Chicago Teachers Say: Tell the Fat Cats: Get Your Paws Off Our Public Schools

Could you see the UFT putting on an event like this when they themselves are fat cats?

	Defending Our Schools
Click here to RSVP Tell the Fat Cats: Get Your Paws Off Our Public Schools Tuesday Dec. 18 4 pm – 6 pm 125 S. Clark Brief March & Action Click here to RSVP Rich people always seem to think they know best. When it comes to our schools, all their brilliant ideas have only made things worse. Rahm listens to them about the future of our schools, but parents, teachers and students are shut out. The Fat Cats say schools are “underutilized” and should be closed, but they push at the same time to open new charter schools that they control. They cut from students and teachers to save money, but their companies are still taking tax breaks, contracts, and TIFs that broke the budget to begin with. Stand up: Tell them to keep their paws off our schools!

Reform UFT Dues, Hold UFT Leaders Accountable

There are 3500 agency fee UFT members, people who refuse to join the union but must pay dues since NY State is not a right to work state.

That's a surprising number of people willing to give up basic union rights. Imagine if NY were a right to work state.  If you think the right wing won't be coming to NY State at some point pushing right to work laws after their victory in Michigan you are not living in the real world. I know that we will probably not see a Republican legislature but they will probably focus on just the teacher union and might get some good play. Think of appeal to newer teachers of right to work laws when they have to pay the same dues as people making double what they are. Can't you just see the astro turf groups like E4E jumping on that bandwagon?

I'm heading off to the MORE meeting where the basic platform will be addressed and most likely ratified. Last might after the ICE meeting I realized that we have never really addressed the regressive UFT dues structure where everyone pays the same rather than based on salary. I'm going to bring this up today. Maybe there's a good argument for not having a progressive dues structure but I want to hear it.

Worst of all, Unity has managed to make dues increases automatic so the members never get to vote as they used to before Unity changed the constitution so members, not even the Unity stacked DA, don't get to hold the leadership accountable for how much they pay themselves or where they spend the money.

Here is my proposal for the MORE Platform:
End automatic dues increases without member votes and reform the regressive dues structure that penalizes the lowest paid teachers.

Recently on ICE mail, one guy asked how he could resign from the UFT and that caused some controversy since he is an experienced UFT member but just so fed up with Unity he seemed willing to walk away from the union even though he has to pay dues.

My feeling is that the UFT leadership through not allowing members to vote on the eval deal will help lead us down the road to destruction unless there is serious reform at all structural levels of the union.

Video: MORE's Brian Jones, Diana Zavala on Panel with Tweed's Shael Polokaw-Suransky and Pedro Noguera

Below is the raw video of Change the Stakes at Monday's Forum moderated by Juan Gonzalez. There was no press coverage. See MORE's Brian Jones challenge the Deputy Chancellor on a number of grounds. Excuse the choppy video, especially at the beginning as I got there as Brian was speaking.

https://vimeo.com/55505143

Find out what all the excitement is about: MORE General Meeting, Saturday, Dec. 15

December 15th,
12-3pm

224 w 29th St.
betw 7/8ave
14th floor

We will focus on fight back against school closings and charter colocations and projecting our caucus as THE social justice caucus of the UFT, as well as approving parts of our platform and slate for the spring elections.

Join us!

Read more about the threatened closings of neighborhood schools and Gary Rubinstein's analysis of the meaningless of school progress reports.

Read how the Unity caucus voted against democracy at Wednesday's DA, rejecting a proposal to allow members to approve the impending test-based evaluation system..
You can still sign the petition calling for a democratic vote on the deal.

 

 Winter Retreat - En pie de la lucha

Building strong chapters, Building a strong union:
a bottom-up social-justice approach 

Friday, Dec. 28th
10am-4pm
180 LaSalle

Thoughts on Ed Deform and the 68 Strike

There is an interesting discussion over at Gotham, where a Unity slug is trying to brand MORE as some far out left group based on a comment Peter Lamphere made in motivating the MORE/UFT resolution supporting the NAACP suit on the specialized high schools. That the UFT is supporting the reso is interesting given the old historical stand on exams being strictly merit. (See Podair, "The Strike That Changed NY" and the Kahlenberg  Shanker bio).

You can read the background of the discussion at Gotham here.

Below I am responding to "mg" who responded to a clear Unity slug, "Peg".

In an earlier comment I pointed out I was on the picket line in 68 and at the time, as a 2nd year teacher, totally supported the strike. Two years later when I became an activist I began to hear the other sides -- and there were many. But I would still take the position that I would not cross the picket line as group of teachers, led by Teachers Action Caucus (TAC), did over the fact they supported community control. I think that hurt them as an opposition caucus for the next 20 years until they merged with another caucus (New Directions) to form the current New Action. (Many people involved in my caucus at the time (CSW) also had crossed the line and felt some ambiguity over that as time went by.)

Here I make the point that the Abe Levine/UFT line that the strike was only about due process for 19 teachers who the community wanted transferred as opposing the community control is a distortion, especially given that due process is barely breathing today. (When some told Shanker they wanted out he told them to stand firm as the issue was bigger than them. It sure was.)

Here is my earlier comment to Unity slug "Peg" who keeps trying to pin MORE to an anti-68 strike position:

I was on the picket line in 68 but I also saw both sides of the issue and both were wrong. Peter said that the UFT strike in 68 created a break with the black community. There is no one anywhere in NYC who wouldn't agree with that. Even see the Kahlenberg bio of Shanker. Abe Levine distorted the issue when he said the UFT struck only over due process when we all know part of that strike was to kill community control -- whether you agree with comm cont or not, Abe is lying when he made it seem that wasn't a factor.
19 teachers were transferred without due process and the UFT claims it went on strike for 3 months over that issue. Now when due process rights of most NYC teachers are violated every 5 minutes your UFT/Unity caucus leaders lie down like dogs. Have fun defending them.

Here was my last comment where I try to connect the Ford Foundation early version of ed deformers with today's crowd attempting to paint the UFT as the enemy of the black community on education.

Right mg. "Peg" is here to distract people over the UFT refusal to allow a vote on what will be a major change in the contract, as even Leroy Barr said was required. And cold warrior Abe Levine would re-invade Vietnam tomorrow. Here are some thoughts which I will post on Ed Notes so feel free to comment there.

The reso supporting the NAACP position on the specialized HS came out of a great discussion of that issue at a MORE meeting earlier this year. The UFT modified it and there were some back and forth discussions over coming to a joint agreement. So I do want to make this point that Unity and MORE were on basically the same page here and Peter was chosen to motivate it.

I agree that Peter didn't need to go back to 68 in his speech and in fact I don't hold the same exact view he and a portion of the left holds on the strike. (For your info I am a MORE capitalist).

Luckily MORE, unlike Unity Caucus, is a democratic org where we can openly discuss issues (come to our meeting on Saturday to see the difference from Unity).

But since we're in this space, I will chime in with a few thoughts that might make connections between issues like the evaluation and the 68 strike.

I'm part of the conspiracy theory crowd that feels certain forces at the time -- with many of the very same views today's ed deformers hold -- probably the same people -- the "liberal" Ford Foundation at the time -- were out to create a split between the power of the UFT and the black community and they succeeded royally. Note today that their descendents are using different terminology to split the union away by using the charter school wedge. The UFT fell for it then (do you think that working something out about the 19 transfers just might have led to a better outcome?) and has fallen for so much of it now by actually agreeing with so much of the ed deform program makes for an interesting study. They are boxed in and fear treading the delicate line if they take an out and out position opposing charters as destroying the fabric of public education. Luckily MORE can do so and will do so.

(By the way, Shanker and I think Ravitch through the years raised issues related to "Balkanization" of the schools if we allowed community control, which is somewhat ironic in that charters have done just that --- boy, how far has Ravitch come -- I now find myself and others walking a line between supporting public ed but under some level of community control, which is the position I believe MORE is working out -- some subtleties involved here. The UFT on the other hand supports mayoral control, partly as a consequence of the 68 community control issue -- the UFT would rather deal with even a Bloomberg than with 32 separate school boards. Thus any calls for an elected school board as the Chicago Teachers Union is doing will be rejected by the UFT -- not only is the leadership anti-democratic internally, but don't want any real parent say in their own local schools, other than making sure their kids do their homework and join the PTA -- note the silence of the UFT over the weak CEC Bloomberg set up, which I am betting makes the UFT happy).

After 68 the UFT leadership was shunned by so much of the communities they alienated. Randi as a break from the Shanker/Feldman era was able to make inroads and Mulgrew responded to Peter by claiming his man of the year title given by the NAACP.

Now just think of what the Joel Klein crowd have done by raising things as the "civil rights issue of our time." And the Waiting for Superman movie. The very goal was to break down whatever ties that have been built. And the UFT is left backpeddling, having never forgotten the outcomes of the 68 strike, still its fatal weakness. If you could ask Shanker if he would do it again, what do you think he would say?

Charter School Head Merriman Hones Comedy Act

“It’s not the date,” said New York City Charter School Center CEO James Merriman. “It’s the data.”

I like it James. "It's not the date. It's the data." Got a great beat and you can dance the charter/DOE tango to it. Really, James Merriman may be the funniest man in America.

The rejection of teacher evaluation requirements also comes from a sector that has sought greater accountability for teachers, principals and schools. In their letter to school leaders, Merriman and Phillips said standardized evaluation rules are not a good fit for charter schools because the schools are held accountable in other ways.

 Pubic Charter Schools are the future

Excuse me, I have to recover from my laughing fit. James, you have to take this show on the road. Like try Washington State.

“In traditional schools and districts, which may fail students for years without being closed, prescriptive rules about teacher evaluation may be the best policy available,” they wrote. “It is neither necessary nor appropriate for charter schools.”

Of course, James. Charter schools can hire anyone off the street to teach. Why tamper with that? 

At the same time as the State Education Department is publicly pressuring school districts to adopt new teacher evaluations by next month, it’s also quietly demanding that charter schools turn in their teachers’ ratings from last year. Charter school advocates are urging most school leaders to ignore the demand, even though state officials  have said it’s needed in order to fulfill its Race to the Top plan.

The state is not asking charters schools to adopt the same kind of evaluation system that it wants district schools to. Instead, it wants data from each school showing only that the school evaluate teachers on a four-tiered system — and it wants the actual ratings for teachers, too.
Merriman said the state’s demand is unreasonable because many charter schools don’t necessarily evaluate their teachers based on those guidelines.
“They are, in essence, asking charters to manufacture data that they may not have,” Merriman said.

Sure, James. We know all about charter schools manufacturing data.

Leonie said: 

Funny how the pro-charter schools DFER, Students1st & SFER all push for our schools to have adopt this ridiculous teacher eval system; but don’t say a peep about the fact that the charter schools refuse to adopt it.

Facing own teacher eval deadline, charter schools just say no

by Geoff Decker, at 11:58 am

At the same time as the State Education Department is publicly pressuring school districts to adopt new teacher evaluations by next month, it’s also quietly demanding that charter schools turn in their teachers’ ratings from last year.
Charter school advocates are urging most school leaders to ignore the demand, even though state officials  have said it’s needed in order to fulfill its Race to the Top plan. The advocates say the demand would be hard to fulfill and impinges on charter schools’ vaunted autonomy.
The standoff has its roots in the state’s 2010 application for federal Race to the Top funds. In its application to the U.S. Department of Education for funding, New York State said it would require schools to rate teachers according to specific guidelines and would collect ratings for all teachers, even in charter schools.
Some charter schools committed to sharing their teacher ratings at the time in order to receive some of the state’s $700 million in winnings. But two thirds did not — and the state wants their teacher ratings too, according to a series of updated guidance memos that officials have issued over the last 18 months.
City and state charter school advocates have pushed back against the demands throughout that time.
“Both the New York City Charter School Center and the New York Charter Schools Association believe that this reporting requirement does not properly apply to non-Race to the Top charter schools,” Charter Center CEO James Merriman and NYCSA President Bill Phillips wrote in a strongly worded email to school leaders last month. They added, “Ultimately, it is up to you whether you choose to report this data.”
So far, few school leaders have made that choice. By the original submission deadline Nov. 30, just 30 of 184 charter schools in the state had handed over teacher ratings from last year.
The state has extended the deadline for charter schools to Friday, but advocates say that doesn’t change the situation.“It’s not the date,” said New York City Charter School Center CEO James Merriman. “It’s the data.”
The state is not asking charters schools to adopt the same kind of evaluation system that it wants district schools to. Instead, it wants data from each school showing only that the school evaluate teachers on a four-tiered system — and it wants the actual ratings for teachers, too.
Merriman said the state’s demand is unreasonable because many charter schools don’t necessarily evaluate their teachers based on those guidelines.
“They are, in essence, asking charters to manufacture data that they may not have,” Merriman said. “That’s what’s so troubling to us.”
State officials said they believe that charter schools can rate their teachers with the information that they do have, as long as they have some kind of evaluation system.
Several charter school leaders said that move is easier said than done.
“I tried to play around with the [state’s] system, but it’s so different from how we do ours,” said the leader of a Brooklyn charter school. “So the data would be pointless.”
Ken Wagner, an assistant commissioner at the department, said he expected that the request will present challenges for charter schools and that some first-year submissions might not be perfect. He said he would be was less understanding if schools ignore the request entirely and refuse to comply.
“I think we’ve been very clear on our position and the charter folks who disagree have been very clear on their position,” said Wagner, who could not say what the consequences would be for schools that don’t submit ratings.
The state is even having a tough time getting teacher evaluation ratings from the 61 charter schools that are participating in Race to the Top. Five schools in the Achievement First network that have received roughly $275,000 through the grant program did not know they were supposed to turn in the ratings, according to a spokesman for the network.
“We don’t know of a request for teacher evaluations,” said the spokesman, Mel Ochoa. “But we will continue to work hard to fulfill any requests and requirements that come to us for Race to the Top.”
Some schools have withdrawn from the Race to the Top program to escape burdensome requirements like the one about teaching ratings, sources said. In the last year, at least 19 schools have forfeited the grant money.
The rejection of teacher evaluation requirements also comes from a sector that has sought greater accountability for teachers, principals and schools. In their letter to school leaders, Merriman and Phillips said standardized evaluation rules are not a good fit for charter schools because the schools are held accountable in other ways.
“In traditional schools and districts, which may fail students for years without being closed, prescriptive rules about teacher evaluation may be the best policy available,” they wrote. “It is neither necessary nor appropriate for charter schools.”

Nightmare on 8 Mile Road After Randi Negotiated Worst Contract in History

Detroit Public Schools consultants are creating phony negative evaluations of experienced teachers in a “monstrous plot” to fire anyone making too much money and destroy the teacher’s union, according to Superintendent Dr. John Telford. “Some of the stories would make you cry,” Telford said Wednesday on the Charlie Langton Talk Radio 1270 show.

Remember that "great" contract hailed as "ground breaking" Randi helped the Detroit teacher union negotiate a few years ago and ratified in Jan. 2009? Rich Gibson in Substance predicted the death spiral after the contract was negotiated, calling it "The worst contract in the history of school-based bargaining."

Detroit schools in final death spiral?

Rich Gibson - November 27, 2010
The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) may be on its last legs. This was a once-proud union that fought like hell, alongside other workers, not only for the school worker force, but for kids. Last year, behind the urgings of the DFT President, Keith Johnson and AFT President Randi Weingarten, the DFT bargained what I think is the worst contract in the history of school-based collective bargaining. 

Read more: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1801%C2%A7ion=Article

Substance ran a piece on that contract (http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1063§ion=Article).

 Detroit is dying a death of a thousand cuts. Still, the cuts add up and will someday become the last breath. With a long history of rebellions and uprisings, that last death could be ugly. With hope in schools evaporating fast, that possibility is greater every day.

 Here is a death spiral article published today.

Teachers, Destroy Unions, Board Calls In FBI

December 12, 2012 10:17 AM

(Photo: WWJ)

DETROIT (WWJ/1270) Detroit Public Schools consultants are creating phony negative evaluations of experienced teachers in a “monstrous plot” to fire anyone making too much money and destroy the teacher’s union, according to Superintendent Dr. John Telford.

“Some of the stories would make you cry,” Telford said Wednesday on the Charlie Langton Talk Radio 1270 show. “There have been teachers who weren’t able to continue their house payments after outside evaluators came in, gave them a 5-10 minute evaluation and 20-30 year veteran teachers have lost their jobs. It’s a real mess.”

While Detroit deals with low student achievement and graduation rates, shuttered buildings and debt, Telford said he has handled hundreds of calls about fired teachers and principals, and had to bring in two pro bono ombudsmen to help handle the outpouring since the state appointed Roy Roberts as the district’s emergency financial manager. “The union’s been trying (to get them reinstated), but Mr. Roberts pretty much pretty put the crown on his head and proclaimed himself the king of Detroit Public Schools,” Telford said.

He added he’s taking Roberts to court Thursday to address many issues, including whether Roberts has the right to make academic decisions as part of his role overseeing  the district’s finances. “The logical answer is they report to me, not to Mr. Roberts, but they are claiming he reports to them,” Telford said.

Tied into this is a unanimous vote by the Detroit Board of Education late Tuesday to request that the FBI look into spending of federal dollars by Roberts, especially money related to federal Title One funding.

These are the latest salvos in the battle Detroit’s elected city and school officials are waging against outside oversight of their beleaguered finances. City officials fought off a state attempt to take over Belle Isle, the city’s largest park, and continue to battle Gov. Rick Snyder’s attempt to have appointees oversee the city’s debt-ridden books.

Telford said he’s been approached by “many teachers and principals and even folks above that level” about “injustice and criminality.”

“We’ve had innumerable allegations of wrongdoing,” said Board of Education President LaMar Lemmons, adding, “Allegations of backdating contracts, allegations of contracts that were no bid, not accepting the lowest bid, allegations of misspent federal dollars, etc., etc.”

He added Roberts has not put the information into the correct system for board members to see, which spurred the board to ask for the investigation. ”Because it’s Title One funding, it’s automatically a direct interest to the federal government,” Lemmons said.

Telford is obviously rankled over Roberts’ position.

“He needs to step down and go back to Bloomfield Hills and let me and the board run the district,” Telford said, later adding, “I have an uncomfortable feeling that some major malfeasance will be uncovered.”

A district spokesperson say they are not aware of any alleged corruption.

But board Vice President Herman Davis said she knows something is wrong. ”We know that he’s co-mingling funds and that shouldn’t happen,” Davis said.

The board is also alleging corruption involving contracts. A Roberts’ spokesman says they are not aware of the allegations, and says they have a robust Inspector General and a policy in place to avoid such problems.

Will Unity, Seeking More Favorable Time, Use Sandy as Excuse to Postpone UFT Elections?

Indications are that the UFT leadership may postpone UFT elections until later in the spring, which they appear to be allowed to do under the UFT constitution. In the past, by this time an election committee would have been formed and ratified by the DA today. If that happens the timetable might still work. But given that the ballots would go out just a week after people are spending the mid-winter break working 3 days and a relatively short time after the UFT agrees to some sort of evaluation deal, the usual election timetable -- a 3 week March balloting -- is not favorable to Unity.

By kicking the election further down the road that would give them time to send out the hordes into the schools to sell whatever deal they made, knowing full well the full impact will not hit until the 2013-14 school year. Of course if they can figure a way to sell off some more rights in exchange for some money in some kind of contract, that would sweeten the pot for getting people to overlook whatever they do. And I bet if Bloomberg can get a hook into eliminating ATRs he would pay.

Hey, how about ballots going out June 1, returnable by June 29? Would you put anything past Unity?

Well, we'll know more soon, so hang on for the ride.

MORE Says: Raise your voice on the evaluation issue! Bring petition and copies of the resolution to the DA

Approaching a thousand sigs and a number of school chapters have passed resos in support. MORE will attempt to place a resolution -- see below -- in front of the DA tomorrow. Last time the meeting ended ---cough, cough -- before the opportunity came up. The Unity leadership does not want this reso to see the light of day. I will be there holding up the above sign and with petitions for you to take back to your school. Let's get the numbers into the thousands by the January deadline. We know that this is a contract change and legally should be voted on but what does legal mean in the UFT?

Here is the post from the MORE web site:
{LET ME ADD Reality-Based Educator]:

Sign The Petition Demanding A Membership-Wide Referendum On The Evaluation Agreement

Facing an arbitrary 12/21/12 deadline imposed by Chancellor Walcott, a growing wave of bloggers have begun speaking out against any teacher evaluation scheme that harms teachers and ignores our voices in coming to an agreement. There is increasing concern that Unity will succumb to pressure and agree to a system without coming to terms on a new contract. MORE’s position is that there needs to be a membership-wide referendum before any such agreement is reached. Read what education experts and your peers have been saying online. If you agree, sign the petition athttp://morecaucusnyc.org/sign-the-petition/.

• Respected education historian Diane Ravitch warns of the pitfalls of using test scores in evaluations and the mayor’s push to publish these scores in order to shame teachers.

• The DOEnuts blog discusses three things you should know about the APPR and how they will change your professional life forever.

• Blogger Accountable Talk fears a sellout after a conversation with a Unity higher-up.

• NYC Educator warns of signing an agreement that is being so aggressively pushed by astroturf “reform” groups and billionaires.

• Blogger Chaz urges the UFT not to agree to any evaluation system without a new contract that gives teachers the same 8% raise given to other unions.

If you agree, sign the petition online and join the growing wave of opposition to an evaluation system that devalues teachers!

Posted at MORECaucusNYC.org

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Fat Cat Ed Deformers

I know, I know. You wish the UFT, with 10 times the resources of the CTU would do this, but when you yourself are a fat cat..........But this is why the CTU is so much more dangerous to the powers that be than the pussy cat (I'm being nice) UFT/AFT bar exam promoters.

When we were in Chicago in July 2011-- Julie, Gloria, Angel, Lisa and a slew of others --- at meetings with CORE and others from around the nation -- CORE led us all on a march through downtown Chicago visiting all the banks that were stealing money out of the public schools, something incomprehensible here in NYC, given that our leaders are probably having lunch at many of these banks.

Chicago Teachers Union Launches Public Awareness Campaign

Against Corporate Assault on Public Education

‘Stand Up to the Fat Cats’ film continues the fight for city-wide education equality

 

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) kicked off a public education campaign against the rise school privatization schemes and the corporate assault on public education with the release of an animated, satirical short film, Stand Up to the Fat Cats. The video seeks to rally the public against corporate infiltration in public education and encourage them to join the fight to provide resources and support for neighborhood schools.

 

The five-minute film can be viewed at www.ctunet.com or on www.MoveChicagoSchoolsForward.com.  (To view click here: Stand Up To The Fat Cats)

 

Stand Up to Fat Cats places a spotlight on the history of corporate school reform in Chicago and proposed 20^thcentury advancements that ultimately led to the deterioration of many of the city’s neighborhood schools.  The film also introduces us to parodies of popular faces in Chicago’s education debate, including venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel,  Board of Education member Penny Pritzker, venture philanthropist Bill Gates, the Broad Foundation, the Koch Brothers and,  out-of-town school reformers such as Stand For Children and Democrats for Education Reform. 

 

From the formation of the CTU in the mid-20^th century to its present-day battles with lawmakers and charter school operators, wealthy, private-interest fat cats have had their paws in public education for years.  After a dominant new feline landed in City Hall in 2011, bringing in a litter of corporate cronies, the CTU went on a year-long offensive in a cat-and-mouse battle against anti-teacher propaganda.

 

Through, Stand Up to the Fat Cats, viewers can revisit how Chicago’s educators stood up to these frisky and felonious kitties once again during the 2012 strike, rallying throughout the city against the closing of public schools, the endangerment of their livelihoods and the jeopardizing of the future of thousands of the children.  As the bed time story depicted in the video goes: Rowdy Rauner and the Litter Box Crew are out to destroy the teachers union and starve neighborhood schools in a sneaky campaign to fatten the pockets of private charter operators and their billionaire friends.

 

As the Chicago Public Schools system is expected to announce by March 31, 2013, the closing of nearly 150 neighborhood schools, the mission of the Stand Up to the Fat Cats campaign is clear: Don’t let fat cats bully students or educators anymore!  

Sample Tweets:

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Corporate Fat Cats! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
Chicago Teachers Say No to Rahm Emanuel's Fat Cat Friends! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
A Bedtime story from Chicago Teachers Union @ctulocal1 #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D 

Give the Gift of MORE this Holiday Season

And there are raffle tickets too. Email more@morecaucusnyc.org for details.

Give the Gift of MORE  this Holiday Season!

What should you put in the Secret Santa Box?
Not sure what to get your school secretary for the holidays..... 
How can you support MORE and gift your friends at the same ?

Buy your friends and school colleagues a MORE membership

After making your PayPal payment on-line at: http://morecaucusnyc.org please MAKE SURE to click the “RETURN TO MOVEMENT OF RANK AND FILE EDUCATORS”  button and fill-out the on-line form so we can get your friend's contact information.
Or download the Membership Form and mail with a check made out to:
Movement of Rank and File Educators, 305 E. 140th St. #5A, New York, NY 10454
Then send us an email and we’ll send an eGift Card to the recipient letting them know about your present.
   
Gift  MORE so you can get MORE from your UNION!

Change the Stakes Statement at Monday's Forum

 Fred Smith with input from the amazing Change the Stake crew, led by Andrea Mata who put on a wonderful event tonight, wrote the statement below.

 Brian Jones, wearing his MORE shirt, rocks. So did MORE/Change the Stakes' Diane Zavala (below). Pedro Noguera was almost inconsequential and Shael had an answer for everything as he came off looking like a dissident inside Tweed, the role he is assigned to play -- and also maybe part of the underground campaign to have him succeed Walcott when Bloomberg is gone -- you know, the old bait and switch. Send him out there to show reasonableness --- Pedro declared him to be the only reasonable one at Tweed -- just a sham as far as I am concerned -- but you have to see the tapes which I will put up. Juan Gonzalez, just about the only press person real reformers respect (aside from Winerip who the Times makes sure no longer covers ed) moderates.

I got there at almost 7PM, an hour late but the panel had just started. I missed the beginning but Jaissal Noor was there to tape. Wait for his which is professionally done -- I will put up snippets.

Why Change the Stakes?

Change the Stakes is a group of parents and educators who want the best education for all children.  We are a work in progress and about progress for the entire New York public school system.

We are a growing group concerned with the harm high stakes-testing is doing to our children and schools.  We oppose an over-emphasis on tests and misuse of the results for purposes they were never intended to serve. We believe high-stakes testing must be replaced by valid forms of student, teacher, and school assessment.

We are asking parents and community members like you from districts across the city to join hands to improve teaching and learning opportunities for all children.  We believe a good education is the right of every child and a right that every parent should demand.  It must never become a matter of luck, lottery or good fortune.  And good education is not something that can be measured by a test score.

What is High Stakes Testing?
 

We strongly reject the way multiple-choice tests are hurting our children and denying them high-quality teaching in a healthy atmosphere that fosters the full development of their capabilities.

The Department of Education and the State Education Department have made testing a substitute for education. Testing has come to dominate school activity, dimming children’s natural enthusiasm for learning.  It has made 8-year olds anxious about what could happen if they don’t do well on the tests.

MORE, MORE, MORE

So much time is spent preparing students to take the annual statewide exams, field tests and an endless number of other tests that history, music, art and gym have been squeezed out of the school day.  

Testing has been used to bully teachers, turning them into drill instructors who must follow stifling classroom routines to generate high test scores.  It has made teachers fear for their jobs, knowing they will be rated ineffective if their students don’t do well on unreliable exams.  It has made them compete against each other in an effort to survive, rather than work cooperatively. 

And it has forced principals to intensify pressure to produce good-looking results, no matter what, because they are being threatened with the reorganization or possible closure of their schools if they fail to do so. Where high stakes tests are the rule, it is no surprise that cheating has often followed. 

These different forms of punishment inflicted upon the public school system by high stakes testing have been called accountability.  The end result has been to create hundreds and hundreds of elementary and middle schools in which disruption and instability are the norm.  

Students, teachers and principals are held accountable, but the low quality of the tests themselves is never accounted for. 

Still there is another equally troubling and unacceptable aspect of all the testing.  As more and more testing has been piled on every child—parents have been left out of the discussion.  

We are offended by the lack of respect shown to parents who have been kept in the dark by the DOE and SED about all the testing that is taking place and we demand immediate and specific answers to basic questions.  We are entitled to a complete test inventory—a matter of accountability on the part of the city and state officials responsible for approving, organizing and implementing the various testing programs. 

To break down the information for us in an understandable way, we need to know about the testing that is being conducted this year (July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013) on a grade by grade basis from K-12:

How many professionally designed and developed tests are being given in New York schools? What is the purpose of each?  When are they scheduled to be given?  How much time is spent administering each test?  How many students and schools are involved?  And how much money does each test cost (the material, the scoring and the reports)?

Which publisher constructed or supplied each exam?  Who owns the exams we are paying for?  Which ones are field tests—tests and questions that do not count but enable commercial publishers to develop and sell exams for future use? Which exams are used to screen children for entry into special programs or selective schools?  Which must be passed as a basis for promotion or to fulfill graduation requirements?  Surely, the city and state know and can give us these details for the current year.

What Else We Believe and What Parents Must Know:
 

Change the Stakes believes in sunshine laws and the absolute right of parents to know what is happening to their children in school.  We believe parents must have a real voice in the life of their schools. We see efforts to keep parents uninformed as a way to prevent opposition to questionable policies, programs and weak test instruments and a sure sign that those running the school system have little regard for us. 

We wonder when the state will make the 2012 ELA and math exams available.  In the past, parents and interested parties could see the actual items online—the items that counted and would not be used again. Thus far, SED has withheld the information.

We believe in sound alternatives to the continued use of statewide multiple-choice and short answer exams, which lack reliability and, therefore, lead to invalid decisions about students, teachers, schools.

We demand that the state set forth a policy on how alternative assessments of performance shall be carried out this year to meet agreed upon standards.  A clear statement is required explaining how projects and portfolios will be used as measures of achievement and growth.  It must reflect high expectations for all children and specify the kind of work and behavior students will be evaluated on to provide relevant evidence of learning and ability.  

It is imperative that parents who choose not to have their children participate in the April 2013 state exams know in advance what the alternate assessment procedures will entail. We are tired of hearing that the state offers no opt-out provision or that the sky will fall if parents object to marching along with test-driven education. Other large states have processes recognizing the legitimate conscientious choice parents/guardians have made to protect their children from harmful testing programs.

Guidelines for parents and teachers should be issued by SED spelling out the methods to be followed, the teacher training to be given and the criteria that will be applied uniformly to assess the progress of the opt-out children. We insist that the guidelines direct principals to provide meaningful educational activities to children who do not take the 2013 exams. Missing school or sitting in an office are not an option.  Principals need to be cautioned that parents requesting to keep their children out of the exams should not be harassed nor have their children mistreated at school in any way.  

We demand a statewide directive that requires timely parent notification about all field testing programs and creates a mechanism that allows us to say “NO” to this extra burden and the use of children as subjects in test research projects.  We strongly believe that insinuating children into test development projects without informed parental consent is a violation of parent and student rights.

We were shocked to learn that our schools gave field tests last month in reading, math and science without letting parents know. ACT and Pearson bought entry into schools by offering principals I-Pods in return for student participation—behind the backs of parents. We view this as a bribe and an end run that lets publishers exploit children and take away more school time to try out test material.

We want written, legally binding assurances from the state and city that they will not engage in or enter agreements that allow any entities to use individual information about students or to distribute such data to third parties without the knowledge and consent of parents or guardians. We believe the right to privacy is fundamental and must be protected and we demand harsh punishment of any party who violates these restrictions.

We know that the state’s testing program flows from the national No Child Left Behind Act, which was originally intended to help the most vulnerable students.  Instead, NCLB’s testing requirements are now widely acknowledged to have placed severe stress on English Language Learners (ELLs) and children with special needs.  As parents, along with teachers, guidance counselors and child psychologists, we know firsthand the kind of frustration and struggle the tests put such children through. To what end?  We believe that federal policies and practices with regard to these student populations, which are largest in urban areas, need to be overhauled.

Finally, many Black and Hispanic parents have felt arguably that testing was fairer to their children than leaving decisions about them to unsympathetic, disparaging or biased teachers and principals. Over the last decade, however,—the era of high stakes testing—despite all the exams, the achievement gap has closed little or none for these students.  We cannot fix one set of problems with ineffective solutions dressed in the cloak of reform.

And the way the results have been distorted over time has left high school students from poor economic households, deficient in reading and math, unprepared to find other than low-level jobs and, should they graduate, unready to do college level work.  All of the testing has added no benefit or value whatsoever to the populations NCLB promised to help.

The need to change the stakes cuts across all lines. Parents should never forget: We are the schools!

In Unity,                                                                                                                                                                    

Fred Smith                                                                                                                                               

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