Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
It
is time for cameras in classrooms. If it is good for cops it is good
for teachers. Parents should know what kind of propaganda their kids are
being subjected to.
----right wing pedophile in training.
So this guy is an ed notes reader and basically parrots whatever Tucker says he should. But just think about what they want to do -- look in on your kids and open the door to - well, I'll lead that to your imagination. I taught 4-6 grade mostly, but if Tucker and wants to look at the children in my class, I'd go back to teaching just for that.
Now I actually would have loved to live stream my teaching -- I was usually pretty proud of it but for the times I wasn't I might have gotten juiced up at the low moments. I taught with an open door -- loudly - so there were times I was asked to tone it down or close my door -- until they put me in a room so far down the hall you needed a search party to find me.
I'm listening right now to the Sam Seder show where they are talking about this issue in hour 2. https://youtu.be/7O7G9N8V1hg
This is much bigger than us -- it is part of the 30 year project to destroy medicare and public options. There's a lot of useful info in
this article and extracts could be the basis of a general leaflet for
education purposes --- we have to convince our own union members.
Both parties are complicit - this goes so far beyond Mulgrew and the UFT -- but the key is that they are part of the process of pushing public money into private corp hands -- it is really a similar issue as charters as the ed equivalent of Medicare Adv -- with the same slick advertising.
"If Medicare Advantage plans were in truth better or were better deals
financially than traditional Medicare Parts A and B, plus Part D, the
companies offering them wouldn’t be resorting to the aggressive and
costly promotional campaigns they currently employ, with sales reps
calling older people’s phones day and night endlessly and making major
ad buys on TV networks and the internet. They wouldn’t be resorting to
costly come-ons like offers of free gym memberships and dental and drug
insurance coverage either (which Congress in its “wisdom” bars
government Medicare from doing in its traditional plans). The health
care industry is the biggest advertiser on television and ads for
Medicare Advantage are a big part of that spending, especially on
networks whose viewership skews heavily toward older persons, like CBS."
Some naive UFT members think Mulgrew/Weingarten are just misinformed. They are not. They are avid supporters of private insurance over the public option -- as is the people in control of the Dem Party.
I extracted a few more quotes --
This is a biggie:
"The annual fees alone for signing up 24 million elderly and disabled
people into MA plans and keeping them or luring them off the traditional
government Medicare rolls came to $288 billion in 2020. Total spending
on Medicare that year was $776 billion, meaning that the payment to the
MA industry for patient care to their covered patients that year
represented more than a third of the total federal outlay on the
program!, not counting the fraud for subscriber medical condition
inflation."
Private insurance wants the entire $776 billion.
“Starting next year,” she warns, “the government is talking about
testing something called ‘The Deal,’ where whole Medicare-eligible
populations in certain geographical markets will be put into Medicare
Advantage plans whether they want it or not.” The idea is presented as a
test to see how that system works.
"In 2019, for instance, President Trump signed an executive order
— one that was slipped by without the usual Oval Office media show —
which allows the government to involuntarily enroll people in MA plans
rather than the old default of government Medicare. It also ordered the
Secretary of Health and Human Services to actively encourage MA plan
sponsors to offer marketing deals like gym memberships and dental plans
to attract healthy subscribers, while banning Medicare itself from
including such offerings. The order also makes it easier for physicians
to opt out of the Medicare program."
I get the joy some people are getting from the Trump gifts to employees to avoid taxes, but the reality is that many businesses, especially smaller one, engage in similar tactics and the tax laws encourage that -- workers are taxed at much higher rates than corporations or any business. That is one of the big reasons for the growing wealth inequality. Most of my income is from pension, social security, some minimal bank interest and my untaxed TDA withdrawals. I pay enormous taxes on that portion. I might have some capital gains - though I never trade stocks very much --- I'm a buy and hold guy.
But note how the mainstream media ignores the bigger issue and focuses on Trump who I actually agree with -- this is a hit job. Let's see them investigate other major businesses and see what they would find.
Over 400 people
joined the rally..,many called for their unions to
move away from privatized healthcare altogether and to support
single-payer healthcare on both a national and state level. .. CURO press release
CURO Cross Union Retiree Organizing (Committee) - or CUROC - we made a new acronym for a just formed alliance. Retiree Advocate/UFT is the main organizing force in the UFT but we now have allies in other unions - due to the amazing work of our own Gloria Brandman, who in the decades I've known her has always pushed the idea of building cross union alliances, even at the expense of tooting our own horn and branding ourselves as the moving force. It's true coalition building towards a united front -- and a model for the factions in the UFT to do the same for elections and issues of agreement.
I'm finally back in Rockaway after Wednesday's rock'n and roll'n rally through lower Manhattan by mostly us old folk. Naturally a whole bunch of us ended up at the Dark Horse bar on Warren St. and then I walked halfway uptown to Houston St until my leg gave in and I took the subway to Grand Central.
There's a lot of coverage and photos and videos -- I'm processing mine today -- so I'm going to put up a number of posts with the coverage and follow those in a few days with my analysis of the significance of the event, the organizing behind it and what the coalitions being built might hold for the future.
FAKE NEWS -- Our current health care plan is privatized so with the new one nothing changes. Fudging -- only 20% of those who choose Medicare (Some choose MedAdv) is privatized - the Emblem health part. Under the proposal 100% would be under private management. Think charter schools liiving on tax payer money.
Hottest day of the year and hundreds of municipal retirees (and some in-service) showed up: UFT, DC37, PSC, CSA, MEA, and more.
WBAI Evening News Link (story starts at 26:50). - I'm interviewed along with Bennett Fischer and Vincent Wosjnis - who flew in from his home in Ghana for the event (just kidding - he flew in to see his daughter.)
Today,
Tuesday June 30th a coalition of retired and active NYC municipal
workers held a rally and "tour" in downtown Manhattan, from Bowling
Green to City Hall, and called for the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC)
to halt negotiations aimed at selling off the administration of the
City’s Medicare plan to a private insurance company. Over 400 people
joined the rally as it started in the plaza in front of the old
Beaux-Arts, U.S. Custom House, now the home of the Museum of the
American Indian, and proceeded up Broadway towards City Hall, stopping
at various union headquarters and the NYC Office of Labor Relations
(OLR) along the way. At the rally, and at each stop, municipal retirees
called for the MLC and OLR to institute a moratorium on their Medicare
privatization plans. More than that, many called for their unions to
move away from privatized healthcare altogether and to support
single-payer healthcare on both a national and state level.
The
MLC – which is the healthcare bargaining unit for the City's municipal
unions – plans to achieve $600M in agreed-to healthcare savings for the
City in fiscal year 2021 by putting its healthcare obligations on the
auction block to the highest bidder. This switch would replace the
City’s traditional, government administered Medicare plan with a
so-called Medicare Advantage plan, operated by a private insurer.
Medicare Advantage plans are known to make a profit by charging higher
administrative costs than government administered Medicare, by
negotiating lower payments for medical procedures, and by limiting
patient care to a restricted number of in-network healthcare providers
and hospitals. Retirees are concerned that the proposed new plan will
limit their choice of doctors, eliminate hospitals and networks from
their current coverage umbrella, require burdensome referrals and
pre-approvals for medical procedures, and increase out-of-pocket
expenses for services and prescription drugs. Many are concerned that
lifesaving care they now receive under the current structure will no
longer be available on a national scale or from their current doctors,
with whom they have established deep personal relationships. They worry
that privatization will put them on a slippery slope of ever-diminishing
healthcare returns.
Retirees
are also furious that the City's healthcare negotiations are occurring
behind closed doors and only came to light in March, when retirees in
the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) – CUNY’s educators union – got
wind of the backdoor dealings and spread the word. Soon, retirees in the
United Federation of Teachers (UFT) became involved and were joined by
retirees from other municipal unions. They began to question union
leadership and demanded to know details of the Medicare changes under
consideration.
In
April, retirees in the PSC passed a resolution calling for a moratorium
of the City's healthcare negotiations. Retiree Advocate/UFT - a caucus
of the UFT's Retired Teacher Chapter - placed a motion for a moratorium
on the agenda of the UFT’s Delegate Assembly. On May 24th, they held a
news conference near City Hall in which members of the UFT, PSC, CSA,
and DC37 spoke out against Medicare privatization. They were joined by
speakers from Physicians for a National Health Plan and researchers from
the CUNY School of Public Health. In response to the growing outcry,
UFT President Michael Mulgrew held a telephone town hall in which
thousands of retirees participated. President Mulgrew, a key player on
the MLC board, said that the UFT may still decide to opt out of a switch
to private Medicare, but despite assurances the closed-door
negotiations have continued, with a decision on a winning bidder due by a
July 1st deadline.
UFT
retiree Bennett Fischer said, “Working with my union, I spent many
years pushing back against the hedge-fund billionaires and the charter
school profiteers who wanted to destroy my profession, kill my union,
and privatize public education. Why would we ever acquiesce to letting
the same frenzy of sharks devour our public Medicare system?”
Stopping
in front of the Broadway offices of CUNY's teacher union, Nancy Romer,
retired Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, and PSC Executive Council
member, said, “The Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, the AFT local
representing over 30,000 workers at CUNY, is asking for a moratorium on
the Medicare decision by the MLC until more input and investigation
occurs. We need to fully inform our members of the possible healthcare
packages and get their input on this most important decision affecting
almost 300,000 City retirees and partners and all present City workers
who expect to retire over the next few decades.”
"The
proposal to move City retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan is a
fundamental diminishment of their hard-won retirement benefits and will
disproportionately impact lower-income retirees. I am proud to stand
with retirees in calling for a democratic and transparent process
regarding the future of their healthcare coverage. It's unacceptable
that public servants are being asked to accept reduced benefits when the
most affluent New Yorkers have only become wealthier during the
pandemic," said Sarah Crean (member of the City Council staff union
organizing committee) when speaking near City Hall.
“The
City should not achieve its labor savings by taking critical health
care options away from current retirees, many of whom are on fixed
incomes and rely on their doctors and providers,” said Council Member
Brad Lander. “We do need to find savings, but we should do that through
attrition, efficiency, and smart choices for the future, not by reneging
on promises we made long ago to the teachers, nurses, secretaries and
so many more who showed up for us for decades.”
Watch what they do - or don't do - not what they say
.... a consistent mantra from an obscure blogger
Despite the UFT President Mulgrew's call for UFT members to not rank Adams, the lack of a call to rank another choice other than Stringer that might be beneficial to members, is amounting to the same thing as Wiley trails pro-charter friendly Garcia by just a few hundred votes. Would a call for UFT members to rank Wiley 2nd have made a difference? Well, imagine if it didn't make a difference - that would be some condemnation of the UFT political op.
So if you think the UFT political machine has any validity we must assume that a call to rank Wiley second would have put her in a significantly better position that Garcia at this point and really present a threat to Adams.
Was Mulgrew incompetent - or engage in spite against pro-Wiley union leaders - or does Garcia politics mesh well with the UFT leadership even if members will suffer?
When you out the UFT position on Medicare and universal health insurance and a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporate and right wing Dems, it all does make sense. Wiley could promise 5 teachers in every classroom and drastic reductions in class size and enormous salary increases, she would still be too far left for the UFT leadership.
As that wise sage said -- watch what they do, not what they say. And what Mulgrew did was make sure Wiley was screwed.
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Let's refer to our UFT/AFT leadership as corporate Dems and question whether Big Pharma money has infiltrated the unions as an explanation for their opposition to
public healthcare management and support for the privatize for profit industry.
In mid-June, Democratic congressional candidate Nina Turner launched a
television ad campaign promoting her support for Medicare for All. Less
than two weeks later, the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbyists and its
bankrolled lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to block her election to
Congress through an opponent who has been publicly vilifying Medicare
for All amid the pandemic....
Good morning Medicare for all supporters and friends ---
I'm taking the 10:15 Rockaway ferry to join and film the big (I hope) rally, march (or slow walk) up Broadway to City Hall.
Let's keep in mind that the UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaderships are wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate Democrats. Even most of the squad don't use that term enough but Jamaal Bowman used it on CNN recently. And AOC has flirted with it re: Joe Manchin. It's time to use corp dems for Randi, Mulgrew and the rest of the Unity slug machine. What a contrast between Jamaal and Clyburn.
Many on the left have been triggered by the attempts to gang up on Bernie pal Nina Turner who is running in the August primary for Congress in Cleveland and scares the hell out of corp dems --- I maintain they prefer Marjorie Taylor-Greene. The day Hillary endorsed Nina's opponent, she raised the most money. Let's see what happens now as big Pharm pours it in. I think corp Dems and industry pals have decided to swat the left wing knats.
As a follow-up to yesterday's post --Are Municipal Unions Selling Out Retirees? Hell YES - Sirota has a follow-up upon the news that James Clyburn, who gets away with a lot because of his race, has joined other corp dems like Hillary Clinton to go after Bernie fave Nina Turner in her race to join The Squad.
Clyburn has vacuumed in more than $1 million
from donors in the pharmaceutical industry — and he previously made
headlines vilifying Medicare for All during the 2020 presidential
primary.
After killing a single-payer bill, the city’s
public-sector labor leaders are trying to force a quarter million people
from Medicare into pricier for-profit insurance plans. ... cost savings from Medicare
Advantage come from both higher
copayments, essentially shifting costs from the government to
individuals, as well as the fact that people receive less care either
due to high claim denials or because they don’t seek out the care in the
first place because fewer providers accept Medicare Advantage. Daily Poster -
Are New York’s Unions Selling Out Retirees?
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 8:30 AM - Good Morning - Norm Scott
In the beginning, as the firmament coalesced into the formation of municipal unions, the city gave unions control over their health plans,
with a bureaucracy and a patronnage system. Thus, the UFT Health and
Welfare fund, which is not paid by union dues but by the city, thus
giving union leaders a windfall of sort to play around with. The calls
for moving the entire process under public management threatens both the
insurance companies adn their clients, the union leaderships. When Mayor Wagner gave the sign that public worker unions were kosher c. 1960, he was not being dumb. He tied the unions deeply to the city as co-managers.
So, Yes, the unions made sure to kill the NYS single payer bill and despite claiming to support a national medicare for all plan, our own union lines up with the Dem Party right wing in supporting the privatized health care industry.
Mulgrew whines about health care costs and how we have to reduce them - savings he calls them -- as Jonathan Halabi pointed out on Sunday night's webinar -- the savings come from us. Certainly not reducing or eliminating profits -- they are in business to make money.
If Mulgrew wants savings, he should check the costs in Europe which are half ours. And those countries have various forms of universal healthcare. In essence, by opposing public options, Mulgrew and other union leaders are fighting to keep health care prices higher.
A January 2021 study by The New School found that the city could save about $1.6 billion per year
if it adopted a self-insurance program, as most major cities and large
companies have done. That would involve setting up a health insurance
plan just for the city’s employees and paying for claims directly,
rather than paying premiums to a health insurance company which tends to
be more expensive because insurance company profit margins are so
large.
But since the negotiations between the MLC and Office of
Labor Relations were held behind closed doors, retirees don’t know
whether this option was ever considered.
UFT retirees will note that our chapter leaders have never told us about this option. Now here comes a fun fact:
Retirees pointed to MLC personnel with ties to the health insurance companies that could end up providing
the new Medicare Advantage plans as potential conflicts of interest.
Gregory Floyd, President of the Teamsters Local 237 and Secretary of the
MLC, is on the board of EmblemHealth.
Holy shit! The Secretary of the MLC is on the board of Emblem Health. I've always been suspicious of the unions' slavish devotion to private insurance. Do we think the insurance companies don't lobby our union leaders? The explanation offered for why unions want to stick with privatized plans:
“For a lot of these MLC unions, the one
tangible thing that they provide, in addition to wages, are health care
benefits, and particularly the benefits that come out of their welfare
funds,” said one New York City union representative, speaking on the
condition of anonymity. “They want health care benefits associated with
union leadership.”
The reasons go deeper than this. In the beginning, the city gave unions control over their health plans, with a bureaucracy and a patronage system. Thus, the UFT Health and Welfare fund, which is not paid by union dues but by the city, thus giving union leaders a windfall of sort to play around with. The calls for moving the entire process under public management threatens both the insurance companies adn their clients, the union leaderships.
What your UFT retiree chapter won't tell you: Whether the City or the MLC calls it a Medicare Advantage Program or some other name, it is really a FOR PROFIT PROGRAM for the health provider vendor. The vendor is in it to simply make money and this is not some pie-in-the-sky humanitarian effort on their part. So how would they make a profit? Simply stated, they lower their costs.... DC37 Retiree Association
Just a reminder, whether a retiree or working UFT member, join us at noon tomorrow at the steps of the Museum of the American Indian ---- and a word to in-service people - cuts to your health care will follow these cuts.
Check out this DC 37 retiree bulletin and compare it to what you get from the UFT retiree chapter.
For news, benefit updates, and information on how to reach us, please visit: www.dc37retireesassociation.org
We are sure members want to hear and discuss the possible health coverage changes under consideration by the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC). Traditional Medicare part B is efficient in handling medicare coverage and has an administrative cost much lower than private insurance companies. Although MLC leaders say that the changes will not mean reduced benefits, we are concerned that the projected savings will ultimately mean reduced health options.
Historically, Medicare C plans work well for people who do not have serious or involved health problems. Those of us who face health challenges, we fear, won’t fare as well. Indeed, we see this process as a slippery slope that may affect the health care coverage for all actives and retirees in the future.
Whether the City or the MLC calls it a Medicare Advantage Program or some other name, it is really a FOR PROFIT PROGRAM for the health provider vendor. The vendor is in it to simply make money and this is not some pie-in-the-sky humanitarian effort on their part. So how would they make a profit? Simply stated, they lower their costs. The health care provider is given X number of dollars per member per year and if they do not spend those X dollars on you, the remaining amount is their PROFIT.
What we can deduce from this simple equation? They will restrict, sooner or later, your ability to choose your own doctors, therapists, and treatment programs in order to “reign in your medical costs”. If you don’t believe my analysis is accurate, I have a bridge in lower Manhattan that I would like to sell you at a very special price! We do not have complete details of the possible changes, nor have we been part of the discussions. We have been told that all Medicare-eligible retirees, current and future, will be affected by the these changes and that copays will be instituted.
SO, WHAT ARE OUR OPTIONS?
Many retirees have called my office and asked why the Retirees Association doesn’t sue theCity and the MLC over this issue. The question is not whether you can sue; the question is can you WIN and the short answer is “NO.” An example may make this easier to understand. Several years ago, the Health+Hospital Corp. (HHC) laid off senior employees in order to reduce their budget and save money. A City employees association sued HHC for age discrimination on behalf of the unemployed managers. The court ruled that the association had no standing since it did not have the collective bargaining certificate for these former employees and therefore, the court would not address the age discrimination part of the lawsuit. This position was upheld in the appeals court. So what did they accomplish? They paid $25,000 to a lawyer who then probably had the funds to install an in-ground pool in his/her backyard. Do you see where I am going with this?
Your Association, in conjunction with the Committee of Municipal Retiree Organizations (COMRO), is trying to mobilize all City retirees to request a moratorium on this change until it can be adequately discussed and addressed by retirees from all of the represented unions. We requested a seat on the MLC, but our request was rejected by the MLC via an official letter from the law firm that represents the MLC.
Please sign the petition on our website at dc37retireesassociation.org
Here is more info that is useful - like are your pensions guaranteed forever?
MYTHS, MYTHS AND MORE MYTHSMYTH #1. Your union dues pays for your health and security benefits that you receive from the union. This is simply not true. The benefits that the union provides to active and retired members (dental, optical, legal, education, prescription drugs, etc.) are funded from money that the City provides based on collective bargaining agreements.
MYTH #2: Your pension is guaranteed by the NYS Constitution and that is irrevocable. While your pension is guaranteed by the NYS Constitution, if a municipality and/or the state declares bankruptcy, federal bankruptcy laws trumps the state’s constitution.
MYTH #3: Our health and welfare benefits are guaranteed. Health and welfare benefits are a subject of negotiations between the MLC and the City. These benefits are not guaranteed either by the City or by the State.
What:
NYC municipal union retirees will gather in lower Manhattan to save
their current Medicare Health Care Plan and let the Municipal Labor
Committee (MLC) know that switching 250,000 municipal retirees to a
for-profit Medicare Advantage Plan is not acceptable!
When:
Wednesday June 30, 2021
Time:
12:00
Noon
Who:
We are retirees from NYC's Municipal labor unions. Together with our
families, in-service union colleagues and other supporters, we are
calling on the MLC and City to let us remain in our current Medicare
Health Plan without diminishment of benefits. We reject attempts to
move us to a privatized plan.
Where:
The event begins at 12 noon on the steps of National Museum of the
American Indian (next to the Whitehall St/South Ferry train stop).
After a brief introduction, we’ll take a "tour” past the
offices of the UFT, PSC, OLR, (nearby) DC37 and end up at City Hall
at 1:00 pm. There will be short statements at each location from
various union members.
Demands:
A
moratorium on any change to the City's existing Medicare plan.
Transparency
on all negotiations with decision-making from all members.
Right
to remain in our current Medicare Health Plan without raised costs
or
diminishment of benefits.
We
condemn MLC's willingness to move away from public to privately
managed Medicare.
Tomorrow, Sunday, 6/27, 2021, at 7 PM, Educators of NYC will
ask if more can be done to DEMOCRATIZE NYC public school governance
and, even, structures within our cherished educator union.
We hope to have a panel represented by some of our union’s caucuses and leaders, and audience interactions about the topic.
We
will also share a special segment about Wednesday’s rally to fight the
privatization of city worker’s healthcare, on June 30th at 12 PM. See
the details regarding the rally here.
Multi-municipal union retirees to rally and walk - not run- to visit union HQ - joined by some young working teachers to hold us up and pick us up.
Join us in June 30 at 12 noon at the plaza in front of the Indian Museum
across from Battery Park for a rolling rally where we will make some strategic stops - maybe even visit 52 Broadway.
June 26 - Good morning and happy first day of vacation -
Bipartisanship sucks - Infrastrucure is a gift to corporate Dems and Rep
When we were in MORE and people would
lament the lack of people of color we would say they are in Unity if
you want to find them. So then the response to that was that those
people were bought off -- the left can't understand that there may be
more than bribery involved. Many black people especially reject the left -- but these are the older crowd and polls show younger blacks leaned to Wiley over Adams.
For those of us who lived through years of white progressives in MORE Caucus rending their garments over the failure to attract people of color, this one's for you:
Progressives’ Urgent Question: How to Win Over Voters of Color
A yearslong challenge for the left was starkly illustrated this week as its hopes faded in the New York mayor’s race. .. Adams' appeal adds evidence to an emerging trend in Democratic politics: a
disconnect between progressive activists and the rank-and-file Black and
Latino voters who they say have the most to gain from their agenda. As
liberal activists orient their policies to combat white supremacy and
call for racial justice, progressives are finding that many voters of
color seem to think about the issues quite a bit differently.
There were some gains for the socialist left (vs the liberal left). The new mayor of Buffalo is a DSA and DSA was in contention in City Council races where they put their energy. Yesterday I posted Erik Mears' piece on the left and DSA. Erik is a leftist but also a West Point grad who served in Iraq. Mayhe he was the one Gen Wiley was talking about as he schoold Matt Goetz. If you missed it:
DSA - as a member I often cheer and cringe at the same time -- but here's a mixed story
Gotham: Some Gains For DSA
The Democratic Socialists of
America made modest gains in electing their endorsed candidates to the
Council. Of the six candidates they backed, two are leading in their
respective races. They include Tiffany Caban for the 22nd Council
District in Queens (she is also claiming victory), and Alexa Aviles for
the 38th Council District in Brooklyn.
The
rest—including Adolfo Abreu for the 14th Council District in the Bronx,
Jaslin Kaur in the 23rd Council District in Queens, Michael
Hollingsworth in Brooklyn's 35th Council District, and Brandon West in
the 39th Council District, also in Brooklyn—trail so far. With only two
members of the DSA making some inroads, their influence doesn't appear
to completely shift the Council's political ground to the left.
The EWG just wants to say THANK YOU to everyone for an amazing election season! Whether you did a shift a week or talked to your friends about our candidates, this was a group effort and we are so proud of Queens DSA. It seems we won't have a final result until July, so stay tuned for that news!
However, the results as of now:
In Jaslin’s race, 91.92% of in-person votes have been recorded (including early and Election Day voting, but not absentee ballots). The total of first-place rankings in the first round shows Jaslin in close second place, fewer than 600 votes behind Linda Lee. There's still a lot of race to go and everyone should be proud!
In Tiffany’s race, she declared victory that night with 49.32% of first choice votes! While her race has not been “officially” decided, her lead is steep. Congrats Tiffany!
=====
The future of a unionless, privatized school system - backed by the AFT state union --- Can that possibly be true? O yes it can -- remember how the AFT backed NCLB, Race to the top --- The neo-libs hand the union the knife and they stick it into themselves.
Rhode Island goes rogue by automatically enroll every child in lottery
When Gina Raimondo, now Secretary of Commerce, was governor of Rhode
Island, she was an enthusiastic supporter of privately-run charter
schools. Her successor as governor was director of a charter school
(Blackstone Valley Prep) before he ran for office.
Now, the Rhode Island House of Representatives has proposed a bill that would “automaticallly enter all public school students into charter school lotteries...” with parents having to actively opt their
child out if they prefer the traditional public
school in their community instead. ….
The bill was sponsored by Democrat Rep. Edith Ajello of Providence and Democrat
Rep. Joseph McNamara of Cranston and Warwick says it has the support of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers.
Remember who Raimondo it -- BIDEN'S Commerce Secty who was floated as Ed Secty until progressive nixed her. Sometimes I actually get some joy watching Republicans savage Dems.
NYC educators, parents, students, elected officials explain how class
size has a profound impact on learning and the quality of education,
especially for disadvantaged and high needs students, and that for the
sake of true equity, class sizes should be reduced in NYC and
nationwide.
The
nation’s second largest teachers union and education groups
representing school boards, principals and superintendents, in an amicus
brief, had urged the high court to side with the school district. The
groups wanted justices to “reaffirm that the nation’s public schools
retain the authority to discipline students, as warranted, for off
campus student speech that threatens to interfere improperly with school
operations.”...
American
Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also lauded the
opinion, saying “the court made a wise decision in favor of the
student.”
“While
off-campus speech by students can be the subject of discipline when
threats or bullying are involved, there must be a higher standard when
the speech occurs outside of school,” she said.
Listen to archive - 
