Wednesday, June 18, 2014

What's Up Today, June 18, 2014: Jose Vilson, NYCEducator on Class Size, RBE on Abusive Principals

A quick reminder about tonight's: MORE, Change the Stakes Sponsor Jose Vilson Book Conversation in Inwood

Still in Cape Cod at FIRST robotics conference so I can't make it. (I have so much to write about being with hundreds of people from all over the world and most states. And if your school is interested, I do school visits - am doing one this Monday.)

Two more quick items. Arthur Goldstein has written one of the most effective pieces I've read detailing the impact on teaching and on students - a tale of 2 class sizes. On Class Size--Night and Day.

I wrote about the abusive, bully Bryant HS principal yesterday: Message to UFT Leaders: Where's the Change of Tone as Hundreds Call for Ouster of Bryant HS Principal Namita Dwarka?

I always point to how totally ineffective the UFT has been in dealing with these people - they will support a rally but won't walk into Farina's office and say flat out -- if you want our cooperation on ANYTHING - CUT THIS SHIT OUT!.
Indeed, I made this point at the UFT Exec Bd meeting before the contract was voted on -- how there is nothing in the contract to protect our people from abusive principals.

Today, Perdido St. School has a great piece on the same subject and nails some points that slipped by me.

How Many Abusive And/Or Insane Principals Are Out There?

Just listing them is not enough. Campaigns must be organized in each case. A lot of work, given the UFT does nothing.

MORE has been working Portelos and Don't Tread on Educators with some schools that have such principals, but it has had to be somewhat hush/hush. We have set up a blog for one such school - I have a link for it at the top of my sidebar - PS 63M on the lower east side. Boy, do we have stories to tell. The UFT has been less than useless.

Also check out the place to list your school if you have a bully principal:
http://dtoe.org/educations-f-list-and-anoi-nomination-form/

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

MOREista John Giambalvo: Judges in California enjoy some of the most stringent job protections of any employee in the nation

Does recall process offer more protection than tenure?
In fact, everyone who was involved in the presentation and decision of the Vergara case had some type of job protection above and beyond the “at-will” status that the rest of Californians have... John G. at MORE blog
Oh, how sharp are MOREistas like John? Did you see anyone from the UFT/Unity?AFT complex come close to making these powerful arguments? While anti-deformers railed against the Vergara decision, John looked at how the rest of the world enjoys protections, especially judges, of whom certainly the same % - if not more - are incompetent as teachers are -- and much more harmful to society. John's piece should go out far and wide.

Here's MORE from John at the MORE blog:
The Lawyers who argued the case have their protections. They are only prevented from practicing their craft if they are disbarred. California has it’s own special court, called the State Bar Court of California, just for making these decisions (here). That court boasts that attorneys who practice in California do so in “the only state in the nation with independent professional judges dedicated to ruling on attorney discipline cases”. That’s a nice protection!
The court reporter and clerk, as well as the officers who ensured the safety and security for all involved in the Vergara case, have special job protections too. They are considered “court employees” and their due process includes “a system of progressive discipline and termination “for cause” rather than “at will” employment” (here).
 John looks at Judge Treu's protections:
Treu’s conclusion, that teachers have too many workplace protections, is ironic. This is because he is not exactly an “at-will” employee himself. Judges in California enjoy some of the most stringent job protections of any employee in the nation. Superior Court Judges are elected to six year terms. Treu was elected in 2001 (here) and has been reelected twice since. Unless faced with an actual opponent, he will be automatically reelected at the end of every term without his name even appearing on a ballot (here and here). Given that the judge’s wife is a donor and former staffer of Republican Congressman Gary Miller (read his “Thank You” to her on the official Congressional Record here), I doubt that anyone will be challenging him anytime soon. And, being as only three judges in the entire state have lost reelection since the Great Depression (here),  I doubt that his chances of losing that election would ever be a concern....
You will be happy to know the judge’s job is also well protected if he ever finds himself in hot water. In the state of California, judges can only be removed through their own “tortuous” process called a recall vote (see here). If someone ever wants him fired, they must first collect vast amount of signatures from concerned citizens all across his district. They must then win a general vote.  As of 2008, no California judge had ever been recalled (here again). These protections are in full force whether the judge is highly effective or ‘grossly ineffective’.
 So can someone bring suit that ineffective judges is a civil rights issue of our time given the overwhelming prison population is non-white? Hey Moaning Mona, why don't you take this on? Oh, sorry, no millionaires out there looking to bring down judges.

John takes us on a lovely tour of the possibilities.
Of course, anywhere from 1%-3% of any professional from any profession may be ‘grossly ineffective’ at what they do. This is true for my profession as it is for his. In his decision, the judge briefly examined the damage that ‘grossly ineffective’ teachers may cause if left in the classroom. Let’s briefly examine the damage that ‘grossly ineffective’ justices from his state may cause if allowed to stay on the bench.  There are 2,287 judges in California (here), the extrapolated number of ‘grossly ineffective’ judges may range from 23 to 68. Now there are 38 million people who live in California. That’s one judge for approximately every 16,615 people. You may be surprised to learn that just 23 bad judges from California have the potential of adversely effecting the lives of 382,145 people. 68 bad judges can negatively effect the lives of 1,129,820!   If we’re only considering how bad judges may adversely effect the lives of school children, (California has 9,240,219 school aged children (here) or one judge for every 4,040 children), then  23 ‘grossly ineffective’ judges can hurt 92,920 students in that state and 68 ‘grossly ineffective’ judges can hurt a whopping 274,720! I don’t think too many people could refute an assertion that this large amount of bad judges may have, to paraphrase judge Treu, “a direct, real, appreciable, and negative impact on a significant number of California students, now and well into the future for as long as said [judges] hold their positions…”. And yet the judge continues to enjoy stringent workplace protections.
 Oh man, this is some of the best dessert, with whip cream and a cherry. Go John, Go.
In fact, everyone who was involved in the presentation and decision of the Vergara case had some type of job protection above and beyond the “at-will” status that the rest of Californians have. The Lawyers who argued the case have their protections. They are only prevented from practicing their craft if they are disbarred. California has it’s own special court, called the State Bar Court of California, just for making these decisions (here). That court boasts that attorneys who practice in California do so in “the only state in the nation with independent professional judges dedicated to ruling on attorney discipline cases”. That’s a nice protection!
The court reporter and clerk, as well as the officers who ensured the safety and security for all involved in the Vergara case, have special job protections too. They are considered “court employees” and their due process includes “a system of progressive discipline and termination “for cause” rather than “at will” employment” (here).
A progressive discipline process is something that tenured teachers in California do not have. Neither do they have their own ‘special court’ to determine whether or not they should be removed.
 Well, John did even more work at MORE. Don't miss a word.


Message to UFT Leaders: Where's the Change of Tone as Hundreds Call for Ouster of Bryant HS Principal Namita Dwarka?

A handful of students said the principal threatened them, warning they would not take part in graduation if they attended Monday’s rally. Teachers told the Daily News Dwarka has doctored their performance records, canceled their after-school programs and fired them from coaching positions when they’ve spoken out in opposition to her practices... Daily News
 How funny when we hear Mulgrew and crew talk about the change of tone at Tweed. Sure, a change of tone at the top. But in the schools, the wars between Tweed appointed principal and teachers, parents and students still rage.

But maybe the gaggle of principals who punish teachers and students for speaking out falls in line with the way the UFT/Unity leadership runs the UFT. 

Bryant HS (Joel Klein's alma mata - rumored the reason he protected it from closing) is also a school with one of our old ICE pals, Sam Lazarus, as CL. Here it is not just teachers but parents and students sending a message to Tweed. If the UFT really wants to support this school, pick up the phone and call Ernie Logan at the CSA and make it clear - the CSA if it wants any support at any point from the UFT has to apply pressure on the mad dog principals.

James Eterno posted the story on the ICE blog.

200 EDUCATORS, STUDENTS AND PARENTS PROTEST OUTSIDE BRYANT HS AGAINST ABUSIVE PRINICPAL

What should the UFT be doing right about now to support its members?  A good start would be to encourage more protests like the one that occurred at Bryant High School in Queens. 200 adults and students were out in the street calling for the removal of a less than stellar principal. 
There was coverage of the event in the Daily News.

“This is the end of my 30th year teaching here. No principal has ever treated staff like garbage like this one does,” said teacher Mary Bozoyan, 51, who attended the high school herself. “Everyone’s waiting for the next ax to drop on their head.”
I am fairly certain there are stories like this one in many schools across NYC.  Let's see if this type of event is repeated elsewhere.
The full Daily News article.

CBS also had a story pointing to Namita Dwarka's negative style of management.
High School Won’t Allow Injured Queens Teen To Learn From Home
M'Kayah Walker Worries She Won't Be Able To Graduate On Time


NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A Queens teenager is in the battle with her high school, saying she should be allowed to learn from home.


But as CBS 2’s Dave Carlin reported exclusively, the Department of Education does not agree.
High school senior M’Kayah Walker of Woodside, Queens, said she was injured while playing soccer.
“I was playing soccer. Kids fell on top of me,” she said. “And I found out my knees were dislocated.”
That sports injury has Walker struggling to get around on crutches. But she never dreamed it would disrupt her academic future.
She said making it up the steps and in to William Cullen Bryant High School in Woodside is painful.
Her mother requested home instruction for Walker, allowing the teen to graduate with her peers. The answer was no — not once, but twice.
“Just give me the home schooling so I can get my diploma,” she said.
Instead, the school issued her an elevator pass. But getting to it was tough and then she says she had to wait.
“They have taken more than 15 minutes to open the elevator,” she said. “When I use it, I’m late, and the teachers yell at me.”
CBS 2 attempted to speak to Bryant High School principal Namita Dwarka, but was told to leave.
When CBS 2 asked about Walker’s two petitions for home instruction, the Department of Education issued a response.
“Everybody has a right to request this service and it’s taken on a case by case basis,” the department said. “We’re still looking in to this.”
To help Walker avoid stairs, her guidance counselor and some of her teachers have been sending coursework home to her. But for every day she doesn’t walk in to the school building, she gets marked absent.
“I don’t know if it’s money, or if it’s incompetence, or whatever it is — it’s wrong,” said City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-26th).
Van Bramer said Walker is being “unnecessarily delayed.”
“She just wants to graduate,” the councilman said.
And the ordeal is not easy for Walker either.
“Now I’m depressed,” she said.
Walker waits to find out when she’ll graduate, eager to go on to college and major in psychology.
Next month, Walker gets surgery to repair her knee. Without home instruction, she believes she won’t be able to graduate until next summer.

Monday, June 16, 2014

The End of (Public Education) Is Near

"Education reform" is powerless against eliminationism and is at best a mirage that diverts oppositional energies. The very idea of education activism becomes a comforting fiction."  ... Capitalism vs education

In a nutshell - machines are replacing people, their labor is not necessary and an educated work force (other than at the top) is no longer worth investing in. Nor is a public school system.

Susan Ohanian sometimes has a doom and gloom view. She loves this doom and gloomer written by David Blacker, "Capitalism vs. education: Why our free-market obsession is wrecking the future" which is featured in an Eric Levitz piece in Salon.

I admit it. I have a dystopian view of the world and expect doom is around the corner - from climate change (having 8 feet of water in your basement and 5 feet lapping at your kitchen is reinforcement) to the fate of the public school system and teacher unions.

So why go on battling? Why spend time trying to build a group like MORE and Change the Stakes? Because there are no options other than doing that. Think of The Terminator movies where humans are driven pretty much to distinction by machines taking over. Some people can't stop. Wish I could and just toss in the towel.... but right now I can't even though I believe in the end the machines will win. (Why do we have a space program? So the elite will know their descendents have a place to escape to.)

Susan Ohanian doesn't stop. Here are Susan's comments on the article and the book: Capitalism vs. education: Why our free-market obsession is wrecking the future

http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=1173
This is a serious discussion about the coming catastrophe and about the the fact that in the face of this catastrophe, the very idea of education activism becomes a comforting fiction.
This is from Salon, June 8, 2014, and highlights the book The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame, which I have read--and marked with 42 sticky tabs--paragraphs I need to go back and read. The first one is in the second paragraph of the preface: "Education reform" is powerless against eliminationism and is at best a mirage that diverts oppositional energies. The very idea of education activism becomes a comforting fiction." Here's another: "the 'shit rolls downhill' nature of austerity requires teachers and schoolchildren to pay for the solvency of sinecured bankers and their political enablers."
And lots lots more.  Buy the book. Salon.com publishes so much crap that I am always on the verge of giving up. And then. . . .Susan O.
The book uses what seems to be a lot of Marxist analysis and from this view, though I do not consider myself a Marxist, this analysis makes sense. But what do I know anymore? I change my mind every 10 minutes.

From Slate - really worth reading through this long article.

Capitalism vs. education: Why our free-market obsession is wrecking the future

Publication Date: 2014-06-08
by Eric Levitz

The 2014 State of the Union address was billed as the speech in which President Obama would finally reveal himself as the progressive champion we'd been promised. In the weeks prior, senior administration officials leaked word that the president would use his platform to declare income inequality the "defining challenge of our time," a claim he’d first made two years prior, in a highly touted speech news came that the phrase "income inequality" had been scrapped from subsequent drafts, replaced by an emphasis on ladders of opportunity.

In Osawatomie, the president decried runaway inequality as a threat to the legitimacy of American democracy. In the State of the Union, he paid lip service to the divergent fortunes of "those at the top" and of average wage earners, before transitioning into boilerplate calls for improving education and cutting taxes on domestic manufacturers. As the "ladders" metaphor suggests, the speech framed the crisis facing the vaunted middle class as one of economic mobility, rather than inequality. The word "inequality" was spoken only three times, "opportunity," thirteen.

Even in Osawatomie, after describing in bracing detail how automation and globalization devalued American labor, producing an economy where weak demand is propped up by credit card debt, the president transitioned from diagnosis to prescription. Not with a call for robust income redistribution, or a proposal for aggressive government hiring, but by declaring, "We need to meet the moment. . . . It starts by making education a national mission."

Sunday, June 15, 2014

MORE, Change the Stakes Sponsor Jose Vilson Book Conversation in Inwood



This Is Not a Test: 
A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education 
with Jose Vilson

Wed. June 18 * 5-7pm * Inwood Local Beer Garden * 4957 Broadway

Join a discussion with Jose Vilson on the joys and burdens of today’s education system, celebrating the release of his first book, This Is Not a Test, out now from Haymarket Books. A book signing will follow the discussion.

Jose Vilson is a math educator for a middle school in Inwood / Washington Heights and a well-known writer behind thejosevilson.com. He also writes for Edutopia, GOOD, and TransformED / Future of Teaching, as well as for CNN.com, Education Week, Huffington Post, and El Diario / La Prensa, NY.
Sponsored by Change the Stakes, Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) - the social justice caucus of the UFT -  and Haymarket Books
 
 

Jesse Rothstein on Vergara Decision - Taking On Teacher Tenure Backfires

Go ahead, get rid of tenure -- make my day. Oh, this move will backfire big over time because there will be no one left to blame. Note how the poor performing south with no tenure is ignored. And just wait until the job market gets better. Let them go hunting for people who can fog a mirror. Yes, Virginia, even good teachers take the job for its security. Take that away and happy hunting.
It is important to dismiss ineffective teachers, but also to attract and retain effective teachers.
Judge Treu’s opinion in the case... ignores these trade-offs. ....eliminating tenure will do little to address the real barriers to effective teaching in impoverished schools, and may even make them worse....
One of the few things that helps to recruit good people into teaching is job security... Jesse Rothstein
Why are our union leaders unable to manage cogent responses like Rothstein? When they go up against a deformer they look like they have  marbles in their mouths. You know why? Because they do not have a fundamental belief in the possibilities of real reform. Their belief system is very rooted in ed deform -- getting rid of the bad teacher so the union won't be embarrassed. They're afraid to say what Jesse Rothstein says here - if you think going to the trouble and expense of removing a bad teacher is worth it, wait until you see the replacement - who may be worse at the very least because they will be new teachers - at least the one you got rid of had some experience and probably some skills. Thus Rothstein says,
Thomas J. Kane, a professor of education at Harvard and an expert witness for the Vergara plaintiffs, co-wrote a paper in 2006 on the “coming teacher shortage” and a looming need to “dig further down in the pool of those willing to consider” teaching. Significant layoffs during the last recession, which refilled the pool of job seekers, temporarily alleviated the problem. But those will be absorbed quickly as education budgets recover.
The challenge, then, is to increase the number of high-quality applicants. One of the few things that helps to recruit good people into teaching is job security. That is not to say teachers should never be dismissed — but when and how to do that requires careful balancing.
In the 1930s the NYCDOE created a 2nd class non-tenured teacher position that became known as a regular sub license. I believe they became a significant percentage of the teaching staff. I worked under that for my first 3 years - and got 2 of them for what was known as "gerema credit" -- I needed only one more year when I became a regularly appointed teacher to become tenured. In those years they were dragging people off the street to teach. Thousands of us were given the choice - Vietnam or teach in an at-risk school. Some who chose the latter said at times they would have preferred Vietnam.

As our pal in Buffalo points out ----Unions Muster A Feckless Response to Vergara Ruling -

Here is Rothstein's full piece in NY Times.

Taking On Teacher Tenure Backfires

California Ruling on Teacher Tenure Is Not Whole Picture

Stephanie Simon in Politico: The fall of teachers unions

Oy vey! Funny Simon mentions Bad Ass, a social media group. Count the number of bad ass people who show up at rallies and struggles around the NYC area and you won't even have to take your shoes off.

Simon does not mention the on the ground grassroots organizing caucuses like CORE and MORE - and not to mention real reformers taking control of unions by overturning the old guard like Chicago, LA, Milwaukee-- bringing the unions to the communities to join with them and engage in real struggle.

On the surface the UFT does some of that --- but it is always based on their pre-decided agenda -- not what is coming from the community - the very thing that has turned people against unions -- no community roots. There are some real struggle going on in communities and the UFT is so often hands off unless they think it is a slam dunk they can benefit from PR wise.
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http://images.politico.com/global/v3/homelogo.gif


The fall of teachers unions
By: Stephanie Simon
June 13, 2014 05:05 AM EDT

Saturday, June 14, 2014

How To Volunteer To Get Zephyr Teachout On The Ballot By July 7 So She Can Primary Andrew Cuomo

I lifted this from Perdido Street blog. I hadn't realized deadline was July 7. For those who support the Green Party candidates in the general election, forcing Cuomo into a primary against Teachout can only help Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones as the primary will flush out Cuomo haters who will hang in for the general election and hopefully vote Green Party.

Fact is - she has very little time to put this together - just this past Monday at the Skinny Awards dinner, things were still being put into place. So the entire effort is iffy -- unless hordes of volunteers emerge to help her get on the ballot.

--------

How To Volunteer To Get Zephyr Teachout On The Ballot By July 7 So She Can Primary Andrew Cuomo

You can get in touch with Zephyr Teachout's campaign here.

Petitions can be downloaded here - these directions go with the download:

Help get Zephyr on the ballot!

To make sure Zephyr's name appears on the November ballot we need 15,000 signatures of registered Democrats turned in to the NY Board of Elections (in person or by mail) before July 7th. 

Just download the PDF below, fill out the information at the bottom of the sheet and leave the page number blank. Please send all completed sheets to our campaign headquarters.

Finally, you can donate to Zephyr Teachout here.

UFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy - at DOE and UFT

The calls have been coming in from parents and their reps who are beginning to realize how the new contract will change their lives as the school day gets readjusted in many schools. "WTF," is the basic message.

Can Mulgrew clean up the toxic spillover?
They tell me there is growing outrage as word spreads. And since parents are being told that teachers are supposed to vote on SBOs in the schools, some parents are placing the blame squarely on the teachers and the UFT - even more so than on the DOE and the principals, who often just plain lie to the parents, saying that teachers voted that way.

In one case, the UFT district rep told parents the entire district was using the default model of 8AM start time and 2:20 end time so the teachers can get their PD in by 4PM. WTF. Do parents give a shit about PD? Do teachers?


Let me say this as I have been and will continue to do: When the UFT goes along with the Farina (and most ed deformer) mantra that the key to improving education is Professional Development, they accept the "teacher blame" argument. Of course everyone can improve -- and the best PD is watching others teach -- but blanket PD is like expecting a gourmet meal at a UFT retiree function at The Hilton.

Then there are stories where the chapter leader didn't even offer teachers the option of an SBO and just did what the principal wanted. So the teachers feel screwed too -- but it is really their fault -- maybe a lesson for those who have their heads in the sand.

At the June 11, 2014 Delegate Assembly, Mulgrew spoke about the Vergara decision. How important it was to work with parents and how proud he was of the work the UFT was doing with parents. If the Unity/UFT leadership didn't have a tin ear they would have figured out a way to get some parent leaders, at the very least, involved in proposed negotiations. But they didn't even get regular teachers involved, so this is the spillover of closed door contract negotiations.

OK. Maybe it is a relatively small group of parents who feel they have been totally shut out of the process. I wonder where they'll stand when we see Vergara, coming soon, to New York?


Friday, June 13, 2014

Teachers Unite: Countdown to Summer

Our pals at TU are not resting this summer.

John Thompson at The Chalkface Expores the Subtleties of the Tenure Battle

Something tells me...that getting rid of our due process rights won’t be a promising tactic for recruiting and retaining new teacher talent..... Without seniority, this school closure mania gives districts a Get Out of Jail Free Card – they can commit age discrimination at will.....Obamacare might now be the best education reform of his administration. .. John Thompson
Some more great points from John Thompson:
If reformers spent more time in schools, I bet they would recognize the pattern that has been obvious throughout my career. In many or most classrooms with an incompetent teacher in my inner city school, the current bad teacher replaced the previous bad teacher, who replaced a previous bad teacher. Why? Qualified teachers won’t volunteer for those jobs. And, that is why so many principals grant tenure to teachers who aren’t capable of teaching in tough classes. If they fire that teacher, what is the chance of finding a better applicant next year?
An important point here that John might emphasize: There are excellent teachers who just aren't as capable of teaching in tough classes as they might be in classes of eager, on-grade level learner. In fact many teachers who are "capable" use survival rather than the best pedagogical techniques. I know I had to use different tactics with the tougher classes -- I had to work very hard on building community before the academics. Nothing like a fight breaking out to ruin a lesson. Other than one particular class out of the 17 self-contained classes I taught, I rarely had fights due to this effort. And even in that class I managed to get that under control within a few months. But did academics suffer? Hell yes. Those trials I held to adjudicate the tensions between some of the kids took time.
Reformers, including those who might have fought against civil service laws in the age of Progressivism, say that tenure was designed to protect teachers against political pressure. What do they think we’re facing today? Don’t they understand the political pressure we are under to practice educational malpractice in an age of test and punish, and rushing through a skin-deep test prep guide? Even with due process, it’s not easy to advocate for high-quality instructional practices... 
My friend - an ed notes reader who will recognize his words -- used to refer to teachers as "New York's Meekest." I would claim that with the Bloomberg Leadership Academy "gotcha" squad of principals, even teachers with tenure were fearful of being sent to the rubber room gulag for minor transgressions.

Here is a superb point.
In my experience, when bad teachers aren’t removed, the collective bargaining agreement usually has little to do with the outcome. In my experience, health issues and disability law are a much, much bigger factor than tenure. Perhaps the ineffective teacher tries to hold on for too long because he can’t lose his health insurance, and the administrator is loath to put him on the streets without medical benefits. As my former union local president used to say, nothing would help us improve teacher quality as much as universal health insurance. Had reformers been willing to address the real problems in schools, and not scapegoat teachers, Obamacare might now be the best education reform of his administration
John points to why many experienced teachers run from tough schools if they can.
Without seniority, this school closure mania gives districts a Get Out of Jail Free Card – they can commit age discrimination at will.
If conservative or liberal reformers doubt that that is a key reason why the modal years of experience of teachers has dropped to one year, they might want to stroll through a few turnaround or transformation schools. Plenty of great veteran teachers would love to cap their careers by helping to turn a school around. We have 1.6 million teachers approaching retirement, and our knowledge could be invaluable. How many are welcomed in SIG schools with their focus on test scores? Where are the teachers with institutional memories and where are they not? The next time a reformer is taken out on a SIG dog and pony show, they might want to count the number of twenty-somethings in the building and ask why.
Read John's entire piece, Why Tenure is Essential
at http://atthechalkface.com/2014/06/13/why-tenure-is-essential/

Why MORE? Vergara Tenure Decision, Eva Charter Expansion, UFT/AFT Tepid Responses

It will take an army to defeat ed deform. The UFT actually has a potential army through its large (but shrinking, and due to shrink more) membership (108,000 contract vote ballots were sent out to working UFT members) but wants to keep it defanged because an army with teeth may turn on the leadership.

There is much hang-wringing over the California tenure decision, though it may well be overturned. People are bitching, weeping, complaining, whining, mourning... not only over the decision, but the ineffective manner the teacher unions have been responding to ed deform over the past 15 years. See comments on Ravitch blog in response to Randi's "I'm shocked, just shocked" response to Arne Duncan cheers for Vergara decision:  Randi Blasts Duncan for Betraying Teachers in Vergara Case. 

I left my 2 cents. Some of the comments criticizing Randi are just plain naive- along the lines of "why don't teachers wake up?" Like they don't get that even a weak union has a certain organizational structure - with its own internal political machine that has the ability to control the communication network that feed whatever info teachers get. If your union machine (see Unity Caucus) pounds you with one message, what does it take to create an alternative? As one who has tried at various times over the past 44 years, let me tell you: a hell of a lot of effort - all of which depends on the use of volunteer labor.

And blogging or other individual activities on the part of even the most aware teachers, is not organizing, which involves face to face.

Individual bloggers and activists will never have the impact needed to counter attack against this onslaught. I don't pretend for a minute that ed notes has much of an impact, other than providing some info for people. My goal is to use ed notes as tool to spur activism within the UFT, which is the only real body where an impact can be made. Forget influencing the general public, which all too many bloggers consider their main goal. If you can't convince your fellow UFT members, forget about the public. Get that 70,000 army going and THEN go for the public. (See one Chicago Teachers Union.)

But you can't do this as an individual blogger. Only by building an organization as a true alternative to Unity Caucus that can match the numbers Unity has will we see change.

Thus, the attempt to build a group like MORE that can attract people who will function as organizers. As one teacher said at a recent MORE happy hour, "I can no longer sit by and watch our profession be destroyed." I do not take that to mean that she will take up blogging and think she is no longer sitting by. What she means is that she will consider running for chapter leader and organizing in her school and in her local school community by reaching out to other schools and joining the MORE network. For only by building a political machine with deep roots into the schools to challenge the Unity machine will we see changes.

I'll delve further into what this means in future blogs.

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There are millions of dollars arrayed against teachers. Blogs, comments on blogs, making the case for teachers and tenure by preaching to the choir will not turn the tide. The unions spout words of militancy on a regular basis but keep compromising with the deformers.

The AFT supports the deform gov of Connecticut over real reformer Jonathan Pelto. And we just heard that the Louisiana Education Association praised Gov Bobby Jindal for tweaking the state eval law -- Has hell frozen over? Teachers union applauds Jindal (because it was chaotic).

I watched how passionless and ineffective the head of the California AFT leader was on TV when facing one of the people behind the lawsuit who brought up none of the points made by people like Diane Ravitch.

Here her on Brian Lehrer on WNYC: http://www.wnyc.org/story/overturning-teacher-tenure/

And read her blog:
Not only did none of them have a “grossly ineffective” teacher, but some of the plaintiffs attended schools where there are no tenured teachers. Two of the plaintiffs attend charter schools, where there is no tenure or seniority, and as you will read below, “Beatriz and Elizabeth Vergara both attend a “Pilot School” in LAUSD that is free to let teachers go at the end of the school year for any reason, including ineffectiveness. 
The Vergara Trial Teachers Were Not “Grossly Ineffective”

Also:
David B. Cohen: A Thoughtful Analysis of Vergara Decision

Vergara Tenure Commentary: High Crime Areas Due to Ineffective Police?

Police and firemen could be next. Let's say the same parents in the Vergara case claimed that crime was higher in their neighborhoods BECAUSE the police in their communities were all off probation. We could avoid blaming centuries of racism, discrimination, poverty exploitation of immigrants etc... blame crime on the police.
And their unions / civil service job protections.... Their goal is to make all civil servants at will employees. We need to wake up..... A NYC Principal
Residents of high crime areas often claim that they get the most inexperienced police who are low in seniority. I don't know how true that is but I bet there are seniority perks. Seniority placement is also used in the fire department, I believe. The reality is that the hedge hogs would never touch the police and fire people. Teachers are the easy target -

Our principal pal shows how tenure is not a job for life:
I myself have fired teachers for cause and won each and every time.  Two of these folks were veterans( over 30 years) who had done some great work but one was found to have verbally abused children on a regular basis and the other could no longer handle a large class when her smaller pull out program was eliminated due to a budget cut.
There's commentary all over the place -- many popped up on my blog roll. Raging Horse did part 2: Vergara Part Two : How the 1% Have Learned to Use the Noblest Causes for the Most Venal Ends

NYC Educator blog calls for all of us to get reparations for our own bad teachers: Will the Vergara Case Make Us Rich? By Special Guest Blogger Rolf M. Reformeo. I could get a few bucks myself. Most of my teachers are very good -- though when my East NY neighborhood changed drastically in a very short time they must have turned bad when kids began to do poorly.)

Our pal Brian Jones, running for Lt. Gov on the Green Party line has an op ed on the case at the NY Times blog.
If you have a moment, please read and share my commentary in the New York Times "Room for Debate" blog about the teacher tenure ruling in California:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/06/11/does-tenure-protect-bad-teachers-or-good-schools/protections-of-teacher-tenure-do-not-hurt-students
Brian Jones is also part of the NY Times debate which includes Diane Ravitch and 2 deformers -  Debating the Vergara Decision in the New York Times.

And by the way --- tenure protections were put in place for the purpose of civil rights issues -- check the current ATR pool and count how many teachers of color are in that pool.
Do you think there are no homophobe principals around?

Diane also talks about that issue:
In response to the debate in the New York Times “Room for Debate” about the Vergara decision, teacher H.A. Hurley commented on the historical perspective I offered, showing that tenure was part of women teachers’ struggle against the pervasive gender discrimination of superintendents and school boards. 
Teacher: Tell the Stories About Tenure and Gender Discrimination.


Thursday, June 12, 2014

Anti-Tenure People Try to Have it Both Ways

...flaws in reasoning... were in full bloom from the minute Judge Treu announced that court was in session. How else to explain the paradox by which teacher tenure laws apply to the state’s wealthiest school districts and its poorest, but only violate the civil rights of students in the latter? Or how about the related and even paradoxier claim beloved by Students Matter fans, including Arne Duncan, that while experience doesn’t Matter, the inequitable distribution of experience (which doesn’t Matter) is the civil rights issue of our time?..... EduShyster
The anti-tenure slugs make contradictory points. They claim that the worst teachers end up in the highest poverty schools. They claim the best teachers gravitate to the higher income areas.

Examine the experience and salary and tenure level of teachers in these high income areas and compare it to the low, high-turnover poverty schools. You will find younger, less experienced and more untenured teachers in the latter schools.

EduShyster continues:
who are the great teachers that Save Great Teachers seeks to save? Hint: while *fresh,* *young* and free from the burden (and price tag) of *experience.* these great teachers are not the same as the inexperienced teachers who overwhelmingly teach poor minority students in this country.
Joel Klein played this 2-sided game from the very beginning. In the early years he went after seniority transfers, saying the experienced teachers transfer out of the higher poverty schools, claiming these schools needed experienced teachers. Then he turned his attack dog Leadership Academy principals on the senior teachers, setting them up with the fair-funding formula that penalized schools with higher salaried - meaning, experienced - teachers.

California supposedly has 18-months to tenure rules. I agree that is too short a time. Here in NYC, we have a 3-year MINIMUM tenure but in reality, unlimited time to tenure, given that principals can extend tenure for years, and often do so.

I found that teachers whose tenure was extended into their 5th year often try to get out of their school and into one where they have a better shot at getting tenure, hoping their new principal would not hate them because they didn't like the color of their tie -- or their skin, which increases school turnover.

When you have a tenured teacher who is not very good, the reason that that teacher doesn't get dismissed is not tenure but a lazy principal. In fact, some of the worst teachers who couldn't care less about kids or teaching often become lousy principals - who even without tenure, are never fired unless they are caught red-handed eating a child for lunch.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Daily Howler, a former inner city teacher in Baltimore, gets to the heart of what's wrong with the common core

Given our large achievement gaps, how can any set of “standards” make sense for all kids in a single grade? The gaps are very large in our schools. How can any set of “standards” be appropriate for all students?

This is the world’s most obvious question. Through twenty years of the “standards movement,” we’ve never seen it asked.According to the Common Core, everyone should be taught the same math—we just need to make the math harder! We don’t know how that’s supposed to work for the many (superlative) kids on the short end of those very large gaps. We’ve followed these topics for more than forty years. We never cease to be amazed by the ease with which people disregard the size of the gaps, and the role they play in our classrooms... Daily Howler

It takes a former teacher - a real teacher, not the phony "few years in and become an expert" type. The Howler is spending the month on covering these gaps and their implications. Check them out here: http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com

Here are the last 2 posts:

Call for Ban on high-stakes field testing, 11 AM Rally/Press Conference Today at Tweed



 
PUBLIC ADVOCATE FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK
Letitia James
For Immediate Release: June 10, 2014                                                Media Advisory
Contact: Aja Worthy-Davis, (212) 669-4813, adavis@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

Public Advocate James, Education Advocates to Call for End To Stand-Alone Field Testing
High-Stakes Field Testing Is Largely Believed To Produce Unreliable Results
(New York, NY)— Today, Public Advocate Letitia James will be joined by education advocates and elected officials in a rally for a ban on stand-alone field testing, which is not required by New York State law and is believed to produce unreliable results.
Recently, the NYS Education Department (SED) targeted 1,125 New York City schools with an estimated 150,000 of our students slated to take the stand-alone field tests.  This is the third straight June that SED and test publisher Pearson are taking a test development approach that is unworkable. Equally concerning, most parents remain unaware of the tests and the fact that the SED is giving the student data to Pearson— a commercial interest that holds a 5-year, $32 million contract with SED.

WHO:        Education Advocates and Elected Officials
WHAT:      Rally for a ban on high-stakes field testing, non-mandated tests which drain an already over-tested student body
WHEN:      Wednesday, June 11, 2014
                   11:00AM

WHERE:   Steps of Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007

###
--
Aja Worthy-Davis
Press Secretary
NYC Public Advocate  Hon. Letitia "Tish" James
1 Centre Street- 15th Floor
New York, NY

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Eva Moskowitz Applies for 14 More Charters, CEC 21 Resolution: Opposing Free Space for Charters

If anyone doesn't think this won't add to a large pool of ATRs as she drains kids from the public schools and teaches are excessed, they are ignoring reality. Check your district in the Success announcement below to see if you're district is on the list. Every description by Success is an assault on the local public schools and the teachers working in them.

This is part of the Moskowitz political machine expansion to make her or designated chosen the next Mayor.

Noah Gotbaum comments:
Here comes Eva with another dozen+ schools including her 7th colocated charter in District 3. And apropos of Leonie's comments on the de Blasio Salon interview, the Mayor, City Council, CEC's and community are completely powerless to stop any of these - we know SUNY certainly won't.  Only question is whether Eva will take over still more scarce public school space or force our public school kids to pay through the nose for private space for her.  

Thanks to Governor Cuomo and Senator Klein, et al for this. 
Noah forgot to "thank" the UFT for sitting on the sidelines. But I get why.

Before the Success details, CEC 21 (south Bklyn) takes a stand - where are the others?
 
For Immediate Release
6/10/2014
Contact: Kerri Lyon, 917-348-2191
 
 
 
RESPONDING TO STRONG COMMUNITY DEMAND, SUCCESS ACADEMY TO APPLY FOR 14 ADDITIONAL CHARTERS  
 
June 10, 2014 (New York, NY)Success Academy Charter Schools announced today that it is submitting applications to SUNY Charter Schools Institute to establish 14 new public charter schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens. Community demand for these high-performing schools reached an all time high this year, with more than 14,400 families applying for fewer than 3,000 open seats. An outgrowth of the charter-friendly legislation championed by Governor Cuomo and other state leaders this spring, the planned schools will provide educational equity to thousands of families in communities currently without viable school options for their children.
 
Chancellor Fariña recently noted that it is important to listen to the community. That is what we are doing in applying for these charters because the community is demanding more high quality charter schools,” said CEO Eva Moskowitz. “These families — representing more than a dozen neighborhoods — are desperate for great schools. Even with 14 more schools, we will not make a dent in the demand we are seeing.”

Ranked in the top 1% of all New York State schools in math, and the top 7% in English Language Arts on last year’s state exams, Success Academy has reversed the achievement gap for African American and Hispanic students, which are about 86% of its enrollment. On the 2013 state exams, 80% of Success Academy’s African American students and 88% of its Hispanic students were math proficient, compared with 50% and 47% for the city’s white students.

Applications for the 14 new schools are based on community demand from parents residing in these districts, as well as the districts’ scarcity of high quality schools. Even in so-called good school districts, the best schools are over-crowded and enroll primarily white children. In those same districts, minority children are often segregated in schools where achievement is low. If approved, four of the new schools would open in 2015 and ten in 2016.

Success Academy opens new schools with a kindergarten and first grade class, typically enrolling between 150-200 children in the first year, and expanding the school in subsequent years with new kindergarten classes. With few exceptions, there are district school buildings where existing vacancies would make co-location a cost-effective option for siting the new schools.

Applications for four schools to open in August 2015 are in the following Community School Districts:
 
CSD 9  
  There is significant interest from families in CSD 9 seeking high-quality school options for their children. Last year, not one of the 50 district schools in CSD 9 had both math and ELA proficiency ratings above 50%.
  At 29 schools (more than half of all schools), fewer than 10% of kids passed ELA. 
  Community demand is very strong: Success Academy received 1,232 unique applications from families living in CSD 9 last year.
 
CSD 27
  Out of 46 district schools in CSD 27, only 4 had a math proficiency rating of more than 50%.  Only 1 had an ELA proficiency rating above 50%. 
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 27: In 2013, 20% of African American students and 15% of Hispanic students were proficient in English, compared to 57% of white students and 42% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state math standards at a rate more than three times that of African American and Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 586 unique applications from the CSD 27 community last year.

CSD 3  
  At 20 out of 30 elementary/middle schools in the district, less than half of all students passed the 2013 ELA exam. 
  The same is true at 21 out of 30 schools for math. At 9 of the 30 schools — nearly 1 in 3 — fewer than 10% of students achieved math proficiency.
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 3: In 2013, 18% of African American students and 21% of Hispanic students were proficient in English, compared to 74% of white students and 76% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state math standards at a rate more than three times that of African American and Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 815 unique applications from the CSD 3 community last year.
 
CSD 2  
  At more than 1 out of 3 schools (grades K-8) in the district, less than half of all students passed the 2013 ELA exam.
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 2: In 2013, only 27% of African American students and 30% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 75% of white students and 80% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at a rate more than double that of African American and Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 682 unique applications from families living in CSD 2 last year.
 
Applications for ten schools to open in August 2016 are in the following Community School Districts:
 
CSD 17  
  Out of 43 schools in CSD 17, only 1 had an ELA pass rate over 50% and only 2 had a math pass rate above 50%. 
  Community support is very strong in CSD 17: Success Academy received 917 unique applications from this community last year.
 
CSD 18  
  In both ELA and math, 19 out of 20 schools had a proficiency rating of below 50%.
  Success Academy received 532 unique applications from families living in CSD 18 last year.
 
CSD 13
  Only 2 out of 31 schools in CSD 13 had a pass rate higher than 50% in math or ELA. 
  8 out of 31 schools had a math pass rate of less than 10% 
  Success Academy received 472 unique applications from families living in CSD 13 last year.
 
CSD 22 
  27 out of the 31 district schools in CSD 22 had an ELA proficiency rating of less than 50%. 
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 22: In 2013, 20% of African American students and 24% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 52% of white students and 57% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at double the rate of African American and Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 741 unique applications from families living in CSD 22 last year.

CSD 23  
  CSD 23 has a high concentration of low-performing schools: Only 1 out of 27 schools had a proficiency rating above 50% in either math or ELA last year. 
  13 schools had a math proficiency rating of less than 10% 
  15 schools had an ELA proficiency rating of less than 10% 
  Success Academy received 319 unique applications from families living in CSD 23 last year.
CSD 14  
     There is strong need for high-quality schools in CSD 14: 27 of 28 schools had an ELA pass rate below 50%. 
     There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 14: In 2013, 13% of African American students and 18% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 50% of white students and 66% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at more than double the rate of African American and triple the rate of Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 412 unique applications from families living in CSD 14 last year.
 
CSD 15  
  Even in CSD 15, which includes Park Slope and Cobble Hill, one-fourth of all schools had a math proficiency rate of less than 10%. 
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 15: In 2013, 25% of African American students and 22% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 65% of white students and 57% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at double the rate of African American and triple the rate of Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 300 unique applications from families living in CSD 15 last year.
 
CSD 24  
  31 out of 34 schools in CSD 24 had a math proficiency rate of below 50%.
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 24: In 2013, 19% of African American students and 23% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 46% of white students and 61% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at double the rate of African American and triple the rate of Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 152 unique applications from families living in CSD 24 last year.
 
CSD 28
  31 of 36 district schools in CSD 28 had an ELA proficiency rate below 50%. 
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 28: In 2013, 16% of African American students and 24% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 46% of white students and 52% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at double the rate of African American and triple the rate of Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 444 unique applications from families living in CSD 28 last year.
 
CSD 30  
  30 out of 33 schools in CSD 30 had a math proficiency rate below 50%. 
  There is an enormous racial achievement gap in CSD 30: In 2013, 15% of African American students and 25% of Hispanic students were proficient in math, compared to 49% of white students and 58% of Asian students.  Similarly, white and Asian students met state English standards at more than double the rate of African American and triple the rate of Hispanic students.
  Success Academy received 49 unique applications from families living in CSD 30 last year, without a school.
 

Today: A Rally to End the Fourth Term of Michael R. Bloomberg 4:30 at Tweed -

I'm getting ready to head over to Tweed soon for the rally, which I wrote about the other day (PEP Report: Teachers, Parents Make Demands on Farina; ATRs, Etc To Hold Rally at Tweed, Tues., June 10, 4:30PM).


SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL posted this poster at this link:
 Spring Cleaning at the NYCDOE 

Our pal at  Raginghorseblog did a great job in framing this.
A Rally to End the Fourth Term of Michael R. Bloomberg  4:30 at Tweed -
Five months have passed since Carmen Farina assumed the job of Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education following 12 years of the sadistic reign of Michael R. Bloomberg. And while, unlike her three predecessors, Farina is indeed an educator, little at Tweed, other than the tone and rhetoric, has really changed. The institutions and the policies remain eerily similar to that of Walcott and Klein.
To wit: Tweed remains bulging with lawyers charged with advising principals how best to fire tenured teachers. The loathed and exorbitantly expensive networks are still running around pretending that they are actually working and actually know what they’re doing. Sociopathic principals are still ruining the careers of new teachers without a second thought, while the cases of hundreds of unfairly U rated or discontinued teachers remain wholly unexamined. The Leadership Academy continues to churn out new business model principals by the sackful.
And the newly ratified UFT contract goes near none of this.
In many ways, teachers are struggling through what can rightfully be called Bloomberg’s fourth term.
The first real volley to demand an end to the Reign of Bloomberg will be a rally to take place tomorrow on the steps of Tweed from 4:30 -5:00, organized by the newly created Don’t Tread on Educators. (http://dtoe.org/)
All those who can attend should attend. Nothing will change until we make it change and we have no one to depend on but ourselves.