Jeff Bryant - Denver Teachers’ Strike Was a Rejection of Education ‘Reform’

Teachers in the school district that was supposed to be the model for education reform just rebelled—and won.

by Jeff Bryant, February 21, 2019

Jeff Bryant has been a major journalist exposing the holes in ed deform. Here's his take on the Denver strike against their merit pay system, which Randi Weingarten originally praised a decade ago.

Denver Teachers’ Strike Was a Rejection of Education ‘Reform’

Forest Hills HS Update - Supt Juan Mendez Pulled

Arthur has been on the case on the Forest Hills HS drama -- keeping it up front - and we know that this is a way to keep the UFT leadership's feet to the fire -- and the DOE too - they don't act until there's public exposure. One thing we know - even if Sherman is removed he will find a safe haven in the DOE bureaucracy and might emerge one day to run another school when memories fade.

The Ben and Juan Show--Episode 1 "Too Little Too Late at Forest Hills"

We received this from someone at the school:

Sherman - from The Chief

Dear Forest Hills High School Family:

Chancellor Carranza is committed to providing students and staff at Forest Hills High School the resources and support they need to succeed. The Chancellor and I have heard you clearly, and want you to know that we are working with the entire school community to build a strong and supportive environment.  

Effective immediately, Dr. Sean Davenport will serve as supervising superintendent until further notice, overseeing daily operations at Forest Hills High School. Forest Hills Principal Benjamin Sherman will report directly to Dr. Davenport, who will report directly to me. Dr. Davenport is a proven leader with over a decade of experience as principal, and I know he will be a strong partner who will work closely with students, staff and families. 

As your Executive Superintendent, I will work with Dr. Davenport and Mr. Sherman to ensure that Forest Hills is living up to the highest standards of excellence and achievement.  

Dr. Davenport and I will be on campus Monday at Forest Hills High School to meet with staff. As always, feel free to contact myself or my team with any additional questions. 

  

Dr. Andre Spencer

Executive Superintendent

A comment [edited]: You can quote me as a history teacher.

Why are they keeping this man on?  The fact that he needs one-on-one supervision speaks to his incompetence.  How can the faculty agree to serve under a man who has credible allegations of lewd, sexual behavior with students and staff?  The only way to return to our former high status is with a change at the top.

Article in The Chief

Forest Hills Too High? Teachers Say Principal Lets School Go to Pot

http://thechiefleader.com/news/news_of_the_week/forest-hills-too-high-teachers-say-principal-lets-school-go/article_529b1920-3b9e-11e9-8337-ef6219eb9651.html

Amazon Was Never Going to Create 25,000 Jobs in Queens

Really good look at the fault lines of the Amazon deal.

Opinion

Amazon Was Never Going to Create 25,000 Jobs in Queens

March 06, 2019 | by Peter Harrison

Class Size Matters/KidsPac Parent Action conference on Saturday Mar. 9

Come spend the day with fellow parent activists, hear from state legislators, and help create an Action Agenda to improve our schools!

About this Event

Co-sponsored by Class Size Matters, NYC Kids PAC and Community Education Council District 2, this year's Parent Action Conference will feature:

• A panel of State legislators who will answer parents' questions and respond to our concerns

Workshops on the following topics:

• Special education (a session in English and another in Spanish)
• High-stakes testing
• Charter schools and the need for more accountability
• Class size and school overcrowding
• School integration
• Student privacy
• Civic engagement and how to run for office.

Lunch

• In the afternoon, we will show the documentary Tested that follows NYC public middle school students as they try to get into a specialized high school.

Did opt-out land some New York City schools (CPE1, PS 15) on the state’s struggling list? Carranza says yes -Chalkbeat

Leonie is on the case as two core "movement" schools are now on the list - CPE1 and Julie Cavanagh's school, PS 15 -- both schools were core with the opt-out movement (and MORE when MORE was a real caucus instead of an insider's club. ) 

The city’s Department of Education disagreed, and appealed on behalf of two schools that were identified among the lowest performing in the state and which have high opt-out rates: Central Park East I, where 80 percent of students sat out at least one test, and P.S. 15 Patrick F Daly, where 26 percent of students sat out a test. Officials did not provide copies of the city’s appeals or the state education department’s response to them.

It’s not clear whether those two schools would have been identified as struggling if their opt-out rates had been lower. In a letter to parents, Central Park East principal Gabriel Feldberg argued that the school’s opt-out rate had torpedoed the school on the state’s rankings, noting that the schools reading scores among students who took the exams beat the city average.
“Students who don’t take the exam are counted as scoring at the lowest level,” he wrote.

This story has a lot of relevance to so many issues. A key is that Caranza is challenging state commish Elia - who by the way has always been a UFT/NYSUT/AFT darling - Randi and crew endorsed her over many progressives' objections when she became state commish -- and I remember how at the 2010 AFT Seattle convention how there was a lovefest for Elia and Bill Gates over their joint venture when she was Supt in Hillsborough, Fl. - https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/frustration-with-superintendent-maryellen-elia-bubbled-over/2215041

leonie haimson‏ @leoniehaimson

Contradicting @NYSEDNews, @DOEchancellor says 2 NYC schools were put on struggling list just b/c of high opt out rates - CPE1 & PS 15. He also said he appealed the ratings but Commissioner Elia turned him down.

Here Leonie points out how 1/3 of the schools were moved off the list based on appeal but this time Elia refused Caranza's request -- was it that Farina was so anti-optout?

leonie haimson‏ @leoniehaimson 17h17 hours ago

Commissioner Elia's decisions to move schools off the list is a black box. About 1/3 of schools on CSI (struggling) list in NYC were moved off the list through a Commissioner's appeal. https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/search?q=csi+appeal+transfer+schools …

Politico linked to Chalkbeat
OPT-OUT FACTORED INTO STRUGGLING SCHOOLS LIST — Chalkbeat's Alex Zimmerman: "...Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is now publicly challenging the state's narrative, arguing that at least two of the 124 city schools labeled as struggling were identified specifically because students opted out of state exams." Read more here.

Suit: Non-Union college professors demand retroactive repayment of dues -Times Union

If they win, this could have a serious impact on the UFT. I know some are thinking we must bury stories like this so as not to encourage some of those idiots posting opt-out comments on the ICE blog - or is it just one idiot? Go ahead and try to leave an idiot comment - make my day.

New York professors' union is target of class action lawsuit

Plaintiffs seek to recoup fees no longer allowed after Supreme Court's Janus decision

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Professors-union-is-target-of-class-action-13664046.php 

ALBANY — New York’s major teachers’ unions are defending against a class action lawsuit in which college professors who were not union members are demanding retroactive repayment of dues-like fees in the wake of last June’s U.S. Supreme Court Janus decision.

Jack Gerson - OEA Strike: Balance Sheet, Lessons, and What Next?

Big NO vote in Oakland - 42% - and Jack Gerson takes apart the agreement, pointing to the dampening influence of state (and probably national) union leaders who are so tied to the Democratic Party.

I saw this headline: Oakland teachers' union declares total victory after seven-day strike - 
42% - 832 out of 2000 did not think so. Not total.



OEA Strike: Balance Sheet, Lessons, and What Next?
By Jack Gerson, retired Oakland teacher and former executive board and bargaining team member

On Friday (March 1), the bargaining teams of the Oakland school district (OUSD) and the Oakland teacher union (OEA) reached a tentative agreement that received a mixed reception by OEA members. Yesterday (March 3), after several hours of heated debate, OEA members voted to ratify the agreement, 1141 to 832, or 58% for, 42% against. That’s an unusually big “no” vote on a contract recommended by a union leadership which had just organized a spirited strike that shut down Oakland schools for seven school day. At cluster meetings and at OEA’s Representative Council (delegate assembly) on Saturday (March 2), bitter accusations were made by teachers who thought the agreement was far less than the union could win by continuing to strike.

Why this division? Despite the union leadership hailing the agreement as "historic", it is far from that. There were several complaints:

OEA had demanded no school closures (earlier this year, OUSD announced plans to close 15 schools and consolidate nine others). The OEA leadership said this was a critical demand. But in the tentative agreement, they settle for a 5 month "pause" in school closures. That's not worth much: the pause will end at the beginning of August, in time for OUSD to close schools before next school year starts. It will be much harder to fight those school closures in the summer, with teachers and students on vacation, than it is right now during the strike. And if the schools are closed, we can expect the available school properties to be disposed of: some to charter schools, some to real estate speculators who will drive housing costs still higher -- more teachers leaving Oakland, more homelessness. Many teachers spoke out against the “pause”.

School nurses said that their overwhelming need was for OUSD to lower their workload and hire more nurses. But the tentative agreement provided no change in nurses’ workload – just cash bonuses which the nurses had repeatedly told the union’s bargaining team they didn’t want to settle for. Several nurses told the Saturday meetings that “We were thrown under the bus.”

OEA had demanded a reduction of maximum counselor workload to 250 students (From the current 600). But they agreed to 550 next year and 500 the following year. Every little bit helps, but this will only help a little bit.

OEA had demanded a reduction of class size maximums by 4 per class in high needs schools (about half of Oakland schools) and by 2 elsewhere. But in the tentative agreement, they settle for 2 in high needs schools and 1 elsewhere phased in over three years -- better than nothing, but far less than what's needed, as many teachers said.

OEA had demanded a 12% pay increase over three years: 3% retroactive to the start of the 2017-8 school year, another 4% retroactive to the start of the 2018-9 school year, and another 5% for the 2019-20 school year. But they agreed to 11% over four plus years, starting January 1, 2019. And since the last 2.5% increase won’t take effect until the last day of year 4, it’s essentially an increase for the following year – so this is 11% over five years, or 2.2% per year, well below the cost of living increases. The original demands were meager enough: Oakland teachers are the lowest paid in Alameda County, an area where housing costs and overall cost of living are among the highest in the country. The proposed increases in the tentative agreement will be less than inflation, which will do nothing to help young teachers to make end meets, and so the exodus of teachers out of Oakland will continue.

OEA had made solidarity with other school worker unions a main theme. Indeed, on Friday OEA called for a picket with community members and SEIU Local 1021 (representing OUSD classified workers) to block the school board from meeting and adopting a budget which would cut over 140 jobs, mainly of SEIU members. But at about 2pm, OEA President Keith Brown told the pickets “We have a TA! We Won!” and urged them to disperse. The optics of this are very bad and were not lost on SEIU members. One wrote on Facebook:

As a SEIU member who has been picketing in the rain or shine for the past seven strike days, I feel betrayed. I feel used… I thought our collective goal Friday was to shut down the Board Meeting.”

Fortunately, several hundred OEA members ignored the leadership’s request and stayed to picket with SEIU and community until after 6pm, when the school board meeting was cancelled. It’s critical to not let the school board play divide and conquer, pretending that they have to cut SEIU workers and student support programs to pay for the OEA contract. The attempt to disperse the pickets on Friday played into the school board’s hands. That needs to be corrected. It’s important that OEA leadership makes clear that it unambiguously stands with all OUSD workers and stands fully in solidarity and support with them. Those cuts need not happen: much of the money is already there, and more can be found by cutting down on OUSD’s outrageous shoveling of revenue to private contracts and to redundant and overpaid top administrators.


[Breaking News: Today (Monday, March 4), hundreds of students and several teachers called in sick to protest at an emergency school board meeting called during school hours to try to minimize student and school worker presence. Despite impassioned speeches from scores of students and several teachers and other school workers, and over the protest of virtually all of those present, the school board voted to make $22 million in cuts: to school libraries; to restorative justice programs; to the Asian Pacific Islander support program; to the foster youth program; and to lay off well over 100 classified school workers.]

On balance: It’s important to acknowledge that Keith Brown and his team were able to lead a spirited strike supported and carried out by over 90% of OEA members. In contrast, OEA’s punishing 27-day strike in 1996 was beset by divisions within the union and within the community, as some charged that it deprived black students of essential schooling. None of that this time – the union was unified throughout the strike, and it had substantial support from students, parents, and community.

And it’s not helpful to characterize the contract as “a sellout”, nor to say that the bargaining team or the officers are “sellouts.” I believe them when they say that they’re convinced that this was the best deal that could be had at this time. I believe them, but I don’t agree with them.

Why not?

First, I think that the leadership was heavily influenced by their state parent, the California Teacher Association (CTA). CTA is overly legalistic and cautious, and it is closely tied to the state Democratic Party. Under CTA’s influence, the leadership team was far less transparent during the strike than it should have been. Decisions were made by a small group consisting largely of OEA’s officers and CTA staffers, with even the union executive board members telling me that even the executive board was out of the loop. One lesson is: more transparency is needed, and especially needed is an elected strike committee to work directly with the officers, the executive board and, as often as possible, Rep Council and picket captains.

Second, and related, I think that there was a reluctance to aggressively confront corporate targets physically with militant actions. To overcome the intransigence of the corporate-funded and controlled school board, it’s necessary to convince corporate Oakland that the union is prepared to see that there’s no business as usual. Hesitancy to do that was evident in the reluctance of the OEA leadership to vigorously pursue a proposal to rally and picket at the Port of Oakland, which could and should have occurred several days ago and would have had the support of dockworkers (ILWU Local 34 had already voted its support). Instead, CTA staff and OEA officers expressed fears that the union would be legally liable if it picketed at the port (it wouldn’t: the park and roads at the port are public property, picketing there is legal and that right has been exercised numerous times, including more than once by OEA). Finally, last Thursday (February 28), Rep Council voted overwhelmingly to picket at the port on March 5 (tomorrow). It’s no accident that OUSD improved its offer and rushed to settle when they did: one big reason was to preempt the port action. Had OEA not settled on Friday, and especially if it followed the Port action with militant rallies and sit-ins aimed at the big real estate and financial interests in downtown Oakland, I think that the corporate masters would have told state and city politicians to cough up some money, and told their school board puppets to settle up.

The union leadership repeatedly credited OEA's militant and spirited picket lines and mass rallies with what they proclaim as an historic win. But then they turn around and say that the meager tentative agreement is "the best that can be won at this time" because, they claim, support was beginning to ebb. I saw little evidence of that: thousands of teachers turned out to picket, march and rally on rainy days all week. I think that there's another reason: the union leadership is for the most part close to liberal Democrats like state superintendent of schools Tony Thurmond, who stepped in late this week to mediate the dispute and broker the deal. Thurmond and other Democrats represent corporate interests and the state, both of which wanted an end to this disruptive strike. I am sure that they pressed the OEA leadership directly as well as indirectly (through their influence with community activists and with CTA, OEA's statewide parent union).

It’s important to move forward now: to do what wasn’t done during the strike – a complete end to the school closures; a full moratorium on charter school growth; restore all the cut programs and all the jobs that were cut; take the spirit that dominated the strike and rekindle it into a militant movement that confronts corporate Oakland – at the Port, in the City Center, at all the seats of corporate power. Confront them, and demand that the priorities be set straight: Adequate funding for quality public education and for essential social services, not for privatization and corporate profit.

AOC: Backlash from the Middle While Dem Neo-liberal Makes Case for Left

The policies [DeLong] supports depend on a responsible center-right partner to succeed. They’re premised on the understanding that at least a faction of the Republican Party would be willing to support market-friendly ideas like Obamacare or a cap-and-trade system for climate change. This is no longer the case, if it ever were.

“Barack Obama rolls into office with Mitt Romney’s health care policy, with John McCain’s climate policy, with Bill Clinton’s tax policy, and George H.W. Bush’s foreign policy,” DeLong notes. “And did George H.W. Bush, did Mitt Romney, did John McCain say a single good word about anything Barack Obama ever did over the course of eight solid years? No, they fucking did not.”

The result, he argues, is the nature of the Democratic Party needs to shift..... Bernie Sanders news: a Clinton-era Democrat makes the case for the left - VOX
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/4/18246381/democrats-clinton-sanders-left-brad-delong

When a politician -- or, really, anyone -- becomes a star overnight, there's an inevitable backlash that grows in opposition to the rise. And less than three months into her first term in Congress, the AOC backlash has begun in earnest.

The spark came last week when, in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez warned colleagues that if they continued to vote with Republicans on procedural motions in the chamber they could wind up "on a list" of incumbents ripe for a liberal primary challenge.....The AOC backlash begins - CNNPolitics

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democratic-party-ideology/index.html

Two interesting and contrasting articles.

I get so many great articles on the listserves. (By the way, MORE has killed most of its listserves or is moderating them to keep evil thoughts out of the hands of its members.) Abby, my buddy from Newark sends a great trove of stuff. Here are two articles from counter points of view.

First a neo-liberal, market-based Democrat makes some interesting points about why the left needs to take over the main theme of the party. Why? Because Dem neo-liberals like Obama and Clinton require some level of cooperation from the liberal wing of the other party - and that wing of the Republicans has been decimated.

And then the backlash from Democrats against AOC. And though I like a lot about her, I am finding it a bit too much at times. A long-time leftist friend of mine is convinced she is flying too close to the sun and ego will triumph and lead to crash and burn which will ultimately harm the movement. I can see it in some of the comments from liberal and left friends -- older women in many cases who are annoyed at what they see a level of arrogance.

People compare AOC and Bernie - Bernie doesn't attack people. He tries to win them over. The threats to primary people who are in areas where they are hanging by a thread is a threat to getting rid of Republicans. Even if the party tacks left, if it becomes a tea party type of party and pushes out center Dems, we will see a possible center new party -- neo-liberal with social justice themes -- sort of like the rise of the Republican Party in the 1850s -- anti-slavery, pro-business.

I see a major difference between AOC and Bernie in their approach. Lumping them together is missing some level of differentiation.

Read both articles.

Memo from the RTC: A Movie Starring Rockaway Raised Actress

 Published in The WAVE - March 1, 2019

Memo from the RTC: A Movie Starring Rockaway Raised Actress
By Norm Scott

Last Saturday, February 23, was a day of movie making at the RTC as an independent film company used the theater for a movie about a famous Latina singer and needed an audience for a sequence featuring a Latin band. About 50 extras showed up, me included (of course, they had food). The lead actress and director is a native of Rockaway with a wide background of credits but I am not yet at liberty to go into more detail.

I had heard that being part of a film can be tedious due to set up times and take after take, but this being my first time as an extra and somewhat of a frustrated film maker, I was fascinated by the process and the sophisticated equipment -- the 60G camera had me drooling. The Tony Homsey construction crew had just about completed the set for the upcoming opening at the end of March of “A Comedy of Tenors” and I was wondering how they would deal with that. They just dropped a massive gold cloth cover, closed the curtains part way and made a lot of use of the fog machine and lighting to get the atmosphere. I hung out from 1 until after 8 PM when my lust for a chicken parm sandwich from Ciro’s got the better of me. When they say being part of a film can be like watching grass grow, they are not kidding.

When I went back Sunday morning for Frank Caiati’s acting class, some of the film crew were there still packing up. They used a lot of stuff for that one day of filming. Everyone at the RTC knows how talented Frank is as a director, actor, scenic designer to name a few. But to get the full flavor it takes spending some time in his acting class and seeing him dissect each line of a scene for meaning and infusing the actors with logical choices. He has paired us up and each pair is doing about 5 minutes from a play they choose. In one scene a young woman playing a student engages in a confrontation with a professor who she feels has wronged her. Her complaint has led to his being denied tenure and ruining his career. Frank would take what seemed to be throw away lines and weaponized them trying to bring out natural anger in someone who clearly doesn’t relish getting angry. “what do you want,” he keeps asking? And if they aren’t sure he offers them choices. Fascinating stuff and the essence of why acting can be such an intellectual exercise – as long as people are willing to put emotional skin in the game. Our pair is doing a scene from the Odd Couple where my amazingly dressed partner is taking the Oscar slob role while I the ultimate slob is taking neat freak Felix. That will take some real acting.

Feeling the Bern at Brooklyn College

Bernie arrested in Chicago civil rights demo

I always love visiting my old campus where I met my wife and spent many years getting an undergrad (1962-66), part of a grad degree in history (66-68) and an MA in computer science (1984-1988) and teaching there for 3 semesters (88-90). Yesterday I was joined by about 13,000 others supporting Bernie Sanders' triumphant return to the school where he spent his freshman year.

The crowd was mostly young and white. Very interesting considering the black population that exists in Brooklyn. Like the people who voted for Jumaane Williams for Public Advocate were not going to a Bernie rally even if it was nearby.

But the message Bernie was putting out was clearly aimed at these people, with key speakers being Nina Turner and Shaun King who stressed Bernie's history of civil rights activism.
 

My post on FB led to a lot of comments and back and forth - worth noting below the fold.

Leonie asked why the enormous adoration and some of us tried to answer.

My old fraternity brother who is active in Dem politics in Texas raised the issue of winnability:

Allen Kaplan All well and nice... one real problem: He can’t win the general election. After New England, the Mid Atlantic, the West Coast and Illinois, where does he win? The answer is nowhere. He loses the entire South, the Rust Belt, the Midwest, the Rockies, the Southwest. Game, set, Match. We better nominate someone who can win.

I am thinking the rust belt - Bernie did win Michigan over Hillary. My bigger question about winning is age and being Jewish. 

I am not a totally committed Bernie supporter -- Beating Trump is primary and if I think Allen is right I may move off to the center somewhere. Actually, I don't know where I stand - confusion reigns.

Here is my post on FB and the comments.

• Over flow Bernie rally at Brooklyn college. I graduated from this spot in 1966.
  

Oakland Strike Settled - This contract caps a historic seven-day strike that united a community to save public education in Oakland

leonie haimson‏ @leoniehaimson

New @OaklandEA agreement: district will lower class sizes caps in K to 23 students; 1st-3rd grade to 26 ; 4th-5th gr to 29 & HS core subjects to 31; & by 2021 by another student. (All these caps lower than current @UFT contract hasn't changed in 50 yrs https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZGmLziSdPO0J5OsWMaDFO0uIpxK9M5HO …

Updated:

Some highlights of the 4-year tentative agreement include:

* Experienced teachers stay in the classroom. 11% salary increase, 3% bonus at ratification

* Lower class sizes. Phased-in class size reductions at all schools

* School closures. 5-month pause in any school closures

* More student supports. Lower caseloads for special education teachers and counselors

* A charter cap. The school board will vote to push the state for a charter school moratorium
------ As reported on Diane Ravitch blog: Oakland Settlement: The Union’s View

While some are emphasizing what looks like a massive salary increase compared to what the UFT won recently, the victory for the Oakland teachers seems to be bigger than the sum of its parts. Now I'm sure that some groups will not be happy and may start calling this a sellout - well, because anything less than ever asked for becomes a sellout. Key - remember this is a strike in an urban blue state.

Kentucky One-Day Wildcat Sickout - Some want to continue

Teacher actions are heating up - Kentucky wildcatting sickouts. Here are two reports from not exactly union friendly sources.


Mike Antonucci:

Kentucky Wildcat Group Has Its Own Wildcat Group

Teachers in a handful of Kentucky school districts held a sickout yesterday to protest a proposed bill that would change the composition of the state teacher pension board.
The sickout was not sanctioned by the Kentucky Education Association, the union for most state teachers, making it a “wildcat” job action.

School Scope: Waves of Teacher Strikes Push Back Against Ed Deform, Yeshiva Mis-Education

Published in The WAVE, March 1, 2019

School Scope: Waves of Teacher Strikes Push Back Against Ed Deform, Yeshiva Mis-Education
By Norm Scott

Teachers around the nation have gone wild. Last year we saw strikes in Trump red state territory, mostly over low pay. This year strikes have spread to blue state urban areas. While pay has been an issue, the strikes have pushed back against the privatization movement led by the billionaire club disguised as phony education reform (deform, in my parlance). Key points are: putting schools in control of either a mayor or an elected school board controlled by the billionaires, high stakes testing, anti-union charter schools used to destabilize neighborhood schools, merit pay schemes, squeezing and diverting resources from public schools. All these issues have been on the table in: Chicago (charter school teachers held the first charter strike in the nation), Los Angeles (charters were made an issue), Denver (merit pay) and the latest in Oakland – with a wide range of issues. FINALLY! Here in NYC, our UFT pushback against charters and attempts to organize charter school teachers has not been very successful. The chances of seeing a strike here in NYC are not very high due to the heavy two for one Taylor law penalties, the relatively high salaries and a union that plays ball on both sides of the fence. (By the way, a recent ad in The WAVE by Erich Ulrich said he supported unions. Not if he also supports charters.) Here in NYC, the major complaint I hear from UFT members is over incompetent, abusive, lunatic supervisors. Speaking of which….

Forest Hills HS Teachers 195-21 No-Confidence Vote in Principal
FHHS is one of the relatively few comprehensive high schools left in the city after the destruction of most of these schools under the Bloomberg/Joel Klein administration (with money provided by Bill Gates). The school has generally had a good reputation. Since Principal Ben Sherman took over, there has been a lot of controversy. Sherman also was controversial at his previous school. When 90% of the staff speak we have to listen. Sherman wasn’t helped by the Sue Edelman piece on last Sunday’s front page of the NY Post declaring that he allowed students to openly smoke pot in the schools. Even our absent mayor, speaking from Iowa in his dumb presidential quest, condemned smoking pot in schools, a sign that Sherman may not last long as principal. But I would bet he gets buried somewhere in the DOE bureaucracy (imagine the fate of a teacher who faced similar charges). The key villain here is long-time Queens high school Superintendent Juan Mendez who played a major role when Beach Channel HS (and probably Far Rockaway HS too) were closed down, thus killing our only local comprehensive high schools. My ednotesonline blog has covered the FHHS story extensively, so head over if you want to know more.

Local Councilmen Ulrich and Richards Support Ultra-Ortho Yeshivas Cheating Students of Education
A group of former ultra-orthodox students who found themselves woefully unprepared for the workplace have spent years pushing the NYC DOE and the NY State Ed Dept. to establish firmer rules for these schools which take public money to teach secular subjects but ignore regulations. (YAFFED – https://www.yaffed.org/). After years of trying to gain entrance into these schools (four are still refusing), the State Ed Dept. has issues new rules requiring these yeshivas to adhere to rules providing for a fundamental secular education. But Richards and Ulrich, our local City Councilmen, were among 28 Councilmembers signing a letter protesting the new rules, complaining they were too stringent, clearly pandering to the ultra-orthodox communities which often vote as a block. And Assemblywoman Stacey Pfeffer Amato published similar complaints in The WAVE a few months ago. Sad! Sad that our electeds would support the misuse of public funds.

Norm has also covered the Yeshiva/Yaffed story at his blog at ednotesonline.com, now in its 13th year.

Oakland: Support growing for strike, TFA Role, Corrupt Board Cancels Meeting, Creates Phony Deficits

I reported this call for support at last night's Oakland school board meeting -- Oakland Teacher Strike - Picket at School Board Meeting. Here are some updates:

The  billionaires' lackeys on the Oakland school board cancelled their board meeting last night "for safety reasons." They had been planning to vote for more budget cuts, but were afraid to cross the community/union picket line and face the indignant public. Their corporate bosses are not accustomed to organized widespread resistance to their privatization schemes, and are reluctant to face the real people of Oakland. ... Pete Farrugio

UPDATE: Now they’ve scheduled a meeting for 8am Friday.

Of course, of course. We know the game -- in Chicago board meetings are held early in the morning when no one can come.

We are lucky to have two former NYC teacher activist colleagues from the early 70s based in Oakland: Jack Gerson and Pete Farrugio.

Pete sent this list of growing support for the strike:

Check out these expressions of solidarity:

Forest Hills HS, Ben Sherman, Wednesday Update: UFT Officials Led by Leroy Barr Visit - Time to Call Out Supt Juan Mendez

I know him [Ben Sherman] from his prior school. He is a vicious human being! I knew it was only a matter of time until I heard a negative story about him. I was just surprised it wasn't related to a hostile word environment or sexual harassment. The teachers in that school were powerless against him. It seemed as though there was no union support. I feel so happy for the teachers at Forest Hills HS that they are not allowing him to continue to bully his staff. Sweet Poetic Justice!!!....
 
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Forest Hills/Ben Sherman Update - A Parent Speaks ...": 

We've asked the UFT to provide teachers with an early warning system for new principals to their schools and equip them with the tools to fight back. Not rush in there a year after the shit hit the fan.

A teacher asks:

What can be done to amend the selection process for administrators to prevent Principal's with extensive rap sheets from being appointed. It was pointed out that there were many irregularities concerning the C-30 process and how Sherman was appointed.

What indeed? I sat on the C-30 process back in the mid-90s and it was an absolute joke. I complained to the UFT them. Good luck with that.

Supposedly the principal, Ben Sherman, claimed the no-confidence vote was rigged -- that the CL stuffed the ballot box. I heard from a parent and a teacher -- there's a lot of stuff not out yet. Some are rumors over things Sherman said and did.

Here's a report from the school:

Nearly 100% of the faculty now back Principal's ouster as recorded in four separate hand votes conducted by visiting UFT officials yesterday at the school. UFT Executive Board Asst, Secretary LeRoy Barr, Queens Representatives Amy Arundel, and Washington Sanchez visited the school yesterday and met with almost 100% of the faculty during the teacher's lunch periods to discuss the allegations made against Principal Ben Sherman. Many of these allegations have not yet been made public, but include extremely offensive comments and actions by the Principal toward staff members and students. A list of school reforms were discussed as well, but in the end, by a show of hands it was nearly unanimous, the teachers and other staff want him removed rather than have rules put in place that he would later ignore any way. they pointed out to the UFT officials that all of the other proposals have been suggested for almost a year.

"Why hasn't the UFT President commented or visited the school? Interesting, the lack of concern. He has been invited three times since April. He had promised to come last May, then cancelled. " I think the general needs to tour the battlefield and put down the binoculars," A history teacher at the school said after one of the meetings.

How has Superintendent Mendez, who has presided over the decline in many of these schools and appointed Principal's like this one, escaped scrutiny?

Many wonder why the official union newspaper has neglected the story. In one of the meetings, just about all individuals quoted anonymously in the first NY Post article confirmed that they had made the comments which were reported.

Another couple of things discussed were;

1) How does this Principal remain in place while credibly accused and while being investigated? Can an interim Principal be selected? It was pointed out that if anyone else at the school were alleged to have been involved in any of these things, that "the DOE would shoot first and ask questions later." This refers to the policy of removing teachers from a school who have faced allegations by others

2) What can be done to amend the selection process for administrators to prevent Principal's with extensive rap sheets from being appointed. It was pointed out that there were many irregularities concerning the C-30 process and how Sherman was appointed.

3) What can be done to give the teachers increased voice in how the school is run?

4) What is to be done in the many other schools throughout the City with Principal's who are like this one, some worse?

5) Why hasn't the teacher's union been more proactive in following up the complaints in this school and many others?

You can't stop the patient from bleeding to death with a couple of band aids.

Oakland Teacher Strike - Picket at School Board Meeting

Bring everybody. We must stop the treasonous school board from voting for more budget cuts

Pete Farruggio, PhD
Associate Professor, Bilingual Education (retired)
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

No business as usual.

Today at 3pm the community will be joined by OEA in picketing the school board meeting.  This is our chance to demand no business as usual.  Our school board and superintendent must settle a fair contract with our teachers and answer serious questions about the budget before they hold any more meetings.  At this meeting the school board is planning on voting to cut $3M directly from our school and layoff nearly 150 central staff.  We need an all out effort to shut it down.  

We will start the picket lines at 3pm.  Our goal is to not have the school board cross our picket lines.  A prayer vigil is scheduled for 5pm and a community/OEA press briefing at 5:30.  

If the school board decides to cross our picket, many of us are prepared to shut the meeting down and hold the space as long as we can.

We are expecting a big turnout but we need your help inviting your networks to join us.  It’s time to send the school board a clear message.

Join the community picket line 3-6pm at Wednesday’s school board meeting.  No business as usual.  The school board can not be allowed to convene and vote on budget issues while the teachers are on strike.  Join us.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2347934678754882/?ti=ia

--

Mike Hutchinson
OPEN Oakland Public Education Network
Oaklandpubliceducationnetwork@gmail.com

 

Ray Frankel - a Tough UFT Original - Hear Her Oral History

Ray Frankel:  Albert Shanker too comes out of the socialist movement and worked for the election of Socialist Party candidate Norman Thomas in 1948... Oral History at NYU Tamamint Labor Library

[Ray] Frankel, who was the longtime chair of the UFT election committee [since the very first UFT election in 1962], has her place not only in UFT history as a founding member but in New York City labor history. She is the daughter of lifelong activists in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, a background that prepared her well for taking the fight for justice into the public schools. She was one of only five from PS 165 in Manhattan to participate in the pivotal 1960 teachers’ strike.
Frankel brought her dedication and commitment with her when she began teaching at the HS of Art and Design in Manhattan. A tenacious recruiter, she helped the union grow. As Frankel put it, “In my milieu you were either planning a strike, on strike or reminiscing about one.”...... http://www.uft.org/news-stories/3-giants-leave-exec-board

Mike Schirtzer called me tonight and let me know that Ray Frankel passed. (I never made it to the UFT Ex Bd meeting because a tree fell on the train tracks.) I'm sorry I wasn't there to honor Ray, a long-time sparring mate - back to the 70s. We always found Ray tough as nails, a hard-core Unity Caucus acolyte who seemingly had disdain for the opposition. In her later years she seemed to lighten up and I always received a nice greeting from her. 

Ray ran the UFT elections since its inception in 1962 - and was head of the election committee until she passed the torch to Amy Arundell in 2013. But she still played a role, even in the 2016 election. When we ran we were always afraid Ray would knock us off the ballot if we were one signature short. We butted heads with her over election rules for decades.

UPDATE on FB From

Ira Goldfine I still remember Ray's face the first time all the groups ran together in the late 70's [I think this was 1981] as New Action Coalition(NAC) (New for New Directions, Action for Teachers Action Caucus and Coalition for the Coalition of NYC School Workers). As we unloaded carton after carton of election petitions she realized that we were running a full slate of 700+ people for the first and I think only time the opposition did it. I think she was in awe but couldn't say it but they had an inkling because that was the year we surprised them and a bunch of us took off a day to bombard almost every single school in the city with election literature.

We found it funny in 2016 that when Solidarity was short candidates to reach the 40 minimum, Ray seemed willing to let it pass -- a sign she was softening -- or playing union politics by dividing the opposition -- but the election committee ruled that a rule is a rule. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt.

Every time I saw Ray she would shake her head and smile -- like how could I still be opposing the policies of the union leadership? I think she believed I was nuts - and she was probably right. 

Priceless audios of Ray Frankel from mid-80s: Socialists organized the UFT and she was a lifelong member of the socialist party.

Ray comes from the Social Democrats USA wing of socialism - as Shanker did - she says she joined the socialist party in the 30s and says she remained a member. They considered themselves socialists but were also very anti-Communist.

For those of you who put down socialists, Ray talks about how the union was organized by socialists. Most teachers did not go out on the first strike -- it was the most conscious - the socialists/activists - who led the strike and the formation of the UFT.

She was more active in the socialist movement than in the union - she joined the Teachers Gild - not the more communist oriented Teacher Union (TU) -- in the 50s. And she talks about democratic centralism without naming it as such. Great stuff if you want an idea of how the UFT and Unity Caucus operates. Her dad was a presser in the ILGWU like my dad - my mom was an operator on the sewing machines.

She talks about how her principal tried to help her organize the teachers in her school -- he was a firm believer in unions. When they struck, her principal, Eddie Gotlieb, refused to turn in their names. Only 5 walked on that first strike - a lesson for today's so-called militants in the UFT, many of whom hide behind anonymity - and also the caucuses who talk strike -- would any of them walk with only 5 teachers in their school?

Ray talks about the founding of the union, UFT elections and UFT caucuses. She describes the very first contentious UFT election between Charlie Cogan and Roger Parente -- see Roger Parente, a UFT founder, dies at 86 -

She talks about losing dues checkoff years after the '75 strike and also the recent mid-80s UFT elections where the opposition (3 caucuses uniting for elections) were beginning to make some headway. She actually talks about those UFT elections with some analysis and about the high school election - I assume that was the election where Mike Shulman was elected to the Adcom in 1985. She talks about the high schools as being a special problem for the union. Nothing's changed. Really illuminating stuff. She also talks about the beginning of caucuses - in 1962 when they organized Unity Caucus to stop Parente who ran against Charlie Cogan -- the Spur Caucus. She discusses the old Teachers Union and how it morphed into a caucus - Teachers Action Caucus - which eventually merged with New Directions - she talks about Anne Filardo, Dave Weiner, Paul Becker. She talks about the other caucus - New Directions - no ideology. And points out how they are ideologically opposite - [they merged into New Action in 1995 but there are still ideological differences]. Ray claims that the fact that Unity had at that point held power for 25 years doesn't mean they lack democracy. She even talks about the union's "no position" on the Vietnam War - it was too divisive -- we've heard that before. But when it came to Solidarity in Poland - a very important issue to them - and they opposed the invasion of Czechoslovakia - but not the invasion of Vietnam -- so many goodies for junkies like me.

There are 3 segments, each about 45-50 minutes. Priceless UFT history from a certain point of view.
http://digitaltamiment.hosting.nyu.edu/s/united-federation-of-teachers-oral-history-collection-oh-009/item/6579

Here are Arthur's notes from tonight's Ex Bd meeting in relation to Ray Frankel.

Resolution honoring UFT founder Ray Frankel—

George Altomari—There are a lot of things you see in people. Some people do that and more. You hardly even see them. But Ray Frankel was a person who did as much as anyone in the union. When you devote a lifetime to a cause, you have something special. Lots of people saw her in different roles. Ran elections for years. Without her work, you wonder where we would be. She was meticulous about her work. Everyone believed in her honesty. She was there at the very beginning. She always gave more than she received. You could always rely on her. Represented the best of us.

Schoor—She was CL of Art and Design. My mom was secretary. Always asked after her. Always concerned about people after they left, every union member.

LeRoy Barr—I had opportunity to work with her closely. One of first on our wall downstairs. Was always there behind scenes making sure things were running. Dedicated her entire life. Working up until last 2 or three months. Was voice that said you can’t do it this way, you have to do it that way. She added to me, making sure we didn’t just get it done, but got it done right. We are the beneficiaries of her life. Bur for her, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.

Approved unanimously.

Given her views on strikes - she was part of the first UFT strikes -- I am reminded of one incident with Ray around 2000-01. This was pre-Bloomberg when Giuliani was our big enemy with lots of anti-union rhetoric - our last contract was the double zero "raises" of 1995.

Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) held a rally in front of the old UFT HQ at 260 Park Ave South calling for the same kind of action the same people who are now in MORE are calling for in the current UFT election -- asking -- begging - the UFT leadership to prepare the membership for a strike. I joined them for a while in the picket, which took place around 4 PM. I guess there were about 30 people. But I felt uncomfortable with that line of thinking because they seemed to be asking the UFT leadership to do something - a leadership that was a proven commodity -- I even argued with them that if there ever was a strike this leadership was not capable of leading an effective strike because they didn't believe in it. (It led to some ruffled feathers with TJCers). At that time TJC had not yet become an electoral caucus and barely had a presence at the UFT DA.

Anyway, I walked off the picket line and into the UFT lobby -- and there was Ray Frankel, looking out at them and shaking her head, seemingly glad that I had walked off the line. Ray, as an original UFTer, certainly knew about strikes. We might not even have a union if not for people like Ray. "They're talking about a strike? Meshuganas", she said.

But there is irony here in that not long afterwards Randi actually did start whispering the S word and we actually took a strike authorization vote, which was a clear publicity stunt. Given the current situation, I do believe every union needs to have a strike threat.

Forest Hills HS Monday Morn Update: Is UFT Behind Attacks on Principal Ben Sherman as Retaliation on CSA?

Mulgrew at Feb. 11, 2019 Ex Bd: We need to implement new contract. Union that reps principals hates our contract. They went to PERB against Bronx plan. We know schools run better with partnership and collaboration. CSA hates it. Says they don’t mean harm, but they want it stopped. When I hear of principals who don’t give instructional supplies, there is a procedure. He has five days, or it goes to superintendent, and then to me. Union that reps admin doesn’t like our agreement. Too bad. They don’t get to interpret what’s in our contract. ... NYC Educator report

Mulgrew repeated these comments about the CSA at the Del Ass two days later. This may be a stretch, but I am going to try to connect some dots between Mulgrew's aggression towards the CSA and insider reports I am getting that the UFT was behind the recent no confidence vote in principal Ben Sherman at FHHS and the media campaign (here, here and here). Maybe  a warning shot across the bow of the CSA?

Ed Notes readers know how critical I and other bloggers have been about UFT inaction or tepid responses over principals who go too far. Every time I have spoken at the UFT Ex Bd over the past 10 years it has been about principals and why the union doesn't take a more public stance. The response has often been that they work behind the scenes, that they bring it up at the monthly consult meetings with the chancellor and that the CSA is another union and open attacks are not a good idea.

Some ask why not use the NY Teacher to go after principals? It seems the UFT wants to use outside press when possible. From my conversations with insiders it seems there are some people who want to be more aggressive with principals and others in the leadership who feel they have other fish to fry and that the CSA is a useful political ally in bigger battles.

Of course many of we critics think dealing with supervisors is the biggest fish to fry. The funny think is, that after 7 years of being in a leading opposition group like MORE, I have come to the conclusion that they also feel they have bigger fish to fry. You may see it mentioned but MORE won't do any real work around the issue. New Action does spend time talking about bad admins and Solidarity has made that issue a focal point. But the reality has been that no opposition caucus has ever had the ability to do much. Now if the day ever comes that they combine - we'd have 30 really active people instead of 7 in each caucus.

The most effective field of operation seems to have been using the UFT Ex Bd meetings to bring people to raise issues and Arthur and Mike and Jonathan have played a role in bringing people and Arthur's reports on what they say have put UFT leaders on the spot.

At the last meeting Jonathan brought some people. She described an awful situation. Here is Arthur's report:

Yvonne Riesen—reps 10X213—BETA—dress in blue in solidarity for right of basic instructional supplies, no microscope, scales, money allocated not committed, no paper. Must dig through garbage for paper—principal verbally abusive, spreads fear, probationaries in tears, ATRs demoralized, take 4 in row or two C6 per day. Furniture falling apart, fights break out, fires, and we’re told not to use alarms. Teacher passed out and they debated who to call. Tyrannical nature of principal. Oppressive, incompetent admin goes unchecked. We need to move forward, and we can’t under this principal.

Schoor—Send me what you wrote. We will bring it up with DOE. Debbie Poulos will look at your complaint. Basic instructional supply issues have been being resolved quickly. We will send people to your school.

Howie saying they bring it up at the next consultation meeting is not satisfactory. He faulted Farina for not giving much of shit but says Caranza is more responsive. (UFT insiders say he is clueless and gets the runaround by the bureaucrats. These people are suffering. Pick up the phone and call Caranza and don't wait for the monthly meeting.

If I go tonight to the EB - I don't like cold windy days - I may bring some of these points up. Or I may stay out her snug as a bug and let Arthur do all the work.

Taking a birds eye view, are there signs that Janus has pushed the leadership to be more aggressive? More open to other points of view? We had some intense discussions touching in this point at the recent ICEUFT meeting, which I may report on - or not - a key point being that I never ordered rice pudding.

Behind the Oakland Teacher Strike: Contacts in Oakland, Ravitch, Jacobin

Oakland

So yes, this is a takeover — this time, the county does the dirty work. But the OUSD board has been acting in this way for years — acting as the local executors of the corporate assault on public education. This is not a revelation. The real question is: Why did CTA support AB1840?  .... Jack Gerson

What's interesting about recent strikes in WV, LA, Oakland, Denver is the push back against Ed Deform: charters, merit pay, takeovers.

Diane has been on the case: Oakland: Day One of the Strike for Higher Pay, Student Services, and an End to Privatization - she has the press release from the union.
Updated- and this just in from Diane:

Oakland: The Art of the Strike

by dianeravitch

You’ve heard of Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal,” where he boasts of his great success as a deal-maker and negotiator. We now know that the book was ghost written by Tony Schwartz and is completely inauthentic. His read Art of the Deal consists of bluster, threats, and intransigence.

Here is the art of the strike. Oakland teachers speak out.

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851435/drawing-the-oakland-teachers-strike

WV teachers

Two old "Another View in District 14", the caucus I was in at the time contacts from the early 70s are based in Oakland and have been in touch.

See an interview with Jack Gerson: Interview of retired Oakland teacher, activist and socialist, Jack Gerson. He talks about the how the Oakland school district (and public education) has been systematically strangled and dismantled and created the conditions for the Oakland strike. We talk about where the strike is going and where we think it may need to go to be successful

Denver strike

From one of my old colleagues at PS 16K: Pete F.

I thought you should see this, about Oakland. In short, the plan is 1) Hide the $30+ million they have in surplus by an accounting sleight of hand, 2) Declare a deficit of that same amount, and 3) Invite a de facto state takeover, as outlined below, so they can privatize a significant portion of the city's schools

Forest Hills/Ben Sherman Update - A Parent Speaks to Us, NY Post Front Page, Is UFT Working Behind Scenes?

It's bloggers' field days over the FHHS story.
My reports so far - with links to other bloggers:

• Queens Chronicle - Forest Hills HS, Principal Ben Sherman Under Attack - Where is the UFT Leadership?
•   
• UPDATED: 90% of Forest Hills HS Staff Votes No Confidence in Principal Ben Sherman

 Today's NY Post Sue Edelman story on front page:

https://nypost.com/cover/covers-for-sunday-february-24-2019/

This should finish Principal Ben Sherman off - DOE hates publicity like this -- but the  key guy here is Queens HS Supt Mendez. Time to demand his tenure end.

Chaz's School Daze

The Problems At Forest Hills High School Makes The Newspapers While The DOE Expresses Little Concern - The problems at Forest Hills High School has reached the newspapers as the *New York Post *and the *Queens Chronicle* have articles dealin... 

NYC Educator

It's PARTY TIME at Forest Hills High School! - At least, that's the clear implication I see here: *Principal Ben Sherman, who joined Forest Hills in 2017, shrugs off the pot-puffing — saying “it’s goi... 

A parent at the school has been in touch and I may have more info later.