is time to tell the truth.

Just to add one more layer of complexity: The numbers 12.5%, 12.5%, 25%, 25%, 25% are also not accurate because in reality they don't add up to 100%. Consider the fact that we are still accruing arrears from the city and will continue to do so until 2018 because the 8% raises will not be fully phased in until then. That means that the total lump sum owed to us will be higher in 2017 than it is in 2015 (especially considering that teachers will continue to go up steps, accrue longevities, and earn differentials). That means that the 2017 12.5% payment will not be equal to the 12.5% we get in 2015. The final, 2020, payment will not actually be 25% of all the arrears. It will be whatever we are still owed. For most of us that will be somewhat more than 25%.

Let’s be clear this money is ours, we worked for it, including those who are on leave to raise a child or because of health issues. Mulgrew should not have sent out celebratory letters, instead they should be using the full force of our union to demand that ALL members who are owed money get that money now. If you believe like we do that it is time for new union leadership, one that negotiates on behalf of all members, and ensures that we get treated with the respect we deserve, please join MORE now 

The UFT officer elections are in Spring 2016 and we want to hear from you. Please join us at our State of The Union, State of Our Schools Conference.
Register Here


MORE-UFT
http://more.nationbuilder.com/

Retro About Retro Pay and UFT Election Implications Plus Kevin Prossen on UFT 2014 Contract - Why VOTE NO?

.... our union president has said “the cupboard was bare” — that retroactive pay is not a “God-given right,” and that we should be satisfied with this money being further delayed. If workers have not won the right to be paid for the labor they have already done, then the labor movement has fallen very far indeed...
Kevin Prossen, Jacobin magazine on May 12, 2014. 

Jia Lee: A must read for NYC Educators! Kevin Prosen published this piece before the contract was voted in, and at this time, it gives us cause for reflection. 

I agree with Jia. Kevin, one of our most dynamic organizers and chapter leaders, wrote the piece for Jacobin magazine on May 12, 2014.

More from Kevin:

This is money that we are owed, and that those of us who are those mid-career teachers that will have to leave the system in the next few years — who can’t continue working for these wages — will never see. The proposed pay increases fall below the rate of inflation, our rents continue to spiral upward, and every year the conditions of life for working New Yorkers gets worse. We’ve been told by our union that if we vote this down we will go “to the back of the line” — that we could be waiting for years for a contract. We were told that if we could just wait out Bloomberg, we would be richly rewarded. Yet here we are, still waiting.

Before we get back to Kevin's must read piece, a few points.

MORE took a strong stand against the contract. Unity has been ridiculing MORE for its stance in the puny little handout they give out at DAs.

The current retro pay snafu, as reported by James Eterno at the ICE blog, is, you'll excuse the expression, a tip of the iceberg. James emailed:

...please check out the ICEUFT blog where a simple post about the 12.5% retro pay stub being online is getting a significant number of comments.  We haven't seen comments in these numbers since the contract came out in 2014.

• PAY STUB WITH RETRO IS ONLINE (Updated Three Times)

There has been lots of internal buzz inside MORE about this issue. I've been out of town and can't follow that closely but there is talk of the UFT dues increase in the midst to a retro snafu and other stuff - so go check it out at ICE.

James continues to point out that Unity battered people to vote YES on the contract in order to keep the city from going broke when there is in fact billions of surplus - after we signed the contract. Our union leaders are not stupid - they know where the money is but sold us a lie.

Yes, when I was leafleting at the contract vote DA I actually had Unity people tell me I was crazy to push the city into bankruptcy.

Mike Schirtzer left this rant:

This week 80,000 are going to be looking at some BS money- while the city withholds about 90% of what's due us. This week my friend who worked the last 9 years like I did, is sitting home taking care of her sick child, without a paycheck and without retro payment to help her-pay her free healthcare (copay after copay).

Roseanne McCosh informed us that "BX UFT is taking our grievances over Oct first retro delay.  Taking them and stuffing them in a drawer is my guess but who knows maybe they'll surprise us."

I replied that I think they will take this grievance for show and PR. Watch Mulgrew announce this at the DA to demonstrate they are "fighting" - I would call it whimpering. You know, they negotiated and signed and shilled for the contract. If it is grieveable then make a big deal about that. But that they would have to grieve it makes them look oh so stupid.

Wait until the health care shit kicks in - but that won't happen until after this year's UFT election - intentionally on the part of the DOE/UFT alliance - which I believe I pointed out at the time (just too lazy to find a link). You all will find out the REAL BAD NEWS sometime after Mulgrew gets re-elected.

The contract was voted on by about 92% of the 108,000 UFT members eligible to vote. (Retirees and non-DOE employees do not vote). I was at the vote count to observe. About 25% of the classroom teachers - roughly 16,000 - voted NO. 47,000 voted Yes. About 20% of the non-teaching staff voted no.

These are interesting numbers vis a vis the upcoming UFT elections. Can these 16,000 classroom NO Votes translate into general election votes for MORE/New Action?

James broke the numbers down after the vote: THOUGHTS ON NEW CONTRACT AND THE RATIFICATION VOTE...

Look at the difference in NO vote numbers between the teaching staff (25%) and the other divisions which mostly topped 80% and indicates the significant control Unity exercises over these divisions. The battle inside the UFT can only be won in the schools, not the general election. I believe the contract vote totals for classroom teachers and non-teachers justifies my theories of concentrating resources on this biggest branch of the UFT and not on retirees or the other divisions - sorry if you are a secretary or para - you guys have to get into your UFT chapter and break Unity total control.

More on election implications of the contract vote in the future.

Back to Kevin's piece in Jacobin where he closes with:

If we vote “no” on this proposed deal, we will, of course, be attacked in the press as greedy labor aristocrats. But this isn’t only about the UFT, and we can’t talk as though it is. We must challenge the idea that we are somehow not deserving of a professional wage. But we also need to point out that this deal will set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of other city workers.
Saying no to this deal is about drawing a line for the entire working class of New York City — about saying there is a limit to what we will suffer and how little we will accept. Many of our students’ parents are city workers: they drop their kids off before making their way to operate buses and subways, to pick up our trash, to direct our traffic and clean the offices of City Hall. This is not only about us, it’s about solidarity with the rest of working New York. It is about making our city a more humane place for the people who love it enough to keep it running. That is the language we need to speak in.
A contract is a negotiated settlement on the conditions of exploitation under which you will spend most of your waking life. Don’t accept arguments that this offer is “the best we can get” from anybody who won’t have to work under its terms. Not from liberal mayors, not from union leaders making generous salaries on your dues money, not from newspaper editors; it’s your life under discussion, not theirs.
I hope you will join me and the majority of teachers in my school in voting no on this contract. By all means, do it for the money. But also, do it for love.

Kevin goes into the details of how the contract supports ed deform, as the UFT has all along. Read it all at:

A Letter to New York City’s School Teachers

New York teachers should vote no on the proposed union contract — for love and for money.

by Kevin Prosen

May 12, 2014

Jeff Bryant: The ugly charter school scandal Arne Duncan is leaving behind

How long before Arne takes a job with the charter industry? These people - and include Chris Cerf and Joel Klein among cast of thousands - are scum.

I love the work Jeff Bryant does. I had the pleasure of hanging at the press table with him at the AFT2014 LA convention.

Thanks to old UFT/school wars pal Julie Woodward for sending this along.


Sunday, Oct 11, 2015 07:00 AM EDT

The ugly charter school scandal Arne Duncan is leaving behind

Officials are raising questions about a $249 million grant to charter schools announced the day of his resignation

Jeff Bryant, Education Opportunity Network

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s surprise announcement to leave his position in December is making headlines and driving lots of commentary, but an important story lost in the media clutter happened three days before he gave notice.
On that day, Duncan rattled the education policy world with news of a controversial grant of $249 million ($157 the first year) to the charter school industry. This announcement was controversial because, as The Washington Post reports, an audit by his department’s own inspector general found “that the agency has done a poor job of overseeing federal dollars sent to charter schools.”
Post reporter Lynsey Layton notes, “The agency’s inspector general issued a scathing report in 2012 that found deficiencies in how the department handled federal grants to charter schools between 2008 and 2011″ – in other words, during Duncan’s watch.

 View full article at Salon.com