Memo from the RTC: Newsies News, Franky and Johnny The Nothing Podcast

For publication Friday, June 21, 2019

Memo from the RTC:  Newsies News, Franky and Johnny The Nothing Podcast

By Norm Scott

With the set 90% complete, the Newsies (incredibly youthful) cast and crew finally got to rehearse at the theater. As a newly added incredibly non-youthful member to the cast, I attended my first rehearsal on Saturday, joining a few more old fogies. I was offered a small roll apparently because they were running out of old men to cast.

RTC is over two decades old and is continuously renewing itself with many of the productions being directed by former teenage performers now grown up, taking on increasingly major roles. Frank Caiati who is now in his mid-thirties and began at the RTC when in high school, was the first to break out into directing years ago and has been a major force at the RTC for many years and will be directing The Great Gatsby in September (auditions are July 7 and 9). Catherine Leib, another star actor, dancer and singer at RTC will be directing The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for the final show of the year.

What is so impressive about this Newsies production is another key RTC 2^nd generation member,  Director/choreographer Gabrielle Mangano, who has wowed us with her choreography and dancing for over 15 years, is firmly in charge. James Dalid, another 2^nd or even 3^rd generation, is assisting. Some of the kids in the production look to be 10 years old – in 20 years they will be 4^th and 5^th generation directors.

I knew nothing about the play until Saturday and was pleasantly surprised, as a progressive activist, to see how relevant it is to today’s times despite being set in 1899. Exploited newsboys go on strike and many social issues are raised. So this should be fun.

Performances: July 19, 20, 26, 27/Aug 2, 3 at 8PM. Matinees July 21, 28, Aug. 4 t 2 PM. Tickets – Adults $25, Seniors/children $20. www.rockawaytheatre.org.

Franky and Johnny at the Clair de Bensonhurst

Speaking of key RTC people, John Panepinto, who has had leading and support roles in many productions over the past 8 years and will be joining Frank Caiati as the assistant director of Gatsby, has begun a partnership with Frank in a new podcast along with other RTC vets. They are funny and astute. I will be attending one of their podcasts soon and will be back with some photos. Here are the fundamentals from John.

The Nothing Podcast

Hosts: John Panepinto and Frank Caiati

With: Danielle Rose Fisher, Matt Hunt, Joseph Hagopian and Tom Zaccheo

What makes somebody "Important"? Each week, two self-proclaimed “nobodies”,  John Panepinto and Frank Caiati and their equally lost production team will interview a regular every day person to learn what it is about them and their career that makes them a “somebody.” The conceit lies in the idea that anybody and everybody is interesting. From the highest paid doctor to the lowest paid street cleaner, everybody has a story to tell and we want to hear it. Do you know what it takes to be a garbage man? Or a priest? Or a politician? Neither do we. But we’re going to find out.

Hear us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and GooglePlay

Or right on our homepage at www.Nothing-Podcast.com

Social: Instagram and Twitter: @TheNothingPod

Facebook: The Nothing Podcast With Nobody Important

About us: We are a group of Brooklyn natives (and one Queens) who

decided they wanted to learn more about the people around them. The show is recorded and produced in the heart of Bensonhurst, a staple of "Old Brooklyn." The guests range from local everyday workers like a doctor, a soldier or a lawyer just to name a few, to celebrities who came from Brooklyn to locals who hit it big like host of the Travel Channels "Hotel Impossible", Anthony Melchiorri. And though the show does not, by nature, feature the neighborhood, with one listen it's obvious that the hosts are taking the old Brooklyn sensibilities and trying to branch them out to the rest of the world. We're always looking for more guests and while we hope to build a solid following we also hope to be able to learn even more about average every day people doing average (important) things.

           

Norm’s other WAVE column is School Scope and he blogs daily at ednotesonline. com

Support Class Size Matters - Skinny award" dinner - Wed. June 19 at 6 PM

Leonie has been our champion for class size, way more than our own union. Even if you can't make it consider a contribution. See you there!

1. Just a quick note to remind you all that our annual "Skinny award" dinner honoring NY Attorney General Tish James and NYC Kids PAC is this Wed. June 19 at 6 PM. Please reserve your ticket now and enjoy a three-course meal, a glass of wine and great conversation and camaraderie.

2. The city budget deal was announced. It included more funding for social workers and Title 9 coordinators; it did not include dedicated funding for class size reduction, an increase in fair student funding, or pay parity for preK teachers - though the Council said the Mayor agreed to reach an agreement on the latter by the end of the summer. More details here as to what the deal means -- and doesn't mean -- for our public schools.  

Regardless of the fact that our elected leaders did not agree to do one of the very few things we know for sure would help NYC kids succeed by providing them with smaller classes, you can count on us to press forward.

Support us in this battle for our children's right to an equitable chance to learn - please join us on Wednesday or contribute here.

Thanks as always, Leonie

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-529-3539

NYC Parents, kids, advocates, union members and elected officials rally for smaller classes

Note in particular Councilman Mark Trager's comments (starting at 4:10) where he exposes the folly of the differentiation of instructions with high class sizes.

The UFT sent one rep. His comments are at 24:06. There was a retired teacher meeting attended by 500 people just a few blocks away starting at 1PM and some could have been urged to attend. But the class size issue is not a priority item in the lexicon of the UFT leadership as it would if they made it an issue in contract negotiations.

Watch what they do, not what they say.

https://vimeo.com/342448807

Class Size Press Conf City Hall June 11 2019 from GEM/Education Notes on Vimeo.

Here are Leonie's reports - and don't forget her Skinny Award dinner this Wednesday.

We held a very successful rally  - thanks to all of you who came!
There were 100+ parents, kids, and advocates who filled the steps of City
Hall. Gale Brewer and several CMs spoke about the importance of reducing
class size - despite the fact that there was an important Land Use hearing
and Budget negotiation meetings happening at the same time.

Story in Chalkbeat:

https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/06/11/neither-equitable-nor-excellen
t-advocates-rally-to-demand-
de-blasio-prioritize-overcrowding/

NY1 also ran a segment featuring Lina Rosario, the 6th grader who spoke
eloquently on NY1 - I can't find the link but if others can, please share!

More here:
https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2019/06/nyc-parents-kids-advocat
es-union.html

Lots more photos on our FB page here:
https://www.facebook.com/classsizematters/posts/10157501775934123?notif_id=1
560300759129429&notif_t=page_post_reaction

Please call your Councilmembers today to tell them we need dedicated funding
for class size in next year's budget - you can find their phone nos. here:
https://council.nyc.gov/districts/

-------

On Tuesday June 11 at noon, more than one hundred parents, students, advocates, elected officials and union members gathered on the steps of City Hall to urge the NYC Department of Education and the Mayor to allocate specific funding in next year's budget towards reducing class size.

The rally was co-sponsored by Class Size Matters, NYC Kids PAC, the UFT, Local 372, the Education Council Consortium, and others.  Among the elected officials who spoke eloquently about the need for the Mayor and Chancellor to reduce class size were Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Education Chair Mark Treyger, Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, and Council Members Adrienne Adams, Inez Barron, Barry Grodenchik, and Brad Lander.  

Even though the state’s highest court concluded in 2003 that NYC public school classes were too large to provide students with their constitutional right to a sound basic education, class sizes have actually increased since then, especially in the early grades, where the research is strongest that smaller classes leads to higher achievement and better student outcomes all the way through college and beyond.

Among the other speakers on behalf of the need to fund for smaller classes were Kenneth Cohe,n Regional Director of the NAACP, Maria Bautista of AQE, Benny Lin of the Parent-Child Relationship Association, Eduardo Hernandez of NYC Kids PAC, Shino Tanikawa, co-chair of the Education Council Consortium, Anthony Harmon of the UFT, Donald Nesbit of Local 372 of DC 37,  and Lina Rosario, a 6th grade student in Sunset Park, Kathy Park of Citizen Squirrel and many others.

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said: “The mayor and the chancellor talk a lot about bringing equity and excellence to NYC schools and some the moves they are making may bring us closer to that goal. But there’s a huge gaping hole in their agenda and that is class size.  Without lowering class sizes there can be neither true equity or excellence in our schools. This fall, more than 330,000 NYC students were crammed into classes of 30 or more.   NYC class sizes are 10-30% larger on average than in the rest of the state.  Classes this large are neither equitable nor excellent, especially as studies show that students of color gain twice the benefit when class sizes are reduced.”

 “Funding for class-size reduction has to become a priority for New York City. Parents and teachers know it has a huge impact on student learning, especially for our most vulnerable populations,” said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

"Class size reduction is one support that the New York City Department of Education has never fully implemented for students in NYC public schools," said NYC Council Finance Chair Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights, Elmhurst).  "It only makes sense that when there are fewer students in a class, a teacher can individualize their instruction and give students extra support.  More than anything else, this is what our students need.  If we truly want to see our students succeed, we must reduce our class sizes."

“It’s common sense that smaller class sizes help set New York City students up for success,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “Funding must be allocated for this important cause—the time to stand up for our students is now.”

 “We urge the Mayor and the City Council to support parents, educators and the community at large by funding smaller class sizes.  Smaller classes have been proven to increase test scores and lowers the need for special education classes” stated Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I.  “All our children deserve to have access to a sound basic education.  Fund smaller class sizes now.”

 “Many studies have indicated that smaller class sizes lead to better academic outcomes for students. School overcrowding and large class sizes have been a known problem in our school system for far too long. This is a basic equity issue for our students—classes that are too large make it impossible for teachers to provide differentiated instruction and individualized attention, which children need to do their best. I urge Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza to meet the mandates outlined under the CFE decision, and make a serious commitment to reducing class sizes,” said Council Member Mark Treyger, Chair of the Committee on Education.

Shino Tanikawa, co-chair of the Educational Council Consortium, which represents the parent-led Community District and Citywide Councils, said: “Reducing class size is always number one or number two among parent priorities on the Learning Environment Survey that DOE gives every year.  And yet every year, the issue is ignored by the city in terms of its funding priorities.  It is time for our elected officials to step up to the plate, and deliver for NYC children.”

"We know that smaller class sizes benefit many of our students -- indeed, the NYS Supreme Court determined well over a decade ago that NYC public school classes were too large to give our children the education to which they are entitled. We also know that parents consistently place reducing class size among their top priorities on NYC Dept of Education surveys. It's time to act -- we need to ensure that smaller classes are available for all of our children," said Council Member Helen Rosenthal (Manhattan, District 6).

“As the only NYC political action committee focused solely on the improvement of public schools, NYC Kids PAC looks hard at the record of candidates when it comes to lowering class size,” explained Naila Rosario, President of NYC Kids PAC.  “Progress must be made on this issue, which has not gotten the attention it deserves from either the Mayor or Chancellor.  Expanding Pre-K and providing 3K is fine, but as parents know,  kids need more help once they turn five and more feedback and support from their teachers.  This is impossible in too many schools right now because class sizes are too large. The number of students in the early grades in classes of 30 or more has increased by nearly 3000% since 2007.”

“Ensuring that our kids get the best quality education possible should be a topline priority this budget session and every budget session,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso. “Every student in New York City deserves access to an excellent public school education. Yet in schools that experience overcrowding, teachers are stretched thin and students cannot receive the personalized attention necessary to foster their educational and emotional wellbeing.  I am proud to support Class Size Matters in advocating for smaller class sizes which have been proven successful at increasing student achievement and help to narrow the opportunity gap.”

“When it comes to New York City public schools, something has to change in a very foundational way,” said Council Member Adrienne Adams. “We need specific funding allocated toward reducing class size as it has an effect on the ability to retain effective teachers, student engagement and overall student success. Reducing class size is the right thing to do for our students and we cannot make excuses when it comes to their future.”

 “New York State made it clear in 2003 that New York City’s class sizes were too large to provide students with the proper attention and resources they need to learn- a violation of their constitutional right. Since then the City’s public school class sizes have not shrunk- they have become larger; which leads me to believe the problem has only grown. I am proud to stand with Class Size Matters, UFT, my colleagues at City Council, and all of today’s local partners and parents to support allocating funding aimed at decreasing the student-to-teacher ratio,” said Council Member Andrew Cohen (Bronx, District 11).

Maria Bautista, Campaign Director of the Alliance for Quality Education, said:  “Parents know that class sizes are too large in NYC public schools for students to get the attention they need.  Research shows that Black and Latino students gain the greatest benefit from smaller classes in terms of achievement, engagement, graduating from high school and attending college.  It’s time that NYC ensured that our students receive the smaller classes they need for their best chance at success.”

 “Why is this administration singularly focused on birth to five to the detriment of all other learners? The biggest risk to our Pre-K students occurs when they enter grades K-3, where too often they’re expected to learn in classes of 30 or more. Yet the DOE insists on pushing more and more Pre-K and now 3K kids into elementary schools that are already overcrowded, which causes our CBO enrollment to drop and threatens our viability.  We implore Mayor de Blasio and the Department of Education to reduce class size in grades K-3 by shifting more Pre-K and 3K students back to CBOs. It would the right thing to do and a win-win for all,” said Brooklyn Pre-K director Alice Mulligan on behalf of CBOs for Equity.

As Diane Ravitch, education historian and President of the Network for Public Education concluded, “Reducing class size is the single most effective school reform. Wealthy parents pay large sums for small classes. We owe small class size to all children.”   

School Scope: Experience Counts

For print The WAVE, June 14, 2019

School Scope:  Experience Counts

By Norm Scott

I’ve been watching D-Day movies and finally saw Saving Private Ryan. In pretty much all war movies we see the big differences between grizzled war veterans and the rookies who are often scared to death. It is so clear how important experience is in warfare. I mean what commander wouldn’t want troops who knew the ropes?

In education we often find just the opposite where newbies are preferred. Low salaries. Non-tenured. They won’t talk back and will often do anything asked by administrators, no matter how stupid. And wise in education combat zones like those grizzled sergeants. Too many principals love newbies who they can manipulate.

Over the past few decades the idea that experience makes a difference for a teacher has been disparaged by the ed deformers. Note the growth of Teach for America and the Teaching Fellows where you get 6 weeks of boot camp and are sent into the world to make guinea pigs of students while you learn the ropes.

I was one of those. In 1967 grad students were losing their deferments and going into a 6 week boot camp for new teachers and teaching for two years was a way out and I took it and became a newbie teacher. You know those war movies where the guy is sweating and wracked with fear – Corporal Upham in Private Ryan is the prototype – a coward afraid of combat. I was Upham my first year of teaching. Facing a class of children and keeping them under control was my greatest fear. They were often off the wall. I was envious of these little ladies in my school who had perfect control. When I finally learned how to control a class it was one of the major achievements of my life. I never would have survived as a teacher if I couldn’t. Well, I could have become an administrator.

My friend Arthur Goldstein, who is an ESL teacher and the union leader at Francis Lewis HS, one of the largest and most overcrowded in the city, for the past 15 years has written a very influential education oriented blog called NYC Educator sharing a lot of insights into the many facets of the process and often mystery of teaching.

I wanted to share an excerpt from his posting on June 12 about the coming end of the school year. Arthur has given his finals but still has to keep the students interested. He gives them a surprise test with questions such as: When was the War of 1812? Where does Chinese food come from? What color is the white board? He wondered about a student who got one of these wrong.

Arthur has many decades of teaching and here he gets to some of the essence of why experience matters for teachers

“One of the things Cuomo didn't consider when pushing the miserable evaluation law is what it's like to bomb in front of 34 teenagers. This, of course, is because he's never taught, and he's never been through what we go through each and every day. I don't know about you, but I fear that more than I fear some supervisor with an iPad. I remember it happening to me in my first few years. I remember watching other teachers and wondering exactly what they were doing that I was not. Why are their classes calm while mine is off the wall? I'm not sure there's an easy response to that. I'd say things got just a little better when I started calling houses. And maybe I've grown more confident or authoritative over the years. Mostly, I have more experience and more go-to lesson plans. If I see something not working I can usually push it in another direction and try something at least different, if not always better.”

That’s it. Arthur has the experience to see what is not working and has the confidence he can figure things out. Like the great pitcher whose slider is not working but adjusts. Not to compare teaching to baseball. Or combat. Welllll, maybe. One of my old pals and colleagues, Rockaway resident David Bentley used to tell the story of his first year in a tough school in 1967-68 when a class of children was so out of control he walked into the office of the principal, a tough old bird named Sophie Beller (Lagosi was her nickname) and told her he was quitting and would rather go to Vietnam. She sent him home for the day to recover and he ended up becoming one of the great teachers in my school. Ahhhh, that good ole experience does count.

Norm’s brain engages in combat with his few readers at his blog, ednotesonline.com.

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Why Can't MORE B more like BMORE? - Radical Teachers’ Movement Comes to Baltimore

Social-justice teacher caucuses have emerged in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Paul, and now they’re banding together to help those in Baltimore... The Nation

Ed Notes has been reporting on events in the contentious Baltimore teacher union election where an alliance of two caucuses won the election over the 21 year incumbent head of the Progressive Caucus - a Unity like caucus who are contesting the election - but only in the divisions (the classrooms) that they lost. The AFT will make the decision and that there will be a new election is a best bet.

• Baltimore Union Election Update - Randi Talks Trus...
• Baltimore Election Committee Orders New Election f...

The left wing leaning Nation has an in-depth article on the election. Note in the subheadline above the lack of mention of a certain social justice caucus in NYC.

In the fall of 2016 the newly formed BMORE steering committee decided to launch their first campaign—a petition drive to allow absentee voting in BTU elections. That winter, they organized the official BMORE launch party at a local barbecue restaurant, wondering if anyone would even show up. Nearly 70 people did. “We knew then that this type of connection and work was resonating with people,” said Gaber. 

Think of this. A new caucus forms in Baltimore in 2016 and 3 years later they are running neck and neck for control over the union, similar to what happened in Chicago where CORE formed in 2008 and won in 2010 and in LA where a coalition of people formed a slate that won in 2014. In NYC MORE formed in 2011-12 and has gone backwards. Why? We'll address that issue and ask the first of the 4 questions: why is NYC different than all the others?

There may be many lessons to learn from the story in Baltimore about BMORE. That there is more than one social justice caucus is an indication of some sort of division politically even if they combined for this election. For political ed junkies like me this is fascinating stuff.

https://www.thenation.com/article/baltimore-teachers-union/

The Radical Teachers’ Movement Comes to Baltimore

By Rachel M. Cohen

June 7, 2019

Diamonte Brown's win to lead the Baltimore Teachers' Union is by challenged by the nine-term incumbent. (Rebecca Yenawine)

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In mid-May, 37-year-old Diamonte Brown won her bid to lead the Baltimore Teachers Union, defeating Marietta English, who has led the nearly 7,000-member union for most of the past two decades. The shakeup in Charm City school politics marks a victory not just for Brown, a middle-school English teacher, but the Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (BMORE), a social-justice caucus that has been organizing since 2015.

Yet English, who was seeking her ninth term in office, says she cannot “in good faith concede” and has demanded a revote—alleging Brown and the slate of candidates she ran with committed a series of election violations, like illegally campaigning on school grounds. Critics say the incumbents have their own campaign missteps to account for, including writing rules that discourage challengers and trying to suppress the vote.

The American Federation of Teachers, the national parent union for the BTU, is stepping in, and plans to hold a formal hearing to adjudicate the complaints next week. The election drama reflects a stark departure from what are typically sleepy Baltimore affairs.
Still, with roughly 500 more ballots cast this cycle compared to the last, observers say the increased interest in the election should not go ignored, regardless of what happens when the AFT concludes its investigation.

BMORE says that no matter the outcome, they’re here to stay, joining a national movement dedicated to using teacher unions as a vehicle for broad social change. This movement first caught fire with the Chicago teachers strike in 2012, an eight-day protest of educators, parents, students, and community members who called for increased funding for public services. Similar radical caucuses have since emerged in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Paul and now they’re banding together to help those in Baltimore.

BMORE’s story begins with Natalia Bacchus, an ESOL teacher who moved to Baltimore in 2013 after teaching in suburban Maryland for nine years. Bacchus was bewildered by the bureaucratic hurdles she encountered at nearly every turn.

“When I worked in Montgomery County, I didn’t know anything about our union, I was just like, I’m a public-school teacher, I’m a public servant, I have a unionized job, that’s cool,” she said. “Then I came to Baltimore, and I was like, wow—everything is a hassle every step of the way. And what do you mean kids can’t drink from the water fountain? And kids have to go to bathroom in groups? All these restrictions that would never fly in Montgomery County.”

Bacchus didn’t know many other Baltimore educators, and didn’t know if she was alone in feeling this way. Eventually she met Helen Atkinson, the executive director of the Teachers’ Democracy Project, a local education-advocacy group. In 2014 Atkinson invited Bacchus to become a TPD fellow, where she would research progressive teacher unions around the country.

The next year Bacchus and Atkinson started traveling to different cities to learn from activist teachers. In August 2015, they went to Newark, New Jersey, for the annual United Caucus of Rank and File Educators conference, and began asking more practical questions about what launching a union caucus might look like.
“I was like this could be big, and Chicago’s social-justice caucus was called CORE and New York’s was MORE—we should call ours BMORE!” Bacchus said.

That fall, Atkinson introduced Bacchus to two other radical educators she knew in Baltimore—Cristina Duncan Evans and Corey Gaber. Bacchus was then working at a traditional public elementary school, Gaber was a charter middle-school teacher, and Duncan Evans was teaching at a specialized high school for the arts. Their diverse experiences struck them as a powerful opportunity.

Together they started a book club, reading texts like How to Jump-Start Your Union, about the Chicago Teachers Union, and The Future of Our Schools, by education scholar Lois Weiner. Later that year they traveled to Chicago, to meet the CORE educators in person. That summer Samantha Winslow from Labor Notes, union-activist media organization, came out to Baltimore to lead an organizing workshop, and five Baltimore educators went to Raleigh, North Carolina, in August for UCORE’s next conference. Leaders describe BMORE’s beginnings as “a lot of slow, but really deep” organizing.

In the fall of 2016 the newly formed BMORE steering committee decided to launch their first campaign—a petition drive to allow absentee voting in BTU elections. That winter, they organized the official BMORE launch party at a local barbecue restaurant, wondering if anyone would even show up. Nearly 70 people did. “We knew then that this type of connection and work was resonating with people,” said Gaber.

Amplifying black leadership and centering racial equity, they stressed, would be at the core of their efforts. They created a closed Facebook group for members, and began holding regular meetings at different schools. By April 2017, they had formally met with their union’s leadership, receiving guidance from Philly’s social-justice caucus on how to approach that conversation. The BTU, they said, was surprisingly receptive to their group.
“Marietta even offered to come to our meetings, but we said no, that’s not how we operate,” said Bacchus. “We’re from the rank-and-file.”

BMORE’s organizing got an unexpected jolt the following winter, with local and national media reports on Baltimore students trapped in freezing classrooms with broken heaters. Some schools never even opened because of malfunctioning boilers, while others sent children home early. BMORE quickly organized and sent a list of demands to the school board and school district CEO, signed by more than 1,500 supporters. The school CEO, Sonja Santelises, wrote BMORE back with gratitude for “fiercely advocating for solutions,” and the school district largely adopted their recommendations. The next month BMORE joined educators in 20 other cities in hosting a Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, demanding things like more culturally competent curriculum and the hiring of more black educators.

Last summer BMORE leaders started discussing running their own candidates in the next union election—something that happens every three years. They decided to team up with another young social-justice group, the Caucus of Educators for Democracy and Equity (CEDE), and run jointly under the banner of The Union We Deserve. Diamonte Brown would run for president, and they’d run additional candidates—including Gaber and Duncan Evans—for the executive board. The Union We Deserve slate would compete against the Progressive Caucus, a slate that included Marietta English and which has held power in the union for years.
The insurgent candidates admit there are some things the BTU already does well. Baltimore teachers have some of the highest salaries in both Maryland and the nation, and their health-care benefits are notably strong. “At a time when people are going on strike over low wages and poor health care, the Progressive Caucus has pushed for even more salary increases and our good health care to get even better,” said Corey Debnam, the Progressive Caucus chair and a Baltimore educator for the last 19 years.

Still, the teachers with The Union We Deserve say they want more than an effective service union, and to prioritize more than just good pay, benefits, and professional development. They want to mobilize teachers into a political force for students and communities—through the ballot box, at the bargaining table, and through direct action.

“I taught American government for nine years, and 6,000 organized voters can really have a big impact on electoral politics when you look at the turnout in some of our races,” said Duncan Evans. Baltimore is a deep-blue city, and in the last Democratic primary for mayor, the winner emerged with less than 2,500 votes.

Whether the new social-justice educators maintain control of the Baltimore Teachers Union will likely be resolved later this month.
Marietta English did not respond to a request for an interview, but sent a statement saying she is glad the American Federation of Teachers is coming to oversee an investigation. “As I have said numerous times, there were egregious violations throughout this campaign process,” she said. “I am confident that this investigation will allow all members to have their voices heard and restore the integrity of our elections.”

Sandra Davis, the chair of the union’s chapter for paraprofessionals and school-related personnel (PSRPs), and a member of the Progressive Caucus, told The Nation that this election is extremely unusual, and that in her 30 years as a Baltimore educator, she’s “never seen anything like this.” If Brown’s presidency is upheld, Brown would serve over a joint-executive board—with the teacher chapter chaired by Duncan Evans, and the PRSP chapter chaired by Davis. “At this point, no one is including us,” said Davis. “We don’t have a clue what’s going on—we’re just in limbo.”

Natalia Bacchus, Corey Gaber, and Cristina Duncan Evans “make it rain” with signed petitions to allow absentee voting in the Baltimore Teachers' Union. (BMORE)

Davis and Debnam said union members contacted them to object to BMORE/CEDE supporters’ canvassing at their homes this past spring. The union’s election guidelines prohibit the BTU from sharing members’ personal contact information, leading some to view the canvassing as a violation of their privacy, even if BMORE/CEDE didn’t get the home addresses from the union itself.
“We have people who are really offended that someone late at night—at 6 or 7 pm—is coming to their home to campaign about an internal election,” Debnam said. “That’s just something we would never do.”

The Progressive Caucus is not just accusing BMORE/CEDE of wrongly canvassing at people’s homes. They also accuse them of illegally campaigning on school grounds. With additional election rules like prohibitions against teachers’ leaving campaign literature in educators’ mailboxes and sending campaign literature on work e-mail accounts, candidates are left with few ways to actually reach prospective voters. Critics say that’s by design, to protect those already in power. Bacchus, who resigned in 2018 and now works with the Teachers’ Democracy Project full-time, said The Union We Deserve’s main goal throughout the campaign was to spread awareness about the upcoming election. “Most teachers don’t even know that every three years there’s an election for BTU leadership,” she said.

BMORE/CEDE, for their part, say the BTU leadership tried to suppress the vote before and during the election, in part by limiting voting hours, removing a voting location, and denying a bulk of absentee ballots. On Election Day, local media also covered complaints from educators who said the ballots on their voting machines were designed in a confusing way, formatted as if to encourage reelecting the incumbents. Debnam of the Progressive Caucus said all candidates had the opportunity to meet with the elections vendor beforehand to see how the ballot would be formatted. “We have no say in how the machine looks, that’s Elections USA, and now there’s this really disturbing narrative that it’s we who have done wrong when in reality we ran a fair and honest campaign,” he said.

Duncan Evans says she isn’t entirely surprised their caucus’s victory is being contested. “The BTU has challenged elections in the past,” she said. “So I certainly knew this was in the realm of possibility.”

BMORE leaders say that if the election results are upheld, then they hope to begin meeting with individual members, to revamp their union website, and to bring full-time organizers on staff.
“I’m looking forward to people understanding more about how a union works, but I think a large part of transparency means us listening,” said Duncan Evans. “This is all long overdue.”

Memo from the RTC: Doubt is Gone, Newsies on the Way

 
Memo from the RTC:  Doubt is Gone, Newsies on the Way

By Norm Scott

Why do they do it?

It was just a coincidence that Sunday’s Broadway Tony Awards were on the same day as the final performance of Doubt that afternoon where I felt I had seen once again a production worthy of Tony awards for all involved.

Non-musicals at the RTC don’t always sell out but the theater was packed with almost every seat filled. Word of mouth about the exquisite production of a play about a difficult subject had gotten out. The original Broadway production won the Tony award for best play in 2005 and some of the original cast won for best actor. The 2008 movie version with an all-star cast of Meryl Streep, the late Seymour Philip Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis was nominated for many Academy Awards. I didn’t love the movie. The subject matter just didn’t draw me in.

So I tried to examine why this RTC production has such an impact on me and the audience. More of an impact than the movie and even though I didn’t see the Broadway play, but I would bet as much of an impact if not more. I like almost all RTC productions as much if not more than the Broadway versions.

Of course, the superb acting of Susan Corning, Frank Caiati, Ashley Ann Jones and Billyn Tarplain under the strong direction of David Risley and Jodee Timpone, both accomplished actors themselves, were keys. I have said repeatedly that these actors should be up for community theater Tony-type awards. But there were other factors that made Doubt at the RTC something more than the sum of its parts. The intimacy of the theater itself. The wonderful Frank Caiati designed (that boy is a quadruple threat) and the Tony Homsey-led construction crew that built the sets. The costumes by Adele Wendt. And stage manager Suzanne Riggs who kept her finger on the button.

A few of Frank Caiati’s thoughts on FB are worth sharing: “I want to express my gratitude to everyone involved with this production. David and Jodee were rockstar Directors, always willing to entertain discussion and meticulous in what they wanted to see. Suzanne, our fearless stage manager, as per usual, supported us....and spoiled us every day. The crew were literal ninjas moving the enormous set pieces (and no one got run-over!) and being hilarious and kind humans. And finally...my three ladies, Susan, Ashley and Billyn were so much FUN backstage and so giving and present onstage.”

Most people see the theater as being about the people on the stage. Productions at the RTC are much more than the sum of their parts and in over a dozen years of involvement I’ve learned about every aspect of the theater, which has made all theater experiences so enjoyable. Frank notes the backstage crew who had to move a heavy mobile stage (the office) numerous times. For a four character play, there were a hell of a lot more behind the scenes people.

Why do they do it?

The next day at 9 AM, four of us joined Tony Homsey to take down that wonderful set. The stage was bare by 1 PM and we began building the set for the upcoming musical Newsies which opens July 19 (where I get to play a small role as the mean guy – typecasting.) Tony pushes hard to get the stage ready for the next show so they can rehearse on the real set and he has to translate the vision of the directors into the reality of a fairly small stage. Questions like will this part of the set obstruct the sight lines of some of the audience? Some of us where there until 4 PM.

The Newsies crew has not had access to the stage until now. A month is not that long a turnaround time, especially with a  musical with a lot of choreography.

And did I mention the power black-out at Fort Tilden which forced the rental of a generator that looks like a house I could move into? The show must go on (and Producer Susan Jasper always does what has to be done). Why do they do it?

Norm’s other WAVE column is School Scope and he blogs daily at ednotesonline. com

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City Hall - NYC parents, kids, advocates, union members and elected officials will rally for smaller classes -Tuesday, June 11, noon

Contact: Leonie Haimson; 917-435-9329; leoniehaimson@gmail.com

Martha Ayon; 718-213-1550; marthaayon1@gmail.com 
         

                                 

MEDIA ADVISORY

NYC parents, kids, advocates, union members and elected officials will rally for smaller classes  

WHAT: Parents, students, advocates, elected officials and union members will gather to urge the NYC Department of Education and the Mayor to allocate specific funding in next year's budget towards reducing class size. 

WHO: The rally is co-sponsored by Class Size Matters, NYC Kids PAC, the UFT, Local 372, the CSA, the Education Council Consortium, and many other parent and advocacy organizations.

WHEN:  Tuesday June 11 at 12 noon

WHERE:  Steps of City Hall in Lower Manhattan

WHY:  Although the state’s highest court concluded in 2003 that NYC public school classes were too large to provide students with their constitutional right to a sound basic education, class sizes have sharply increased since then, especially in the early grades. More than 336,000 students were in classes of 30 or more this fall.  Reducing class size is also among the top priorities of parents on the NYC Department of Education’s surveys every year. Yet the Mayor has allocated no city funding to reduce class size during his administration.

 For additional information please contact Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters; leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329.

Mackinac Center Files Lawsuits Against New Jersey Unions for Failing to Respect Workers’ Opt Out Rights

Anti-union slugs on the loose. Expect a similar suit here in NYC - but they have to find some teachers willing to put their names on it.

https://www.mackinac.org/mackinac-center-files-lawsuits-against-new-jersey-unions-for-failing-to-respect-workers-opt-out

New Jersey’s Workplace Democracy Enhancement Act violates Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME

Friday, June 7, 2019 |

MIDLAND, MICH. — The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has filed three separate lawsuits on behalf of New Jersey public employees who face barriers to exercising their First Amendment rights to opt out of paying their government union.
Jody Lutter, a nurse in Essex County, Lisa Grega, an employee at The College of New Jersey, and Michael Kopie, an employee of New Jersey’s Department of Transportation, have all attempted to leave their union. However, New Jersey’s Workplace Democracy Enhancement Act — signed into law last May — restricts their ability to opt out of union membership to a short “window” of “10 days following each anniversary date” of their employment. The law was written in order to lessen the effects of last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, a decision that strengthened worker freedom by allowing public employees to stop membership and payment to government unions without fear of losing their jobs.
"I’m simply attempting to exercise my constitutional right to withdraw from my union, and it’s unjust to be told this freedom is somehow limited to a small window of time" explained Lutter, who has been employed by the Essex County Hospital Center in Cedar Grove for the past eight years.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation’s lawsuits on behalf of Lutter, Grega and Kopie challenge the constitutionality of New Jersey’s WDEA, asserting that unions cannot constrict public employees’ exercise of their First Amendment rights with an arbitrary opt-out window.
“For 37 years, New Jersey public employees were trusted with the right to resign at any time,” said Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “Then, a 10-day a year resignation limit was imposed to frustrate those employees’ First Amendment rights. This is unconstitutional.”

Bernie is right on charter schools - Carol Burris, Diane Ravitch

Bernie is right on charter schools

By Carol Burris  and Diane Ravitch

| New York Daily News |

Jun 07, 2019 | 10:55 AM

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to the crowd during a rally at Central Piedmont Community College on the lawn of Overcash Center in Charlotte, N.C. on May 17. (David T. Foster III / Associated Press)

Late last month, 11 people connected to California charter schools were indicted on criminal charges of grand theft, conspiracy, personal use of public money and financial conflict of interest. According to the Washington Post, over $50 million in total was stolen; the L.A. Times reports that $8.18 million went into the bank accounts and charitable trusts of the charter management company’s leaders, Sean McManus and Jason Schrock. The pair allegedly inflated enrollment numbers and cheated the kids who attended the schools they used as piggy banks.

This story is far from unique. During the month of May alone, we identified more than 40 newspaper stories from across the country documenting charter mismanagement, failure and outright fraud.

There was the May 29 story of the Tennessee charter CEO who was running a side business out of his charter school while its teachers were not being paid. and the May 25 story about the former charter board member who is seeking to make a real-estate killing based on knowledge he gained while on the Monument, Colo., charter school board. There was the May 6 story of a former school board member in Milwaukee who was bribed by a Philadelphia-based charter school company to operate three schools in Wisconsin.

Charter corruption, which now occurs every day, was one of several reasons why the NAACP called for a moratorium on new charter schools. Yet these daily instances of mismanagement, failure and fraud have not been enough to persuade charter advocates to address the concerns of our nation’s most prominent civil rights organization.

It is equally inexplicable that when Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders publicly supported that moratorium, he was subjected to a racialized attack — not only by The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools but here in the Daily News. It is long past time to set the record straight.

The majority of black and Latino families choose public schools, even when charters are an available option. Charter schools drain funds from public schools, and for the kids who choose the local public school, they and their schools have less. Sanders’ plan includes a tripling of Title I funding, whose greatest beneficiaries would be disadvantaged kids, both in public schools and in charters.

For those students who are already enrolled in charters, Sanders does not call for their schools to be shut down. Rather he calls for a moratorium, a pause, on the opening of new charters until charter schools clean up their act.

He is right. The lack of transparency that leads to scandal and the ability to profit and self-deal does not promote innovation or serve the interests of children of color. When charter schools shut down (one third of all charters close in less than 10 years), students, who are more often than not disadvantaged, are left scrambling for a school. There is nothing progressive about showing up to school, sometimes mid-school-year, to find the doors are shuttered and locked. But that is the reality that some kids face.

Why don’t charter advocacy organizations like the Progressive Policy Institute call for charter reform? Perhaps they don’t want to offend the billionaires like the Walton family who fund charter schools.

The claim that for-profit charter schools, which Sanders’ plan would ban, are rare is flatly wrong. Nearly every state with charter schools allows for-profit management companies to run them. In the state of Florida, about 45% of all charter schools are run by for-profit management companies.

From real estate leases, to tax breaks, to exorbitant salaries, self-dealing and sweetheart deals, lots of folks have, like McManus and Schrock, figured out how to get rich off taxpayers and disadvantaged kids.

Unfortunately, the charter industry is now overrun with scoundrels profiteering from people of color. Thank you, Bernie Sanders, for standing up and being willing to expose the scams that the charter establishment refuses to acknowledge or fix.

Burris is the executive director of the Network for Public Education. She served as principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre for 15 years. Ravitch is president of the Network for Public Education and a research professor of the history of education at New York University. She is the author of numerous books on public education, including “The Death and Life of the Great American School System.”