UFT Firing of NY Teacher Reporter Jim Callaghan

See the Daily News article on the firing.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/13/2010-08-13_i_was_kicked_to_curb_by_bully_union.html#ixzz0wTPuI9ES

What a Union Can Do: 'Hey Barack!... Race to the Top Is a Crock!'

MAKING FOR A VIBRANT UNION:


IN THE 2ND ARTICLE, NOTE THE HEALTHY INTERNAL DEBATE IN CORE, SOMETHING THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN IN UNITY IN NYC. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE UFT LEADING SUCH AN ACTION?

But then remember- CORE is a caucus within the Chicago Teachers Union - the caucus that runs the union but not the union. There is an important difference and it looks like they know what they are doing.

Organized by CORE, Chicago teachers and others protest Obama's education policies during August 5, 2010 Chicago visit

Sharon Schmidt - August 07, 2010
Substance - http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1583&section=Article

Chicago's Labor Beat covered the CORE demonstration against Race To The Top during Barack Obama's visit to Chicago and has produced another video scoop covering a major Chicago story. This time, the Labor Beat video is covering the August 5, 2010 protest during Brarack Obama's fundraising visit to Chicago.


Part of the protest against President Barack Obama's education policies picket the Chicago Cultural Center on August 5, 2010 while the President spoke inside at a Democratic Party fundraiser. Substance photo by Susan Zupan.In addition to showing the large and militant protest against President Obama's policies during the President's recent Chicago visit, the video features a speech by teachers Nate Goldbaum (editor of the CORE newsletter) and Carol Caref discussing what is wrong with "Race To The Top."

"You're not going to fire your way to good schools..." says Caref, responding to an editorial that appeared in the Chicago Tribune that day, criticizing new CTU President Karen Lewis for demanding due process for teachers who have been declared "unsatisfactory" by often corrupt principals.

To view on YouTube, readers can cut and paste the following into their browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM_WqraHAsU

The Labor Beat introduction to the video follows:

"As President Obama spoke inside Chicago's Cultural Center on Michigan Ave. on Aug. 5, 2010, outside a group of Chicago Public Schools teachers and other public workers protested. They were demonstrating against the Race to the Top (RTT) policies that Obama (and his Secretary of Education Arne Duncan) is pushing nationally in dismantling public education and attacking teachers unions. The demo was organized by the Caucus of Rank And File Educators (CORE, coreteachers.org) and also attended by CTA workers. 6:30 min..."

Teachers, other workers protest President Barack Obama's 'Race to the Top' during President's Chicago visit on August 5, 2010

Substance Staff - August 05, 2010
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1582&section=Article

More than 100 teachers organized by CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) protested the visit of President Barack Obama to Chicago on August 5, 2010. The teachers assembled with picket signs at the Chicago Art Institute and then marched down Michigan Ave to the Chicago Cultural Center, where Obama was speaking. Signs read criticisms of Obama and his education plan.

Teachers were not the only people protesting. They were joined by anti-war activists and other union members, including some from the Chicago Transit Authority who had previously been under attack from Mayor Richard M. Daley and current Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman (who was President of the CTA until Daley appointed him to the CPS job in January 2009).


Nate Goldbaum, a Chicago elementary school teacher and editor of the CORE newsletter, spoke to the August 5 crowd outside the Chicago Cultural Center while Barack Obama was featured at a Democratic Party fundraiser inside. One of the signs read: "Hey Barack! Race to the Top is a Crock." Substance photo by Susan Zupan.The plan for the protest was approved unanimously at a CORE meeting at Chicago's Operation PUSH headquarters on July 26, a week earlier, and was implemented by CORE members while the caucus was undergoing reorganization. After a lengthy debate, CORE members (more than 100 of whom were at the July 26 meeting) voted unanimously to protest during one of the fundraising parts of President Obama's visit. The CORE members defeated suggestions that the protests be held at President Obama's Chicago home, which is four blocks from PUSH in Chicago's Hyde Park-Kenwood community.


Members of the protesting groups march on the sidewalk on the Michigan Ave. side of the Cultural Center on August 5, 2010. Substance photo by Susan Zupan.Following the July 26 decision, there was heated debate about who should protest and how much the protest should denounce Obama's education policies (as opposed to just discussing the policy called "Race To The Top").


The group first assembled at the Art Institute of Chicago at Michigan and Adams Streets. Then it marched (above) to the Chicago Cultural Center at Michigan and Randolph three blocks to the north. Substance photo by Susan Zupan.Obama's Race To The Top is being viewed by a growing number of people as an attack on public education, while the demand that public school districts across the USA embrace charter schools, a form of privatization, is highly controversial.

CORE distributed hundreds of copies of a factsheet (above) downtown during the August 5 protest. The leaflet distributed by CORE not only outlined problems with the President's education policy, but also explained the situation in Chicago, where CORE leaders, now serving as officers of the Chicago Teachers Union, are facing off against Chicago Board of Education attorneys. The Board is demanding concessions from the CTU.

Prior to his election as President of the United States, Barack Obama was an Illinois State Senator and United States Senator from Illinois. He was elected President in November 2008. One of his first cabinet appointments was to designate the controversial Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan to be U.S. Secretary of Education. Duncan began serving in January 2009, and by the summer of 2009 he had published the basic elements of "Race To The Top", which bore a strong resemblance to the failed "Chicago Plan" for so-called "school reform." 

CAPE: Mayoral Control is Governance By Lawlessness… It is Time to Put an End to the Bloomberg-Klein Ed Deform Agenda!

Mayoral Control is absolute power that corrupts absolutely. It is a license to push destructive and discriminatory policies touted by this Mayor and Chancellor, which will be rubberstamped by a PEP whose majority is selected by the Mayor himself and given the directive to "serve at his pleasure". 
---Concerned Advocates for Public Education

PS 15 in Red Hook was the school State Ed Commissioner Steiner ruled against when he ruled against the expansion of Girls Prep. Here our pals at CAPE respond. I'm cross posting.


Mayoral Control is Governance By Lawlessness… It is Time to Put an End to the Bloomberg-Klein Ed Deform Agenda!
 

The PS 188/94 and PS 15 recent appeals to the State Education Commissioner prove once again that Mayoral Control amounts to nothing more than governance by lawsuit, a construct where parents, students, and teachers will find themselves at a great disadvantage, and will almost always lose, when seeking what is best for the public education of our youth.

Commissioner David Steiner’s decisions in both cases, the Department of Education’s responses in both cases, and the outrageous actions of Klein evoking ‘emergency powers’ in the one of Steiner's findings set dangerous and destructive precedents for our schools and students when it comes to school and space utilization and allocation.

As a result of Steiner’s decision and the responses and actions of the DOE:

· Space allocations are not required for related services for special needs students or for ELL students.
· Stairwells and Hallways are perfectly acceptable spaces for students to receive educational services.
· Negative impacts on existing public school students, specifically removing space for enrichment, intervention, and other mandated and non-mandated services to benefit a charter school, is perfectly acceptable.
· Educational Impact statements do not have to be provided to parents in paper form or through the mail. Notification to families and communities need only be made through the internet or through the school’s principal with no additional resources provided by the DOE.
· Educational impact statements do not have to specifically identify the impacts or losses on students in terms of space or programming due to a co-location.
· Educational impact statements do not have to show how space will be allocated; a space plan can be completed after the co-location is approved.
· Providing opportunities for hearings and public input where no one is actually heard or considered meets the standard of the law.
· When a legal decision is made that favors parents, students, and teachers, the DOE will find a way to get around it.

Mayoral Control is absolute power that corrupts absolutely. It is a license to push destructive and discriminatory policies touted by this Mayor and Chancellor, which will be rubberstamped by a PEP whose majority is selected by the Mayor himself and given the directive to "serve at his pleasure". When in the rare case, the Administration is legally challenged on a issue, there is a loophole to declare emergencies in order to override whatever decision displeases the Chancellor. This is not putting Children First, as their self-heralded initiative claims, this is putting ideology first, an ideology rooted in free-market principles that further reinforce the roles of privilege and subordination in our country and pervert our public education system, the pillar of our democracy. Local and State legislators must take action to end this corrupt governance system and put legislation in place and advocate for policies that protect public schools and our neediest and most vulnerable children.

Join Grassroots Education Movement in the Struggle to Protect and Preserve Public Education! Check in this week for further video and analysis regarding the DOE’s outrageous actions and claims regarding co-locations @ ednotesonline.blogspot.com, capeducation@blogspot.com and grassrootseducationmovement@blogspot.com

Want to create a community-based advocacy group in your school? Contact capeducation@gmail.com for an advocacy toolkit and information on GEM’s school-based organizing committee.

Together we can stop the dysfunctional and discriminatory education policies of Bloomberg and Klein!

Politicians and Parents Criticize Joel Klein's Use of Emergency Powers to Favor Charter Over Autistic Children

I just sent this story over to The Wave. It will be published Friday, August 13. I tried to write is as a straight news story - with my slant of course - rather than as the usual Ed Notes rant. Last night my writers group, which includes a former newspaperman, used some of my blog posts to make suggestions. Really useful stuff that I will try to implement.


Politicians and Parents Criticize Joel Klein's Use of Emergency Powers to Favor Charter Over Autistic Children

by Norm Scott

August 11, 2010

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein was charged with favoring charter schools run by billionaire power brokers over the needs of autistic children at an August 9th press conference called by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

Held under the arch of the Municipal Building at One Centre St., Stringer was joined by City Council members Rosie Mendez and Robert Jackson and State Senator Daniel Squadron, along with parents of the autistic children affected.

Girls Prep charter school has occupied space in PS 188 on Houston St. on the lower east side. The school building also contains P94, a school for autistic children. Increasing demands for space by Girls Prep, all of which have been granted by Klein, has squeezed the children in the two public schools in the building. P94 had been moved around the building numerous times. Autistic children often find it difficult to handle changes. By allowing Girls Prep to expand to the 8th grade within PS 188, the children would have to be moved again.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner issued a ruling to Klein to stop the expansion of Girls Prep Charter, ruling that it discriminates against the special education students of P94. Steiner had commented in his ruling that Klein could override his decision by invoking the emergency powers granted to him under the mayoral control renewal law passed by the NY State Legislature in August 2009. And that is exactly what Klein did — invoke emergency powers.

The outcry was immediate. "[Sheldon] Silver Calls Klein's Girls Prep Decision 'Blatant Abuse' of Emergency Powers" blared one headline. The lower key NY Times headline read: "Chancellor Declares an Emergency to Sidestep State Ruling and Expand Charter School."

Parents spoke at the press conference. "I'm upset at the lack of respect given to the educational needs of my son and the other 50 children in that building," said P94 parent Jessica Santos. Corina Lindenberg, a representative of CEC1, the local school board in the area said, "[Klein] clearly favors a school that is hedge fund fueled opposing a school that truly serves the children that have the most needs.... not just autistic children but children that are living in poverty that are living on the streets. Look at Girls Prep if they have these kinds of students. They don't."

Springer told a story of a meeting he held with DOE officials where they made assurances on the Girls Prep issue that satisfied him. A day later, Klein pulled the emergency powers rip cord. Stringer seemed pretty frustrated with Klein and the DOE but kept talking about holding meetings with Tweed. When asked about the fruitfulness of these meetings with the DOE if they constantly renege and are willing to break the law Stringer said they have to keep meeting to try to change the policies since nothing can be done until mayoral control comes up for renewal in a 2013.

State Senator Daniel Squadron said, "The problem is we have an exemption in the law that it seems the Department of Education wants to drive a Mack truck through."

LowDownNYC, a local Manhattan paper, commented on both Silver, who is the leader of the State Assembly but was not present at the press conference and Squadron:

"The Girls Prep controversy marks the first time the chancellor has invoked his 'emergency powers' since Albany renewed mayoral control of New York City’s schools last year. That legislation was the result of a deal brokered by State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and co-sponsored in the Senate by Daniel Squadron. Last fall, Squadron addressed skeptical parent activists, who were worried the mayor and chancellor would continue (in their view) to ignore community input about local schools. Squadron told them the new law included provisions that would assure DOE accountability to parents. As a co-sponsor of the legislation, Squadron said, he would make sure the Education Department respected the letter as well as the spirit of the law."

With the disparity between public schools and charter schools controlled by wealthy people with influence, the pressure on the politicians from parent and activist groups appears to be growing. Numerous meetings of parent activist groups are being scheduled over the next week.

"Why did Girls Prep want to expand in the first place?" asked Class Size Matters' Leonie Haimson. "The school had recently moved into dangerous territory fiscally speaking, and most likely wanted an infusion of taxpayer funds generated by higher enrollment, without having to dip into the hefty pockets of their board members," referring her readers to the SUNY fiscal dashboard for details. http://www.newyorkcharters.org/FiscalDashboard.htm

Charter schools use public tax money but are managed by private interests outside the purview of elected officials. Why is so much private money flowing into charters, which combined with the public money allows many of them to offer more services and lower class size? Haimson on her NYC Parent blog said, "Billionaire hedge fund privateers are intent on 'leveraging' their private contributions." She pointed to this comment in the NY Times by Whitney Tilson, Hedge Fund manager and an education activist promoting charters: “It’s the most important cause in the nation, obviously, and with the state providing so much of the money, outside contributions are insanely well leveraged."

Commentary on Mike Winerip Column - Updated

Update Aug.12, 8am: Susan Ohanian gets into the people running Teach Plus.

Mike Winerip's must read regular Monday ed column - this one was another full of food for thought - (Lesson Plan in Boston Schools: Don’t Go It Alone) touched on what looks like a good thing - on the surface. Even my wife who barely notices ed stuff commented that it seems like a good idea to bring in teams of experienced teachers in schools being redesigned. So let's do a little parsing:

Earlier this year Massachusetts enacted a law that allowed districts to remove at least half the teachers and the principal at their lowest-performing schools. The school turnaround legislation aligned the state with the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program incentives and a chance to collect a piece of the $3.4 billion in federal grant money.
From Washington this makes abundant good sense, a way to galvanize rapid and substantial change in schools for children who need it most. In practice, on the ground, it is messy for the people most necessary for turning a school around — the teachers — and not always fair. Often the decisions about which teachers will stay and which will go are made by new principals who may be very good, but don’t know the old staff.

Yes, the evils of Race to the Bowels of Hell. One of the themes of the article is that many experienced teachers don't want to go to these turnarounds.

Asked about applying to one of the city’s 12 turnaround schools, Lisa Goncalves, a first-grade teacher with seven years’ experience, said, “I’d be hesitant to go alone.” 

Said Celine Coggins, the chief executive of Teach Plus, which developed the idea and is financed by the Gates Foundation: “I think teachers want to know they’re not going into a school alone as a hero.”

 Bong! Bong!! Warning bells going off - THE GATES FOUNDATION. We know things like reducing class size can't be part of this solution.

So here is their supposed solution to the problem turn arounds that dump out the old and end up with scads of newbies.

And that is the simple idea behind a new program that is being used to staff three of the turnaround schools in Boston: you don’t go alone. Rather than have the principal fill the slots one by one, the Boston schools have enlisted the help of a nonprofit organization, Teach Plus, to assemble teams of experienced teachers who will make up a quarter of the staff of each turnaround school come fall. The teams will spend two weeks working together this summer. While teaching a full load, they will serve as team leaders for their grades and specialty areas like English immersion. They will work 210 days versus the normal 185 and get paid $6,000 extra a year. On average they have eight years’ experience.

I love this line:

“It’s like jump-starting a culture at these schools,” said Carol R. Johnson, Boston superintendent of schools.

Right Ms. Johnston. Follow the Gates and ed deform mantra: "it's about changing the culture of the school, not inadequate resources" and you will end up where all the other Gates initiatives are ending up.

Well, here is what I told my wife. It won't work."What would you do," she asked?

"I'd bring in the team but leave the old staff in place. See what happens if you increase the resources of the school by say 20%. Why not? Billions are being tossed down the toilet. Let Gates fund that. But he won't. Because success would prove the ed deform plan to be as false as George Washington's teeth.

Wish I Could Vote in Colorado- UPDATE: DARNIT

Update: Just saw Bennet on TV after win. Looked pretty arrogant to me. Too bad he won.

Reality Based Educator put us onto the Colorado Senate primary where Obama ed deform face Michael Bennet faces defeat today from Andrew Romanoff despite - or because of - the Obama admin pushing Bennet.

You may have read the other day in a major article in the NY Times about the disastrous deal Bennet made with the banks that is about to bankrupt the Colorado teachers pension system.

It is difficult to believe but Michael Bennet, the corporate whore Democrat backed by Barack Obama, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, hedge fund criminals like Whitney Tilson and the entire education deform industry, is on the verge of losing a primary to an insurgent who had to sell his house to get enough money to compete with the millions Bennet has raised from Wall Street and other corporate interests.

Here is how the Denver Post depicts the last full day of campaigning:

Andrew Romanoff's T-shirt shop has been working overtime in the last weeks of his insurgent campaign for U.S. Senate, churning out thousands of dark-blue "Teachers for Romanoff" and "Nurses for Romanoff" jerseys.

The one shirt you won't see between now and Tuesday's Democratic primary is "Establishment for Romanoff," and that's just the way the former House speaker's campaign seems to like it.

 Read RBE's full piece at: Taking Back Washington D.C. From The Corporate Whores

I don't trust most politicians no matter what they say but in this case I figure a defeat for Bennet is a victory for us. So I joined Andrew Romanoff's facebook page. And lo and behold, he is supported by Bill Clinton. Not a good sign since he is an ed deformer, though he tries to closet it. But it is intriguing that he goes against an Obama supported candidate. Or does he just see the handwriting on the wall an jumped on. See http://www.andrewromanoff.com/blog/entry/bill-clinton-hold-this-seat/


And in case you haven't noticed yet, some teacher bloggers in Colorado are doing more than their share. Leonie urges everyone to subscribe to their blog so we don't have to keep reposting. Here is a good one:

Walking to D.C.

Sabrina | August 9, 2010 at 3:07 pm | Categories: other school professionals, standardized testing | URL: http://wp.me/pTcsU-7T

Headlines like "Inexperienced Companies Chase U.S. School Funds" and "Schools paying for tutors with mixed track record" don't surprise Dr. Jesse Turner, a professor of reading and language arts at Central Connecticut State University. In the course of his work as director of CCSU's Literacy Center, he has witnessed and felt deep opposition to No [...]

Read more of this post

And check out a new tab at the top I'm calling CURRENT HOT ITEMS. I'm trying not to clutter the side bar with too many items but they just keep coming in. Today we have an item on Bill Gates (Teachers Pest).

Klein Declared an Emergency, Gets a Press conference protesting expansion of Girls Prep Charter at Expense of Autistic Kids

A bunch of us bloggers attended the press conference today where a group of politicians and parents castigated Joel Klein and his pal the mayor over their decision to override State Ed Commissioner David Steiner's decision to stop the expansion of Girls Prep Charter at the expense of P94, a school for autistic children. Steiner is no hero here. He ruled against our pals in CAPE at PS 15 which has been infested by PAVE charter school, which by the way is linked in numerous ways to Girls Prep. And in his rejection of the Girls Prep expansion he invited Klein to invoke emergency powers to overturn his own decision. He and his henchwoman Meryl Tisch are quite a slick duo. They have managed to escape the slings and arrows of the press after commissioning that study that showed the test scores around the state were bogus. In fact the embarrassment was growing so fast they had no choice.

Manhattan Borough Pres Scott Stringer was the leader of the band and was joined by other politicians, most of whom supported the extension of mayoral control a year ago. Springer told a story of a meeting he held with DOE officials and they made assurances on the Girls Prep issue that satisfied him. A day later, Klein pulled the emergency powers gambit. Stringer seemed pretty frustrated with Klein but kept talking about holding meetings with Tweed. I asked him what is the point if they constantly renege and are willing to break the law. Stringer said nothing can be done until mayoral control comes up for renewal in a few years, though I don't see why not. Every politician should be held accountable for their vote for mayoral control last year.

Daniel Squadron, who really sold out on mayoral control was at the PC.  Here is a section of a piece in the LowDownNYC which calls Squadron out:

The Girls Prep controversy marks the first time the chancellor has invoked his “emergency powers” since Albany renewed mayoral control of New York City’s schools last year. That legislation was the result of a deal brokered by State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and co-sponsored in the Senate by Daniel Squadron.
Last fall, Squadron addressed skeptical parent activists, who were worried the mayor and chancellor would continue (in their view) to ignore community input about local schools. Squadron told them the new law included provisions that would assure DOE accountability to parents. As a co-sponsor of the legislation, Squadron said, he would make sure the Education Department respected the letter as well as the spirit of the law.

 Yeah Squadron. We would have called him out at the press conference but didn't want to ruin the karma. You can read the entire piece at:
http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2010/08/elected-officials-call-on-doe-to-fix-girls-prep-situation.html#more-15725


At the NYC Parent blog Leonie wrote about the tangled web that connects some charters:

Julian Robertson [whose son Spencer runs PAVE] is in the news recently, not about his efforts on behalf of NYC charters, but because he took the Gates/Buffett billionaire’s pledge to give away most of his money to charity. Why that couldn’t include finding space for the charter schools run by his son and daughter-in-law, so that they wouldn’t have to push out autistic and other high-needs kids from critical space in their public schools is hard to figure out.

Perhaps contributing to his reluctance is the fact that these billionaire hedge fund privateers are intent on “leveraging” their private contributions as much as possible, as one of them, Whitney Tilson, pointed out in the NY Times article:

“It’s the most important cause in the nation, obviously, and with the state providing so much of the money, outside contributions are insanely well leveraged,” he said.

Julian Robertson is also a philanthropist who is awfully good at avoiding to pay NYC taxes, even to the extent of hiring a social secretary to keep track of how many days he should stay out of the city each year.

Why did Girls Prep want to expand in the first place? See the SUNY charter center fiscal dashboard, which shows that this school had recently moved into dangerous territory fiscally speaking, and most likely wanted an infusion of taxpayer funds generated by higher enrollment, without having to dip into the hefty pockets of their board members or Spencer’s generous father.

Read it all here:

The tangled web of influence behind Klein's decision to allow the expansion of Girls Prep charter to go forward
I taped the entire press conference and am processing some of it now. You can see ABC's Art Mcfarland's report here:

Press conference protesting Klein's "emergency" expansion of Girls Prep Charter school

I've been working with GEMers on a short video addressing this particular issue and its broader implications and we expect to release it in a day or two on you tube.

As I said there were some bloggers there and I'm not sure I can say things any batter than them. So here are some reports I've seen so far.

South Bronx teacher was in the house and asked a question about moving autistic kids -  he has a report here: Emergency Powers

Harlem Success Academy Secret Meeting Tues. Aug. 10, 4pm

Just received this email. If you are going make sure to confirm.
Norm

URGENT!!!!!!

Harlem Success Academy (HSA) is holding a public hearing at their HSA 1 site- @ PS 149 on Lenox Ave between 117th and 118th st. Tomorrow- Tuesday, August 10, 2010 @ 4:00 PM

With little to no actual public notice- taking advantage of the summer while many of us are out of town

PLEASE SHARE!!!

Reach out to our comrades and ask that people come out in support of our Harlem schools who are fighting to stay afloat amid the HSA onslaught!!!!

Thank you!!!

Is It That Obvious?

This (Failing Schools) continues to be one of the best written, incisive teacher blogs out there.
--- Leonie Haimson

Isn’t It Obvious?

August 8, 2010
by mariasallee

August 8, 2010

by mariasallee

I recently finished reading Diane Ravitch’s book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. I am pleased and grateful that she shares so many of the opinions I have long held about how we’re going down the wrong path in “reforming” our educational system.  Moreover, she provides research to support her views and, of course, she has years of experience working as a policy-maker, things that make her voice carry a bit more weight than mine.  To a teacher, much of what she is saying is obvious. Those of working us in the country’s urban schools have seen a great deal of truly needy families, squandered opportunities, punitive action against teachers, and woeful mismanagement.  While I was reading Ravitch’s book, I realized that it is probably not obvious to people on the outside looking in.  Like any insider, educators get so accustomed to the way things are that we take the truths we live with for granted.

Read this great piece in full at: http://failingschools.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/isnt-it-obvious/



Ed Notes commentary:

When I started reading Diane's book I also thought: Isn't it obvious? And why wasn't it obvious to as an astute observer as Diane? And maybe it is mariasallee's point -

 I might liken it to working in the trenches: you can’t know what it’s really like unless you’ve been there and those of us who have been there will never have the same perspective on the world again.

But by being in the trenches she means for a significant amount of time. I think that is one of the ideas behind Teach for America - be able to make the claim you were in the trenches but not long enough to "never have the same perspective on the world again." In other words, get them out of the trenches and into policy making ASAP before they are contaminated. One of the very best people working in GEM is a TFA alum and those that stay in the trenches will become anti ed deform.

One of the issues not being touched in the blog post is the insane attempt to make everyone accountable and the fear that to challenge this concept is a blasphemy.

I was a the Yankee game last week (more important than seeing Alex' 600th was getting $5 senior citizen seats and getting seated in the lower grandstand between third and home - seats that go for $250 - but I almost spend that much on food.)

I went with a teacher who I met a few years ago when he saw a copy of ed notes. He is a 10 year teacher on his 4th career - a senior citizen. He is an a school that is closing and has been an ATR for a few years. He also went off on the accountability kick- maybe it was his other careers.

I told him how in my early career when it came time to make a decision on a child - leave back or not , etc. the teacher had a role to play - our judgement counted. The supervisors - all of whom had to do a stint of teaching  and had experienced the trenches - and the teachers - were often on the same page. He got all excited and insisted I should have to show empirical data to make my case. I kept saying, "What about the judgement of a pro? Why isn't that good enough? Are people in every job being held to the same type of measured accountability as being asked of teachers? I don't believe it."

Things began to change way before BloomKlein - actually with the advent of the local districts where a political system of choosing principals - akin to today - replaced the old civil service system. I won't try to make a case for that system - but old timers will say that schools have not been as effectively run since then. But then again you have that accountability thing - there were many problems with students in certain populations.

The BloomKlein and ed deform business models squarely place the blame on the educators for  failures. We need to hold people accountable - except for the ed deformers of course. So we are in the third iteration of management and this is proving to be the worst.

What will be the next step after a generation? Bob Herbert - who has supported ed deform while lamenting attacks on workers (teachers don't count) talks about the drop in college grad rates (when are the colleges going to be held to that metric - close them down and open charter colleges?)

Rather than real solutions with money going to support students and teachers instead of accountability, very unlikely in an increasing economic downturn (see Krugman today and check out Gary Shteyngart's novel "Super Sad True Love Story") we will end up with a privatized school system where no one except teachers are accountable.

How to stop this? Join the resistance.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 2 - The Chicago Experience

Part 1: Unity

Part 2: The Chicago Experience
Building a democratic union and building a democratic caucus go hand in hand


I am trying to piece things together from afar so I may not be totally accurate but here is my sense of things.

When Debbie Lynch won the Chicago Teachers Union election on a reform slate in 2001, she had a few problems. More than a few. She had a caucus (PACT) but from what I can gather it was somewhat limited in reach. How did she win? Personal reputation, the worsening conditions in the school and a Unity like leadership (UPC) that was  incompetent. I mean of you want to rate Unity vs UPC on a scale of ability to manage the members - Unity was a 10 and UPC was a 3. Maybe.


So Debbie is in power. She is saddled with a staff hired by UPC that she can't get rid of because they are in the Teamsters union and have a contract (the same situation faced today by CORE). They do all they can to undermine her. She also doesn't have control of the House of Delegates which is still controlled by the UPC. Her caucus is not really strong enough to fend off the attacks by the UPC, which still continues to function to win back power. And she also makes some mistakes which I won't get into now.

I'm guessing here, but I have a sense she worked on building the union - CTU - and possibly neglected on continuing to build her caucus.

Still, in the 2004 election she almost wins without a runoff but falls short and it ends up with PACT vs UPC. And there are some irregularities and the AFT rules against her. And the UPC is back in power. In 2007 she gets smashed by the UPC.

Now stuff begins to happen. UPC's Marilyn Stewart who defeated Debbie in 2004 and 2007 goes after people in her own caucus, even having the guy who ran her campaign thrown out of the union and splitting with a person elected as an officer on her slate. Eventually, two caucuses will emerge from this split in the UPC.

In the meantime, Debbie Lynch rebuilds her caucus for a run at the 2010 elections, figuring she has a real chance with the UPC splits. But out of the grassroots, another group starts rising.

Caucus of Rank and File Educators
We found out from new CTU president Karen Lewis when we heard her speak to a CTU party in Chicago that CORE started out as a study group – things were so bad in the schools and in the union that a group of people started getting together to try to figure out what was happening. "We had no idea of getting involved in the union the way we did," Lewis said. But with the charter influx, the closing of schools and the numbers of teachers losing their jobs, they had no choice. More activist oriented than the other caucuses, they began to grow quickly. When I met with a group of CORE members in LA last summer they told me they felt they had a chance to get into the runoff and then "anything is possible."

The year since has been momentous. CORE influence kept growing as quickly as UPC ineptness and indications were coming in that the prediction of last summer would come through - that with 5 caucuses running, the UPC would not get a majority in round 1 and they had a shot at squeaking into the runoff. To show you how clueless Marilyn Stewart was, as late as the first round election she was sure the UPC would get over 50% and a runoff wouldn't be necessary.

The shocker was that CORE and UPC ran neck and neck with around 32% of the vote each, with the other 3 caucuses splitting the rest. Debbie Lynch got about 15%. A few days later all 3 of the groups out of the running endorsed CORE. Word is that Debbie truly delivered her vote into the hands of CORE, which had about 60% of the vote in the runoff.

Analysis shows that though some people in CORE are claiming an overwhelming victory, the reality is that the UPC still had about 40% and the other 3 caucuses might hold a balance of power in the future. It all depends on whether CORE learns from the past and continues to build the CORE caucus at the same time as rebuilding the devastated Chicago Teachers Union while trying to maintain democracy at the caucus level and within the CTU. (How tempting would it be to treat the UPC the way they treated everyone else all the years in power?) And let's not forget that a reform movement that refuses to cooperate with the ed deformers as Randi and Mulgrew do is a major threat to the political and financial forces arrayed against them and to the power structure in the AFT/UFT.

Some say it is never too early to win power when you can. But there are pitfalls if you are young like CORE and if you have not consolidate the organization into a cohesive force while at the same time maintaining a good relationship with the other non-UPC caucuses that supported them, in particular Debbie Lynch. They seem to be making moves in this direction. This was posted on their blog on Aug. 4:

CORE owes a debt of gratitude to the PACT team for their efforts to promote democracy in the CTU and defend the rights of all members to campaign. We are grateful, as well, for their far-sighted support (along with CSDU and SEA) of CORE in the runoff election to move the CTU forward.

 That they took the time in the midst of the enormous challenges they face is a good sign.

CORE seems to be in the tween faze - it grew real fast and seemed to keep control over things as they grew. Can they continue to grow while also trying to run the union and battle the forces of ed deform?

CORE certainly has its work cut out for it.


Read more at Substance


 Part 3 will address how NYC differs from Chicago and the chances of seeing a CORE-like group here in the near future.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 1 - Unity, NYC

Why the need for a caucus?
I'm not opposed to the concept of a caucus – a political party – inside a union. I think it is important for people to get together over ideas they agree on and whether in power or not fight for those ideas to be union policy. When there are two or more caucuses in a democratically run union with open discussion, the result would be better decision making and better policies.

But when you have a one party system with a caucus that has no interest in a debate on policy - even within the caucus itself - whose major focus is on maintaining itself in power - then you get distorted policies. Policies that are not decided upon in the cauldron of debate but from the very top that are then forced down on the members of the caucus in power to be further forced down on the rank and file they reach in the schools.

Of course I am describing Unity Caucus. Now things are not as simple as this. Most Unity Caucus members come to agree with the policies - they are convinced through selective arguments that don't give the kind of full picture they would get through an open debate. Those who don't agree - and these often come from the school level Unity people - mostly remain quiet due to a bunch of reasons: selfish (no jobs, no trips to conventions, no protection if attacked by supervisors) or in fear that they won't be able to service their members by being shut off.

It is important to point out right here that the people running the UFT have always paid the most attention to maintaining and building Unity caucus, even at the expense of the larger entity - the UFT. This is a true legacy of Albert Shanker (he is given too much credit for the wrong things) who was a genius at managing power.

One of Randi's real impacts was on how she changed Unity Caucus from a narrow invitation only to one where they invite everyone (even me at one point). That was her genius. Open it up to all, especially potential dissidents and coopt them into the caucus. We've actually been meeting some great, smart people who are in Unity - people who might have been part of an effective opposition. In fact, if there was a serious opposition that had a real chance of challenging for power, some of the people not happy with the direction of the union might go in that direction.

Randi's other genius was in making a deal with the leading opposition, New Action.  While not in Unity, they might as well be. Eight Unity endorsed New Action members are on the Ex Bd. She gave New Action leader Michael Shulman his own little empire where he controls a batch of jobs - where a Unity person and a New Action person go into schools supposedly to help them organize. These jobs are coveted by retirees.

Unity tries to make sure they have top people running the caucus. And no matter what you read about the attacks on Jeff Zahler from within the moles at Unity, he was/is extremely competent at doing this. (I don't know his exact status now - Randi sent him to Wash DC as AFT staff director while she was still UFT Pres but he got sick and came back. But I bet he is involved in some way.)

Building caucus vs. building union?
Since we have been under the yoke of Unity - if you're not Swedish you might pronounce "yoke" a different way - we don't often think of what would happen to a caucus that actually won power. You now run a union. How does your caucus relate to the larger entity, especially if you don't want to be another Unity?

Events in Chicago over the last decade provide serious food for thought. I'll address that in Part 2, which I'll publish later tonight.

Caucuses and Unions: Part 2 - The Chicago Experience

Parsing Inside Unity Info - Part 1- Does Klein Have A Mole in the UFT?

Well, reporters have been calling about some of the Inside Unity stuff appearing in the comments section of this post Is UFT Bronx Leader Vargas Going Rogue? - Updated. We started hearing from Da Moles (there are definitely more than one) while in Seattle and posted the July comments here.

Now some of the stuff seems "out there" but within all there are many grains of truth. We have confirmed that staffers are unhappy with Leroy Barr and Jose Vargas. As to whether Barr and Vargas are at war we have not confirmed. Lurking behind the anonymous info was the hint of racial issues. Is Vargas setting up a Latino/a only operation? Is there resentment on the part of some black Unity people? When in Seattle we had some contact with some black members of Unity who told us they secretly read and supported many ed notes positions and expressed some unhappiness at the way jobs were being given out.

This Mole comment on July 24th was interesting:

FORGET THE CONVENTIONS AND THE PERKS AND THE DO- NOTHING JOBS AT 52 BROADWAY.
RANDI LEFT MULGREW IN CHARGE- THEN KLEIN SENT HIS GUY BRIAN GIBBONS IN TO KEEP MULGREW ON A SHORT LEASH 

Gibbons used to be the spokesman for the principal's union, which doesn't necessarily condemn him to being "Klein's" man. But who knows?

There was more in the July 24th comment of interest:

RANDI HAS GIVEN UP ON UNIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SHE WANTS TO BE A PLAYER IN D.C.
SHE AND MULGREW WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIND UP ON THE RIGHT SIDE- THE RIGHT SIDE BEING GATES, BLOOMBERG, ET. AL., AND BOTH OF THEM COULD EASILY BE AT D.O.E. SO SHE GUTTED THE CONTRACT, LEFT THE RUBBER ROOMERS IN LEGAL LIMBO FOR TEN YEARS AND STARTED PROTECTING HER FRIENDS IN D.O.E AND GREEN DOT AND SHARPTON AND THE OTHER MISCREANTS.
THIS IS ABOUT DESTROYING TEACHERS UNIONS AND DESTROYING PUBLIC EDUCATION AND RANDI AND MULGREW ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS A DISTRACTION.

This is pretty on target. I think there is more to it. I don't look at personalities as causal - what Randi/Mulgrew want, etc. There is policy and I see it as more of a direct line of consistency over 30 or more years than just as Randi's wishes. (GEM has set up a UFT/AFT study group to delve deeper into this issue.)

One thing is noticeable. Randi had her finger on every single button and jumped in at the first sign of trouble. Clearly she monitored the blogs for those signs and any rumblings coming out of dissidents in schools. She jumped in early and tried to coopt or even buy people off (see one New Action Caucus).

Mulgrew just doesn't have the chops Randi had to manage all this. Someone called yesterday and said, "Randi jumped ship just in time and left Mulgrew holding the bag." I used to disagree with this analysis since Randi's power base at the AFT was totally dependent on the UFT and behind that Unity Caucus. (I'm going to do a follow-up on why the management of Unity Caucus is of a higher priority than managing the union itself and will compare it to the Chicago situation.)

But maybe the combination of buying off the leading opposition for 20 years and the ineptness of the current opposition in making a dent (and yes, I play a role in that ineptness)  have made Randi so confident of not having to face a Chicago style revolt in NYC for a very long time, if ever. (More on this in follow-ups too.)

Another thing has emerged: One of the moles seems to be trying to redirect suspicion by giving clues to other people. I have some ideas as to who these people may be. Some are lower level school based and others are in 52 Broadway. Are they just people with grudges - didn't get a job, jealousy, etc -  or are there serious cracks showing up?

One of the more intriguing pieces of information is that there are deals between Klein and Mulgrew for UFT people to be placed at Tweed. We'll delve into some historical aspects of the UFT at the old BOE and what might be occurring. Key words: Aminda Gentile and teacher centers.

See part 2: Parsing Inside Unity: Does the UFT Have Backroom Deals for Jobs With BloomKlein?

--------------
Afterburn1

Some of the latest info tells us that Brooklyn/SI high school district rep Charlie Friedman was forced into retirement. Charlie was one of the many Unity crew that enjoyed a cruise to Alaska after the AFT convention - they paid their own way we hear. His replacement is rumored to be closing school Maxwell's chapter leader Jeff Bernstein. At one time I heard Bernstein was going to replace Mulgrew as Vocational HS Veep supposedly Bernstein and Mulgrew are close). Berstein, on the surface a nice guy, used to have me deliver Ed Notes and then throw them away. And when I went in and put them in boxes he and Distr rep Charlie Turner made sure they didn't stay there. They both went after a GEMer at their school who dared to call out during Randi's farewell speech.

Maxwell by the way had 22 people excessed. ATRville here they come.

--------
Afterburn2

Our ICE pal Julie Woodward's daughter Lisa, who performs under the stage name Lucy Woodward, made a fabulous appearance on the CBS morning show this morning, performing 2 songs from her new jazz album. I've seen her perform as a rock singer a few times but now she is going back to her jazz roots. Her mom is an accomplished music teacher so we know where it comes from.
I put up Lucy's last email newsletter to fans on Norms Notes. From Lucy Woodward
Her web site is: http://www.lucywoodward.com/

I loved this piece:

The Pizza Sessions:
After a recent gig in NYC, I ended up in a pizzeria (naturally) on Bleecker street with my friend, Heather. It was a stormy night, 3 am. Six stoned, english laddies walk in and on the spot, we bonk them over the head with a couple of my songs convincing them to beatbox to 'Babies' and 'He Got Away'. It was a classic New York moment and we got it on videotape here....(viva Flipcam!)...

DEFEND DIANE RAVITCH FROM JOEL KLEIN'S MINIONS!!

New Tweed hack supremo Natalie Ravitz goes after Ravitch - could be a song. Where's our pal David Cantor when you need him? Here Steve Koss issues an appeal on Leonie's listserve.



This call to everyone on the listserv who supports REAL educational reform (not the Bloomberg/Klein kind).

Yesterday, Klein's new Director of Communications (P.R. hack), Natalie Ravitz, posted her first "column" on the Huffington Post website. Why she merits this forum and why HuffPost gave it to her is beyond my understanding, but she nevertheless chose for her debut performance a scurrilous attack on Diane Ravitch's recent writings concerning the new NYS exam standards and cut scores and the sham those changes have made of Bloomberg/Klein's claims of staggering educational improvement under their watch. Ms. Ravitz conducted her attack in a manner eerily similar to Andrew Breitbart's recent "outing" of USDA's Shirley Sharrod, by taking a three-year old article of Diane's and quoting it completely out of context. She also made numerous remarks suggesting that Ms. Ravitch regards NYC public school children as "slackers," that she disparages any progress students might make, that she revels in students' failures, that she is inconsistent in her assessment of the NAEPs, and that "everything they [NYC public school students] have accomplished thus far is meaningless."

Her best and most ironic line: "It is easy to hurl insults from the sidelines." Yes, Ms. Ravitz, you certainly proved that in your first major effort on Joel Klein's behalf. Hurling insults and using Breitbart tactics to suggest that a woman who has devoted her entire career to public school education actually enjoys seeing children fail -- coming from someone who is likely clueless about public education and is certainly clueless about it in NYC.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. IF YOU CAN SPARE A MINUTE, GO TO THE HUFFINGTON POST WEBSITE, READ MS. RAVITZ'S RANT, AND POST A COMMENT. THERE ARE ALREADY 16 COMMENTS AS OF THIS MORNING, 100% OF THEM IN SUPPORT OF DIANE. LET'S MAKE IT 100 OR MORE!!

HERE'S THE LINK ADDRESS:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-ravitz/

IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, JUST GO TO www.huffingtonpost.com and do a search on Kravitz. FROM THERE YOU CAN CLICK ON HER ONE AND ONLY "COLUMN."

I tried submitting a comment questioning HuffPost itself -- why did they give Ms. Ravitz, clearly a rookie in her position, such an undeserved platform, and aren't they ashamed to have one of their "columnists" debuting" with a dishonest personal attack on someone with far, far, far greater credentials and reputation than she (who appears to have ZERO background in education). The moderator wouldn't post it.

Steve Koss

Seeing Alex Hit Number 600

As proof to my Unity friends who are so concerned that I am not enjoying my retirement, I offer this ditty.

I got a call from one of the Ed Notes contacts last week. A guy around my age, he is still in the system, having taught only 10 years. Ugh! He has been an ATR over the last few years. Double Ugh!! Now he is being harassed by his principal - in a closing school yet. Give him a triple Ugh!!!

Well anyway, he figured a good way to catch up would be at a $5 senior citizen afternoon game at Yankee Stadium. Now I missed all 4 Yankee games when we were at the AFT convention in Seattle in early July. (Unlike so Unity people, many of whom went to at least one Yankee game, I actually was busy - processing video of all their shenanigans.) So I jumped at the chance. I told a former colleague who just turned 80 last week that I would treat her to a Yankee game and dinner afterward. Who would a thunk that Alex would go almost 2 weeks trying to hit number 600 and we would have a shot at seeing it? "He won't do it today," my friend said. "And if he did, we will be so far away for $5 he will look like a speck."

So, I took the subway up to her at her place in the city to meet her by 10 am on Wednesday. What do I care about getting on and off the subway? I have the golden senior citizen half fare card. But when we get back on the subway I realize I still have a free transfer and my card is not charged. A buck and change saved. I am my father's son.

We get to the stadium by 10:45 and meet my ATR friend and by 11:15 we're in. Now to find the seats - I'm ready with a tissue to control the nosebleed. But when we get in and take a look at where we were sitting.

Holy Cow! - as our old pal Phil used to say. Section 124 grandstand, row 25 (just inside the shade zone) between home and third right behind the visitor dugout, with a direct view of the pitchers mound. Just look at the map and weep.

We checked the prices. $245 seats - for 5 bucks a piece. Let's see now - saved a buck and change on the free subway transfer (plus the alta cocker half fare card) and got $245 seats for 5 bucks. What could be bad about this? Okay, maybe the $6 Nathan's hot dogs and the other hazari I was eating - at least $25 worth. And the fact that we were in "foul ball hitting us in the face territory." But I had my hat ready to snag anything coming my way - sorry I didn't drag out my 50 year old glove. Probably shrunken to the size of a mitten by now.

We're 10 minutes into the game and Alex does it - a monster over the center field wall into Memorial Park (which we didn't get in to see due to massive lines). I got so excited I hit my friend in the cheek. No way I was going to get away with dinner at Nathan's.

Then the game got pretty boring as Yankee pitcher Phil Hughes looked like he was sleep walking - working so slow - even though he only gave up a few hits. I mean you could see the grass grow between pitches. The game didn't pick up until he was taken out. Alex did nothing more though Jeter had 4 hits.

Oh yeah. And dinner was at a French restaurant on Lexington Ave. across from where Bernie Madoff used to live. Quadruple ugh!!!! And I'm not talking about the food. But at least the bulky wallet I came with was no longer bulging out of in back pocket on the subway ride home.

 Today I get a call from a teacher friend who says, "You saw the 600th home run." "How did you know," I said? "I saw you on TV," she said. Hope I wasn't picking my nose. Or scratching in funny places.

Is UFT Bronx Leader Vargas Going Rogue? - Updated

Ed Note: A batch of comments from insiders at Unity Caucus and rank and file Bronx teachers have been coming in on this post. None of it is vetted but lots of leads for enterprising investigative reporters so I am reposting and will put a tab up top if more info comes in so the info can be easily found.

Original post: Weds. Aug. 4, 8 am

We've been getting complaints about Jose Vargas from Bronx rank and file teachers over the way he was running the Bronx UFT office. Lack or response, lack of interest, etc. There were charges he was tied into the Bronx Democratic party machine in unhealthy ways. Principals connected to the Bronx machine being favored over teachers they were harassing. Calls and complaints to UFT leaders were to no avail. They almost seemed to fear reigning Vargas in.

Now a new level of complaints have started emerging about Vargas, this time from within the belly of the Unity beast at 52 Broadway. That Vargas has set up his own machine and power base independent from the leadership. Word of friction between Vargas and Leroy Barr.

Was he taking advantage of the transition from Weingarten to Mulgrew before Mulgrew could consolidate his control? Was Vargas placing key operatives into position for a power play? Some tell us that it has not gone as far as to be a threat to Mulgrew but may be positioning himself as a Mulgrew successor. At any rate, some people at 52 are concerned. As for the Bronx rank and filers, some of whom were actually considering a protest rally at the Bronx UFT office last spring, the beat of lack of service will go on.

UPDATE: CTU Pres Karen Lewis: US SCHOOLS FACE PERFECT STORM

"We have to stop thinking of school buildings as magic castles where the real world doesn't penetrate." Lewis talks to Paul Jay at The Real News. 

There are so many good quotes here that I won't even try to list them. Let's just say these are the kinds of things we in NYC have been hoping would not only be said, but backed up with action. Sorry to say- won't happen here with this Unity Caucus leadership.

Read the transcript: Karen Lewis Defends Teachers

See the video
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5463

MORE:

Corporate Media and the

Pillage of Chicago Public Education

To view on bliptv, click here:

 http://blip.tv/file/3958149

In the weeks following the election of Karen Lewis as the new Chicago Teachers Union President, we see how Chicago's corporate public relations world attempts to spin the story of new union militancy in the face of layoffs and 35 students per classroom. Exclusive press conference scenes and analysis. Interview with Carol Caref, new CTU Region A Vice President, as we watch her and Karen Lewis spar with reporters. George Schmidt, Editor of substancenews.net, provides valuable insights into the media scene in Chicago. Also footage and commentary by substancenews.net reporter John Kugler who describes his question that shut down a press conference put on by Mayor Daley and the head of Chicago Public Schools Ron Huberman. 27 min.

Karen Lewis with the media shortly after her election as CTU President

Photo: David Vance / Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video, YouTube, or blip.tv and search "Labor Beat".

Visit Labor Beat's YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MiloWolf

List of our schools-related videos:

To receive a Word file describing our 14 videos on public schools struggles in Chicago,

send request for "Struggles in the Chicago Public Schools" to: lduncan@igc.org

To order a dvd:

BUY DVD - CLICK HERE

(Put title of DVD, "Corporate Media and the Pillage of Chicago Public Education" in Description box. Put $15 in Unit Price box.)

Elena Kagan Brothers Take Stands as NYC Teachers

Some take more pride in the work of Irving and Marc Kagan than their sister. Count me as one of them. At least they leave a public record. From what I read about Marc in particular, he is much needed on the front lines of the resistance to the ed deformers.

With Elena Kagan due to be appointed to the Supreme Court as early as today, let's take a look at the tale of Kagan's two brothers, Irving and Marc, both NYC high school teachers.

Hours after the principal’s address, a committee of Hunter High teachers that included Ms. Kagan’s brother, Irving, read aloud a notice of no confidence to the president of Hunter College, who ultimately oversees the high school, one of the most prestigious public schools in the nation.

The above quote is from today's NY Times front page article on the lack of diversity at Kagan's alma mata, Hunter College High School, where Kagan's mom taught, as does her brother Irving. The article delves into the tensions between the school's faculty and the Hunter College president Jennifer Raab and how the teachers at the school are the ones pushing the most to diversify the school which currently is 3% black and 1% hispanic. It is Raab who has resisted which I find interesting given that the State Ed commissioner David Steiner comes out of the Hunter College top admin ranks - where did he stand? Steiner along with his boss at the State Board of Regents Meryl Tisch, are two of the bigger hypocrites around.

Good for Irving Kagan for taking a stand.

Also in the article is an important discussion on the Hunter admissions test.

The events fanned a long-standing disagreement between much of the high school faculty and the administration of Hunter College over the use of a single, teacher-written test for admission to the school, which has grades 7 through 12. Faculty committees have recommended broadening the admissions process to include criteria like interviews, observations or portfolios of student work, in part to increase minority enrollment and blunt the impact of the professional test preparation undertaken by many prospective students. 

As has happened at other prestigious city high schools that use only a test for admission, the black and Hispanic population at Hunter has fallen in recent years. In 1995, the entering seventh-grade class was 12 percent black and 6 percent Hispanic, according to state data. This past year, it was 3 percent black and 1 percent Hispanic; the balance was 47 percent Asian and 41 percent white, with the other 8 percent of students identifying themselves as multiracial. The public school system as a whole is 70 percent black and Hispanic.

When Justin Hudson, 18, stood up in his purple robes to address his classmates in the auditorium of Hunter College, those numbers were on his mind. He opened his remarks by praising the school and explaining how appreciative he was to have made it to that moment. Then he shocked his audience.

See after burn following this post for the statement made at graduation by Justin.

 How I found out Marc Kagan ran on the ICE/TJC slate for AFT/NYSUT Delegate

I never made the connection until it was pointed out to me by a reporter from the AP who called the ICE phone number listed on the election blog.

She was calling to find out more information about Marc Kagan.

"Who," I said?

"Elena Kagan's brother, a teacher at Bronx High School of Science," she said. "His name appears on your web site as a candidate for some kind of union election."

I recognized the name from the slate but had never made a connection. The reporter proceeded to fill me in on Kagan's background as an activist in the transit union. How he was elected to the leadership on a reform slate with Roger Toussaint, had a falling out with him and ended up becoming a teacher as part of the Teaching Fellows program in 200

I was intrigued, but cautious. I didn't know anything to tell her (later I found out who in ICE had asked Kagan to run and the dots started to connect).

Sensing my reluctance, she prompted me to give her more info. "Marc Kagan's background is sure to come up in the Senate hearings [it didn't as far as I know] and it all might as well come out now."

I envisioned a southern senator drawling as he questioned Elena:

"Is your brother's running with ICE-TJC an indication that you might be in opposition to sell-out dictator-like Unity Caucus leadership, without the cooperation of which the Obama/Duncan/BloomKlein assault on education could not be successful?"

Darn, I would have paid to see that.

I did share with the AP reporter the situation at Bronx High School of Science where numerous people had been harassed, including Peter Lamphere the chapter leader and much of the math department. I speculated on where Kagan stood in this battle. A few months later I heard he attended the rally by Bronx High teachers at Bloomberg's house.

The Marc Kagan story did emerge later on in these articles in the Village Voice and the NY Times:

Elena Kagan and Family: Best of the Upper Left Side, with a Pro-Union Brother

The Kagan Family: Left-Leaning and Outspoken

Here's hoping we see more of Marc Kagan in the movement to save public education.


After burns

Here is part of the Voice piece on Marc:

Then there's Kagan's brother, Marc, who was a transit worker and union reformer in Transport Workers Local 100. Marc Kagan was one of former Local 100 leader Roger Toussaint's top aides until the two had a falling out in 2003. That's par for the course for the Upper Left Side, where if you can't launch two feuds before lunch, the day's a waste.
Marc Kagan became a teacher and he's no less a fierce supporter of union rights in his new union. In a letter in last week's Chief-Leader, he takes a swipe at schools chancellor Joel Klein's notion that seniority rules shouldn't apply to upcoming teacher layoffs. He goes on to offer a full-throated defense of unionism, one that's likely to light up the eyes of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell as he looks around for something to throw at the new White House nominee.

Here is Marc Kagan's letter to the Chief:

A Larger Issue for Unions


I write in response to your editorial, “Klein’s Imperfect Logic” (April 30 issue). Of course, I agree with your conclusion, that Teacher layoffs should be based on seniority. But I am troubled by part of your rationale. It seems to me a symptom of how unions — and supporters of the idea of unionism, such as The Chief — have ceded ground to our opponents.


You correctly write that the Bing-Diaz bill is flawed because Teachers would be subject to victimization, particularly those at higher rates of pay. I would add that many would have little chance of finding new employment at the DOE, since each Principal essentially now has an NBA-like “salary cap” that militates against hiring senior staff.


But you also suggest that the DOE proposal is simply no better at determining who is a good Teacher than the seniority system. That’s dangerous ground; what if it was better, or claimed to be? As Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Soon enough the DOE will start to churn its data machine to “prove” that younger teachers teach to the test better, or teach 8th grade Earth Science better, or spin on their heads better. They’ll send Post and Times reporters scurrying after this or that second year Teach for America superstar. [Disclosure: I was hired as a Teaching Fellow, a program for which I personally am very grateful].


Moreover, I don’t care if it’s a “better” system. Here’s a heretical thought: the actual purpose of unions is to improve workers’ lives by challenging the free market: to win a higher than “market” wage, to make it hard for the employer to change working conditions or fire the higher-paid worker. We shouldn’t hide these ideas under a rock like we’re ashamed of them; just the opposite. When unions won the 8-hour day, or the weekend, or pension plans, unions defended the idea that working people’s lives and rights were socially more important than employers’ profits and rights. And we said that those victories would tend to spread, even into nonunionized sectors, and generally make people’s lives better. And that was true, for decades.


Today we are playing this movie backwards. As people in the nonunion sector have faced big roll-backs in wages and benefits, we hear them complain that unionized workers should also “give back.” It’s an indication that we have, at least temporarily, lost the battle of ideas in this country, that we can’t successfully explain to our fellow workers that it is in their interests too if we are able to hold the line somewhere, rather than engage in a frantic race to the bottom.


In some ways, we have been reminded in recent months that unregulated free markets can make a handful of people money at the expense of the larger society. In 12th-grade Economics class we have a term for this: Negative Externality. The classic example is the polluter who saves a few bucks by fouling the drinking water for the whole town.

Goldman Sachs is a Negative Externality. And we should make the case that so are Joel Klein and Jonathan Bing. It’s morally and ethically wrong to take away the jobs of people who have worked hard for decades simply because a cheaper body can be found. It is a spiritual pollution of the values that we should uphold. It is another step away from civilized behavior toward the idea that only might makes right. If we can make this case to the public we can win; otherwise, scratch and claw as we will, we will be fighting an ultimately losing battle.< Finally, I would just add that if the “for the students” mantra is successful, it will open up the door for attacks on every public union in the city that has some kind of seniority pay grade. I’m sure the city can “prove” that 23- year-old studs make better Sanitation Workers than 38-year-olds. Or that 42-year-old Firefighters have lost a step or two compared with their first year brethren.


We all tend to fight our own battles and try to preserve our resources otherwise; my union, too. In the short run, this makes complete sense. We’re all concerned about what we need in the next five minutes or the next three months or, at the longest in our own next contract round, even though we are all stuck in this pattern-bargaining contract system where wages are largely pre-ordained before the bargaining begins.


Management, whether private or Mayor Bloomberg, thinks hard about how its labor strategy will unfold over the next 10 or 20 years; if we could learn to do the same, we might have a brighter 2030. And that would be a really good thing.


MARC KAGAN
UFT member

Here is some great stuff on Marc Kagan from the June 20 NY Times piece:

WHILE a student at Princeton University, Elena Kagan made reference to her older brother’s “involvement in radical causes” as an inspiration for her senior thesis on the Socialist movement in New York.
After attending two of the nation’s most exalted educational institutions, the Dalton School and Yale, Marc Kagan appeared to purposefully descend the class ladder. It was as if he needed to join the proletariat in order to raise it up.

In 1984, he became a mechanic at the 207th Street subway yard in Upper Manhattan, operating a forklift, among other responsibilities. “We did not know he was a Yale graduate,” said Joe Fernandez, a former co-worker who still works at the yard. “He was very low key.”
A former colleague of Gloria Kagan’s, Robert E. Mason IV, said that “she was wondering how long he would do that.”

Mr. Kagan’s union involvement grew during the 1990s, and he joined a movement called New Directions that was challenging the leadership of the Transport Workers Union local. When one of its leaders, Roger Toussaint, was elected union president in 2000, Mr. Kagan became his special assistant, or chief of staff.

But Mr. Kagan, now 53, had misgivings about the 2002 contract that he had helped negotiate, said Alan Saly, director of publications for the local, and he let some of his former co-workers know it. Among other issues, he objected to the fact that the contract relied on a bonus of $1,000 in the third year, rather than a raise, so it would not count toward workers’ pensions or future salary increases.

Mr. Kagan was fired from the union, as were several associates. “Roger didn’t like dissent,” said Mr. Saly, who was later forced out himself by Mr. Toussaint, only to return. “His opinion was that a deal is a deal and you should get behind it.”

Mr. Toussaint, who now works for the national transit workers’ union, denied that Mr. Kagan’s departure was related to “issues or differences around the contract,” but he would not elaborate, citing the family’s privacy. Mr. Kagan, who had married his Yale sweetheart, LeeAnn Graham, and has two children, became a teacher, working at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem before moving to the prestigious Bronx High School of Science.

Students say he is devoted and demanding in his course on world history, which spans 8,000 years. Mohammad Nauman, a senior, recalled Mr. Kagan trying to find ways to energize the class, like ordering students to run up and down stairs when they studied the concept of horsepower.

But others, like Aja Colon, a 16-year-old junior, saw a stricter side of Mr. Kagan, who also serves as a disciplinary dean. During an event last fall called Freshmen Fridays, Mr. Kagan tore stickers off students’ shirts that bore labels like “fresh meat” and other inappropriate phrases. “He yells,” Ms. Colon said. “He definitely yells. He’s a fan of that.”

Mr. Kagan has also pressed the Bronx Science administration to make sure teachers have time for professional development, said a colleague, Gary Hom, a physics teacher who described Mr. Kagan as “always on the side of teachers.”

This spring, in a letter to The Chief-Leader, a civil service employees’ newspaper, Mr. Kagan compared the attempts by Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, to end teacher seniority protections to Goldman Sachs’s alleged misdeeds. The letter had the crusading, poetic feel of a lawyer making closing arguments. “It’s morally and ethically wrong to take away the jobs of people who have worked hard for decades simply because a cheaper body can be found,” he wrote. “It is a spiritual pollution of the values that we should uphold. It is another step away from civilized behavior toward the idea that only might makes right.”

Justin Hudson at the Hunter College HS grad

Then he shocked his audience. “More than anything else, I feel guilty,” Mr. Hudson, who is black and Hispanic, told his 183 fellow graduates. “I don’t deserve any of this. And neither do you.” 

They had been labeled “gifted,” he told them, based on a test they passed “due to luck and circumstance.” Beneficiaries of advantages, they were disproportionately from middle-class Asian and white neighborhoods known for good schools and the prevalence of tutoring. 

“If you truly believe that the demographics of Hunter represent the distribution of intelligence in this city,” he said, “then you must believe that the Upper West Side, Bayside and Flushing are intrinsically more intelligent than the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Washington Heights. And I refuse to accept that.” 

The entire faculty gave him a standing ovation, as did about half the students. The principal, Eileen Coppola, who had quietly submitted her formal resignation in mid-June but had not yet informed the faculty, praised him, saying, “That was a very good and a very brave speech to make,” Mr. Hudson recalled. But Jennifer J. Raab, Hunter College’s president and herself a Hunter High alumna, looked uncomfortable on the stage and did not join in the ovation, faculty members and students said. 

Wasn't Raab and Hunter also involved with Joel Klein in trying to take over the site of the Julia Richman complex where many schools co-exist in peace? Let's hope Raab continues to look uncomfortable.