Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Randi sends in AFT organizers with meds to heal the sick teachers.
From the DFT website:
Organizers Hitting Detroit Schools [1.5.16]
Twenty organizers from AFT affiliates across the country are in Detroit and will be coming to your school over the next nine days. They will be there to talk with members at various times throughout the day and during any free periods. DFT leadership and organizers also are making home visits. Our goal is to talk to every member. Please reach out to them for discussion on your concerns.
While we don’t condone the action taken by a small number of our members, we understand the utter frustration underlying it.
To counter Steve Conn's call for a Sunday meeting:
No Strike Vote Sunday [1.10.16]
The DFT is not holding a membership or mass meeting on Sunday and there is no strike vote to be called. We will have a full update and plan to discuss at the Jan. 14 membership meeting at 4:30 p.m. at the IBEW hall.
STOP THIS NONSENSE OF RESISTANCE. SUBMIT!
Don't you love this one:
DFT
has ramped up its efforts to address the many urgent concerns that
educators and members of our community have about the deplorable
conditions in schools around this city.
Exactly what does "ramping up efforts" mean? Certainly sickouts or strikes are not on the table.
Detroit Federation of Teachers Interim President Ivy Bailey on the sporadic closing of schools, and on statements made by Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Darnell Earley: “Really, blaming the teachers—the glue that holds this system together? While we don’t condone the action taken by a small number of our members, we understand the utter frustration underlying it. It’s the frustration of educators who are trying to teach children in schools where black mold is spreading, in classrooms crammed with twice the number of students they should have, in schools where special needs students lack learning materials, and in high schools that no longer offer art, music or other electives. This is an emergency. And the emergency manager has failed to act. Pointing fingers at educators rather than acting to help them help kids is enough to make anyone sick.” DFT Administrator Ann Mitchell added, ”Perhaps the emergency manager is engaged in this deflection because he knows that the DFT has ramped up its efforts to address the many urgent concerns that educators and members of our community have about the deplorable conditions in schools around this city. Detroit’s public schools bear the scars of the city’s struggles and challenges. We can’t do this job alone, and we urge all Detroiters to call on officials to make high-quality public education a top priority.”
A “substantial” number of teachers from at least 40 schools in Detroit’s public school district will participate in a “sickout” on Monday, the Guardian has learned. The move for teachers to simultaneously call in sick, fueled by frustration over large class sizes and “abominable” working conditions, could close nearly half the district.
Finally, some of you might be saying, a teacher union showing some militancy. Not so fast. The teacher union, which has been even more weakened than it was due to repeated Randi/AFT interventions, seems to be playing no role as they usually do in putting the breaks on militancy.
Nor consider this an outrage: "An estimated 41 cents out of every state dollar appropriated for students in Michigan is spent on debt service, according to an analysis by the Citizens Research Council."
Imagine that. Have you heard a word from Randi and crew that taking away almost half the money from children for debt service is obscene and must be resisted? Screw the bondholders. They took their shot and lost.
What happens when there is not much of a union left to sell out?
What happens if Friedrichs, opening today at SCOTUS, weakens a union to such an extent that teachers left to their own devices and without a union to put the breaks on them actually begin to organize themselves?
Don't think that this threat and what is going on in Detroit won't have some influence on the decision. People in power, from state and local governments through school boards may be seeing the nightmare of not having cozy unions like the UFT and AFT around to undermine militancy.
Detroit is an example of how Unity Caucus will undermine a local in danger of going rogue. We've reported on how Randi and AFT crew took charge in Detroit after Steve Conn was elected president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers by having him charged with something or other and throwing him out of the union.
Detroit has been on our list of Randi Sellouts since she brokered another one of those contracts loaded with ed deform provisions that ultimately
undermine teachers and the union (see Newark).
Given the history of Randi/Unity Caucus non-militancy, to me it was clear that the DFT now under her control would have little to do with a sickout. Our leaders are perfectly comfortable with debt service coming first, in contrast to our pals in Chicago who have put the influence of the banks in siphoning money out of schools front and center.
Now for my anti-left/social justice friends out there, Steve Conn is from the left and a big social justice guy. That infuses militancy not stops it.
In fact, the only group to oppose Randi and her Unity crew at recent AFT elections is Steve Conn's By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).
In the articles below I don't see one comment out of the union. Let's watch this play out when Randi offers to come in and "mediate". She despises Conn and this should be fun. (I have some great video of Steve disrupting Randi's speech at a rally in Detroit during the AFT2012 convention.)
If you want some background here are some ednotes links to the Detroit situation going back to 2008:
Aug 4, 2015 ... The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the union.
Jan 28, 2015 ...Conn, who has run for DFT president about a dozen times before, credits his victory to members being fed up with the "fiasco disaster" that ...
Nov 17, 2008 ... So what's going on in Detroit with a slate of pro Green Dot so-called "reformers" ( see post previous to this) and Steve Conn running in the ...
Dec 6, 2010 ... Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and Justice Caucus of the American Federation of Teachers on July 10, 2010 ...
Dec 9, 2015 ... Aug 4, 2015 - The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the ...
Detroit braces for 'sickout' by teachers frustrated by class sizes and conditions
A “substantial” number of teachers from at least 40 schools in Detroit’s public school district will participate in a “sickout” on Monday, the Guardian has learned. The move for teachers to simultaneously call in sick, fueled by frustration over large class sizes and “abominable” working conditions, could close nearly half the district.
Detroit teachers have recently staged numerous such organized mass absences from work, prompting closures at some of the largest schools in the city of 680,000. State and local education officials have criticized what they call an “unethical” approach to raising concerns that they say hurts students the most. Teachers say students are already devastated by conditions in the district, which is facing financial calamity with liabilities of $3.5bn. Last week, nearly a half-dozen schools closed for at least one day due to teacher sickouts. On Monday that number could climb, according to two sources with knowledge of the plan who spoke to the Guardian. It is unclear what impact the pledges will have on school closures, but such a large-scale demonstration could prompt the closure of nearly half the districts’ 103 schools, which include an estimated 47,000 students.
Conditions in classrooms are “abominable”, said Steve Conn, a teacher and former president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers who was removed from office for alleged misconduct in August. Conn has vowed to contest those charges. “I’ve been a resident of Detroit for 30 years … my daughter grew up in the neighborhood, went to Detroit public schools, and the conditions increasingly, especially since 2007 with the financial crisis, have been awful,” he told the Guardian. Another source with knowledge of plans for the demonstration said 90% of teachers at one school had voted to participate in the sickout. Organizers received “pledges of substantial participation” from teachers in at least 40 schools, the source said. Detroit’s public schools have been a problem for Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, a Republican who ushered the city into the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Most observers agree the success of Detroit is contingent upon whether its schools can be fixed. Snyder has made a $715m proposal to overhaul the failing district in 2016. It has so far received little support in the Michigan legislature. Asked about the spate of sickouts, David Murray, a spokesman for Snyder, said: “Detroit children need to be in school. In addition to their education, it’s where many children get their best meals and better access to the social services they need. There are certainly problems that [need] to be addressed, quickly.”
Snyder’s plan would eliminate debt in the district that is equal to $1,100 per child, Murray said. That was “money that could be better spent in the classroom, lowering class sizes, raising pay and improving benefits”. Tom Pedroni, an associate professor at Wayne State University, said the governor’s plan was commendable for “taking seriously the notion that Detroit public schools needs debt relief”. “We know that with the current debt figures if the issue is not addressed soon, Detroit public schools students will be losing [nearly half of the state’s per-pupil funding total],” Pedroni said, adding: “It’s unconscionable that students lose that to debt service.” The problem with Snyder’s plan, Pedroni said, was that it relied on governing the school district with a board of appointees, not elected members. Since 2009, under a state-appointed emergency manager, the elected board has been effectively neutered. “There’s currently a lot of debate over whether those appointees for the new Detroit school board [in Snyder’s proposal] would be mayoral appointees or gubernatorial appointees,” Pedroni said. “But to me, really all of those are inexcusable because what I think we see happening in the district in Detroit is really an indictment of the sort of heavy-handed power from the executive branch without any checks or balances.” Pedroni said this was similar to what has taken place in the nearby city of Flint. There, a state-appointed emergency manager has been alleged to have decided to use a local river as the city’s main water source. The move has been linked to an increased level of lead in household water supply. When in 1999 the state first stepped in and overhauled the governance of Detroit schools, the district’s budget carried a $93m-surplus. According to an analysis by the Citizens Research Council, a Michigan-based policy research group, in the most recent fiscal year the district reported a budget deficit of nearly $216m. An estimated 41 cents out of every state dollar appropriated for students is spent on debt service, according to the council’s report. “Despite being under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager since 2009, Detroit public schools, the state’s largest district, is failing academically and financially,” the report said. Despite a depleted school enrollment, class sizes have increased and teachers have repeatedly taken pay cuts. Only one-third of high school students are proficient in reading, according to Snyder’s office. Teachers say students are being judged unfairly. In an open letter to the Detroit public schools emergency manager, Darnell Earley, who blasted teachers for the sickout protests last week, fourth-grade teacher Pam Namyslowski said pupils had been “set up to fail in every way”.
“We ARE [the students’] voice,” Namyslowski wrote. “We are on the front line, working side by side with them every day, trying our best to overcome numerous obstacles. “In the winter, we often work in freezing rooms with our coats on with them. In the summertime, we survive with them in stifling heat and humidity in temperatures that no one should have to work in. We wipe their tears and listen when they are upset.” Successes in the classroom typically go unnoticed, Namyslowski continued, as “most cannot be measured or displayed on a data wall”. “We, as teachers, know our students and what they need. It is heartbreaking to see that our students don’t have what they need and certainly not what they deserve.” In a statement released on Sunday, Earley said: “It’s clear that teachers are feeling an overwhelming sense of frustration over the challenges that they and all [Detroit Public Schools] employees face as they do their jobs each day. We understand and share their frustration. “However, given the reality of the district’s financial distress, it is becoming clearer every day that the only way that we are going to be able to address these serious issues in any way is through an investment in DPS by the Michigan legislature. “Unfortunately, obtaining that support becomes more challenging with each closure of a school due to a teacher sick-out.” A teachers’ protest was planned to coincide with the sick outs, at noon on Monday outside the Fisher building in downtown Detroit.
====
State superintendent calls on teachers to end sickouts
Detroit
— Michigan’s state school superintendent called Friday on Detroit
teachers to stop the sickouts that have caused repeated school closures
this week and over the past two months. “I understand that
teachers in Detroit Public Schools have real concerns about the
financial, academic, and structural future of their schools, but for the
sakes of their students, they need to be in the classrooms teaching,”
Brian Whiston said in a statement issued after classes were canceled
Friday at East English Village Preparatory Academy and Mann Learning
Community. Friday’s closures brought to five the number of DPS
buildings that were closed at least one day this week because of teacher
sickouts, a tactic former Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn takes credit for implementing. “I
am calling on teachers in Detroit public schools to end their
systematic plans of not reporting to work. ...,” Whiston said. “I will
be calling a meeting of state and local stakeholders to sit down,
discuss the issues, and finally put together a viable solution that will
move education forward for the children in the city of Detroit.” Whiston
issued his statement a day after the chairman of the Michigan House
Appropriations Committee on School Aid called on him to sanction the
teachers union. Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, said Whiston
should consider “all available options” and called the sickout “selfish
behavior and a blatant attempt to circumvent the law barring the DFT
from walking away from their responsibilities and striking.” The leader of a statewide association that advocates for school officials also called for the teachers to be punished. “I
think any time people use kids for a political statement, I think there
has to be ramifications,” Chris Wigent, executive director of the
Michigan Association of School Administrators, said Friday during a
taping of the public affairs television show “Off the Record.” “I’m
not giving a broad brush over every teacher that they’re not there for
kids, and probably even the teachers who are doing this are there for
kids, but politics can’t take over what’s going on in the classroom,
especially with the types of student achievement that we need to get in
the city of Detroit,” Wigent said. The sickouts have been staged
by teachers upset by large class sizes, pay and benefit concessions, and
Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to create a new, debt-free Detroit school
district. Conn said he and a contingent of DPS teachers will meet
at 4 p.m. Sunday at Gracious Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church to plan
their next moves, which might include a full-blown strike. Conn
was ousted as president of the DFT and expelled from the union in
August after the local’s executive board found him guilty of internal
misconduct charges. In a statement issued Friday by the American
Federation of Teachers, interim DFT president Ivy Bailey said Sunday’s
meeting is not sanctioned by the union. “The Detroit Federation of
Teachers has learned that Steve Conn is holding a meeting on Sunday to
talk about further actions,” Bailey said. “Let me be clear: This meeting
is not a DFT-sponsored meeting, as has been mistakenly reported.” Besides
the two schools closed Friday, classes this week were canceled at Cass
Technical High School, Renaissance High School and Martin Luther King
Jr. Senior High School. That means roughly 6,730 students have missed
class because of sickouts. Teacher sickouts also resulted in
several school closures in November and December, including Bates
Academy, Mason Elementary, West Side Academy and Mackenzie
Elementary-Middle School. District officials at that time sent
“notices of investigation” to teachers thought to be involved in
sickouts on Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 10 and 11, according to the DFT. In
a press conference Thursday at King High School, DPS emergency manager
Darnell Earley said that while he did not begrudge teachers the right to
protest working conditions, it is “unethical” for them to do it in a
way that takes learning time away from students. “These actions,
caused by a minority of teachers, disrupt the efforts intended for those
who can ill afford to lose instruction time,” Earley said Thursday. In
a statement posted on the DFT’s website, Bailey criticized Earley for
“blaming the teachers — the glue that holds this system together.” “While
we don’t condone the action taken by a small number of our members, we
understand the utter frustration underlying it,” she said.
...you don't see a problem with the fact that the NYSUT/AFT
delegate, who couldn't even garner the support of her own building,
likely won from votes of people who never even met her or likely even
heard of her name before? Is that real democracy to you Unity folk?... Brian
Must read: The Unity comment below to my post: A Day With Stronger Together. One of the points made was how a relatively few people can set up a structure that can control the policies of 1.5 million teachers in the AFT.
Some responses.
James Eterno compares them to King George:
Mike Mulgrew in drag
Unity is the best. They are making the virtual representation
argument. That is the same argument the British used in 1775 to deny
the North American colonists representation in the British
Parliament.
Virtual representation stated that the members of Parliament, including the Lords and the
Crown-in-Parliament, reserved the right to speak for the interests
of all British subjects, rather than for the interests of only the
district that elected them or for the regions in which they held
peerages and
spiritual sway.[1]
Virtual Representation was the British response to the First
Continental Congress in the
American colonies. The Congress asked for representation in Parliament
in the Suffolk Resolves, also known as the first olive branch petition.
Parliament claimed that their members had the well being of the
colonists in mind. The Colonies rejected this premise.
Some more comments:
Could
not disagree more (no pun) with that Chapter Leader you mentioned. That
AFT/NYSUT delegate represents EVERY Member in the Union. That is what
she ran for and that is what she will do. True, she ran with a caucus,
and that caucus as a set of principles and goals. A set of principle and
goals that continue to be supported by the members at large as they
have been for close to 60 years.
I am Glad Michael is no longer in
the classroom. He represents the largest local union in the country.
Larger than many national unions. Do you really think he has time to
teach.
Beth's local is smaller than our smallest district. We
have Chapters that are larger than her local. Of course she should teach
and continue teaching.
By
"supported by the members at large" you mean "supported by the retirees
and a very small portion of our active membership" I presume?
Out
of curiosity, you don't see a problem with the fact that the NYSUT/AFT
delegate, who couldn't even garner the support of her own building,
likely won from votes of people who never even met her or likely even
heard of her name before? Is that real democracy to you Unity folk?
The
criticism isn't just of Mulgrew. There is a whole platoon of union
muckity-mucks and do-nothing's at 52 Broadway who do not teach. They
serve as a firewall between Mulgrew and the concerns of members. He
looks to them when he asks, "how'm I doin'?" And what do you think they
say? "You're doin' great boss! Keep it up." They don't answer to us,
they answer to him.
And the bloat at 52 Broadway effects the
level of solidarity in the schools. Some people see the sinecure jobs
at 52 as something to aspire to. So, they go along hoping to get in on
the gravy wagon.
A good union serves its members, not the other
way around. Maybe a case could be made that Mulgrew doesn't have to
teach. But, the rest of those goofs and lap dogs down there had better
do so. Chicago has by-laws which stipulate that officers in the union
must be active teachers. Their local represents. Ours does not.
A NYC chapter leader told this story at the conference: She defeated her Unity predecessor by getting 85% of the vote in her school. Yet the person she defeated who lost 2 elections in the school gets to go to NYSUT and AFT conventions as a delegate - representing no one other than her Unity bosses and joins 749 others and they are the shock troops supporting Randi and letting her set national union policy and Mulgrew setting state union policy - while the legitimately elected rep of the rank and file sits home or must pay her own way.
I had to go so far out on Long Island I could see Europe - or Rhode Island - to get to the ST event organized by our pals, Brian St. Pierre and Beth Dimino in Port Jefferson Station. The event was held at Beth's middle school and she made sure we could get our hands on some great hot dogs. But enough about what I had to eat - on to the business of the day.
This crew ain't your mother's Michael Mulgrew. As one of them said - I wouldn't want to be a union president if I couldn't teach. Amen! MORE presidential candidate Jia Lee was a star attraction and spoke on the early panel along with Beth and Samantha Winslow from Labor Notes as Mel Holden skyped in from Buffalo - as Mel put it - "Great panel of women discussing unionist issues. Great stuff here:!" https://youtu.be/DkFf8lNDB5M
Jia said on FB:
Stronger Together! What an amazing day we shared with teacher union leaders from across the state! The rank and file are leading the way!
The entire Eterno clan was there - and James had a report on the ICE blog.
Camille [Eterno] is not easily impressed by some of the groups that have attempted to activate our membership. The people of ST Caucus won her over today as they are some of the most dedicated educator-trade unionists in New York. They understand the big picture of our profession being attacked and aren't content, as our UFT, NYSUT and AFT leaders are, with a "seat at the table" with the corporations and politicians who are destroying our profession.
In the workshop I attended on caucuses and the one on Unity Caucus controls I worked with Brian St. Pierre, we talked about the Unity mechanisms of control that are not always clear to people who are not involved day to day with them.
One method that came up was co-optation - so successfully used by Unity with New Action. An offer for a seat at the table and elected positions supported by Unity. We heard hints of Unity attempts to woo people away from Stronger Together and warnings we issued about how that really works - and what is behind it. The idea is to defang the opposition. And with a NYSUT election coming up next year, Unity is desperate to avoid a contentious election that might carry over nationally to the national AFT in 2018 when it is possible Randi (if Hillary wins) might step down and Mulgrew step up to the AFT.
So glad I went and met so many involved people. Contact with ST has led me to think about alternative routes to breaking Unity control --- outside NYC. If ST can avoid being co-opted by Randi and Mulgrew and can grow to a third of the state it can challenge Unity on the state level. A key is how the other big cities play and if ST gets some traction and Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers and the CUNY and State college unions move in ST's direction we have a game changer. But that will play out over the next year.
As we expect, the UFT elections will have little impact.
Norm tells Annapurna Sinha about the moose as Frank Caiati directs Photo: Rob Mintzes
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Memo from the RTC: Acting Up With Franky
By Norm Scott
“Get in his face,” says acting teacher Frank Caiati to the
actress, a sweet mild-mannered woman doing a monologue from the play “Misery”
as her victim lies there helplessly. “Go nose to nose,” he urges as she moves
closer and closer. The class breaks into applause as she screams in the guy’s
face.
Thus goes Frank’s Sunday morning Rockaway Theatre Company
acting class where he pushes both experienced actors and others like me who
just dabble to do things they haven’t imagined doing before. To look at the
characters they are playing from all angles.
I’ve been taking Frank Caiati’s acting classes at the
Rockaway Theatre Company for a number of years. I would never have dared step
on stage when I first started. I decided to do a Woody Allen monologue about
shooting a moose. Frank has me do it talking to a woman waiting atbus stop. Her reactions have the people in
the audience as much in stiches as the story I am telling.
This is as good a 2 and ½ hours one can spend on a Sunday morning.Watching how he massages the roles and also
the acting exercises he has us do. Some of these people have been seen playing
major roles in RTC productions over the years. Frank will have us all do a show
for an invited audience at some point soon.
In the meantime, the RTC crew is heating up for the coming of Shrek Jr., the
show involving 90 young children and teens who have been working since
September at the Children’s Workshop. The talent is so deep that 2 casts are
necessary. The show opens Friday Jan. 29 (7PM) and runs for 3 weekends with 4
performances each weekend, including Fri/Sat nights and Sat/Sun 2PM matinees
through Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Tickets are only $10. Nine out of the 12
performances are already sold outso
better move fast: http://www.rockawaytheatrecompany.org.
In the meantime, auditions have been announced for the 7
roles in ‘The Sunshine Boys,” opening April 1. Sunday, January 31, 6PM-8PM and
Monday, February 1, 7PM-9M at the RTC.
My weekend plans fell through so I signed up Thursday night and soon after I got a call from Brian St. Pierre, VP of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association (http://thepjsta.org/) asking me if I would join him in doing a workshop on Unity Caucus power on the city, state and national levels. Here is Brian's latest update on the conference.
Our registration... has... far exceeded our initial goal. It is really exciting to see such a desire for this sort of thing among our public education teachers and allies in the area.
As a result of the larger than expected attendance, we have added a fourth workshop to both workshop sessions. During the first session Jia Lee will be facilitating a workshop on Teachers of Conscience and during the second workshop Norm Scott and I will be facilitating a workshop dealing with the history of Unity Caucus' control of our unions and how it has resulted in a wholly undemocratic, top down union model along with what we can do about it. We will be using Google Hangouts On Air to broadcast the panel discussion portion of the event live, so if anyone has friends outside the area who can't make it they should follow @STCaucus on Twitter and we will be tweeting out the link to watch it live (or later on) on YouTube.
Well, gotta go drag out my old notes from the summer MORE workshops and print my graphic of how the Unity machine operates. Then early to be and early to rise (I hope).
This wonderful video is just another reason why MORE's love our colleagues in Philly in Caucus of Working Educators, a social justice caucus challenging the Randi-supported leadership of the union. In a very short time as a caucus, which grew out of connection to our local NYCORE, they have built a caucus with wide outreach. We will know just how far they have reached after the election next month. The current leadership has been stewards of the almost total destruction of the public school system in Philly. The result might not be different but WE will put up a fight like in Chicago.
Members of the Caucus of Working Educators of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) answer the question "Who are WE?" For more information http://www.workingeducators.org/
Of the 60 plus people in the audience, at least 70 percent were people of color, with the majority being African American, and over half the group was under 40 years of age.
Mark Naison reports on The BK Nation Forum on Testing
and the Opt Out Movement, held at Judson Memorial Church in lower
Manhattan Wed. night.
[It} represented a powerful challenge to
education policy makers who claim testing is a civil rights measure and
that the opt out movement is strictly a white middle class initative.
If opt-out catches on in NYC by growing beyond the relatively small white middle class and into black communities panic will range throughout the nation.
I learned first hand about the potential when PTA President Shamma Dee contacted Change the Stakes for a speaker to come to her school of mostly students of color to speak to a PTA meeting about opt-out. I was drafted and was so impressed not only with Shamma, who since then has become a leading voice for opt out, but with the large turnout.
I reported on this issue - that high stakes tests have an even greater negative impact on the black community -
I believe the opt out movement will begin to catch on in middle class black communities just as it did in middle class white communities. I am not sure if it will then spread to the poorer communities this year where there is often less parent involvement. The powers that be - from the corporate world to fed, state and city education officials - will do everything they can to kill the movement in this city.
MORE's and its partner Change the Stakes having a leading opt out teacher and parent running for UFT president can't hurt. One interesting aspect of Jia Lee's candidacy is her Asian background. Asian parents seem to be the group least likely to opt out and Jia might get some traction going in those communities.
Mark Naison's report continues:
Anybody who thinks that Reform policies such as testing, school closings and the Common Core Curriculum are popular in Black and Latino communities needed to be in that room. Parent after parent, teacher after teacher, administrator after administrator spoke eloquently about how excessive testing and culturally insensitive curricula were making students in their communities hate school. Equally harrowing were stories about how excessive scripting and humiliating visits were making the best teachers in high poverty communities leave their jobs.
What came across loud and clear was that a climate of fear emanating from city, state and federal policies,, especially school closings and receivership, was creating a toxic atmosphere in many schools in Black and Latino Communities.
What people called for was less testing at all levels, the rewriting of curriculum to include the experience of students in their communities, more portfolio schools exempt from state tests, and adequate funding of schools to reduce class size and make sure students have full access to science, technology, the arts and sports.
Anyone who attended this meeting could not fail to be moved by the sense that the entire Reform Movement had made things WORSE, not better for students of color, and that testing and scripted curriculum had become a nightmare for students, parents and teachers in the communities represented in that room.
I think everyone at this amazing event felt empowered to know that they were not alone, that many other people around the city shared their concerns and were ready to WAGE WAR to see that all children got the education they deserved.
A Huge thanks must be given to Carla Cherry and Kevin Powell for organizing this event, and for everyone who attended and helped make it such an inspiring experience.
Join us! Come together with us for a day of organizing and engagement
over the issues that matter most to New York’s public school teachers.
Hear from a panel of education activists and participate in focused
workshops run by rank and file teachers and public education activists
as we discuss how to “Restore Power to the Teacher” through a bottom up,
member driven union movement! STCaucus members and leaders will be on
hand along with activists from the Young Teachers Collective and Labor
Notes! All are welcome to attend! Babysitting will be available!
When
Where
JFK Middle School - 200 Jayne Boulevard Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776
- View Map
James Eterno comments:
Figure out some way to get out there because Stronger Together is the
statewide opposition to Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus and MORE, the
main UFT opposition to Unity, will be part of it too. It's a great team.
Jia's campaign was highlighted this morning in POLITICO NY's EDUCATION DAY:
"THAT OTHER 2016 RACE—United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew is up for re-election this spring and, as in previous years, he’ll have a challenger from the opt-out movement. This year, Jia Lee, a UFT chapter leader at the Earth School in Manhattan will run against Mulgrew. Lee is an active member of the opt-out movement and raised a resolution for a vote of no confidence against State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia last year. "
Two Vacant Seats on the NYS Board of Regents - Candidates Needed
Chancellor
Tisch & Vice Chancellor Bottar are both stepping down from the
Board of Regents, after serving on the Board for twenty years. It was
during Tisch’s term as Chancellor and Bottar’s term as Vice Chancellor
that the students of New York State suffered the damaging effects of the
failed Regents' Reform Agenda, which included the implementation of the
flawed Common Core standards and modules, and an increased focus on
high-stakes testing, including a disastrous new teacher evaluation
system based on student test scores. Both
also supported the dangerous NY Education Department plan to share a
wealth of personal student data with inBloom Inc. without parent
notification or consent, which was eventually blocked by an act of the
Legislature. Now,
the statewide coalition New York State Allies for Public Education and
Opt Out Central NY are calling on candidates to apply for these seats,
including one at large candidate to replace Tisch and one from Judicial
District V, Bottar’s current seat, which covers Herkimer, Jefferson,
Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga & Oswego Counties. Applications are due by
mid-January; click here for more information.
“Under
the leadership of Chancellor Tisch and Vice Chancellor Bottar, we have
seen a myopic focus on high stakes tests, massive collection of personal
and sensitive information about children and families, and the theft of
local control from elected school boards,” said Lisa Rudley, NYSAPE
founding member and Westchester County public school parent. In
response to the Regents’ failed test-centric agenda, Central New York
school districts within Judicial District V had some of the highest opt
out rates from the state exams, signaling the public’s discontent with
the Regents' test and punish agenda. For example, the 2015 state math
tests were refused by 77% of students in New York Mills, 73% in
Sauquoit, and 70% in Whitesboro. “Parents
are rightfully concerned with the negative effects of the test and
punish agenda ushered in under the watch of Chancellor Merryl Tisch and
Vice Chancellor Bottar and they are refusing to participate in a system
that they feel is unfit for their children,” said Jessica McNair, Opt
Out CNY co-founder, Oneida County public school parent and educator.
“Until and unless we obtain a Board of Regents representative who is
responsive to the experience and input of parents and other
stakeholders, and the Board as a whole changes course, parents will
continue to opt out of high stakes assessments at both the state and
local levels to protect their children and their public schools.”
“Parents
want state leaders to support their children’s schools, not set them up
for failure and threaten them with a state takeover. Both Regents
Tisch and Bottar failed to act in the best interest of students, and
ignored the concerns repeatedly brought forth to them by the
constituents they are supposed to serve,” said Tonya Wilson, Onondaga
County public school parent. There
are no specific qualifications to serve as Regent, but New Yorkers
should be represented by Regents who understand that the path the
majority on the Board is currently pursuing is punitive. New Regent
board members should offer positive, research-based child-centric
solutions instead. Click here to apply to become a Regent and/or be endorsed by NYSAPE and Opt Out CNY. NYSAPE,
a grassroots organization with over 50 parent and educator groups
across the state are calling on parents to continue to opt out by
refusing high-stakes testing starting on the first days of school. Go to
http://www.nysape.org/resources.html for more details on the how to be part of #OptOutNY201
Corporate Reformers – including Gates – don’t want end-of-year
grade-level tests any more they we do. What they want, instead, are
“competency-based” assessment “systems” that track everything your child
does in the classroom. Clever little devils that they are, they are now busy trying to
co-opt the same movement that is protesting their takeover of our
schools by sponsoring their own opt-out events and calling for
“assessment reform.” But let’s be really clear: “assessment reform” is corporate reform.... http://emilytalmage.com/2016/01/05/warning-gates-is-infiltrating-opt-out/
A good warning piece from Emily Talmage. Co-optation is standard operating procedure when they want to break a movement.
Okay. If this isn’t enough to convince you that Corporate Opt-Out is
real and is trying to co-opt the grassroots opt-out movement, I don’t
know what will:
This Saturday, Citizens for Public Schools (CPS) will host an “Opt-Out Campaign Launch” with the Center for Collaborative Education
– an organization funded by the Gates Foundation, the Nellie Mae
Education Foundation, IBM, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Yes – you read that right. Gates is helping to sponsor an Opt-Out event. Several months ago, in a post called “Cashing in on Opt-Out,”
I tried to show that the testing and ed-tech industries have long been
aware of an impending shift away from the big, end-of-year high stakes
test toward systems of embedded, competency-based testing, where grade
levels no longer matter.
Past, Present, Future of Teacher Evaluations at MORE First Meeting of the Year
MORE's First General Meeting of 2016- 1/16 12-3pm
A discussion led by UFT Presidential Candidate, Chapter Leader, and Opt-Out Parent JiaLee about the impact on our profession from teacher ratings based on test scores, value added measures, and check-box rubrics. We will explore the alternatives: peer review, student earning objectives, portfolio assessments, long term mentoring, inter-disciplinary/inter-grade collaboration, among other ideas.
CUNY Graduate Center - 34th st and 5th ave midtown NYC
Room: 5414
We will use some of our time together to prepare for the Spring UFT Elections
-Ratify MORE/New Action's full slate of candidates
-Meet in local groups to strategize our get out the vote campaign
-Learn how to petition for MORE to appear on the UFT officers' ballot.
Randi sends in AFT organizers with meds to heal the sick teachers. 
I am Glad Michael is no longer in the classroom. He represents the largest local union in the country. Larger than many national unions. Do you really think he has time to teach.
Beth's local is smaller than our smallest district. We have Chapters that are larger than her local. Of course she should teach and continue teaching.