UFT/Unity District Rep Spills Beans to Chapter Leaders: Just Shut Up and Shove Our Policies Down Their Throats

My monthly Chapter Leader meetings are for me to give you important information....It is not the place nor the time to get on a soap box and speak about what you want to speak about.  The information that I present ..is information passed down from our leadership to you so that you can act as the conduit of information to the membership in your school. We present the information, not to be filtered by you or to be changed in any way, it is to be presented to your members as you have heard it from me or any of the leadership in this union.... UFT District Rep in letter to Chapter Leaders in district

Apparently there's no interest in the passing of information from the rank and file  slaving away in classrooms. I have sad news for the people running out union. Chapter leaders do not work for them or in their interests (unless they are Unity Caucus.) They actually are supposed to work for the people in their school who elected them. The hierarchy in the UFT doesn't see it that way, especially since Randi killed district rep elections in 2002. I know the old pre-2002 system elected Unity people too but they were at least subject to some accountability to the chapter leaders in their district and could not be so cavalier in their attitudes.

As many signs are leading to the UFT caving in on the evaluation issue (they want to make E4E happy, don't they?) by Jan. 17 -- it is just not in their DNA to resist I guess --- and the postponement of the UFT elections may be for the purpose of giving them time to work the members over --- but I'll leave this for a follow-up ---the revealing letter from a Unity District Rep to the chapter leaders that has been circulating has received a bunch of comments from various bloggers. James Eterno published it on the ICE blog and NYC Educator wrote a scathing piece (UFT Democracy), though I was surprised he was surprised that the union has this view of chapter leaders as their servants.

It was a chapter leader associated with ICE who last week challenged his district rep to deal with the issues of concern to the membership instead of force feeding the Unity Caucus agenda on ed evals by treating chapter leaders elected by the schools and functional chapters as union employees required to push union policy down the throats of the people they supposedly represent. The chapter leader sent out this:

At the dist monthly chapter leaders meeting our dist rep did his unity/scum caucus duty by elucidating as to the wonders that Mulgrew and company were accomplishing vis-a-vis the new teacher termination(evaluation scheme). When I and 2 other chapter leaders began to raise questions and to attempt to shift the discussion away from unity spin and closer to reality he became upset. After all how dare we question and deviate from the script???

The e-mail from the DR was send out later that day. A former CL echoed this sentiment:

This is what surprised me most when I became a chapter leader. I had thought the district chapter leader meetings would be a place for chapter leaders to discuss what was happening in their schools and how we could and should respond. NO, NO, NO.....there was a list of items to TELL us. Any discussion was quickly snuffed out. I was often yelled at by my DR...."whose meeting is this", he would yell at me! Unfortunately the other chapter leaders would support him, but over time they often came to me after the meeting to find out more information since he did not give any background to what he said.

The leadership has rarely, if ever, evidenced concern for what the members really think -- see MORE's report of the Dec. DA, Unity Votes Against Democracy, where they voted NOT to allow the members to vote on an evaluation deal that will change the contract in terms of the way teachers are rated, a violation of the UFT constitution.

This line below has to be the funniest line in the Dist Rep's letter. As if the Unity Caucus which the DR belongs too is not one and the same as the union leadership.

I do support my union and the leadership of this union, however, I do not preach where I stand in terms of the caucus that I belong to or don’t belong to, I do not bad mouth the leadership even if I don’t agree with what is being done.

Given that Unity Caucus chapter leaders have agreed to pushing the union line down the throats of the teachers in their schools -- the very people that elected them ---- since the advent of the caucus 50 years ago, the UFT is not trying to Unityize the rest of the chapter leaders by claiming it is their responsibility to enforce union policy.

If Unity could get away with it they would appoint the chapter leaders like they appoint the district reps. I mean, what a drag to have to recruit a new batch into Unity every time there's an election for CLs. Here is another gem from the Dist Rep's letter.

I support them because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.

How has that trust worked out for the teachers in NYC over the last decade and a half? What he really means is:

I trust the union leadership because they got me this great gig as a district rep where I teach one period a day, earn a 6 figure salary and get a double pension.

Here is the MORE response followed by the letter itself.

Unity Doesn’t Want to Hear from You

9 Jan

An incredible letter is making its rounds. It was an email written by a District Representative of the United Federation of Teachers to the Chapter Leaders in his district. The email is posted on the ICE-UFT blog:

This letter crystallizes very clearly and honestly the leadership philosophy practiced by the Unity caucus. We are being led by a group who believe our union is a top-down affair. This is what corporate unionism looks like.

The final sentence of the letter says “I support them (our union leaders) because they are the leadership of this union and trust that they have the best interest of our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.” MORE believes that our union needs to put the mechanisms in place to ensure that our union leaders have “our members in the forefront of every decision that is made.”

Unfortunately, when our union leadership describes the job of a chapter leader to be “the defender of our contract and to represent, support and guide our members, but also to pass down the information given as was presented to you”, then it is obvious that we are a long way from having the tools as union members to hold our leaders accountable.

Not only do chapter leaders have to faithfully pass down all information from Unity to the members, they cannot “speak about what you want to speak about” at the monthly district meetings with their District Leaders. That means there is absolutely no way to meet with our DLs as a district to highlight common problems and ensure they take steps to address them. Combine this with the fact that members no longer can vote for their District Leaders, since they are now appointed by Unity, and you can see that our union leadership, from District Leaders on up, are totally insulated from the will of the membership.

All we have is faith that Unity is working on our behalf. They represent us in name only, since there is no way for us as members to ensure that their priorities are our priorities.

The first step is allowing membership to elect their District Leaders again. When that happens, district meetings will no longer be a one-way transmission of information and orders from the top-down. Chapters will be allowed and even encouraged to bring up the issues that matter to them so our leaders can act upon them.
But district meetings are not the only places priorities are set. The main forum for this is the monthly Delegate Assembly. As of now, Unity keeps a tight rein on the parliamentary workings of the DA. Everyone knows how Unity wants members to vote and they usually get their way. Some District Leaders have gone as far as to pressure all of their chapter leaders to sit with them at the DA as a way to monitor which way they vote.

MORE believes that any organized UFT meeting should be open and democratic with chapter leaders, delegates, and all members given the opportunity to raise issues of their constituents’ concerns.

Join our chapter leader e-mail list by request at more@morecaucusnyc.org

 --------- Full letter below

Video: DOE Official Shael Polokow-Suransky Says Parents Can Opt Out of Tests

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

UFT and NRA in Merger Talks

Leading UFTers on march to City Hall

NRA head Wayne LaPierre opened talks with Michael Mulgrew on a plan to merge the UFT and NRA against their common enemy, Michael Bloomberg.

"The best way to stop a bad billionaire guy brandishing an assault weapon made out of money is to arm the good guys he is using it against with their own assault weapons," said LaPierre who was interviewed as he entered 52 Broadway wearing a flack jacket and carrying a grenade launcher.

"Expect an agreement on the evaluation system before the Jan. 17 deadline," he said. "Or else."

Can You Trust John Merrow?

I know from following Merrow that this documentary would reveal very little in terms of pinning anything on Rhee. I had fun reading and writing tweets during the program.

Here are some Ed Notes comments on Merrow over the years.

Ed Notes Online: John Merrow, NCLB - and Randi Too

Aug 11, 2008

I post a few snippets from this discussion on NCLB, narrated by PBS's John Merrow, Education Correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and President of Learning Matters Incorporated, as a warning. Should you wish ...

Ed Notes Online: High stakes testing - John Merrow -- a sign the ...

Apr 05, 2012

John Merrow There was a time not long ago when Merrow seemed to go along with all the sins of ed deform. Then he started talking to teachers. Here he realizes that it is not about the physical act of cheating - which until the ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

I wrote this commentary in May 2008.

John Merrow - Only an Idiot...

...would overlook Merrow's one-sided coverage of education on the News Hour With Jim Lehrer after he wrote a teacher union bashing op ed in the Wall St. Journal.

I could say only an idiot would write, "Only an idiot would overlook student performance, be it dismal or outstanding" and then go on to talk about the narrowest form of assessment possible while ignoring all the other assessments of student "performance" - how about attendance? how about functioning effectively in a social setting? - what's the matter, John, too hard to figure all this stuff out for a supposed "expert" on education.

It is no surprise Murdoch's Wall Street Journal gives him a platform. What's next? The NY Post?

Merrow's Learning Matters is funded by Annenberg, Gates, Broad, Kellogg - the usual suspects in the phony ed reform movement.

AND OF COURSE,
Check Eduwonkette's take: Who Slipped a Mickey in John Merrow's Kool-Aid?

Unfortunately I can't access either the WSJ Merrow teacher bashing article of Eduwonkette's piece.  Too bad we lost her brief shining star.

And this from Leonie:

This is what’s coming:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/learningmatters/rebirth-new-orleans

John Merrow and his new documentary about the “amazing rebirth” of NOLA schools under Paul Vallas.  Due to be screened March 2013.

You can see some of the backers here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/learningmatters/rebirth-new-orleans/backers?page=1

One is Greg Richmond, CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers

http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1426829748

I’m sure there were many not listed on Kickstarter. Here are the benefits listed to large donors:

2 backers who paid ·  Pledge $5,000 or more

2 backers

Thank you! At the REX level. You'll get all of the above, PLUS DINNER for two with John Merrow. You choose the date, we’ll choose the restaurant. (A nice one!)

·  Pledge $1,000 or more

9 backers

Thank you! It's the CARNIVAL level, dear friend. You'll have the benefit of all of the above, PLUS 2 tickets to an EXCLUSIVE SCREENING of REBIRTH in New Orleans, New York, or Palo Alto. We can't pay your travel costs, but we can guarantee a meaningful evening that you'll be proud to say that you made happen!

·  Pledge $500 or more

2 backers

Thank you! At the PRALINE level, you'll enjoy all of the benefits above, including DVD CREDIT. You'll also get a BACKSTAGE PASS for 2 to see John Merrow live at the JCC in Manhattan. We'll send you your choice of up to 4 DVDs or totes, because -just like PRALINES- you can't have just one...

Estimated delivery: Mar 2013

Ships within the US only

Estimated delivery: Apr 2013

·  Pledge $250 or more

7 backers

Thank you! It's the CRESCENT level. You'll get all the benefits above, plus you’ll be CREDITED as a SUPPORTER on the DVD version of the film! We'll include an AUTOGRAPHED copy of John Merrow’s acclaimed book 'The Influence of Teachers' as well. See http://theinfluenceofteachers.com/ for more info.

Estimated delivery: Mar 2013

Ships within the US only

Etc.

Rhee on TV Frontline Tonight - Cheating Scandal Addressed But What Else?

There is some excitement about John Merrow's Frontline report on PBS tonight at 10PM with people feeling she may get her comeuppance. I have my doubts. Even the title: The Education of Michelle Rhee bothers me.

As if she actually learned something from her experience instead of executing a political, not educational, agenda, which she has continued to this day. One thing Rhee learned: she could manipulate media types like Merrow who went all mushy over her at one time. Is this film Merrow's minor mea culpa for bad reporting?

One of the MORE people sent this email.

You might want to spread the word to interested parties to watch the Frontline coming up tonight, PBS, 10 PM, which centers on Michelle Rhee's rise to wealth and fame on wings of reform, DC testing scandal - cheating, reform issues. I'm watching.

My husband just emailed me this Esquire article by Charles Pierce who writes a scathing piece on corporate stink in ed reform, has done so before, too. He mentioned the upcoming show. Comments on his blog are good, too...

The Empire Michelle Rhee Built

Also see: 
NYC Public School Parents : “Our parent report card for Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst”

 
When Merrow sent out an email last week advertising we would learn a lot about Rhee I emailed him: You mean she is married to a child molester? No response.

But I never expect much from Merrow who used to love Rhee - and Vallas in New Orleans – he ignores way too much stuff.

Just heard John Merrow on NPR. I don't have high hopes he will pin too much on Rhee. It is the pressure she put on people but she did not intend for people to cheat -- as if she did not know what the outcomes of the pressure would be and her career would hang on good outcomes.

Her big mistake may be that she didn't understand the need for collaboration in education. What a crock.

And then he echos her lies that she raised test scores (she claims astronomically) when she taught -- I believe Bob Somersby took that lie apart - he also taught in the Baltimore schools for over a decade. See GF Brandenburg's brilliant analysis.

UPDATE FROM DIANE:

Norm, 

I saw an embargoed copy of the show. I'm not permitted to say much, but will say that Rhee's claim of astronomical score gains when she taught in Baltimore were restated in the documentary without correction---although they were thoroughly debunked by GF Brandenburg and others. I pointed this out to John, even sent him the column in which Jay Mathews admits he is convinced that her claims were inflated. Maybe he added a correction? We will see.

Diane

Well, there you go. 

My brief moment of glory came at an Education Nation 2011 panel with Rhee that was chaired by NBC's Rahema Ellis who focused questions at the Atlanta former school board rep while ignoring Rhee's cheating scandal. I got to the mic and asked Ellis why she was ignoring that point. Embarassed she turned to Rhee and asked but did no follow-up. So much for the ed deform press. And though I feel the Frontline report will focus on the cheating, I am betting Rhee will escape relatively unscathed. Though of course her report card media blitz yesterday was designed to deflect -- though if you read all the blogs -- start with Ravitch -- you will see what a farce even that turned out to be -- her top states have the worst test scores.

No sense from this interview on NPR that Merrow gets a hint of the Rhee political agenda from the very beginning. He tries to straddle the fence now after being on the side of deformers but has seen the outcomes. Hmmm, like Randi.

One revealing comment he made when talking about the 2 sides of the ed divide-- one by Rhee, the other by Ravitch. He slips when he says that the Ravitch side has fewer voices but quickly corrects himself. Like the enormous numbers of teachers and parents out there don''t count for much.
As if there are 2 voices -- one funded by billionaires and one grassroots but somehow the imbalance is never addressed.

One billionaire voice counts for many. And make sure to check the funding sources of Frontline -- bet Gates money is floating around somewhere. Any ed deformers involved?

I wonder if there is a clip of Randi as a supposed major opponent to Rhee when in fact Randi helped sell a contract that helped undermine the teachers and the DC union. And Randi also interferred in a union election for fear they would not ratify her and Rhee's contract.

I will be watching though to see just how deep Merrow was willing to go in a complex story.

Here is lots more info on Leonie's listserve from Rethinking Schools' Stan Karp.

Rhee-form in the spotlight again

Former Washington, DC Superintendent Michelle Rhee and her organization, Students First, will be the subject of a PBS documentary tonight. Despite misrepresenting her own teaching career, presiding over an extensive cheating scandal, and getting poor results during her tenure as Supt., Rhee has become the media face of corporate education reform. She recently released a “state report card” grading states on the basis of how thoroughly they have adopted proposals for test-based teacher evaluation, charters, and privatization. States with more funding equity and better academic performance generally received lower grades than states that passed legislation advancing Rhee’s political agenda. In NJ, Rhee has been a favored ‘reform’ partner of the Christie Administration. Her Students First NJ affiliate is “Better Education for Kids” a lobbying group backed by Republican hedge fund billionaire David Tepper.

 

 

The Education of Michelle Rhee

Frontline, PBS Documentary, airs Tuesday 1/8

 

‘Frontline’ raises questions about test-score tampering under Rhee

Washington Post

 

The Empire Michelle Rhee Built

Esquire

 

Michelle Rhee’s new state reform report card

Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

 

NJ Touts Educational Reforms But Earns ‘D’ on One Nationwide Report Card

NJ Spotlight

 

Parent report card for Michelle Rhee and Students First

NYC Public School Parents

 

Rhee Can't Play Both Sides Anymore

Jersey Jazzman

NJ Department of Education pitches 'softball' newsletter to hide knuckleball reforms

Marie Corfield, Blue Jersey

 

NJDOE monthly newsletter for educators

 

NJDOE Teacher Advisory Panel

 

 

Breaking: UFT Doesn't Announce Election Committee, Indicating Postponement

Coming evaluation deal and loss of mid-winter break days may be factor in delay.

Monday, Jan. 7

Tonight's UFT Executive Board meeting was pretty much drop-dead date for the UFT elections to take place within the rough time-frame that they have been run in the past: process begins in early January, petitions due in mid-February, ballots go out in March with vote count around April 1 (a very appropriate day for anything related to Unity Caucus).

The UFT constitution says elections must take place sometime in the spring, which ends around June 20, I guess. Is the Unity caucus leadership thinking they would fare better with ballots going out in May or June when the lost Feb. vacation days would become a memory and whatever eval deal they make would have been spun any which way the leadership wants?

Before anything can take place, an election committee must be formed, usually with people from the opposition on the committee, and ratified by the Executive Board.  I was told by a high UFT official a few ago that someone from MORE would be included. This committee sets all the rules and parameters for the election. Usually, the committee is formed in November or December and takes a few weeks to formulate things.

So at tonight's Ex Bd meeting there was some expectation that if we were to meet the timetable, the committee would have to be announced tonight. The next EB meeting is on Jan. 22, the day before the DA, so even if announced that day, we would have to wait for it to report back to the EB meeting after that, which would be Feb. 4 and with mid-winter break, even then the election would be delayed. Even New Action, which will endorse Mulgrew in exchange for Exec Bd seats, were in the dark.

Some of us have been trying to figure out what advantage might accrue to the leadership to postpone by 2 or 3 months and that is not clear. Could it just be delays due to other stuff going on? Sandy? Too busy with Bloomberg to deal with the election?

Conspiracy theorists like me don't buy that. Within the opposition there are those who think Mulgrew will resist on the eval issue and others who feel he will cave, which the UFT has had a history of doing. Maybe they are waiting to see how whatever deal they work out plays out amongst the membership.

Then there is the link to a possible contract and the charges by the DOE the UFT was looking for money in exchange for the eval deal, which wouldn't surprise me given that they could sell any eval deal to the members for bucks and in an election the money always helps the people in power. Maybe the delay is about their hope they can stare down Bloomberg and convince him to toss enough bucks on the table to allow Mulgrew to sell the deal. Maybe just point their assault weapons at Bloomberg with their new pals at the NRA.

Now here was an interesting tidbit at Gotham today. Remember when MORE brought a reso to the Dec. DA calling for a membership vote on any deal, pointing out a change in how teachers are evaluated is a change in the contract and the constitution says members must vote on contract changes. Leroy Barr argued the case that only the Unity dominated DA should vote (be men and stand up for your right to keep the vote in the DA, you lilly livererd spineless geeks). Then Leroy closed by saying contracts are one of the only things that must go to the members. Huh? Can Leroy contradict himself any more in a 5 minute speech?

So read this point by Mulgrew today:

In a sober-toned response to the city on Thursday, Mr. Mulgrew called the allegations a “serious misunderstanding” of the union’s position and the law; he argued that the teachers’ contract, by law, must address the evaluation system, so it was fair to tie the two together.

Oops, Mulgrew better tell Leroy Barr that the eval system is tied to the contract. Can MORE get a do-over at the Jan. 23 DA?

NEXT: Check ICE blog and NYC Educator for another outrageous UFT view of "democracy".

MORE on Opt-Out Day and Ravitch on Opt-Out and Change the Stakes

One of the best organized groups functions in New York state. It is called Change the Stakes. .... Diane Ravitch

Having a group I belong to and helped found described by Diane Ravitch no less as "one of the best organized" is shocking. But given that I leave most of the work to all the other amazing people I wrote about on Friday, it works for me.

CTS has been very involved in opting out of tests for parents and some of the members have been doing so. CTS has helped guide people through the process and build solidarity.

MORE, closely allied with CTS, put out a great statement today on National Opt-Out Day.

morecaucusnyc

 

On National Opt Out Day

by morecaucusnyc

 

On National Opt Out day, the Movement of Rank and File Educators stands in solidarity with the brave parents who have stepped forward and said no to high stakes testing! The best way to stop the corporate takeover our schools is to refuse to participate.

 

Learn more about National Opt Out Day, 2013 by reading here or here or here or here or here or here 

 

Visit the Change the Stakes Website for information about how New York parents and teachers are united in the struggle against high stakes testing  here

 

Be one of the 2,300 people who have signed the petition to Give New York State Parents the Right to Opt their Children Out of High Stakes Testing

 

Or one of 4,000 who have signed Carol Burris’ petition to Governor Cuomo and the LEgislature to End High Stakes Testing

 

We care MORE about the people our students become and LESS about the scores on the tests they take.

These MOREs have been busy little bees lately with lots MORE to come. The 4 Bloggers of the Apocalypse have brought some life to the MORE blog.

 

----------

 

Diane Ravitch gives kudos to Change the Stakes

 

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/07/parents-it-is-time-to-change-the-stakes/

It’s Time to Change the Stakes–Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch's blog

Parents: It Is Time to Change the Stakes

January 7, 2013 //

Parents across the nation are taking a stand against the use of tests to measure, rate, and rank their children.

Local school boards are passing resolutions against high-stakes testing.

People are increasingly angry that tests are being used inappropriately in ways for which they were not designed.

They are forming groups to protest.

One of the best organized groups functions in New York state.

It is called Change the Stakes.

It adopted a statement in opposition to high-stakes testing drafted by testing expert Fred Smith.

In addition to their concerns about narrowing the curriculum and demoralizing students, parents and educators want to know more about the testing. They want to know, for example:

“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.”

The state and city education officials act as though they own the children and can do whatever they want without supplying even the most basic information to parents.

This is wrong. This is contrary to democratic control of public education. The people in charge don’t know more. They just have more power. And they are using it in ways that disrespects parents and educators.

UP YOURS: Are Charter Schools so unregulated, or 'private', they are exempt from providing students with their constitutional rights?

Hello Boston Globe. UP (Yours) IS the mainstream charter movement.

Charter crooks abound. I don't mean stealing in the classic sense but creating an entire industry feeding at the public teat. Here is a follow up to my earlier post (just read Inside Colocation and seethe) on the usual outrages by Success Academy schools, something we will wait til hell freezes over for the NY Times to cover. Before I get to Lisa Donlan's pointing out how the lead shield put around charters protects them from accountability, Boston based EduShyster today reports on the end of the love affair between the Boston Globe and UP (Yours) Academy charter.

It’s time now for another installment of EduShyster’s favorite telenovela: “Nos Encanta Los Escuelos Charteros.” This long-running series features the Boston Globe in the role of love-besotted suitor, intent on showing its love for local charter schools through cartas de amor, otherwise known as news articles. When we last tuned in, the Globe’s mad luv for local miracle school UP Academy, appeared to have hit a rough patch. EduShyster can now officially confirm that the Globe and UP Academy are done, splitsville, broken up.

What went so wrong?
The Globe went public about the split last week, airing UP’s dirty laundry all over the Metro section...

Edushyster exposes the sleazy connection between a mayoral aide and UP:

With the Mayor all but out of commission since October, and his powerful aide Michael Kinneavy presumed to be running the show, it might strike the more conspiracy-minded among us as a bit rich that Mr. Kinneavy sits on the board of UP Academy, which stands to benefit directly and most profitably from the legislation. (UP keeps a cool 15% commission each year for miracle-izing the formerly public schools in its growing orbit). I believe that this is what is known as a conflicto de intereses.

Apparently, the Boston Globe, which had lavished loving praises on Up, felt spurned since it had been fed charter pablum and bought it hook, line and sinker. I guess hearing this kind of crap made them take notice...

by the time you factor in 20% annual student turnover AND the multiple categories of students shunted off to enclaves of non-excellence, it turns out that this former-public-school-turned-miracle-charter isn’t so miraculous after all. And that’s not all. The Globe acknowledged what EduShyster reported late last year, 

-----

But the true tabloid take-a-way was the Globe’s recounting of a young student with behavioral problems being driven to a nearby public school by UP administrators and dropped off, still wearing her UP Academy uniform. 

Did you get that? I’ll let the Globe break it down for you again for emphasis:
Ultimately, of the pupils eligible to apply at the Gavin, 84 percent enrolled at UP Academy last fall. But as the year progressed, 44 of those former Gavin pupils left. A few of those students landed at the McCormack Middle School in Dorchester. The pupils generally had discipline problems, and UP Academy drove one girl there while she was wearing her school uniform, said Paul Mahoney, dean of students at the McCormack.

Actually, the real Boston Globe take-away from this sleazy affair? Not that there is an inherent fatal flaw in the charter movement...

Last week, a Globe editorial took a swipe at Mayor Menino, warning that his love legislation to UP Academy and other in-district charter schools actually undermines the “mainstream charter movement.”  

Hello Boston Globe. UP (Yours) IS THE MAINSTREAM CHARTER MOVEMENT. 

This ties into this great work done NYC Lower East Side Parent activist Lisa Donlan.

Charter schools can call themselves public all they want (and have the term sprinkled into state law) but the courts will need to determine soon just how "public" charter schools are, in fact. 

 Are they so unregulated, or 'private', that they even are exempt from providing students with their constitutional rights, as the quote below might indicate?

The District’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education in August proposed rules that would govern discipline policies at all public schools, including charters. They called for minimizing suspension and expulsion of children 13 and younger and outlined due process rights for students. Charter leaders mounted a vigorous opposition, saying the federal law that established D.C. charters frees them from such local mandates.

If so, this would give a whole new meaning to separate and unequal!

Lisa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/02/judges-look-at-whether-charter-schools-are-public/

 
Charter schools are publicly funded but increasingly people are asking whether many of them more resemble private schools. 

Here’s a different look at this notion from Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher and Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. A version of this appeared on his Education and Public Policy blog.

By Julian Vasquez Heilig

The common refrain is that charter schools are public schools. Critics, such as Diane Ravitch, have said that charter schools accept public money but act private. I have levied a variety of critiques at charters despite the fact that I was an instructor at an Aspire charter school in California and that I currently sit on UT-Austin’s charter school board. See CI’s full thread on charter schools here.

At the recent UCEA convention in Denver, I had the pleasure of presenting in a conference session about charters schools and equity. At the conference I was blown away how judges are treating charters schools as private schools and the implication that these choices have for student who attend those schools. I have excerpted below from a law journal article authored by Preston C. Green III, Erica Frankenberg, Steven L. Nelson, and Julie Rowland.

Citation: Green, P., Frankenberg, E., Nelson, S., & Rowland, J. (2012). Charter schools, students of color and the state action doctrine: Are the rights of students of color sufficiently protected? Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 18(2), 254-275.

A recent federal appellate court decision suggests that students of color should also be concerned about the legal protections that charter schools might provide to students.¹⁸Because state authorizing statutes consistently define charter schools as “public schools,”¹⁹ it would appear that charter school students are entitled to constitutional protections.²⁰ Students attending public schools have challenged deprivations of federal constitutional and statutory rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which establishes a cause of action for deprivations of federal constitutional and statutory rights “under the color of state law.”²¹ Students have sought damage awards pursuant to § 1983; “actions for injunctive or declaratory relief are [also] a major portion of the case law.”²² However, in 2010, the Ninth Circuit concluded in Caviness v. Horizon Learning Center²³ that a private, nonprofit corporation running an Arizona charter school was not a state actor under § 1983.²⁴ The Ninth Circuit specifically rejected the assertion that charter schools were state actors because they were defined as “public schools” under the state statute.²⁵

Although the Caviness case was an employment case, it is important to recognize that a similar analysis could lead to the conclusion that charter schools are not state actors with respect to student constitutional issues. Students attending public schools are guaranteed constitutional protections.¹⁵⁶ There are constitutional safeguards for student expression.¹⁵⁷Public school students are protected from unreasonable search and seizure.¹⁵⁸ The Constitution also requires public schools to provide procedural due process safeguards when suspending or expelling students.¹⁵⁹ Of the seven states in the Ninth Circuit with legislation authorizing charter schools,¹⁶⁰ only Oregon guarantees that all federal rights apply to charter schools.¹⁶¹ With the exception of Oregon, state legislatures do not compel charter schools to follow constitutional guidelines with respect to due process. California and Idaho merely require potential charter school operators to disclose their disciplinary policies in their initial charter application.¹⁶² Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and Nevada do not even demand that charter schools disclose their disciplinary policies at the time of application.¹⁶³

Students of color attending charter schools should be concerned about the potential lack of constitutional due process protection. Studies of data at the national, state, district, and building levels have consistently found that students of color are suspended at two to three times the rate of other students.¹⁸⁰ African-American students should be especially concerned about the possible lack of due process protection.¹⁸¹ According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, in the 1970s African-Americans were two times more likely than white students to be suspended from school.¹⁸² By 2002, the risk of suspension for African-Americans increased to nearly three times that of white students.¹⁸³ Further, a study of office discipline referrals in 364 elementary and middle schools during the 2005-06 school year found that African-American students were more than two times as likely to be referred to the office for disciplinary issues as white students.¹⁸⁴ The same study found that African-American students were also four times more likely to be sent to the principal’s office than white students.¹⁸⁵

Because of their foci on autonomy and accountability, supporters of charter schools have argued that they are the perfect vehicle for addressing the educational needs of students of color. This article points out, however, that charter schools may not be state actors under federal law with respect to student rights. Consequently, students of color may be unwittingly surrendering protections guaranteed under the Constitution in order to enroll in charter schools.

I have already discussed how charters can wield contracts to exclude students from schoolhere. In conclusion, Professor Green commented via email:

The key takeaway about Caviness is that it’s unclear whether the constitutional rights of kids are protected in charter schools. In a NEPC brief, Julie Mead and I point out that charter school statutes can address this confusion by clearly stipulating that children are guaranteed the same rights in charter schools as they would receive in traditional public schools… there are important implications for African-American males with respect to Due Process, suspensions, and expulsions.

Join MORE at Co-Location Hearings in Prep for Jan. 16 PEP

Want to get your dander up? I'm reposting all the stuff from the great Inside Colocation blog about Success Academy outrages in just one of the schools they occupy. Note the Citizens of the World co-loco hearing is Eva's husband's charter chain which will behave no differently.

Below is a list of hearings and MOREs are trying to get to as many as possible. If you have time come to one or at the very least join MORE at the Jan. 16 PEP meeting at Fashion Industries HS. If you get up to speak, just read some of the stuff below.

Date	District	Meeting type	Original school	Co-locating school
Jan 8	District 4	Co-location	PS 38 232 E 103rd St, Manhattan	Harlem Prep Charter co-located with PS 38
Jan 9	District 15	Temporary Co-location	IS 136 and Sunset Park Preparatory 4004 4th Ave, Brooklyn	"New School 15KTBD" co-locating
Jan 10	District 17	Co-location	PS 221 791 Empire Boulevard, Brooklyn	Citizens of the World Charter co-located with PS 221
Jan 16		PEP	6:00PM at  the High School of Fashion Industries located at 225 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011

Hearings already passed, status to be decided at the Jan. 16 PEP:

*PS 126, 175 W 166^th St. , Bronx , NY  (grade truncation: losing the 6^th grade)

*The High School for Environmental Studies, 850 10^th Avenue , New York , NY (Consolidation of Independence High School with HS for Environmental Studies)

*Re-siting of Innovation Diploma Plus to Building M233, 601 W 183^rd Street , New York , NY ; IDP is being moved away from a site with four other schools (145 W 84th Street). 601 W 183 currently hosts MS 346 Community Health Academy of the Heights, a grade 6 to 12 school.

Inside Colocation

The public school where I've been teaching for the last 8 years has been targeted for a "colocation" with a corporate-model charter school. Most people, including me, don't know what a colocation looks like, though we've heard bleak stories. I've started this blog to document it as best I can.

4th Jan 2013

Success Academy has a “zero noise tolerance” policy in their hallways, which they expect our students and staff to honor. They requested that the playground be locked after school hours so our students can’t play basketball and handball, which they claim disrupts their teachers’ planning time. Meanwhile, every day (weather permitting), Success Academy students congregate in the courtyard you see here and sing and loudly play. Their songs and shouts interrupt math and science classes in the many rooms that overlook the courtyard. Our middle and high school students regularly complain that it is extremely hard to focus with the noise from outside.

3rd Jan 2013

The charter school recently demanded a custodian to lock all of the basement exits after school. Students from the upstairs public schools were still at events on campus and to leave school they had to climb over a fence, causing an obvious problem. For safety reasons, you can’t have exits locked. At the building council meeting, Success Academy proposed to use the exits only for emergencies. This proposal was voted down. However, they went ahead and put up the signs you see above! And they continue to advocate for our exits being locked.

6th Dec 2012 | 2 notes

The lights in the back are the old fluorescents that most DOE schools were equipped with for years, and are deemed unsafe for prolonged exposure. As each strip dies out, it gets replaced with the new lights you see in the front. It’s typical to see classrooms with a combination of old and new lights. The weekend before school opened this September, the charter school laid out $400,000 for a haz-mat team to install all new lights in their classrooms. The lights installed in Success were all taken from storage where they were scheduled to be installed in other schools over the coming months.

24th Oct 2012 | 1 note

AC update! When our high school was located in the basement, each room had one to two working ACs. We moved upstairs to rooms without ACs that were unbearably hot all through September. While most of the second floor is not properly wired for ACs, some rooms are wired and ready. So why weren’t our old ACs simply moved upstairs? When the charter school’s contractors removed the basement ACs, they let the units fall to the ground. Every AC but one is broken! To replace all of the broken ACs will cost $100,000, and SA is unwilling to pay up.

18th Oct 2012 | 2 notes

Success Academy, like our school, has carpeting at its entrance. These carpets get vacuumed by our custodial staff, who uses their equipment to clean all the schools housed in the building. However, the industrial vacuum that custodial uses is not functioning. SA purchased a new vacuum cleaner and a carpet shampooer which our custodians must use to regularly clean Success’ carpet. However, despite custodial’s request, SA will not allow the custodians to bring this vacuum upstairs. As a result, our school’s carpets are being swept each day with a broom. 

14th Oct 2012 | 1 note

For weeks, several teachers in Global Studies and International Studies have been unable to connect to the internet. Two teachers said that the computer network repairman came by to address the problem and discovered that wires had been cut in the server room to make room for Success Academy, who needs to connect on a different SSID than the rest of the schools, as the Department of Education does not allow them to share the DOE internet connection. I haven’t been able to verify this one way or another. Another teacher pointed out that these holes were drilled through the gym to run Success Academy’s internet wires into our building’s server, which they were not supposed to connect to. The problems do seem to be resolved, but only after a litany of complaints against S.A.