Central Park East I Parents and Community WILL BE THERE at Tonight's PEP in Support of Marilyn Martinez and the School

Parents and supporters flood Hearing Waiting Room to Support Chapter Leader Marilyn Martinez at her hearing, March 10, 2017

why is the DOE expending so many resources in keeping this incompetent, despised and heartless principal in place? And why are our children being made to pay the price for this decision?

Jen Roesch... parent

If you know me, you know that I have been part of an 18-month battle against an abusive principal at our son's progressive, East Harlem school, Central Park East 1. We've had the majority of our best, most veteran teachers forced out over the last year and two (the union chapter leader and delegate) have been placed under investigation in an attempt to remove them from teaching.

NYSUT is a Ponzi Scheme - Harris Lirtzman Analyzes the Financials - Does ST Notice?

NYSUT ... has a salary structure unlike anything I've seen in any other organization. In 2014, NYSUT had about 500 employees on its payroll.  Something like 60% of the overall NYSUT payroll went to staff members making more than $100,000....

So long as the cash keeps moving from dues-paying members to NYSUT to the AFT to the UFT and back around it can keep its doors open.  When any part of that chain-of-cash gets broken, for example when its members stop paying a large portion of their dues, the weakest link in that chain will fail.  NYSUT is that weak link.... 

Harris Lirtzman, Deputy NYS Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007

After I posted Mike Antonucci/EIA report of the NYSUT financials - NYSUT Blues - Dire Finances and ST Criticism of Non-Union Consultant - and the EIA NYSUT financials from last year and the year before - NYSUT Financial Reports from EIA, 2015, 16 
--- LM-2 reports always lag a year behind ---

I heard from old pal Harris (Harry) Lirtzman, who I met through MORE about 4 years ago. If you want to know why I've been involved in groups like ICE, GEM and MORE, one of the major reasons it that I get to know people like Harry, a deep thinker and someone you can talk to just about anything. Even when we have serious disagreements, we always manage to bury the hatchet - usually over lunch without food fights.

Harry's years spent inside the Democratic Party fighting for his core issues has given him an interesting perspective about the party, especially over the past year and has led to some interesting conversations, to say the least, about Bernie/Hillary and the future of the party.

Unlike me, Harry had a variety of jobs before he taught for a few years at the end of his working time. He was Deputy NYS Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007, which makes him uniquely qualified to examine the NYSUT budget, which he actually did around 2 years ago, as he describes below. He offered the results to some of us to publish and I remember there were some discussions around that. My thinking is fuzzy but I recall possibly at a MORE meeting some people being concerned about falling into the "bash the teacher union trap" as part of the general attack on unions. After all, that is what EIA, an anti-union site, is doing. But that is the Unity line --- we have to band together and what? bury the dirt?

I believe the best defense of unions is to fight openly for a democratic, non-corrupt union. Tell me this: Unity fucked up by installing Karen MaGee as president 3 years ago and we have to pay for their mistake by bumping her upstairs to a made to order job. Do we bury that?

By the way --did you know that Stronger Together is running against Unity -- let me know when they broach the subject of NYSUT financials.

Antonucci posited this thought in his post last April: New York State United Teachers is the teacher union equivalent of “too big to fail.”

Hmmm. That led Harry and I into a semi-deep discussions this afternoon of what that idea could mean. We're doing lunch soon and will explore that concept further.

On NYSUT Financials 
by Harris Lirtzman
March 19, 2017

Two years ago, I reviewed in detail the NYSUT LM-2 for 2014, the same document that Mr. Antonucci reviewed for his analysis.
              I concluded a couple of things.  

              The first thing I found, just like Mr. Antonucci did, was that NYSUT is insolvent on paper and is able to operate only because it is using curious sorts of loans to and from the UFT and AFT and transfers from internal funds earmarked for teacher education and professional development to generate enough cash flow to keep itself running.  An organization can be insolvent on paper but still operate so long as it has cash flow to pay its bills--when the cash flow stops and it can't pay its bills it goes bankrupt (for those of you old enough, think about the New York City fiscal crisis in the 1970s when the City was in deep financial trouble for years before it finally ran out of money to pay its bills). If NYSUT goes bankrupt because 25-30% of its members stop paying dues when the Supreme Court upholds "Son of Friedrichs" or the Republicans pass a national right-to-work law, and because the UFT and AFT can’t afford to keep bailing it out, it will no longer be able to defend any teacher, much less Marilyn Martinez, or negotiate any labor contract for its member locals. 

              NYSUT is a Ponzi scheme. So long as the cash keeps moving from dues-paying members to NYSUT to the AFT to the UFT and back around it can keep its doors open.  When any part of that chain-of-cash gets broken, for example when its members stop paying a large portion of their dues, the weakest link in that chain will fail.  NYSUT is that weak link.  No one, but especially not the UNITY folks who now control NYSUT, ever suspected that the cash could stop.  But it will stop and soon.

              Mr. Antonucci is only partly correct when he says "...honoring the work and commitments made to NYSUT’s unionized staff has resulted in net assets of negative $413 million. The teachers of New York are on the hook for that."  He’s right about the desperate financial condition.  For better or worse, he’s wrong about who’s going to be left holding the bag. 

              The teachers of NYS are not on the hook for any retirement or health care obligations accrued by current and former NYSUT employees. Those employees are not protected under state law or the state constitution the way that public school teachers are.  There is no funded NYSUT pension system available to them like there is in the state and city for teachers. They are protected only by their contract with NYSUT.  NYSUT, and only NYSUT, is on the hook for contractual commitments it made to its employees.  If--more accurately, when--NYSUT goes bankrupt those retirees will have to get in the same line with every other NYSUT creditor. That means that they will have nothing but the piece of paper on which their contract was written to show for their life time of service on behalf of NYS teachers and will have to take their chance in bankruptcy court along with everyone else to try to get those commitments honored.  Good luck with that.

              The second thing I found when I looked at NYSUT was that it has a salary structure unlike anything I've seen in any other organization. In 2014, NYSUT had about 500 employees on its payroll.  Something like 60% of the overall NYSUT payroll went to staff members making more than $100,000.  Yes, 30-40 of these people are highly-paid attorneys.  As some of your readers may know, I was Deputy NYS Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007.  I can assure them that I’m aware of no, zero, none, not one non-profit or government agency that pays 60% of its payroll to employees making $100,000 or more a year.  I doubt that even Wall Street firms pay more than 60% of their payroll to employees making over $100,000 and I worked as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch and Co. from 1983-1990.  

              No. 1 and No. 2 are connected to each other.  If you pay your staff very high salaries you will owe them lots of money for pensions and health care benefits when they retire.  You can either make arrangements to pay for those commitments by funding them over time and investing those funds to earn more money.  Or you can take cash that comes in today from member dues and use it to pay the benefits you owe your current and retired employees.  The first way is prudent but can be expensive.  The second way can work but only if everything plays out the way you hope. 

Things in the Age of T#ump are not working out so well. Hope is a frail thing.  When your strategy is based on hope you can wind up bankrupt.

              I circulated my findings to a group of people two years ago.  I wrote a cover memorandum explaining the enormity of what I thought was going on at NYSUT.  I admit that it's not 'sexy' stuff and people told me either that they hoped Stronger Together would take care of the situation or that we ought not to challenge NYSUT when Freidrichs was still on the Court's docket.

              We need to figure out what the people who run NYSUT, the UFT and the AFT are doing with our money.  We can no longer take at face value any assurances they give us about how they are managing the $1,000 and more that most of us give them each year from our paychecks. They are not using it well. None of this is rocket science.

              The people who run NYSUT now won’t be affected by any of this. They’re being paid big bucks or can, like Karen Magee, parachute into special gigs created for them by Michael Mulgrew and Randi Weingarten when they’re no longer useful to them.

              If what Mr. Antonucci and I think may happen does happen the people who will suffer are the people at NYSUT who work valiantly on our behalf.  Just as important, every teacher in the state will suffer because NYSUT’s attorneys protect us when our rights are threatened, NYSUT’s collective bargaining representatives negotiate our contracts every few years and NYSUT’s professional education and development staff give us the credits we need to keep our licenses.  We take them for granted.  But they may not be there a few years from now when we need them the most.

               We can keep the worst of this from happening if we take the time, now, to understand how badly NYSUT is managed, how terribly our money is being misused and how much we will lose if we don’t act.  I hope that the political strategy works in the long run. I'm afraid that we don't have the long run to find out.

              Teachers of the state unite!  You have nothing to lose but your union.

NYSUT Blues - Dire Finances and ST Criticism of Non-Union Consultant

The information came from NYSUT's Labor Dept filings. If UFT is "fully paid up," it is a recent change. I have no reason to doubt Carl Korn but when reporting I can either choose to believe something he writes in a blog comment, or something NYSUT reports to the federal government under penalty of perjury. And why were the payments overdue?... Mike Antonucci, comment on Ed Notes

There is a lot of intrigue around NYSUT, even extending to internal divisions in MORE over how to deal with the Stronger Together slate running against NY state Unity Caucus. I have had about 10 drafts on ST laying around over the past 2 months, but something new always comes up and I don't finish them. Thus I've left it to my pals Eterno and Goldstein to carry the story -- James supports ST, Arthur has been critical. I pretty much stand with James on this -- might as well support ST over Unity even if they are not perfect. Sitting neutral with Andy Pallotta running for president is not an option.

At this point, most people in MORE aren't paying much attention, a big change from 3 years ago --- I don't have the energy to find the links - but if you are interested, check my archives from late March-April, 2014.

For today, let's talk NYSUT finances, which may be in deep doodoo, with worse to come. And if NYSUT is in trouble, so is the AFT. Gee, maybe those 250K salaries might have to go. And how about that golden parachute for a newly made AFT position for the dumped NYSUT pres, Karen Magee.

I posted a report on NYSUT finances - NYSUT/UFT Finances in Distress? - linking to Mike Antonucci at EIA/Intercepts (not to be confused with Glenn Greenwald's Intercepts -- call it the right and the left wing versions) on March 3, which happened to be my birthday. Seeing the dire financial situation in our UFT dominated state union was not one of my pleasant gifts - well, basically my only gift, if you can call it that.

Mike reported that the UFT hadn't paid up its NYSUT dues, which would make the 750-800 Unity slugs going to the April 7-9 NYSUT convention here in NYC at the Hilton (at a cost of?) ineligible to vote -- but why worry, they could party anyway at our expense.

Jim Horn pointed out:

And yet AFT has millions to pour into the Clinton campaign and the Clinton Foundation.

James Eterno asked:

Norm, I'd like to know what Antanucci's source is for the UFT not paying their dues to NYSUT?

A Unity slug, no doubt, left this comment, denying that the UFT hadn't paid its dues:

ckorn

Facts matter: The assertion that UFT owes NYSUT money is false. Fully paid up.

Mike Antonucci answered the questions with his own question:

The information came from NYSUT's Labor Dept filings. If UFT is "fully paid up," it is a recent change. I have no reason to doubt Carl Korn but when reporting I can either choose to believe something he writes in a blog comment, or something NYSUT reports to the federal government under penalty of perjury. And why were the payments overdue?

Keep in mind, Mike comes from the anti-teacher union right, so people are often suspicious. I, however, trust his facts and reporting, if not his interpretations.

Now let's shift to the current controversy just 3 weeks before the NYSUT convention with an ST critique and a  report from Mike addressing the ST criticism of the NYSUT leadership over the use of outside agencies instead of in house.

ST sent this out on March 14:

ST Caucus Stands in Opposition to NYSUT’s Outsourcing of Union Work.

It has recently been brought to our attention that NYSUT has begun outsourcing work previously performed by NYSUT employees who belong to the Communications Workers of America (CWA).  Secretary-Treasurer Martin Messner is now requiring that NYSUT managers send receipts and expense reports to an out-of-state company for processing.  The work which was previously completed by CWA members is now being done by Certify, a non-union company.  Participation in this outsourcing is required for managers and optional for members of the Professional Staff Union (PSA), who are all refusing to participate.

ST Caucus stands in opposition to any type of anti-union outsourcing.  NYSUT members across the state are fighting charter schools, distance learning, and similar outsourcing schemes.   We are perplexed and disheartened by the decision made by our current officers to subcontract the work of our union brothers and sisters.   According to Secretary-Treasurer candidate Nate Hathaway, “This flies in the face of our core values as unionists.  We must not fall into the trap of pursuing expediency at the expense of what is right.  Union workers are paid more because they defend the value of the individual worker and the concept that a worker should have protections in the workplace and be compensated with a reasonable, living wage.  What do we stand for as an organization if we espouse these principles in grand platitudes, yet pursue a policy of employing the services of those not afforded the very rights we claim to fight for?  This is very disheartening news.”

To address the budget issues that exist within NYSUT, our officers need to reduce costs through a transparent process that honors the work and commitments made to our unionized staff.  Any local leader who experienced the devastating budget cuts of the last decade knows the key components to an effective cost savings strategy. To reduce the budget of an organization and not have it lose its core purpose, cost savings must be transparent, involve shared sacrifice, and be mutually agreed upon by all parties. ST Caucus supports the elimination of one officer position (a 20% savings in officer salaries and expenses) and a 15% reduction in officer salaries.  Unlike the current officers, ST Caucus believes that fiscal responsibility starts at the top, not by outsourcing the work of some of our lowest paid employees at NYSUT.

ST Caucus Executive Board

I can pretty much agree with all of the above.
Now, in this age of "let's read all sides of an issue so we can find the true path" here is Mike A.'s take:

Union’s Internal Cost-Cutting Is Thorny

The finances of New York State United Teachers are a mess, but NYSUT’s officers are not entirely blind to the problem. When a union tries to cut its costs, it not only runs into labor unrest with its own employees, it might also provide political fodder for internal opponents.
Case in point: NYSUT sought to save a few bucks by hiring Certify, a company that supplies mobile apps and reporting tools for the processing of expense reports. This task is usually done in-house.

The staff contract bans outsourcing of work previously done by bargaining unit members without the staff union’s permission. NYSUT had to make the new process optional for employees, and evidently every single one of them has refused to use Certify.

NYSUT managers and executives, however, are not members of the staff union, and are required to use Certify. This irritated not only the staff union, but also Stronger Together, the opposition caucus within NYSUT that is running candidates for the union’s executive positions. It posted its complaint, which I excerpt here:

We are perplexed and disheartened by the decision made by our current officers to subcontract the work of our union brothers and sisters. According to Secretary-Treasurer candidate Nate Hathaway, “This flies in the face of our core values as unionists. We must not fall into the trap of pursuing expediency at the expense of what is right. Union workers are paid more because they defend the value of the individual worker and the concept that a worker should have protections in the workplace and be compensated with a reasonable, living wage. What do we stand for as an organization if we espouse these principles in grand platitudes, yet pursue a policy of employing the services of those not afforded the very rights we claim to fight for? This is very disheartening news.”
​To address the budget issues that exist within NYSUT, our officers need to reduce costs through a transparent process that honors the work and commitments made to our unionized staff.

A noble sentiment, but honoring the work and commitments made to NYSUT’s unionized staff has resulted in net assets of negative $413 million. The teachers of New York are on the hook for that.

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2017/03/17/unions-internal-cost-cutting-is-thorny/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Intercepts+%28Intercepts%29

So Mike is pinning the entire deficit on obligations to unionized staff. He provided numbers last time that made me dizzy - but check them out and it looks like he is right. Read his analysis if you have the stomach - http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2017/03/nysutuft-finances-in-distress.html

These numbers look scary and ST might want to address them. Cutting some salaries at the top won't cut it.

Lucky I live at the beach

I think there are over 20 and possibly 40 NYSUT lawyers who have to be there to defend all teachers in the state who are threatened with 3020a firing hearings, without cost. (One is defending Marilyn Martinez.) I have found the ones I saw in action to be pretty capable. But quality lawyers don't come cheaply.

I don't have answers to these complex issues which make me want to bury my head in the sand, or binge watch any crap I can find on Netflix - which makes me feel worse since the guy who runs it is a major ed deformer.

MORE, CPE 1 Parents Call for Mulgrew to Publicly Support Chapter Leader Under 3020a charges at final hearing today

When CLs are brought up on charges that should be a red flag to the union not to treat these cases like any other 3020a dismissal case. MORE/NA Ex Bd reps send a letter to Mulgrew:

We ask that you or Elementary Vice President Karen Alford attend the final day of the hearing this Friday, March 10 in order to send a clear message to the DOE, the arbitrator, and UFT rank and filers that the UFT supports this chapter leader. We further ask you to offer the assistance of the UFT press office in publicizing this defense.  We further ask that you intervene personally with the chancellor around this case. If we do not defend our chapter leaders publicly and strongly, we may soon not have a union to defend at all....

MORE/New Action Ex Bd members letter to Mulgrew

Before I head down to the hearing I wanted to post this call for the UFT leadership to offer public support by showing up today. Our most recent post on the CPE 1 retaliatory 3020a charges against a chapter leader -- Fight Farina Assault on Teacher Rights: Friday 9:30 - In Defense of a Chapter Leader Under 3020a Dismissal Charges

Fight Farina Assault on Teacher Rights: Friday 9:30 - In Defense of a Chapter Leader Under 3020a Dismissal Charges

Chancellor Carmen Farina, who can't leave too soon, tries to hide her anti-teacher attacks behind the superintendents who she appoints. What do Central Park East 1, JHS 145x and Townsend Harris have in common? I'm betting a senior staff and too much teacher autonomy -- people who roll their eyes at the useless PDs and top-down dictums.

Tomorrow (Friday) is another hearing date for Marilyn Martinez, chapter leader of Central Park East 1 in east Harlem. Marilyn is too strong a teacher and leader for  Farina's taste. Even if they don't get to fire her, a major goal is to get her out of the school to strengthen principal Monika Garg who was put in a year and a half ago to undermine the teachers and the school.

The Farina 'my way or high way" record of dismissing parent and teacher concerns is legendary. There is increasing push back from politicians -- see New York Times  where there are calls to make the process of choosing principals more transparent --- the actual answer is to end mayoral control.

Parents are organizing as they did last week when 50 parents showed up on Thursday and Friday, many taking time off from work. Despite threats of snow, expect a strong group to show up again. I intend to go back -- witnessing this type of response is heartening in disheartening times.

If you are a retired teacher come on down to 100 Gold Street starting at 9:30.

Historic 3020a: Massive Parent Turn-Out to Support CPEI Chapter Leader on Few Hours Notice

They came by train, bus, cab. Maybe by planes too. Some took time off from work. The waiting room at 100 Gold Street where DOE legal holds its witch hunts was overflowing with 60 parents of Central Park East I who only began to be notified 15 hours earlier. Many more would have come. The entire room was overflowing.

Teachers can only dream about the kind of outpouring Marilyn Martinez received today from the parents at CPE I. Lisa, Gloria and I were there from MORE to show support. No one from the UFT was there. Ho-hum. They are working hard behind the scenes you know -- even when principal Monika Garg had 10 teachers put under investigation within months of her arrival at the school, put in as a hit woman. Ho - hum -- we endorsed di Blasio without asking for these outrages to stop -- but you know the UFT has to weigh stuff - and make sure they don't lose their little stool at the table. Parents were not saying very good things about the UFT.

I had to leave at noon - parents were drifting in as I left and word was that there was still a crew there at 3PM waiting for a batch of teachers to come down.

Tomorrow is Day 2 - what better way to spend my birthday - and I better get there early if I want to get in.

So proud to wear this tee-shirt

DOE/Legal Rushes to 3020a Kangaroo Court for Central Park East 1 Chapter Leader Starting Today: Parents to Rally Outside

I wrote about this on Sunday, A Political Attack: Superintendent Alexandra Estrella Orders Chapter Leader Removal from Central Park East I - Sign the Petition --
--- and if you didn't sign yet, hit the link and get your ass over there and sign it NOW.

Even a cynic such as I didn't assume a 3020a hearing could come so soon. But that is the way the slime at the DOE operate -- knowing that there could be massive support for a teacher, they are trying to rush this hearing through before such support could gather --- no so fast, as parent and teacher outrage grows. People talk about Trump and democracy when in our own "liberal" city we see this happen?

Marilyn Martinez, the chapter leader of Central Park East 1, where the staff and parents have been fighting the appointment of principal Monika Garg for the past year, was suddenly removed from her classroom on orders of the Superintendent just before the midwinter break about 3 weeks. DOE Legal is rushing her 3020a hearing starting today and tomorrow. From what I hear the hearing is not open -- not sure why -- since Marilyn has the right to an open hearing. I don't know if she is using a private or NYSUT lawyer. A private lawyer not familiar with DOE Legal ops can be a handicap. At least the NYSUT people know the terrain and also the hearing officer -- who is Dean Burrell. Sometimes the lawyers only want to fight on legal grounds -- these cases can be very affected by politics and public scrutiny.

Going after a top level teacher to try to fire them explodes the entire "bad teacher" rap -- see Peter Lamphere 2 U ratings by the current principal of Townsend Harris when she was Peter's AP.  Rally Against Townsend Harris Principal..].

CPE I Principal Monika Garg lied to parents - she assured the parents of Marilyn's class she would sign a letter of support for Marilyn but then refused.

The fact that parents are organizing on their own may be used by the DOE to charge Marilyn with doing the organizing -- I've seen that happen before -- they actually look into contact between teachers and parents even if the teacher is responding to parent concerns. This is an attempt to prevent teachers from gathering support. Teachers have the right to call a big list of witnesses.

If the hearing officer - Dean Burrell - terminates Marilyn, the UFT needs to make it clear he will never be accepted as a hearing officer again. The DOE did that in the past when hearing officers were sympathetic to the defense ---

Also this is an attack on a chapter leader -- the UFT must take a public stand on this, not merely work behind the scenes. If they don't the deBlasio endorsement needs to be questioned further. A reso to withdraw is not out of the question in my mind. If a union can't stand up to defend its leaders on the ground, what kind of union are they? [Don't tell us about the work you are doing behind the scenes - this demands a press conf with Mulgrew drawing a line in the sand.] DEMAND SUPT ALEXANDRA ESTRELLA BE REMOVED.

My guess is that this is a high pressure way to get Marilyn out of the school - get her to make a deal for a fine or something like that. But we know that no matter the outcome of the hearing, they never send people back anyway. Since Marilyn has had a lifetime investment in CPEI - her kid goes there, she spent her teaching career there, she may even have went there as a student -- she is in an extremely vulnerable position. We must make it clear that no matter the outcome - WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

Here is the email from parents:

Your Presence Needed TODAY in Support of Marilyn

Dear CPE 1 Community and Friends,

Where/When: 9:30am tomorrow and Friday at 100 Gold Street in Manhattan https://goo.gl/maps/8W7YCYPb1jn

What: Marilyn's termination process hearing

Who: Everyone who possibly can, particularly current and former parents

As most people know, Marilyn Martinez was removed from her K/1 classroom right before February break due to a DOE investigation. While Monika has assured us that she is working to get Marilyn back in the school as soon as possible, we have just found out that the DOE has been proceeding with the termination process and that her termination hearing is scheduled to begin tomorrow. This may also explain why Monika refused to sign a letter in support of Marilyn this morning after having promised class parents that she would do so. We are sure that this is as much of a shock to everyone else as it to us; many of us are still struggling to figure out how to support our children in the wake of this disruption. However, it is now clear to us that the DOE is trying to permanently remove Marilyn from teaching and that she urgently needs our support.

Marilyn's hearing is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Thursday, March 2nd. Unfortunately, there are a lot of details we don't know, but here is what we know. This process is known as a 3020-a hearing and is how the DOE bring charges in order to terminate a tenured teacher. This process necessarily involves the Principal, the Superintendent and the Chancellor, and they will be represented by DOE lawyers. Marilyn has also been assigned representation by her union. There are a wide range of charges that can be brought against a teacher and a similarly wide range of judgments that can be awarded by the independent arbitrator who hears the case.

We do not know the exact charges against Marilyn. In addition, we have been informed that the DOE will usually creates as long a list of charges as possible in hopes that something will stick or that the teacher's character will be questioned. We do know that the charges do not involve harm to children in any way or her effectiveness as a teacher. They are related to "ethics" misconduct, which the DOE can define very broadly. We do know that Marilyn is a dedicated and inspired teacher who deserves our support. We know that her removal has had a detrimental impact on our children and school community. We are confident that there is nothing that Marilyn could be reasonably charged with that could justify her removal - and certainly not the loss of her job.

We also know that teachers are often pressured to resign or retire in order to avoid the stressful hearing process with its uncertain outcome. Only 4% of teachers are fully acquitted and returned to their classroom. However, it is also very difficult to fully terminate a teacher. It is much more likely that some kind of penalty, such as a fine or disciplinary letter, will be levied. Regardless, for an educator who has dedicated their entire adult life to serving children and their families, this is a traumatic and potentially career-destroying process.

We believe that the the presence and support of colleagues, parents, former students and others could play a very important role in supporting Marilyn. If 40 or 50 parents were to attend her hearing, it would be unprecedented and would speak very strongly to Marilyn's character and positive impact on our school community. We also believe we could give confidence to Marilyn so that she does not go through this process by herself. Unfortunately, from what we've been able to piece together, it seems like this will be a closed hearing so we will not be able to attend the hearing itself. But we still think it would be very powerful and important for us to be there tomorrow to show support for Marilyn and make it clear to the DOE that she is a beloved and valued teacher. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10am and so we would like to be there by 9:30 to greet Marilyn and others arriving and to show our support. Thursday will be the most important day as it is the first day, but if you can come both or only Friday, that is also needed.

Therefore, we are asking that everyone try to arrange to come down to the hearing and support Marilyn on Thursday and/or Friday. We understand that for many parents this means arranging time off work or childcare, but this is really important. It is important because it is an opportunity for us to give back to a teacher who has done so much for our children and school community. It is also important because it sends a message to all teachers in our school that parents will stand behind them. Other teachers must feel very vulnerable right now. If we want to keep our most experienced teachers in our school, then we have to stand up for them now. We all desperately want Marilyn back in her classroom, which would be the best possible outcome and should do everything we can to make this possible. But we also want Marilyn to be able to keep her career as an educator. Our support could make all the difference.

It is very important to understand that this is not a protest and our demeanor will reflect on Marilyn. We want to be respectful, neatly dressed, non-emotional and non-confrontational. This will be emotional for many of us as well, but our character will also reflect on Marilyn and she will need our strength and calm presence.

Thank you for all you have already done to support Marilyn. Please email us if you are able to attend. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us listed below and we will do our best to answer them based on what we know. This has been a difficult time for our school community, but we hope that we can all come together in this moment to support our teachers and one another and do what is best for our children.

Thanks,
parents

A Political Attack: Superintendent Alexandra Estrella Orders Chapter Leader Removal from Central Park East I - Sign the Petition

Marilyn [Martinez] is the UFT chapter leader for the teachers and paraprofessionals at CPE1. She is on the SLT and has been an integral part of providing support for our new teachers. She is on the hiring committee. She is our liaison to the PROSE program. She is a strong advocate and example of CPE1 style progressive education. She has her own child at our school. From the type of case it seems to be, there is the possibility that Marilyn could potentially lose her license to teach. We have consulted several DOE and UFT veterans who have commented that this is unusual: to remove a teacher with a misconduct concern who is not accused of impropriety/endangering their students from the classroom....

The attack on the staff, parents and children at Central Park East I goes on. Having a class of children lose teacher due to political reasons is educational malpractice. Not only Estrella but Farina must bear the load --- the removal of any chapter leader should call for a strong and immediate public response from the UFT.  Don't expect it --- some Unity apologists will whine about how much they are doing -- behind the scenes.

Reality Based Educator at the ICE blog nailed the UFT:

...they tell us how swell things are, how much better the system is under de Blasio when, if you polled teachers who have been in the system 5 or more years, I bet you'd get an overwhelming majority saying things are MUCH worse now under de Blasio than they were under Bloomberg. That's not to say Bloomberg wouldn't be pushing this stuff too... But at least under Bloomberg, the UFT made some modicum of effort to push back. slight as it was. As things stand now, there's not only no effort coming from the UFT to pushback against Farina's nonsense, there's not even the appearance of it. Nope - instead they tell us all is well and if you don't think that way, you're crazy.

Sign the Damn PETITION UPDATE:

Unity Caucus AFT Convention Candidates L-Z: Note One Rhonda Weingarten and Alan Lubin

I began posting the Unity Caucus candidates Sunday night with A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running and then we turned out attention to 500+ non-classroom names which include many blasts from the past. The UFT gravy train never seem to end for many people.

This post finalizes  the list of 750 or 800 - look at your ballot's inside pages to see all the names.

Unity Caucus is the gift that just keeps giving. Not only are most of the UFT top level staff on the lists - district, boro reps, special reps, other hangers on. 

You may have thought they were long gone but we go on paying for their junkets. AFT President Randi is our delegate? NYSUT's Alan Lubin who has been gone from the UFT for 25 years?

My guess is this summer's convention is going to cost us $2 million bucks to make Randi feel like a queen. Assume Hillary will make an appearance. I wonder if any Bernie delegates will boo at some point.

I see many names of long-gone Unity caucus members who will "represent" you at AFT and NYSUT conventions in the next 2 years.

Jai-Lin	Lambert
Shirley	Laney
Eliu	Lara	DR
Sheila	Laval
Anthony	Lavecchio
Anne	Lee
Lester	Lehon
Jason	Leibowitz
Kristine	Leonardi
Mae	Leung-Tokar
Josephine	Levine
Robert	Levine
Katherine	Lewis
Rick	Lewis
Nancy	Lieber
Jessica	Lisowski
Janet	Lo
Charles	Lobello
Yolanda	Loder
Rosemarie	Lomonaco
James	Losey Jr
Dolores	Louzupone
Alan	Lubin
Laurie	Lubman
Cleo	Lucas
Gregory	Lundahl
Thomas	Madigan
David	Mahl
Ronald	Mailman
Jadzia	Malinowski
Angela	Maloney
Diane	Mammolito
Alphonse	Mancuso
Armando	Mandes
Donna	Manganello
Marilyn	Manley
Richard	Mantell	Off
Ledia	Mara Drita
Sandra	March
Todd	Marks
Maggie	Martin
Marva	Martin
Robert	Martinez
John	Marvul
Nancy	Mazzella
Diane	Mazzola
Michael	McCourt
Belinda	McCrea
Cynthia	McDaniel
Leslie	McDonnell
Kathryn	McGrath
Luke	Meginsky
Lisa	Mendel
Michael	Mendel
Teresa	Mercado
Alain	Metellus
Fran	Miller	PTRet
Tammie	Miller
Danielle	Minor
Brenna	Mintz
Jorge	Mitey
John	Monteforte	FT
Cynthia	Monteleone
Elsa	Moquete
Maria	Moreno
James	Morris
Paula	Morrison
Jennifer Jo	Moyer
Michael	Mulgrew	off
Iradies	Munet
Marilyn	Munet
Thomas	Murphy
Phyllis	Murray
Toni Ann	Murray
Millicent	Myers
Barbara	Mylite
Evelyn	Negron
Charisse	Nelson
Deborah	Nesmith
Thomas	Nimmo
Jason	Norman
Nicholas	Norman
Jeannie	O'Conner
Renee	O'Conner
Adriana	O'Hagan
Kathleen	O'Hagan
Alice	O'Neill	DR
Patricia	O'Reilly
Maura	O'Sullivan
Regina	Olff
Carlos	Olivieri
Darnese	Olivieri
Norma	Ortega
Justin	Osterman
Jennifer	Pakulniewicz
Andrew	Pallotta	x
Denise	Palmeri
Frank	Panebianco	FT
Rosemary	Parker
Christine	Paul
Linda	Pearson
Marisol	Pena
Debra	Penny	FT
Arthur	Pepper	FT
Candido	Perez
Elizabeth	Perez
Susan	Perez-Gonzalez	FT
Jacquelyn	Peters
Jeffrey	Piekarsky
John	Pierce
Rebecca	Pietromonaco
Vincent	Pilato
Jaclyn	Pitula
Alice	Platt
Carol	Plotkin
Martin	Plotkin
Jamie	Polzin	FT
Suzy	Poon Huie
Darlene	Post
Debra	Poulos	FT
Jeffrey	Povalitis	FT
Margaret	Premus
Vanessa	Pressley
Eudelia	Price
Nicole	Puglia
Doreen	Raftery
Natalie	Ramsey Dexter
Melissa	Reed
Rose	Reid
Brigit	Rein	FT
Marvin	Reiskin	Ret
Parniece	Richardson
Suzette	Robbins
Sterling	Roberson	Off
Elba	Rodriguez
Irma	Rodriguez
Ivonne	Rodriguez
Naomi	Rodriguez
Rita	Rodriguez
Sean	Rokowitz
Carmen	Roldan
Lorine	Romero
Nanette	Rosario-Sanchez	FT
Ann	Rosen	Ret
Martin	Rosenblum
Patricia	Ross-Spiller
Sharine	Rowe
Hector	Ruiz Jr	FT

Laurence	Sachs
Meredith	Saladis
Joycelyn	Sampson
Washington	Sanchez	FT
Howard	Sandau
Ruth	Santiago
Michael	Santos
Mayra	Santos Torres
Claire	Scesney-Lundahl
Doreen	Schafer
Tinamarie	Schneider
Howard	Schoor	Off
Michael	Schoor
Diane	Schreibman-Duberstein
Alicia	Schwartz
Joyce	Schwartz
Bernard	Schwimmer
Karen	Schyboll
Denise	Scott
Albania	Sepulveda
Pedro	Serrano
Penny	Setoute
John	Settle
Kathleen	Sharko
Chantel	Shealy
Barbara	Shiller
Joel	Shiller
Cora	Shillingford
Kris	Sieminski
Michael	Sill
Servia	Silva
Winston	Silvera
Barry	Smith
Celeste	Smith
Marla	Smith
Ualin	Smith
Dermot	Smyth
Gloria	Solla
Angela	Solomon
Howard	Solomon
Yvette	Solomon
Geofrey	Sorkin	FT
Stanley	Sorongon
Jory	Stark
Rita	Stein-Grollman
Penina	Steinberg
Ari	Steinfeld
Erica	Stewart
Lourdes	Suarez
Joseph	Surpris
Danita	Susi
Veronica	Sutton
Edward	Sweeney
Stephen	Swieceiki
Bruce	Swinton
Janice	Sydney Smith
Laura	Tamburo
Corey	Taylor
Marian	Thom
Ron	Thomas
Winnie	Thompson	FT
Juan	Tineo
Richard	Tokar
Nina	Tribble	Ret
Charles	Turner	Ret
Lourdes	Urbaez
Mary	Vaccaro	DR 26
Vincent	Vaccaro
Evelyn	Vargas
Jose	Vargas	FT
James	Vasquez
Wilma	Velazquez
Denise	Verde
Christopher	Verdone
Patti	Vitucci
Dawn Ann	Vitulli
Frank	Volpicella	ret
Mary	Wade	DR 13
Phyllis	Walker
Paula	Washington
Diana	Watson
Monique	Watts-Harouna
Raquel	Webb Geddes
Greg	Weber
Ilene	Weinerman
Rhonda	Weingarten	x
Allan	Weinstein	DR 19
Anna	White
Veronica	Wilensky
Peter	Wilhelm
Abdul-Akeel	Williams	FT
Andre	Williams
Charlayne	Williams
Heather	Williams
Lisa	Wilson
Vanecia	Wilson
Barbara	Wisdom
William	Woodruff	DR
Diane	Yodice
Mavis	Yon
Betsy	Youman
Gail	Zahler
Jeffrey	Zahler
Bruce	Zihal
Anita	Zuckerberg
Joshua	Zuckerberg
Robert	Zuckerberg