Our 2nd event of the 2014 Summer Series on Wednesday 7/30 features a discussion on the new contract. More information below and here.
A preview of the contract and our discussion by John Elfrank-Dana, Chapter Leader of Murray Bergtraum High School:
After alerting the UFT that my principal
failed to invite me to this Advance training in July, finally there was
traction and I got a belated registration request (they had to reopen it
as it was closed already).
I found at least a few quite disturbing changes to Advance.
1. Formal observations count for no more than informals. So in a 1 formal/ 3 informal option each counts for 25% of the Measures of Teacher Practice.
This gives even more weight to those "gotcha"
observations where principals can cherry pic their facts. Yours truly
was rated Effective during formals when the video camera was rolling,
but less so during informals where they can claim whatever they want
happened.
What is the UFT's plan to counter this? Will they resurrect Principal in Need of Improvement?
2. Domains: Domains 2 and 3 now count
for 85% of your overall MeasureOf Teacher Performance (MOTP). Used to be
domains 1 and 4 had more. That gave the teacher the option to show
professionalism outside the classroom. Not any longer.
3. Feedback: We
called out the administration early on last year from not providing
feedback within 48 hours, as the Advance FAQ defined effective feedback
as within 48 hours. This is not the written report. Under the new and
improved Advance they have 15 school days to provide feedback. They
moved up the report to 45 days from 90.
They also now have the
right to observe you a 2nd time before they give you feedback for the
last informal. How this is supposed to help teachers is beyond me. It
keeps us looking over our shoulders just in case you thought you might
have a little respite from the hyper scrutiny.
4. 3rd Observation Protocol: Brahman
Caste Teachers - Those rated Highly Effective, get a 3rd observation
protocol the rest of us slugs don't. It's some combination of peer
review and an informal or two. More gnawing at solidarity.
I got the last word in
the PD. The discussion was how to motivate members to choose peer
observation as a PD method. I said we used to have that carrot in Art.
8J Option A where a colleague's observation counted for a formal, in
lieu of a formal observation from our AP. No such luck any more! See how
far the UFT has lead us down the path to our own demise?
For more discussion on the new contract and mobilizing your chapter please join us
Wednesday July 30th 4:00pm-7:00pm
The Dark Horse 17 Murray St. NYC Near City Hall, Chambers St, WTC $5 Drafts & Well Drinks
Life Under the New Contract
This
fall we will be returning to a radically changed work environment,
which educators are approaching with a mix of hope and anxiety. How can
school workers use the new contract to advocate for themselves and their
students? How can we activate new people, strengthen our union
chapters, and empower ourselves at work? Which members are more
vulnerable under the new contract, and how can we support them? MORE
wants to campaign this year around tenure, paperwork reduction, ATR
rights and chapter leader elections, and we need your ideas and energy!
|
Written and edited by Norm Scott: EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!! Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
MORE Summer Series Today: Life Under the New UFT Contract
I can't make this today - taking soon to be demised Rockaway ferry into city for matinee - but this is only a first shot at life under the new contract. How about the health care cost savings?
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
A Parent/Filmmaker Comments on Ravitch and Unions
How is it possible that the Leadership of Teachers Unions maintains this destructive control of the profession? And how can that control be altered and in what ways, without destroying the Unions altogether. .....parent perception is predominantly that the Unions speak for and represent the attitudes of teachers.... If the Unions don't speak for the majority of teachers and, if as you say, there's a lot of dissent in the ranks of Union Teachers, it means that all of you are negatively impacted by that burden.... in trying to get my film off I find this is one of the most intractable and negative perceptions and it's complex enough to cause parents to not trust and not act on the criticisms leveled by anti deform groups. I've discussed this with a number of MORE teachers and it is an issue that seriously impacts all efforts to rally parents to the cause.Michael is commenting in response to my recent post: The Diane Ravitch Contradiction: Educators Should Rebel, but Be Nice When Addressing Oppressive Union Leaderships
-----Michael Elliot, comment on my post on Ravitch criticisms directed at union dissidents who go "too far."
...where I made a defense for strong opposition to the union leaderships and felt Diane was downplaying the very weak position so much of the opposition occupies vis a vis the dominant leadership. Sometimes there is only way to engage in a battle inside a dictatorship - hand to hand combat.
Michael feels that the opposition inside the unions may be contributing to the negative public perception of unions. I dispute that given that our voices are barely heard by the public. In fact they are barely heard by the union members.
But his point that we are not elucidating our position as to why we oppose the leadership very clearly may be right.
they have absolutely no idea what the differences between the Unions and their members truly are, if fact after nearly a year of observing this phenomenon, neither do I.Michael asks:
The reason I believe Diane speaks with two minds is precisely representative of this schism between the Unions and their members. And I think it undermines all of your considerable efforts on behalf of one of the most important professional endeavors affecting future generations.
How is it possible that the Leadership of Teachers Unions maintains this destructive control of the profession? And how can that control be altered and in what ways, without destroying the Unions altogether.
That is a valid question. MORE should produce a UFT 101 document elucidating the issues. When you talk about democracy it can be so abstract. So it is necessary to show how the lack thereof has led us to a disastrous situation.
I guess my main response on the question of how can that control be altered and in what ways, without destroying the Unions altogether?
My response would be CHICAGO, CHICAGO, WHAT A WONDERFUL TOWN.
Then there is the question: Whose side are our union leaders really on? And does exposing that hurt the union movement in general?
Michael was responding to this comment by NYC parent activist Jeff Nichols.
Norm,As I tell anyone who will listen, if you want to know what's really going on, listen to Norm Scott. I don't presume to judge Diane, who to her credit is willing to change her mind in public and who has used her blog to the extent of her ability to augment the voices of those of us without access to major media outlets. But clearly her knowledge isn't complete, and although she has become the unofficial spokesperson for anti-deformers and is astonishingly prolific and effective in that role, the public deeply needs the perspective, wisdom *and righteous invective* of long-time teachers and activists like you!!!!Too many people still believe teachers' unions actually represent teachers and have no idea how many of them have been co-opted by ed deform.Thank you as always, Norm, for being one bad-ass Maria!Jeff
Here is Michael's full thought-provoking comment
Hi Norm,I actually want to take this a step further. As I research my documentary I keep running up against the same issue over and over again. The issue is that public and more importantly, parent perception is predominantly that the Unions speak for and represent the attitudes of teachers.
It is not nuanced and it always proves to be an immense burden that is carried by teachers. If the Unions don't speak for the majority of teachers and, if as you say, there's a lot of dissent in the ranks of Union Teachers, it means that all of you are negatively impacted by that burden.
I have also found that very few teachers are willing to admit that Parents actually feel this way. But in trying to get my film off I find this is one of the most intractable and negative perceptions and it's complex enough to cause parents to not trust and not act on the criticisms leveled by anti deform groups. I've discussed this with a number of MORE teachers and it is an issue that seriously impacts all efforts to rally parents to the cause.
Any one of you can disclaim my point of view here, but as one who is all in with the efforts of the groups, teachers, schools and parents to message in favor of destroying the deform coup I can tell you honestly its the achillies heel of the anti-deform movement.
In order to succeed, someone has got to publicly state what role the Union Leadership has played in contributing to the marginalization and simply awful public perception that exists about Teacher Unions. I know this is a very public statement I'm making to this group and the reason I'm doing so is because I encounter the attitudes of parents absent being one of you. And that is the only way people share the truth.
When I talk to parents outside the movement the first thing they say is that the Union is corrupt. The messaging from the opposition takes this to maximum benefit. Democrats and Republicans SHARE this perception.
Meanwhile, they have absolutely no idea what the differences between the Unions and their members truly are, if fact after nearly a year of observing this phenomenon, neither do I.
The reason I believe Diane speaks with two minds is precisely representative of this schism between the Unions and their members. And I think it undermines all of your considerable efforts on behalf of one of the most important professional endeavors affecting future generations.
How is it possible that the Leadership of Teachers Unions maintains this destructive control of the profession? And how can that control be altered and in what ways, without destroying the Unions altogether.
I hope anyone reading this can see it in the spirit its intended.
I'm a parent, I'm trying to make a film about your brilliant efforts and I find that I'm thwarted at a fundamental level because I cannot answer this issue effectively.
Labels:
AFT,
Diane Ravitch,
MORE,
Randi Weingarten,
social justice unionism,
UFT
I'm Shocked, Just Shocked WSJ Reporter Leslie Brody Would Write a Biased Article on Tenure
The Wall Street Journal article is just another example of how the media uses "fuzzy math" to distort and pervert the statistics to suit their ideological aims and to support the attack on teacher "due process rights"... Chaz School DazeNote to reporters: What you leave out assumes more importance than what you include. The sad thing is that WSJ ed reporter Leslie Brody probably thinks she did not write a biased article. Rather than rehash, here are 2 excellent commentaries by Chaz and Eterno.
Chaz on ICE blog: The exoneration rate in 3020-a cases has remained consistent over the years at 4%.
- James Eterno response:
- You won't find that in the Journal. Doesn't fit the argument.
Eterno at ICEUFT blog:
I am no fan of the Wall Street Journal. However, today's article with NYC teacher tenure trial statistics is somewhat interesting reading because there are some actual, although incomplete, figures presented.
Looking inside the numbers, it is clear that teachers who choose to go to a hearing, rather than settle beforehand, usually receive a fine. That seems to fit in with anecdotal information we have heard over the years.
However, the Journal does not put in their big chart (copied below) and barely mentions that out of 826 cases filed by the Department of Education, "Hundreds of cases settled, often with teachers agreeing to resign or retire, and hundreds haven't been resolved." Their chart shows only 261 decisions out of 496 resolved hearings. That leaves 235 which they agree are often resignations or retirements. Add say 150 resignations or retirements to the forty terminations and their chart would look completely different. See how statistics can be played with.
The Journal is obviously trying to lowball the numbers on how many teachers are no longer working in the system so they can prove how hard it is to terminate a tenured teacher. This shows their anti teacher prejudice. If someone resigns or is forced to retire, they are no longer teaching in the system. I gather that in private business many employees are urged to resign or retire rather than be fired but showing these statistics for teachers would not fit in with the Journal's preconceived notion that the Department of Education can't get rid of us.
They also neglect to note how many teachers are completely exonerated in the 3020a process. That number from what we have been told is so small that to print it would make the union look weak and that would also not coincide with the right wing myth on how strong the union is.
Remember all of these cases were heard under the old evaluation system. Under the new evaluation system's weakened due process provision that will start in 2015 in NYC for most teachers, there will be a presumption of incompetence after two ineffective ratings. The burden of proof will shift to teachers to prove we are not incompetent if a validator upholds an ineffective rating.
Chaz:
The Fuzzy Math The Wall Street Journal Used For Their 3020-a Statistics
The Wall Street Journal received from the NYCDOE the 3020-a statistics for the last two years April 2012 to January 2014 on educators who were charged under section 3020-a for tenured educators. If you browsed through the chart supplied by the newspaper it would seem that only 40 out of 826 cases ended in termination or 5% and that's what the newspaper wants you to believe. However, if you read the article more thoroughly, you realize that 330 cases have not been resolved and the termination rate jumps from 5% to 8%, not a large jump but its not 5%. Wait there's more. Of the 826 disciplinary cases, it turns out that apparently 235 educators agreed to resign or retire rather than go through the 3020-a hearing process. Add the 235 to the 40 terminated educators and the total educators removed from the system is 275. Since only 496 cases have been resolved (826 - 330). the total percentage of educators that left the system after being charged under the 3020-a law is 55%! That's right 55% not the 5% the Wall Street Journal would like you to believe is the case.
While the data shows no educator acquittal rates, historically, its been consistently around 4% in the last decade. Therefore, of the 826 disciplinary cases, one could expect approximately 20 educators to be exonerated.
The Wall Street Journal article is just another example of how the media uses "fuzzy math" to distort and pervert the statistics to suit their ideological aims and to support the attack on teacher "due process rights". Michael Bloomberg may be gone but his ideology still inhabits the corridors of Tweed and the New York City media. The ICEUFT blog also has a similar take on how the Wall Street Journal manipulated the statistics.
Labels:
Leslie Brody,
tenure,
Wall Street Journal
Monday, July 28, 2014
Francesca Gomes on the New Teacher Contract
While many teachers were able to see the contract for what it was, the only organized protest against it was mounted by the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE). Though the effort made by this group was truly commendable, it currently has too small of a base to mount an effective attack or empower the teachers in a city with such a vast, sprawling geography and such a high number of schools. In most schools, only the rose-colored version of the contract promoted by the leadership and its Unity Caucus (which included outright lies) was heard. If all UFT members had properly heard both sides of the argument, the vote would have been much closer.Francesca Gomes teaches at a Brooklyn middle school and is a member of MORE and Socialist Alternative.
From the use of fear tactics by the current UFT leadership to its acceptance of charter schools and standardized testing, it has shown that it is entirely incapable of and has no intention of even attempting to stage a fightback against the erosion of teachers’ rights. Its “strategy” at the moment appears to boil down to the mantra “we must trust our friends”, de Blasio and FariƱa. This led inevitably to the need to present the austerity contract as a victory.
It must also be said that part of the context for the 77% vote in favor of the contract was the extremely low expectations of a deeply demoralized membership, which also had little faith in the leadership to get something better if it was sent back to the bargaining table. An article on the MORE website entitled “Disappointment” states that: “Most of the members with whom we spoke who approved this contract only did so because they felt it was the best our union could do,” and this was a direct effect of the union leadership’s campaign to scare teachers into accepting the deal, insisting that “the money [would] go away” if it were not ratified.
Rebuilding the fighting confidence of the union rank and file is not a straightforward process. The recent winning of a $15 minimum wage in Seattle shows working people can win real victories when they mobilize at a grassroots level. Union members, however, are contending with a leadership that actively works to reinforce their fear and demoralization, while presenting themselves as the strength of the union, instead of mobilizing their membership to exercise its own strength.
Austerity Contract for NYC Teachers – More Attacks, More Need for Unified Fightback
http://www.socialistalternative.org/2014/07/17/austerity-contract-for-nyc-teachers-more-attacks-more-need-for-unified-fightback/
Sunday, July 27, 2014
The Diane Ravitch Contradiction: Educators Should Rebel, but Be Nice When Addressing Oppressive Union Leaderships
....you want the workers to be rebellious, not docile. There is a time for collaboration and a time to stand up and fight... Ravitch on film "Metropolis."There is such irony in these 2 Ravitch blogs just hours apart when our union leaders's aim is to keep workers from being rebellious.
I grow frustrated when union members attack their unions. Of course, they should fight to win democratic control of their unions. But when they begin hurling insults and invective at their allies, they do the work of their common foe.... Diane Ravitch comment on -- Lisa Graves: Will the Koch Brothers Buy American Politics?
I have been a big defender of Diane Ravitch but I grow frustrated when she urges restraint when we attack undemocratic, mislabeled as progressive, union leaders and call them out for what they are. And then qualifies it with "Of course, they should fight to win democratic control of their unions." Of course, of course. But let's set ground rules for those doing the fighting, but no ground rules for the people in power.
The major factor in the rise of ed deform over the past two-plus decades has been the capitulation and cooperation of undemocratically run teacher unions. When does Diane Ravitch call for the democratic reform of teacher unions instead of asking those fighting for these reforms to "play nice"? When militants attack the union leadership does the right/ALEC cheer? Or do they fear more Chicago's coming? If MORE and its allies were ever to challenge the Unity/NYSUT/AFT leadership in a serious way, ALEC would not be happy -- better the good Maria/Randi than the bad.....
Read the full Ravitch comment on the Fritz Lang film shown last night on TCM.
Sarah Chambers between 2 Unity Caucus members at mic at AFT convention |
Knowing what was going to happen to Germany, I found myself siding with the “bad” Maria who wanted the workers to turn against the machines to which they were psychically chained, not the “good” Maria, who wanted the workers to wait, wait, wait, and be peaceful. If you think about the movie in relation to German history and the monster who would plunge the world into war just a few years later, you want the workers to be rebellious, not docile. There is a time for collaboration and a time to stand up and fight... Ravitch on film "Metropolis" (Last Thoughts of the Night).In the other - Lisa Graves: Will the Koch Brothers Buy American Politics? - post Ravitch and Graves gang up on the band of resisters in the teacher unions who are fighting a 2-front war against ed deform and their own union leaders who don't exactly play "nice." (SEE NYSUT AND AFT CONVENTIONS).
Does Diane get it? That Randi Weingarten is the "good Maria" who wants workers to wait, wait, wait and be peaceful. And that Diane and Lisa Graves are also playing the role of the "good Maria" in giving Randi cover and accusing union dissidents, who are often left without any voice in the union, of helping the Koch brothers when they attack their union leaders as being undemocratic and repressive?
In essence, Ravitch and Graves are also playing the role of the "good Maria" in urging restraint on unionists who are forced into the public forum to reach the membership because all internal forums are severely limited. (Unity has access to every single teacher mail box by using its district reps and enormous numbers of chapter leaders.)
Diane Ravitch has said her decade of mistakes in supporting ed deform was due to viewing things from 20,000 feet. Well when it comes to her views on internal union issues she is still viewing from 20,000 feet and she is as wrong on that as she was on ed deform.
What she doesn't get is that until the unions are reformed there can be no effective fight against ed deform. There is no better example than that of the Chicago Teacher Union resistance and the UFT decades-long capitulation in the face of ed deform, much of it under the leadership of Randi Weingarten. And fighting the Unity Caucus machine that controls NYC, NY State, the AFT is not a gentleman's game.
These 2 posts by Diane Ravitch were just hours apart and they can't be more contradictory in their message to those forces battling against undemocratic structures in their unions. So lets forget-about-it when UFT/Unity's Leroy Barr pushes Chicago's Sarah Chambers out of the way at the committee debate on common core at the AFT convention so that Mulgrew could get the microphone. See AFT Convention Update: Chicago CC Reso Goes Down
Also see a few of my other reports from the AFT - all on the sidebar but these are relevant to this blog post.
- #AFT14 Report: When Will the UFT/AFT Reclaim the Promise of a Democratic Union?
- #AFT14 Report - Tidbits
- #AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle B...
I have to compile a list of his fabulous blog posts over the past few months - MORE could use them as a campaign statement. Is Diane and Lisa Graves saying Arthur us helping the Koch brothers? Am I to stop calling Washington Sanchez or Stuart Kaplan "slugs?" (Hey Leroy, you are now officially on slug probation.)
Let's parse Lisa Graves:
“The American Federation of Teachers has been rock solid in the fight against ALEC, consistently devoting staff time week in and week out for three years to expose ALEC, due to her personal commitment. The ongoing public campaign on ALEC would not have had the success it has had without AFT’s work and her leadership, and without the work of many devoted colleagues across the country, including the National Education Association and other organizations, bloggers, and concerned citizens nationwide…..To Lisa the fight is about the AFT staff, not involving the 1.6 million members because to get them involved they actually need a stake in a union that would be run bottom-up not top-down. In fact, if militants had controlled the AFT that fight would have begun a decade ago, not yesterday as the good Randi plays nice.
I know we need a more progressive America.
“And progressives need to get better at using their power to persuade each other and to win better policies. But attacking genuine progressives for banding together to take on the Kochs or for not being pure enough is foolish sport. And the right loves it when progressives fight. It makes their effort to tear down the left so much easier. So, let’s get real. Because there’s a real-world war going on to kill our public schools, outsource our public institutions to private companies not accountable to us, and destroy key government constraints on corporate power…..
And how foolish to think that the Koch brothers and ALEC just loved it when CORE Caucus in Chicago tossed out the old Unity-like leadership and turned that union into one capable of getting over 90% support for a strike?
As I said in a comment Diane's blog. If MORE and its allies were ever to challenge the Unity/NYSUT/AFT leadership in a serious way, the right and ALEC would not be happy -- for them, better the good Maria/Randi than the bad.
Labels:
Diane Ravitch,
Lisa Graves,
Randi Weingarten
Saturday, July 26, 2014
The Wave: Memo from the RTC: Backstage at “Gypsy”
Friday night's sold out performance got a standing ovation. Some of my friends came out to see it. Some of the theater people commented that my (very brief) performance actually is getting better -- how doing nothing can get better is beyond me - but they tell me I look more relaxed on stage. I'm not doing the next 3 performances (tonight, Sunday matinee and next Friday) but will be back next Sat night and the Sunday afternoon finale.
My column in the July 25, 2014 edition of The Wave.
Memo from the RTC: Backstage at “Gypsy”
By Norm Scott
I know we are considered community theater, but we are so much more than that. – Susan Warren Corning, Director of “Gypsy,” speaking to the cast backstage minutes before opening night.
Packed audiences cheered and whooped it up at last week’s opening sell-out weekend of the Rockaway Theatre Company production of “Gypsy” at Fort Tilden. One audience member reportedly said, “I saw Ethel Merman in the original and Tyne Daly and Pattie Lupone (who won a Tony) in the revivals and Louisa (Boyaggi) is better.” Another said, “Better than Broadway. I’d be willing to pay a hundred dollars.” For twenty bucks (and free parking), there is no better deal in Rockaway. Or on Broadway.
I’m very fortunate to participate in this production in a number of ways. Working with Tony Homsey and his set construction crew from Day 1 ¬¬– striking the set from the last show down to bare stage and watching the new set go up . Frank Caiati, who is directing “Godspell” (opening at the RTC Sept. 12), designed this set so as to simulate backstage at a theater that could morph into a hotel room and even a Chinese restaurant, mostly by the creative movement of scenery. Oh, the details involved in putting on a show. One day Director Susan Corning told me to remind Tony to put up two hooks to hang the massive paper mache cow head so it is easily reachable in the dark by the actors (John Panepinto and Matt Smilardi) playing the cow. Sorry animal lovers, despite the awesome acting, Caroline is NOT a real cow. But there are real dogs playing Chowsie.
I get to see many of the shows upstairs from the lighting booth as part of the video crew along with Jim Peithman – shooting above the sound booth (in the rear corner of the theater.) Cat McEntee is the mistress of the sound booth. She not only has to manage the multiple wireless microphones from the actors, but also must deliver on cue all the sound effects (phones ringing, announcements, etc.) Lighting is controlled from upstairs by a highly sophisticated programmed system designed by Andrew Woodbridge.
I spend a lot of time in the lighting booth, especially last weekend when there were no seats in the theater. Director Susan Corning is up there working with Stage Manager supreme Nora Meyers, who communicates by walkie talkie during the show with the sound booth, backstage with Frank Verderame to announce set changes and with the person controlling the curtain. Nora also is in charge of communicating with all the performers on every single aspect of the production. It is an awesome task and no one is more respected or relied upon or loved than Nora. Nora teachers elementary school so she is used to juggling 10 jobs at once. Nora also does the lighting cues, along with her husband Patrick, who handles the spotlight. While taping I can hear Susan and Nora chatting and making notes.
So much of what one sees onstage is managed from behind the scenes. One thing I’ve learned is that the Director handles the play mostly before it opens. The Stage Manager pretty much runs the show after that.
I have a small part in the show and get to spend time back stage where organized chaos reigns. Actors running in and out, changing costumes on the fly, numerous props being grabbed and put back in order, all managed by Prop Mistress Arlene Aron. And the team led by Costumier Extraordinaire Kerry O’Connor managing the amazing costumes. There are about 50 people in the cast, including a gaggle of children who must be dressed, undressed, organized, moved in and out. OMG. As a former elementary school teacher I appreciate what this takes. Parent wranglers help make it all work. The kids are delicious to watch.
All scenery changes are managed by the actors who have defined assignments posted. So not only do they have to be onstage when needed, they also need to be aware of the scene changes. Actors range in age from early 70s do 7.
Organizing and overseeing the entire project is Susan Corning, who has spent months making a life-long dream come true. She played Louise in college and 30 years later she is making Gypsy happen again. In a musical you need music and musical director Richard Louis-Pierre works spends months working with the singers. And the choreographer, the dazzling Catherine Leib, does the same with the dancers while also delivering a notable performance as Mazeppa, the trumpet-playing stripper.
I’ve left out so many people. The gorgeous Kim Simek, who turns from mousy Louise into the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. One minute I’m chatting with school teacher Kim backstage and the next she is taking off her clothes on stage (and backstage too during costume changes). And I could do an entire column on David Risley (Herbie) who takes on so many roles at the RTC. And whatever is left over to do, Producer Susan Jasper does it.
Next time I’ll tell you about the young kids and teens in the show and how being involved in the RTC is not just community theater, but real community.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Rockaway Theatre Company "Gypsy" Highlights
Catch some of the magic in 2 minutes. Only 7 shows left - including tonight (tickets still available), sold out tomorrow (Friday). Call 718 374 6400.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
14 More Schools for Avaricious Eva - Coming to a School Near You - Or in Your Own School
....with so many schools how can Eva assure a consistent quality of cheating that keeps her scores so far above any of the other charters?
With de Blasio and the UFT helpless to fight Eva politically, and worse than that, the UFT refusal to organize schools invaded by Eva into an organized resistance force that could counter her, people in invaded schools are helpless. The UFT failed to put up any resistance to Cuomo's charter law sellout that requires the city to put up money to rent space or co-locate these schools.
Eva is jumping in to gobble up what she can, other charters be damned. We have been predicting -- even to my charter contacts - that live by the laws of competition, die by those same laws. Chains will gobble them up over time -- think of the mergers and acquisitions. Eventually, Eva will run into KIPP.
My old pal - NY charter school leader James Merriman - doesn't seem all too happy about this development. As Eva controls the entire charter landscape, he becomes superfluous.
Oh, and think of how many more UFT jobs get lost with 14 more schools. That is why the AFT/UFT are trying to organize non-teachers like nurses -- they know the teaching profession is doomed.
It won't be long before there are demands to lift the charter cap. The UFT is selling the fiction it can organize charters into the union but it will never dent the Eva monolith which is a school district within a school district. She will be facing her own wall as teacher burnout and turnover continues.
And worst of all for Eva -- with so many schools how can she assure a consistent quality of cheating that keeps her scores so far above any of the other charters?
Full Capital NY piece.
By way of example, the application points to one Harlem district school co-located with a Success school has started posting college flags in school hallways, based on a Success practice....I'm trying not to fall off my couch laughing at this major impact Success had on one school. Talk about scraping the bottom of a barrel to try to toot your own horn.
If Success’ proposal to open 14 new schools by 2016 is approved by the trustees of the SUNY Charter School Institute, the network will enroll about 35,698 students and cost the city more than $165 million (not including the cost of potential private space) by 2020, according to the application. .. Capital NY - Success proposes to dominate NYC’s charter landscapeThere is mucho unhappiness in NYC charter land today - even more than in the public school sector which pretty much has accepted the end is coming. But this pretty much spells the end of the independent/non-chain charter school. Maybe even some of the smaller chains too. The Capital NY article touches on a few issues of importance but also leaves a bunch of stuff out.
With de Blasio and the UFT helpless to fight Eva politically, and worse than that, the UFT refusal to organize schools invaded by Eva into an organized resistance force that could counter her, people in invaded schools are helpless. The UFT failed to put up any resistance to Cuomo's charter law sellout that requires the city to put up money to rent space or co-locate these schools.
Eva is jumping in to gobble up what she can, other charters be damned. We have been predicting -- even to my charter contacts - that live by the laws of competition, die by those same laws. Chains will gobble them up over time -- think of the mergers and acquisitions. Eventually, Eva will run into KIPP.
My old pal - NY charter school leader James Merriman - doesn't seem all too happy about this development. As Eva controls the entire charter landscape, he becomes superfluous.
Oh, and think of how many more UFT jobs get lost with 14 more schools. That is why the AFT/UFT are trying to organize non-teachers like nurses -- they know the teaching profession is doomed.
It won't be long before there are demands to lift the charter cap. The UFT is selling the fiction it can organize charters into the union but it will never dent the Eva monolith which is a school district within a school district. She will be facing her own wall as teacher burnout and turnover continues.
And worst of all for Eva -- with so many schools how can she assure a consistent quality of cheating that keeps her scores so far above any of the other charters?
Full Capital NY piece.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
MORE Steering Committee: A Lesson in Democracy
You can't talk about democracy in the UFT unless your own group has
established democratic procedures itself. And if done openly, so
much the better. And boy is this tough, especially as you grow and try
to scale up. If I was in a caucus in contention with Unity that was not
practicing democracy, I would walk because we don't need a "new boss,
same as old boss scenario."
Democracy is not just about voting. It is how people deal with each other every day.
MORE is not just a caucus challenging the Unity leadership, but a fertile ground for people to nurture themselves politically and personally.
Tomorrow's MORE steering committee meeting will complete my 6-month term as the 3rd MORE Steering Committee to take over on August 1. So far 23 people have served 6-month terms on MORE Steering over a year and a half. Both old and new steering committees - those in town - will hold a joint meeting. I'm proud of the fact that so many of these people are fairly new to MORE and to activism. And how they have blossomed playing leadership roles. Many of them did not enter teaching with a sense of "union" and are so excited to become part of that process due to MORE's advocacy.
Before I comment on the process let me know if you have heard of a transparent process revealed by other caucuses, Unity and New Action. MORE is so open we even invite New Action members to join us and even run for Steering. So far they have declined. Maybe we should invite Unity people into the tent too. Hey Unity, feel free to come to meetings and make your case.
So I have tried to be vigilant inside MORE -- arguing for distributed leadership and decision making. I know, this violates some basic precepts where strong leadership in the hands of one person is considered crucial. Note that many people viewed Julie Cavanagh as the leader of MORE when in fact she was one voice amongst many. And her focus on her family and her school responsibilities has made it difficult for her to do MORE work. If you asked me 2 years ago what would MORE be like without a very active Julie, my response would have been bleak. In fact MORE hasn't missed a beat (though Julie's wise counsel is missed).
For the first year MORE had no steering committee, which I favored. I felt people were just getting to know each other and argued for the least restrictive environment. We called it a Planning Committee, open to everyone. But by the end of last school year, emerging fron an election campaign, it was clear we had grown enough to think about forming a steering committee.
I am generally not in favor of elections, especially in small groups like MORE. But most people wanted to hold one. We decided on 9 Steering seats and had 20 people run. There was a tie so we just added one. Some were not well known by enough people and the election was to some extent a popularity contest. I also felt we should limit the terms of office for 6 months, which one member of the CORE steering in Chicago told me last week was "crazy." I told her it was the best thing MORE had done. (We also have an unofficial rule that after 2 consecutive turns on steering (1 year) one should take a break.)
Lots of lessons were learned in that first term and there was major turnover in the 2nd MORE steering which took office last Jan. 1 due to the intense amount of work required. Burnout was an issue. (And we are working on dividing the work to prevent that). There were only 2 returnees and 9 other volunteers. We decided that rather than hold an election to knock 2 people out, we would just add 2 people. To some this violated their sense of democracy. I did not agree -- rational democracy would call for inclusion, not exclusion.
While some people opposed my being on Steering due to my retirement status, others wanted my experience. (I think there should not be more than one retiree on steering.) And the fact that I was free during the day to be of more assistance. Frankly, I was so busy with other parts of my life I did not take on too many tasks - which is why I took myself off steering this time - at this point I don't want to help run an organization - leave it to the next generation. And what a generation it is. Almost no one below 40 and our youngest new leader just turned 28.
And the best thing: I can do nothing and not feel guilty.
AFTERBURN
Some people warn that by being so public we are putting a target on their backs for Unity to shoot at. One transgression in their schools and the Unity buzz machine will start backbiting. Believe me, I get Unity people picking and choosing their targets and attacking MORE behind the scenes with comments like "look at the people you have". Even if true I counter with "have you taken a close look at the people YOU have?"
Democracy is not just about voting. It is how people deal with each other every day.
MORE is not just a caucus challenging the Unity leadership, but a fertile ground for people to nurture themselves politically and personally.
Tomorrow's MORE steering committee meeting will complete my 6-month term as the 3rd MORE Steering Committee to take over on August 1. So far 23 people have served 6-month terms on MORE Steering over a year and a half. Both old and new steering committees - those in town - will hold a joint meeting. I'm proud of the fact that so many of these people are fairly new to MORE and to activism. And how they have blossomed playing leadership roles. Many of them did not enter teaching with a sense of "union" and are so excited to become part of that process due to MORE's advocacy.
Before I comment on the process let me know if you have heard of a transparent process revealed by other caucuses, Unity and New Action. MORE is so open we even invite New Action members to join us and even run for Steering. So far they have declined. Maybe we should invite Unity people into the tent too. Hey Unity, feel free to come to meetings and make your case.
So I have tried to be vigilant inside MORE -- arguing for distributed leadership and decision making. I know, this violates some basic precepts where strong leadership in the hands of one person is considered crucial. Note that many people viewed Julie Cavanagh as the leader of MORE when in fact she was one voice amongst many. And her focus on her family and her school responsibilities has made it difficult for her to do MORE work. If you asked me 2 years ago what would MORE be like without a very active Julie, my response would have been bleak. In fact MORE hasn't missed a beat (though Julie's wise counsel is missed).
For the first year MORE had no steering committee, which I favored. I felt people were just getting to know each other and argued for the least restrictive environment. We called it a Planning Committee, open to everyone. But by the end of last school year, emerging fron an election campaign, it was clear we had grown enough to think about forming a steering committee.
I am generally not in favor of elections, especially in small groups like MORE. But most people wanted to hold one. We decided on 9 Steering seats and had 20 people run. There was a tie so we just added one. Some were not well known by enough people and the election was to some extent a popularity contest. I also felt we should limit the terms of office for 6 months, which one member of the CORE steering in Chicago told me last week was "crazy." I told her it was the best thing MORE had done. (We also have an unofficial rule that after 2 consecutive turns on steering (1 year) one should take a break.)
Lots of lessons were learned in that first term and there was major turnover in the 2nd MORE steering which took office last Jan. 1 due to the intense amount of work required. Burnout was an issue. (And we are working on dividing the work to prevent that). There were only 2 returnees and 9 other volunteers. We decided that rather than hold an election to knock 2 people out, we would just add 2 people. To some this violated their sense of democracy. I did not agree -- rational democracy would call for inclusion, not exclusion.
While some people opposed my being on Steering due to my retirement status, others wanted my experience. (I think there should not be more than one retiree on steering.) And the fact that I was free during the day to be of more assistance. Frankly, I was so busy with other parts of my life I did not take on too many tasks - which is why I took myself off steering this time - at this point I don't want to help run an organization - leave it to the next generation. And what a generation it is. Almost no one below 40 and our youngest new leader just turned 28.
And the best thing: I can do nothing and not feel guilty.
Congratulations for those who have accepted
nominations for the new MORE Steering Committee which takes office for a
6 month term starting on August 1.
The current steering committee has proposed,
that rather than having an election to choose 9 out of these 11 (or
10?) qualified candidates, that we simply accept all of them as new
member of the steering committee. This decision will be ratified at the
MORE Retreat this coming week on Thursday, July 17 (11am-5pm, CUNY
Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave. @ 34th st., 6 to 33rd, D,F,M,N,R to Herald
Square).
Megan Behrent has taught English at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in Brooklyn for 15 years. She has been a UFT delegate for FDR since 2007. In the Delegate Assembly, she has raised resolutions to support the rights of ATRs, to fight school closings/turnarounds, and to show solidarity with other unions. She is a founding member of MORE and active in the National Network of Social Justice Educators. As an education activist, she has appeared on the Melissa Harris Parry show on MSNBC and written for diverse publications including Socialist Worker, New Politics, Labor Notes and the Harvard Education Review.
Lauren Cohen entered teaching through the NYC Teaching Fellows in 2005 as a mid-year replacement for a K-2 self-contained special education teacher at a high-needs school in Harlem. She taught there for two more full school years. She spent the next 5 years at a Title 1 school in the East Village where she gained a reputation among her colleagues for speaking out against administrative mandates that were detrimental to student learning (such as canceling extended day enrichment programs in favor of test prep aligned to faulty and inaccurate Acuity results). She currently teaches at P.S. 321 in Park Slope, where the privileges available to her current students have only strengthened her resolve to fight for a more equitable system on behalf of the students she left behind. For the past two years, Lauren has worked with parents, teachers, and others in Change the Stakes, fighting against the use of standardized tests to punish schools, teachers, and students. She attended her first MORE meeting in the spring of 2012 and was thrilled to meet so many like-minded educators. She ran on the MORE slate for Elementary Executive Board in the UFT election, and she now serves as the chapter delegate for P.S. 321.
Francesca Gomes is an 8th Grade Humanities (ELA and Social Studies) Teacher at New Voices MS 443 in District 15. She has been a member of the UFT for 13 years, and the only UFT Delegate for her school for the last five years. She led the “Vote No” campaign at her school beginning on the first day after the 2014 contract proposal was announced. Originally a member of Teachers for a Just Contract, she then became a member of the Independent Caucus of Educators, and is proud to have been a member of MORE since its early days.
Janice Manning is currently a fifth grade Special Education Teacher in an Integrated Co-Teaching Classroom at P.S. 503 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. This is her 10th year teaching in New York City Public Schools. She started her teaching career as a fourth grade teacher in Fort Worth, Texas. After teaching in Fort Worth for a year, she taught English as a foreign language in Znamenka, Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She began attending MORE meetings in January of this year and is passionate about working with other educators to organize ways to improve education for ALL students.
Megan Moskop is a current member of the steering committee. She is a Special Education teacher and UFT delegate at M.S. 324 in Washington Heights, where she began teaching in 2009 through Teach for America. Megan was raised by educators in North Carolina, and her first “real” teaching job was in Malta as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. In addition to her work MORE, she serves as Learning Labs Director for the Manhattan Young Democrats, and she is a member of Teachers Unite. Deeply thankful for and inspired by her own teachers and students, Megan is committed to the improvement of learning and working conditions in schools everywhere, starting here.
Francesco Portelos is an engineer turned middle school STEM teacher. Over the last two years he has become a very strong advocate for educators and students. His advocacy did not come without sacrifice. After speaking up, he became a target and was removed from his teaching position. This did not stop Francesco. He ran and won the UFT Chapter Leader position in his school even though he is forbidden from entering the building. He has been successfully mobilizing and supporting his chapter and many other educators who read about his fight and seek his guidance from around the city and around the country. His objective is use his knowledge, leadership skills and out-of-the-box thinking to bring MORE to a point where they are successfully filling the great void left by our UFT Leaders. Read more at www.educatorfightsback.org Follow on Twitter: @MrPortelos
Kevin Prosen is chapter leader at I.S. 230 in Jackson Heights, Queens. He campaigned as part of MORE’s slate for the executive board in last year’s elections, and has organized mass grievance campaigns at his school involving up to 35 members of his chapter. He has been active in the MORE chapter organizing committee this year and has been organizing outreach to other chapter leaders in the city. His writings on UFT issues have appeared inJacobin andSocialist Worker.
Mindy Rosier is a native New Yorker who graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.A. in Psychology and Elementary Education and Fordham University with an M.S. Ed in Early Childhood Special Education. She has been a teacher for 17 years, including 3 years at the NY Foundling Hospital and currently 8 years with the Department of Education in a District 75 school.After seeing the hardships that her school has endured and after researching the education system itself, she became active to promote an improvement in the quality of education for all children.
Mike Schirtzer is a lifelong Brooklynite, graduate of the NYC public schools and CUNY, teacher and UFT Delegate. Teaching has always been and still is his lifelong dream and his work here in MORE is just a continuation of fulfilling the goal of being the best teacher he can be! He has planned and mobilized several events, forums, and ran for UFT & NYSUT office as MORE. He was on the original planning committee, first steering committee, and organized MORE’s social media, press, contract campaign, and South Brooklyn groups.
Patrick Walsh a three-time elected UFT chapter who believes that the only force that can save our profession from the predators is our union and the only force that can save our union from itself is us.
AFTERBURN
Some people warn that by being so public we are putting a target on their backs for Unity to shoot at. One transgression in their schools and the Unity buzz machine will start backbiting. Believe me, I get Unity people picking and choosing their targets and attacking MORE behind the scenes with comments like "look at the people you have". Even if true I counter with "have you taken a close look at the people YOU have?"
Lee Sustar on #AFT14 Convention: Lots of Tough Talk - But Watch What They Do
....to Randi Weingarten, "fighting forward" apparently means embracing the New York contract as a template for the entire union. The supposed benefits of the deal were hammered home throughout the convention. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration negotiated the agreement, spoke to delegates through a recorded video message, following a breathless introduction by UFT President Mulgrew.Lee Sustar does a comprehensive job in analyzing what went on at the recent AFT convention in LA, including behind the scenes reports (see my sidebar for my written and video reports - with more to come). I always look forward to sitting with Lee in the press section at these AFT conventions. His sharp eye and ear often clue me in to what is really going on. Lee writes in the Socialist Worker, the newspaper of the Internationalist Socialist's. A number of ISO members are NYC teachers, some of whom are involved with MORE.
Tellingly, actor Cynthia Nixon, who took to the podium as an education activist in New York, was the speaker to offer a more accurate assessment of the UFT contract. It was a deal, she said, that corporate education reformers would give their "eyeteeth" for. Moreover, Weingarten presented the de Blasio deal as part of a wider pro-teacher, pro-public education trend in the Democratic Party. Thus, the AFT has partnered with Democratic National Committee member Donna Brazile and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to create Democrats for Public Education. .... Lee Sustar, The Socialist Worker
It is a long piece, but worth reading. Here is an excerpt describing the panel originally set up for Karen Lewis and newly elected LATU President Alex Caputo-Pearl - dubbed the militant wing of the AFT. Randi intervened and forced Mulgrew and others on the panel to dilute their message. (I will post the videos soon so you can see for yourself.)
THE CONVENTION proceedings were organized to marginalize critical voices. The Unity/Progressive Caucus control of the agenda kept delegates in the dark as to when the politicians' speechifying would stop, when convention business would resume and what issues would come to the floor.
Thus, the emerging militant wing of the AFT had to find other places to express its views, off the convention floor. Important discussions took place in such venues as the AFT human rights committee luncheon, which featured Karen Lewis and Chicago community activist Jitu Brown, and meetings of the AFT Peace and Justice Caucus and U.S. Labor Against the War.
The most widely anticipated side meeting, focused on social movement unionism, was sponsored by the CTU and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), where the new Union Power slate had taken office less than two weeks earlier. Apparently concerned that CTU and UTLA might constitute a pole of attraction for militant teachers dissatisfied with the AFT leadership, union officials embraced the meeting themselves--and, as a result, added several more speakers, including Mary Cathryn Ricker of St. Paul and Mulgrew from New York City.
The room was crowded, with standing room only. As one attendee explained to others seated nearby, the UFT Unity Caucus had "ordered" its members to attend.
Because of the format--presentations by seven panelists, followed by "table talk" by delegates who then submitted questions--debate was limited. Weingarten herself stopped by to make comments from the podium, saying that she was so happy about that meeting that there were "tears in my eyes." It was unclear if the AFT president was moved by the content of discussion or the loyalty and discipline of her caucus.
Despite the restrictive format, the differences were clear. Karen Lewis described her union's efforts to mobilize members and reach out to the community to prepare for the strike, while UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl spoke about similar efforts underway in Los Angeles, which will include strike preparation in that city as well.
Mulgrew's version of social movement unionism was, in reality, organized labor's usual transactional politics with elected officials. Although the UFT president promoted his union's political outreach as the key to Bill de Blasio's victory in the mayor's race, the UFT actually backed one of de Blasio's rivals in the Democratic primary, declaring, "We don't pick winners, we make them." (The union more recently made amends with de Blasio by pouring $350,000 from its nonprofit arm into a de Blasio-controlled charity[21], in order to fund television ads backing the mayor's agenda.)
The UFT president also claimed credit for mobilizing against school closures, when in fact nearly all such initiatives were taken by groups like the Grassroots Education Movement and Occupy the DOE [22] [Department of Education]. Many activists from those groups went on to found the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE), which in part took inspiration from the CTU's CORE. In the 2013 UFT elections, MORE candidates captured about 40 percent of the vote [23], with Mulgrew's Unity machine increasingly reliant on retiree votes to pad its margin of victory.
Mulgrew also touted the new UFT contract's provision allowing teachers at 200 schools--around 20 percent of the total--to vote away decades of union rules and job protections. "You cannot touch your wages or seniority rights," Mulgrew said he told his union's members. "After that, I'm open."
By contrast, Lewis and Caputo-Pearl, while avoiding any direct criticism of the UFT or AFT leadership, made it clear that they see holding the line on such concessions as an imperative.
In her concluding comments, Lewis said that the CTU had for the past two years been sending members and staffers around the U.S. to help other locals. And Caputo-Pearl credited CORE with setting an example for his local to follow as it attempts to reverse years of decline in membership due to the proliferation of charter schools as well as concessions on wages and working conditions. He also alluded to the national network of teacher activists that is looking for a strategy on how to fight back [24]--something that the AFT and NEA leadership has been unable or unwilling to do.
The emerging militant network, however, remains small. Certainly, it doesn't figure in union electoral politics: Randi Weingarten and her slate won with only a symbolic challenge led by far-left union activists.
Even so, the sharpening of internal debate in the union is noteworthy. The AFT leadership can only go so far in raising militant rhetoric while abandoning decades of contract gains. And the militants will, sooner or later, have to move from opposing particular policies like Common Core to challenging the union leadership itself. As the attacks on teachers and public education continue to mount, the stakes in that struggle will only continue to grow.
ANALYSIS: LEE SUSTARWhat's behind the tough talk?Lee Sustar reports from Los Angeles on the recent convention of the AFT.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Rockaway Theatre Company's Gypsy: Weekend Sellout - Some Photos
It's tough to have to spend less than 5 minutes on stage with no lines and basically nothing to do other than have the actors move you around and then spend the next 2 hours backstage until the curtain call trying to get out of everyone's way. When I'm done I'll share the column for The Wave I'm working on the total experience of observing and participating (even as a sliver) in a massive undertaking. We have 4 shows this weekend with a rare Thursday at 8PM performance - probably the only one that won't sell out. So if anyone is inclined to see a show where the lead, Louisa Boyaggi, playing Mama Rose, is being talked about by people who have seen them all as being better than Tyne Daly, Pattie Lupone and even the legendary Ethel Merman. Oh, and Louisa is a UFT member - a guidance counselor in a NYC high school.
NYC teacher Kim Simek as a blossoming Louise turned Gypsy Rose Lee |
The strippers |
Sunday, July 20, 2014
My Video of Randi Press Conf at #AFT14
Some interesting insights from Randi on Vergara, Duncan and other issues. But not enough of a rigorous defense of tenure - rather a sense of - we are willing to help get rid of teachers. Left hanging are those teachers who have been chopped due to political persecution. Lenny Isenberg from LA asks Randi a question as do I.
A few days later there was a press conference with Mary Catherine Ricker dealing with some of these issues.
https://vimeo.com/101225540
A few days later there was a press conference with Mary Catherine Ricker dealing with some of these issues.
https://vimeo.com/101225540
Saturday, July 19, 2014
The Ravitch Wars - Lois Weiner Reveals Fault Lines in Ravitch Position
About 10 years ago the UFT gave Diane Ravitch the John Dewey Award. When I posted about it there was outrage from the anti-testing community which viewed Dewey as turning over in his grave in outrage at Standardista Ravitch getting this awar - Jerry Bracey was ready to fly in from Seattle if we held a protest rally. My fellow ICE founder John Lawhead had loads of stuff exposing Diane's roll in initiating corporate deform -- that was how I was educated about her. But then she did an amazing turn around and critics turned to giving (qualified) praise. From my perspective I view her support for many of the things I have been involved with as being invaluable, especially when she was the keynote speaker at our film premiere. And how welcome she made me feel when I was an isolated loner at Manhattan Institute events - when she (and I) were still being invited. Even a major admirer, Sol Stern, has broken with her - from the right.
While she has been attacked from the deform crowd, there has also been criticism from the left -- not the same type we saw over the past decades about her being a standardista bit for her ties to the unions (I often defend her for reasons I don't have time to go into).
There has been a lot of back and forth about Diane Ravitch between Jim Horn and Mercedes Schneider, two people I admire.
Read Jim at Schools Matter: Attacking Diane Ravitch? Or Questions Too Uncomfortable for the Comfortable?
Mercedes: Kathleen Carroll Soars on the Wings of Research Blunder; Jim Horn Hitches a Ride
Buffalo teacher Sean Crowley, who savages the slugs who run his union, is also a critic where his comment is posted at Schools Matter: Read Sean Crowley
Though Ravitch comes in for a lot of love and a lot of invective, it is often without analysis. Lois Weiner digs deep into the weeds in her post on New Politics, offering praise and analysis of where she feels Ravich doesn't dare go.
Here are some excerpts from Lois' recent New Politics piece.
-------
Links:
[1] http://twitter.com/share
[2] http://newpol.org/category/topic/labor/teacher-unions
[3] http://newpol.org/category/topic/education
[4] http://newpol.org/category/places/north-america/united-states
[5] http://newpol.org/category/issue/57
While she has been attacked from the deform crowd, there has also been criticism from the left -- not the same type we saw over the past decades about her being a standardista bit for her ties to the unions (I often defend her for reasons I don't have time to go into).
There has been a lot of back and forth about Diane Ravitch between Jim Horn and Mercedes Schneider, two people I admire.
Read Jim at Schools Matter: Attacking Diane Ravitch? Or Questions Too Uncomfortable for the Comfortable?
Mercedes: Kathleen Carroll Soars on the Wings of Research Blunder; Jim Horn Hitches a Ride
Buffalo teacher Sean Crowley, who savages the slugs who run his union, is also a critic where his comment is posted at Schools Matter: Read Sean Crowley
Though Ravitch comes in for a lot of love and a lot of invective, it is often without analysis. Lois Weiner digs deep into the weeds in her post on New Politics, offering praise and analysis of where she feels Ravich doesn't dare go.
Here are some excerpts from Lois' recent New Politics piece.
Probably the most important liberal defender of public education today is Diane Ravitch. In battling her former co-thinkers with the personal resources and connections she acquired in supporting neoconservative policies, Ravitch has contributed mightily to public awareness of the threat to democracy and to children in the current drive to create a privatized school system funded by public money but without collective, public oversight... Ravitch has almost singlehandedly developed and publicized a liberal rebuttal to neoliberal “reforms,” in effect substituting not only for the teacher union establishment but for labor as well....
....the overarching argument that U.S. public education was doing as well as could be expected given the effects of poverty is a serious flaw in her analysis and opens her—and the movement—to the charge that we want to defend an unequal status quo.
Ravitch does not address the contradiction between schooling’s non-economic purposes, its role in educating the next generation of citizens and nurturing each individual’s potential, and its use as a sorting mechanism to allocate a diminishing number of well-paying jobs. Unfortunately, neoliberal reforms resonate with poor, minority parents precisely because they want the same opportunity for their children to compete for good jobs as children of middle class parents have. Calls for schools that make children happy and develop creativity will not assuage parents’ fears that their children will not be strong competitors in an increasingly punishing labor market. Arne Duncan’s contemptuous dismissal of opponents of high-stakes testing and the new Common Core curriculum as “suburban moms” who can’t face their children’s limitations demonstrates that our opponents will fully exploit the utterly hypocritical and inaccurate claim that they protect poor, minority children against white liberals who want to maintain the status quo, to advantage their own children.
Her electoral strategy also reflects a desire to return to the (idealized) past. Ravitch recognizes that big money and corporations control the Democratic Party, and her solution is to push Democrats to be the defenders of public education she says they once were. She therefore encourages opponents of corporate school reform to embrace Democrats willing to criticize (however vaguely) privatization, testing, and charter schools and defend (however meekly) teachers unions. However, she (and those who agree with this political strategy) do not explain how we will hold candidates responsible to the activists who have worked on their behalf and avoid betrayals. Yet this issue is more pressing with each election cycle and each desertion of Democrats whom progressives have supported.
Although pressed by activists to criticize teacher union leaders, in particular her long-time friend, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), for endorsing the Common Core and commending legislation that links teacher evaluation to students’ standardized test scores, Ravitch declines, arguing this creates divisions. But the divisions already exist because union reformers are challenging the local and national leadership in both of the teachers unions. The question is whether we will encourage activists to democratize their unions, to make them social movements, or whether we think the model of “service” or “business unionism” should remain the norm.This point by Lois and other Ravitch critics misses her support for GEM which she was able to do because GEM was not a caucus directly challenging the UFT leadership even though all the people active in GEM were also part of the opposition. And also the continuous support Ravitch gives Karen Lewis and the CTU. Here is the link.
Below the break Lois digs deeper into the social justice union activists following in the wake of CORE and the CTU where I think she makes some assumptions I don't totally agree with - and from my conversations with Lois I think she is missing some understanding of how CORE took control - people think it was more social justice than bread and butter. I don't agree - and given I've been in contact with CORE folks since almost their inception, I will offer some insights in another post.
New Politics Vol. XV No. 1, Whole Number 57
http://newpol.org/content/teachers%E2%80%99-trifecta
The Teachers’ Trifecta
-------
The “Trifecta”: Mobilization,
Social Justice, Democracy
Social Justice, Democracy
A new generation of teachers is being politicized and radicalized very rapidly. While there is still much fear, nodes of resistance are emerging. In some cases organizations of parents and teachers opposed to testing are supporting creation of reform caucuses in unions. Teachers have been both energized and inspired by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), and terrified at the enormity of the task they face. Many are asking how they can apply lessons from those who formed the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) and then transformed the CTU.
In spring 2014, activists in Massachusetts, Colorado, and North Carolina formed state-wide caucuses in their National Education Association (NEA) affiliates. After losing a contract fight, Newark, New Jersey’s AFT union reformers won a majority in their union’s executive committee; they lost the union presidency by only a few votes. Seattle, an NEA affiliate, and Philadelphia’s AFT local now have reform caucuses, as does Minneapolis. In school districts large and small, grassroots groups of teachers and parents that oppose testing or charter school co-locations are spawning change in the local teachers unions.
In the Los Angeles union, the second largest in the country, reformers elected to office years earlier failed to build a union presence at the school site and captured the union apparatus without developing a base of support. Activists learned from their mistakes and reorganized as Union Power; they nurtured a new culture and program of building a “member-driven union.” While Union Power worked diligently to build the chapters, developing a program modeled on CTU’s, out of 31,505 members only 7,158 returned ballots. The turnout was disappointing but was still a higher percentage of voters than in the 2011 citywide union elections. Alex Caputo-Pearl, who headed the slate, narrowly missed winning the 50 percent plus 1 he needed to be elected president but his opponent essentially ceded the run-off to him.
Union activists seem in agreement about three issues: 1) mobilizing union members during contract disputes, 2) working with parent allies, and 3) developing contract demands that embed economic issues in a program for quality schools that names social inequality, corporate domination of the government, and racism as impediments to schools students deserve. While these are essential elements themselves, they are insufficient. Too often overlooked is the centrality of organizing a union presence “on the shop floor,” that is, at the school site, developing new leaders and activists as well as fighting for democratic norms and procedures.
Unfortunately, marginalized in discussion of union reform is strengthening union democracy. This was apparent in the left media’s coverage of the near-strike of the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), an NEA affiliate. PAT’s leadership used the contract to defend aspects of teachers’ work that directly affect learning rather than focusing on salary. They reached out to parents and mobilized members, involving them in the contract fight. But key questions about the process were ignored. How were bargaining demands developed? Was the team elected directly by the membership? The contract campaign is the opportunity to involve more members as leaders, deepening the membership’s participation in decision-making.
Chicago had an elected bargaining team of dozens of people and spent months gathering, refining, and voting on contract demands. Did PAT? Another question we should ask is how discussion and ratification of a proposed settlement occurs. Is the discussion organized so that union officers “sell” the proposed settlement to members—or does the process encourage members to raise questions, concerns, and problems? Contract ratification directly influences how strong the union will be in the school site after the heat of the contract fight subsides. Members have to defend the contract, so it is essential that they understand the specifics of the final agreement. In Chicago, in the midst of a strike, CTU’s negotiating team brought the proposed agreement to the union’s representative assembly, which refused to endorse it before taking it back to members for a closer look. CTU’s process has to be the standard to which we hold unions.
The history of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), including its lawsuit against individual dissidents who formed an independent union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, illustrates why we need union democracy as well as social justice commitments.9 Not just member voice is needed but also power that emerges from the ranks in the shops and that challenges and informs the leadership’s actions. A social justice program combined with member mobilization is a volatile but unsustainable mixture. The combination can fuel militant struggles but it cannot translate those victories into the deep alteration in power relations on the shop floor that teachers unions need today to counter the vastly unequal power of teachers and administration.
Herman Benson, the unofficial dean of union democracy studies, has pushed left reformers to consider the relationship between union democracy and the other elements of their agendas, arguing that bureaucratization in unions is not neatly linked to union reformers’ (left-wing) politics. Benson’s challenge to understand how the struggle for democratic unions relates to our program for social justice is a matter of the utmost importance for teacher unionism today and yet it has been ignored.
I suggest that trade unionism’s two essential principles, solidarity and democracy, challenge notions of individual competition and hierarchical relations embedded in capitalism and expressed in power relations at the workplace. These twin ideals, solidarity and democracy, are essential in creating societies that support the full flowering of human potential. Unions, due to their unique situation in the workplace, provide the filament that sustains democracy. When unions are not democratic, even if they fight for social justice, they perpetuate hierarchical relations that disempower working people, allowing bigotry and oppression to remain embedded in social relations. Undemocratic unions cannot educate workers to create a democratic society because the substance of union life reinforces workers’ subordination to others that (purportedly) know best for them. And most often those others come from groups in the society that have more power and privilege.
However, democracy is very fragile, and vigilant enforcement of regulations that give members the right to decide policy and elect officers is a necessary but insufficient condition. Deep, thorough union democracy depends on the union having a presence in the workplace where members understand that they are the union. This process is in turn nurtured by the union defining its members’ self-interest very broadly so that members bring their concerns into the union.
Nelson Lichtenstein notes that “Rights are universal and individual, which means employers and individual members of management enjoy them just as much as workers,”10 but what makes unions unique is that unions represent members’ individual interests through expression and struggle for their collective interests. The accuracy of Lichtenstein’s observation is seen in the way neoliberalism has exploited the rights discourse against teachers and teachers unions, in lawsuits arguing that tenure and seniority protections conflict with the rights of children to equal educational opportunity. At the same time, a rights discourse also fueled social movements that created opportunities for millions of students who previously were excluded from education, those with special needs and native speakers of languages other than English. Neither NEA nor AFT helped these movements for increased educational opportunity, using their political clout only after legislation was introduced. The laws creating special education and bilingual education programs were flawed in taking “disputes out of the hands out of those directly involved,” as Lichtenstein argues. Yet, millions of children once refused an education today receive services. Children in these groups are better off because they claimed their (human) rights—without support from the unions.
Teachers unions plant the seed of democracy in schools by giving teachers collective voice about the conditions of their labor. Even when collective bargaining restricts the union’s legal authority, a teachers union with a highly conscious, active membership that has assimilated the lesson that members are the union, not staff or elected officials, can exert pressure over many informal work arrangements. However, while the union’s presence provides opportunity for teacher voice, it does not automatically do the same for parents, students, or community. To the extent the teachers union does not consciously push to extend democracy in the school to include those affected by union agreements, it undermines its legitimacy and contradicts labor’s claim of speaking for working people. So while Benson is correct that as a rule when unions “raise the standards of those who are victorious, they tend to lift the standards of the class, even those not organized,” it is also the case that support for unions, including teachers unions, eroded precisely because of the attenuated impact of union victories on those who were not union members.11
Bringing the “Trifecta” to Politics
Teacher union activists generally understand that the destruction of public education and the profession is a bipartisan project, even as they see individual candidates as more sympathetic to teachers’ perspective. The question I think we need to consider is not whether we need a new electoral vehicle that will project the vision of a transformed teacher union movement, but how to achieve it.
In embarking on this discussion, it’s important to acknowledge that electoral activity is not a substitute for the “trifecta” I have previously described. Nor can we ignore the success of neoliberalism’s “scorched earth” war against unions. When teacher union reformers succeed in becoming leaders of newly mobilized unions, as they have in Chicago, they are often isolated in a fairly bleak labor landscape. Education is often the sector of the economy with the highest union density but public employee unions have been greatly weakened and private sector unionism is marginal. This puts newly elected teacher union reformers in a very precarious situation. On the one hand, they see that they have few dependable allies in the Democratic Party, which is controlled by capital. On the other hand, they bargain with the people who are elected. It is very, very difficult for union leaders to argue that we need to create an independent political vehicle because in the process of creating that vehicle we may lose elections that seem to jeopardize the union’s ability to maintain the status quo, including members’ jobs and benefits.
However, just as defending teachers and public education means doing battle with economic attacks while recognizing the dangers of doing so, advancing that struggle into the electoral sphere means facing dangers inherent in developing an independent electoral vehicle. The elite that controls the state, exercising their control through both the Democratic and Republican parties, directs the global capitalistic project that aims to destroy us. We contradict and undercut our efforts to contest that project when we support either party. Candidates cannot serve two masters—on the one hand, the Democratic Party of Arne Duncan, DFER, and Rahm Emanuel, and on the other, the movement opposing them.
Electoral activity is an extension into the public realm of the “trifecta” of principles and politics we use in building the union: democracy, social justice, mobilization. Candidates for office (and office holders) should have the same relationship to a union and the social movement of which it is a key element as we want union officers to have with the membership. We elect candidates to carry out our program but we in turn are responsible to help them push electoral initiatives by mobilizing. Elected officials are supported by and responsible to the people who elect them. On a local level teachers unions may be able to initiate the “trifecta” through an ad hoc political coalition but such a formation is unstable. In the longer run, locally and nationally, we need a new political party.
Many problems complicate the proposition of forming a new electoral vehicle, I acknowledge. Clearly though, the Democratic Party is owned by forces that aim to destroy everything that teachers unions must defend. We cannot give money and votes to a party that aids and abets our destruction. And if not now, when? When we are weaker as a result of unrelenting political attacks and the continued absence of political voice?
What will this new electoral movement and vehicle look like? We know it must be democratic with mechanisms that make leaders and candidates responsible to the activists and constituencies who have put them into office. Here again we can look to what occurred in Chicago: CORE activists did not delay their challenge to the old CTU leadership while developing a blueprint of what a transformed Chicago teachers union would look like. They brought principles and a vision, developed in struggle. They honed their strategy further in carrying out that vision as union officers and staff. The same process can occur in developing a new electoral vehicle, in Chicago and elsewhere. Union Power’s victory in Los Angeles opens the door to teachers unions having an independent electoral vehicle in two of the three largest U.S. cities.
A vibrant new movement is emerging though it is under the radar of the mass media. Teachers and parents who were previously not political and not engaged are seeing that children and the profession of teaching are being harmed by policies over which ordinary people have no voice or influence. New national and international networks are emerging among teacher union activists. Much hinges on radical activists in the United States understanding that we cannot repeat the mistakes teacher unionism made in its birth in the 1960s. Fifty years ago teachers unions could trade off power in the workplace, voice about how schools are organized, what we teach and how, for improvements in members’ wages and benefits. However, those days are gone. To protect teaching as a profession and public education we need to win the “trifecta” of democracy, mobilization, and social justice, in union life and politics.
1. See Jeffrey Raffel, The Politics of School Desegregation: The Metropolitan Remedy in Delaware (Temple University Press, 1980).
2. U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education Awards Promise Neighborhoods Planning Grants. Press Release, Sept. 21, 2010.
3. U.S. Department of Education, A Blueprint for Reform. The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, May 27, 2011.
4. Mercedes Schneider, “A Brief Audit of Bill Gates’ Common Core Spending,” Aug. 8, 2013, Huffington Post.
5. Ann Bastian et al., Choosing Equality. The Case for Democratic Schooling (Temple University Press, 1986).
6. Amy Stuart Wells et al., Review of Research in Education, ed. Robert E. Floden (American Educational Research Association, 2004), 49.
7. Connie Schaffer, “Unmasking the Reformers; Essay Review of Ravitch’s ‘Reign of Error.’” Education Review/ ReseƱas Educativas, vol. 17, no. 3, April 12, 2013.
8. Jeffrey A. Raffel, “The Changing Challenges of School Segregation and Desegregation,” Education Review, vol. 16, no. 5, Oct. 22, 2013.
9. Herman Benson, “Sober Thoughts After Inspiring Years of Union Organizing,” Union Democracy Review, April/May 2013, 3, 5.
10. Nelson Lichtenstein, A Contest of Ideas. Capital, Politics, and Labor (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), p. 150.
11. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, The Making of Global Capitalism. The Political Economy of American Empire (Verso, 2012).
Links:
[1] http://twitter.com/share
[2] http://newpol.org/category/topic/labor/teacher-unions
[3] http://newpol.org/category/topic/education
[4] http://newpol.org/category/places/north-america/united-states
[5] http://newpol.org/category/issue/57
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)