Commentary - Mike Schirtzer: A View From the UFT Executive Board

Below, Mike Schirtzer reports on his reaction to his first two meetings as a member of the UFT Executive Board representing the high schools.
Mike is my 40-year old political son - which means that when he is 70 and wheeling me around at 100 we will still be handing out leaflets at the delegate assembly. He was one of the 7 MORE/NA candidates elected in the 2016 election, the first time since the 2004-07 term that non-Unity endorsed voices* are being heard. 

*New Action held up to 10 ExBd seats from 2007-2016 with Unity endorsement.

Over the 4 and a half years I've known Mike, we have kicked the importance of holding Exec Bd seats back and forth. When MORE was picking candidates I shared with him the 20 year history that the opposition has held seats on the board in the high school division and how little impact that has had.  

Holding Exec Board seats is not a game-changer. But it is an opportunity.
New Action held the seats from 1995-2004 before making a deal with Unity. That caused them to lose the seats to ICE/TJC from 2004-7 before they made a more entangling deal with Unity that allowed them to win Exec Bd seats.

The ICE experience with those seats from 2004-7 was instructive.  ICE and TJC, 3 seats each, did not work together and thus each group basically operated independently - one of the lessons as to why caucus coalitions don't always work out well. Basically, ICE's Jeff Kaufman and James Eterno consistently held Randi and Unity's feet to the fire. But the problem was that it was like the proverbial tree falling in the forest since few knew about the great work Jeff and James were doing. And ICE put a lot of energy into going to these meetings which may have distracted us from school-based organizing.

The MORE/New Action coalition is different with a much higher level of trust and cooperation. Which is why I won't comment now on New Action during the 2007-16 years on the EB with Unity support other than to say that by joining with MORE instead of Unity, they can now say their 2 members are on the board through the election of the rank and file without Unity support. Though I have viewed NA as non-militant incrementalists, my early sense now is that the 7 EB people are already working as a team and a touch of New Action caution mixed with the variety of places the 5 MORE people are coming from - a bit of the old ICE combined with the new MORE (Schirtzer, Arthur Goldstein and Marcus McCarthur, some NYCORE - Ashraya Gupta, a Teachers Unite alum (David Garcia Rosen) in addition to the independent voice of Arthur Goldstein. Add NA experienced Jonathan Halabi and Kuljit (KJ) S. Ahluwalia, there is a pretty nice blend.

At one point a year ago I urged Mike not to run and waste an evening every 2 weeks for 3 years schlepping over to 52 Broadway talking to a room full of Unity Caucus when he could better use his talents as an organizer for MORE.  No matter what he and others would do there, they would be the tree in the forest - Unless they did things in an organized manner and publicized widely what they were doing.

In his report, Mike fulfills his promise to not be a tree falling in the forest.

A View From a First-Timer on the UFT Executive Board
By Mike Schirtzer

My initial reactions after having participated in my first two meetings as an elected high school representative to the UFT Executive Board as a member of the MORE Caucus. 

UFT Members have not been informed on what was going on at  Executive Board meetings other than cursory minutes. We are trying to change that by posting detailed minutes and analysis on our blog, linking to it in our weekly updates and having a section of our newsletter dedicated to it. 

Issues that impact the day to day working conditions of UFT members and learning conditions for our students are not the focus of the agenda from Unity Caucus. The 7 of us from MORE/NA are all classroom teachers and will fight for these issues. MORE/NA is willing to engage in meetings with leadership to address abusive administrators, DOE meeting with chapter leaders on class-size, forcing Unity to discuss ATRs, paid parental leave and school funding are steps in the right direction. This is a 3 year term and we must do everything we can to best represent the working educators of the UFT. 

I approach my upcoming 3-year term with the attitude that we are not there to embarrass the leadership, but to challenge and find ways we can work together with the Unity Caucus' UFT officers to address issues of concern to the membership. But if we have to embarrass them to force them to act we will.

One thing we promise is that we will report honestly and openly so we provide the membership with insights on what has generally been a black box of mystery.

Setting the scene
There are 101 members of the UFT EB including the 12 officers. Other than the elected 7 high school MORE/New Action reps, the other 89 are all in Unity Caucus and who adhere to all decisions made by the leadership and vote as a block.

Many members of the UFT Executive Board – if not the majority – are not classroom teachers. There is a large group of retirees and many district reps and other UFT officials. Certainly few are in the classroom full-time. Thus they are not part of the daily routine that goes on in schools they supposedly represent. The 7 of us from MORE/NA are all classroom teachers and come face to face with the issues of concern to UFT members in our schools.

• There is a pre-meeting 10-minute opportunity for the general UFT membership to speak. The time is divided among all the speakers and you can only speak once a semester. At the first meeting 4 members of MORE shared the time for 2 minutes each to speak about working under abusive principals and the general lack of push-back from the union. There was no reaction from the Unity Caucus members.

• UFT Secretary Howard Schoor opens the meeting by reviewing the previous meeting minutes and approving them. Afterwards there’s a question period, followed by Mulgrew’s president report, followed by reports from the districts and then the business part of the meeting which includes discussing proposed resolutions. The official UFT resolutions have been passed by the 12-member AdCom which meets every Friday.

• UFT President Michael Mulgrew doesn’t show until his report and leaves soon after, thus missing a significant portion of the meeting. The Executive Board is supposed to be one of the highest bodies of our union, yet the president of our union sees fit leave after his brief report. The questions that Executive Board members ask and the open mic period for rank and file members does not seem to be of any concern for him.
Note: As per past Executive Board representatives from ICE/TJC : (MORE's predecessors) when Randi Weingarten was president she chaired the meeting and stayed the entire time.

• The only report of substance is from UFT Legislative Director Paul Egan who is a great speaker. Agree with him/Unity caucus or not, he brings a thorough report on the presidential election, endorsements, and justification of those endorsements. I only wish school based issues were taken on with as much vigor as Paul tackles politics. Most other reports from the districts, often by district reps, are about organizing for charities or UFT sponsored celebrations, not about the issues going on in the districts.

More thoughts on the 2 meetings I attended so far
• During the question period only the 7 members of MORE/NA asked questions on the following topics: Abusive Administrators, ATRs, School Funding, Paid Parental Leave, and Class-size are issues, Fair school funding, none of which were addressed in the reports by Unity Caucus members.

• At the first meeting, four rank and file speakers and one retiree, all associated with MORE, spoke about their terrible experiences in schools due to abusive administrators. One asked for district reps to be held accountable. We brought a resolution to Executive Board calling for removal of abusive administrators based on poor school surveys or a vote of no-confidence in the administration. I raised it and then MORE/NA Executive Board member Marcus McArthur further motivated it by sharing his own experience as a new teacher with a bad principal who openly attacked the chapter leader. Marcus' teaching career was almost ended barely before getting started. The resolutuon was tabled by Unity Caucus’ leader and Assistant Secretary Leroy Barr, but he agreed to meet with us to work on next steps for addressing this matter. We need to insure that UFT members have the organized defense they need. This meeting should be within the next 2 weeks, updates will follow.

• Class-size: MORE/NA High School Executive board member Arthur Goldstein reported there are many over-packed classes all over Francis Lewis High School where he is the chapter leader. He also stated there are similar conditions all over Queens high schools. UFT leadership agreed to set up a meeting with Arthur, Queens high school chapter leaders, and personnel from DOE to address this issue. Updates to follow.

• ATRs- Former Canarsie High School chapter leader and MORE/NA Ex Bd member Kuljit (KJ) S. Ahluwalia had first-hand experience with closing school policy and excessing when Canarsie High School was closed down. He has spoken at both meetings about the plight of ATRS. He as asked for data on the teachers currently still in the ATR pool (age, race, license) and what is being done to alleviate the problem. UFT Secretary Howie Schoor, President Mulgrew, and Amy Arundell all gave answers to KJ, not specifics, but generalities such as “ATRs are at the lowest since I been here”. Mulgrew and Arundell reiterated that sentiment.

• Funding- Jonathan Halabi, the only member from MORE/NA that was elected to the previous term, brought up a New Action initiated resolution that passed the Ex Bd a couple of years back calling for UFT to pressure DOE to end the practice of “charging” principals more for experienced teachers. This means that schools that have veteran staff are punished by having less funding for after school programs, less guidance counselors and packed classes. The principal must use those funds to “pay” the staff. 

I spoke to the funding issue as well by explaining that this is the situation in my school and it has a negative impact on our chapter. Mulgrew and Schoor both said they would keep pressure on DOE and bring it up at their next consultation meeting with Chancellor Farina. They did say that this is not a contractual bargaining matter, but Mulgrew admitted NYC is one of the few, if not the only school districts in the US, that still uses this system. Most school districts assign staff based on number of students, ei. 1 teacher for every 25 students, 1 guidance counselor for every 200 students, etc. I sent my principal’s full budget to Secretary Schoor and we are awaiting his response.

• Paid Family Leave- Ashraya Gupta MORE/NA UFT Ex Bd member brought up that Mulgrew has previously talked about UFT members getting paid parental leave. She spoke of our union, being mostly women, many of whom are primary-caregivers, and how it is unfair that we do not have this basic human right of paid parental leave yet. She asked what is our union’s position and progress on this matter. Schoor said the city’s non-unionized staff who receive this benefit had to give back money and days off, “the city will give us nothing for free”. Schoor did not articulate what our position is, yet the Delegate Assembly expressed we do not want any give backs.

The next EB meeting will be Monday Oct. 17, two days before the Delegate Assembly. Feel free to join us. If you wish to speak at the pre-meeting 10 minute time call Howard Schoor's office at the UFT 212-777-7500. Let us know if you are coming.

Arthur Goldstein has published minutes on his blog following each session which we have replicated on the MORE site. Arthur, me, and MORE/NA members will continue to report on these meetings and other contacts with the leadership.

Reports of the meetings can be found on MORE's site.

Sept. 19: https://morecaucusnyc.org/2016/09/20/uft-executive-board-919-report/

Sept 26 https://morecaucusnyc.org/2016/09/27/uft-executive-board-minutes-92616/

VA-CA Report: A Tour of the Finger Lakes with Road Scholar

Watkins Glen

It is not often that you can combine a vacation and an education. We returned last Friday from a wonderful week of traveling to the Finger Lakes region of New York. I want to write this up now because much of the trip will be gone from my brain soon. I had such a good time I never turned on my computer and didn't blog at all for the first time in a long time. Some people contacted me, worried about my health.

I bought one of these

For 4 of the past 5 years we have taken longer trips abroad in the fall - New Zealand (2011), Portugal (2013), Sicily (2014) and Japan (2015.) All have been tours - with OAT, Rick Steves and Road Scholar. We used to do these type of trips on our own - mostly planned and executed by my wife who finally got fed up at doing all the work. We also found that despite the restrictions of tours and the expense, we discovered that we have enjoyed sharing the experience with new people, often from all over the nation. Meeting them and learning about their lives enriched the trip.

Historic women at Women's Rights National Park

Well, this year we decided to stay local -- in NY State. For years my wife has been bugging me to go up to the finger lakes region of NY. I had an aversion to the finger lakes because we had very boring lessons about them in the 7th grade. But I decided to relent -- and we found a 5-day Roades Scholar tour. Our Portugal and Costa Rica trips had been with them (formerly Elder Hostel) and we found them very informative even if a little more rustic -- you won't be having scrumptious meals or super accommodations but you will get guides who are loaded with knowledge and love to share it.

The tour began Sunday night and dealt with the southern finger lakes around Corning NY. So we went up on Friday to explore the northern area on our own - a visit to Seneca Falls - the purported base for Bedford Falls in the movie  It's a Wonderful Life - and the inspiration for the bridge Jimmy Stewart jumped off - we went to the museum founded by the youngest daughter in the Capra movie -- Zuzu of the famous petals. We may go back in December for the 75th anniversary. Watch Frank Capra movies -- many relate to social justice. Then on to Skaneateles which if you remember was a Clinton vacation spot. Had my daily ice cream. On Sunday morning we went up to a garden called Sonnenberg Gardens - the summer home of a very rich couple - with spectacular gardens.

We got to the Watson Center at around 5PM to get ready for the first dinner and meeting with the group.

We had lectures on history, geology, history of aviation, history of glass, the local Iroquois nation - a confederation of democratic Indian tribes that gave power to women. A day at Corning glass works museum -- one of the best museums. Another day at the Glenn Curtiss museum -- look him up for a remarkable story. And the final morning at the Rockwell Museum. A boat ride on the lake.

My head is just loaded with "stuff."

What was most surprising to me was the political content of this trip as we discovered the historical significance of the area -- western NY between Pennsylvania and touching on the Rochester area on Lake Ontario, and how it relates to so much of what is going on today.

A quick political hit list:

• Seneca Falls - Birth of women's rights (1848) - National Park
• Elmira - first college in US to admit women
• Area was bed of anti-slavery and underground railroad
• Inspiration for Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" - one of my favorite movies that touches on so many social justice issues
• Home of historic aviator Glenn Curtiss who is ignored but did so much more than the Wright Brothers
• Corning glass - the impact on a corporate town
• Geology
• Watkins Glenn gorge
• Mark Twain spent enormous time there - wrote much of his stuff - his wife was from the area.

I could write pages on these issues but don't have the time right now.

This was the biggest tour we've been on -- over 30 people - all in our age group and from all over the nation - as far as Idaho. The guide for the week was local and so enthusiastic with sharing her knowledge. We were quartered at the Thomas Watson - the founder of IBM - conference center - you know that computer that won the Jeopardy tournament. No TV in the room - so we had to watch the debate in the few locations where there were TVs. We shared all meals except for 1 - all at the conference center so we ate together and got to know people. We especially bonded with an older couple from Indiana - he's a minister who plays in a classic rock band. He gave us his books of poetry. So interesting.

We were careful politically, assuming there were a batch of Trump supporters - in fact I believe I bonded pretty well with someone from Ohio who was either a supporter or leaning. Which goes to show you. (On our Sicily trip my best pal was a Tea Party guy and we had a blast arguing.) These people were more serious in this trip. But we saw indications of support for Hillary, especially from women.

Well, back to the hum-drum of retirement -- just kidding.

Eva Moskowitz Banned from Williamsburg School Event Due to Unethical Behavior

Eva and her Success Academy representatives did not abide by the rules. She would have her folks go around collecting names and information from sign in sheets and then use them for her own outreach. She had been asked to discontinue this practice. I was also told that she "crashed" several other events and finally had to be told she was not welcome to have her schools participate any more. 

A report from a contact:

Yesterday District 14 held School Fest sponsored by Town Square. (Links for info below).

I was there because our community book bus was open for visitors and I was handing out literature and encouraging people to visit. As I strolled through, many of our local public schools and day care centers were exhibiting and telling parents about their programs. A few of our charters were also there as well as education vendors. All the schools, public, private and charter, Pre-K through high school and a college or two, were together. The atmosphere was open and friendly. We even heard magnificent Afro-Caribbean drumming pieces by one local vendor. 

But something seemed odd. 

The biggest and most controversial charter chain was not present. Success Academy had been there every year prior with their flashy displays. I wondered if Eva finally thought she didn't didn't have to tell the neighborhood about her three or four schools in our community or recruit students. 

Wrong! Eva was banned, I learned, from any more Town Square events by its chairperson. I was told this on very good authority, not by Susan Anderson herself who is a community parent. 

Eva and her Success Academy representatives did not abide by the rules. She would have her folks go around collecting names and information from sign in sheets and then use them for her own outreach. She had been asked to discontinue this practice. I was also told that she "crashed" several other events and finally had to be told she was not welcome to have her schools participate any more. This is a victory for our community. I applaud Susan Anderson and her Board of Directors for taking a stand with Eva and insisting that Eva Moskowitz' unethical behavior had to cease and desist. 

 
http://www.townsquareinc.com/about-us

http://www.townsquareinc.com/

Back from VA-CA - Here's a fun way to get back in the saddle - In ‘Hitler,’ an Ascent From ‘Dunderhead’ to Demagogue

“Why not give the National Socialists a chance?” a prominent banker said of the Nazis. “They seem pretty gutsy to me.”.... A new biography portrays Hitler as a clownish, deceitful narcissist who took control of a

powerful nation thanks to slick propaganda and a dysfunctional elite that failed to block his rise....  Hitler as a politician who rose to power through demagoguery, showmanship and nativist appeals to the masses. ...  Mr. Ullrich, like other biographers, provides vivid insight into some factors that helped turn a “Munich rabble-rouser” — regarded by many as a self-obsessed “clown” with a strangely “scattershot, impulsive style” — into “the lord and master of the German Reich.”.... NY Times, review of “Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939,” by Volker Ullrich

Ahhh, a new Hitler bio -- I wonder why now? - a good way to start my return to blogging. I'm back from a week away. Internet was at times spotty and besides I was too busy having fun to think about blogging, probably the longest stretch of non-blogging since I began in August 2006 - yes 10 years ago and over 6500 posts with another 1300 in draft. I'll talk about what I learned on our trip where we were with over 30 people from around the nation for almost every meal over 5 days -- and with no tv in the rooms people had to watch the debate in groups. Trying to figure out where people from Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois - key states - were coming from was a challenge since everyone was on their best behavior. That I bonded with some people who were undoubtedly Trump supporters or sympathizers gave me some insight to political realities.

I want to write about the trip - there was so much and I should have written something everyday before I lose all the things I learned.

Meantime, I just got up to get a glass of water at 5AM and came across this piece in the Times about the rise of Hitler and how he was viewed and the tactics he used which - which echoes stuff I have often said to skeptical Trump supporters. Below I yank out some of the clearly aimed comparisons between Hitler and Trump - except Hitler was so much smarter.

More than once I heard the statement "Why not give Trump a chance? He will shake things up."

Read the entire review here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Comparing conditions in Germany - we are nowhere in as bad a shape but if that turns we may see a "improved" version of Trump demagoguery. 

How did Adolf Hitler — described by one eminent magazine editor in 1930 as a “half-insane rascal,” a “pathetic dunderhead,” a “nowhere fool,” a “big mouth” — rise to power in the land of Goethe and Beethoven? What persuaded millions of ordinary Germans to embrace him and his doctrine of hatred? How did this “most unlikely pretender to high state office” achieve absolute power in a once democratic country and set it on a course of monstrous horror?

social and political conditions in post-World War I Germany, which Hitler expertly exploited — bitterness over the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles and a yearning for a return to German greatness; unemployment and economic distress amid the worldwide Depression of the early 1930s; and longstanding ethnic prejudices and fears of “foreignization.”

The reviewer is clearly making some political points about Trump's tactics and the political class that supports him thinking they can control him. I've often heard people say we have democratic institutions - checks and balances - so even if Trump wins he will be constricted. Germany had democratic controls -- within a few months they were gone as Hitlter stripped them away, often using "terrorist-type" actions by dissidents as excuses - a Reichstag fire anyone? or using the actions of a Jewish assasin of one of his aids as an excuse for Kristalnacht. Look at this checklist:

• Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself” — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler’s shrewdness as a politician — with a “keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people” and an ability to “instantaneously analyze and exploit situations.”

• Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a “bottomless mendacity” that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message. A former finance minister wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth” and editors of one edition of “Mein Kampf” described it as a “swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.”

• Hitler was an effective orator and actor, Mr. Ullrich reminds readers, adept at assuming various masks and feeding off the energy of his audiences. Although he concealed his anti-Semitism beneath a “mask of moderation” when trying to win the support of the socially liberal middle classes, he specialized in big, theatrical rallies staged with spectacular elements borrowed from the circus. Here, “Hitler adapted the content of his speeches to suit the tastes of his lower-middle-class, nationalist-conservative, ethnic-chauvinist and anti-Semitic listeners,” Mr. Ullrich writes. He peppered his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs of hecklers. Even as he fomented chaos by playing to crowds’ fears and resentments, he offered himself as the visionary leader who could restore law and order.

• Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising “to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness,” though he was typically vague about his actual plans. He often harked back to a golden age for the country, Mr. Ullrich says, the better “to paint the present day in hues that were all the darker. Everywhere you looked now, there was only decline and decay.”

• Hitler’s repertoire of topics, Mr. Ullrich notes, was limited, and reading his speeches in retrospect, “it seems amazing that he attracted larger and larger audiences” with “repeated mantralike phrases” consisting largely of “accusations, vows of revenge and promises for the future.”

• Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself” — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler’s shrewdness as a politician — with a “keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people” and an ability to “instantaneously analyze and exploit situations.”

• Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a “bottomless mendacity” that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message. A former finance minister wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth” and editors of one edition of “Mein Kampf” described it as a “swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.”

• Hitler was an effective orator and actor, Mr. Ullrich reminds readers, adept at assuming various masks and feeding off the energy of his audiences. Although he concealed his anti-Semitism beneath a “mask of moderation” when trying to win the support of the socially liberal middle classes, he specialized in big, theatrical rallies staged with spectacular elements borrowed from the circus. Here, “Hitler adapted the content of his speeches to suit the tastes of his lower-middle-class, nationalist-conservative, ethnic-chauvinist and anti-Semitic listeners,” Mr. Ullrich writes. He peppered his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs of hecklers. Even as he fomented chaos by playing to crowds’ fears and resentments, he offered himself as the visionary leader who could restore law and order.

• Hitler’s repertoire of topics, Mr. Ullrich notes, was limited, and reading his speeches in retrospect, “it seems amazing that he attracted larger and larger audiences” with “repeated mantralike phrases” consisting largely of “accusations, vows of revenge and promises for the future.” But Hitler virtually wrote the modern playbook on demagoguery, arguing in “Mein Kampf” that propaganda must appeal to the emotions — not the reasoning powers — of the crowd. Its “purely intellectual level,” Hitler said, “will have to be that of the lowest mental common denominator among the public it is desired to reach.” Because the understanding of the masses “is feeble,” he went on, effective propaganda needed to be boiled down to a few slogans that should be “persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward.”

• Hitler’s rise was not inevitable, in Mr. Ullrich’s opinion. There were numerous points at which his ascent might have been derailed, he contends; even as late as January 1933, “it would have been eminently possible to prevent his nomination as Reich chancellor.” He benefited from a “constellation of crises that he was able to exploit cleverly and unscrupulously” — in addition to economic woes and unemployment, there was an “erosion of the political center” and a growing resentment of the elites. The unwillingness of Germany’s political parties to compromise had contributed to a perception of government dysfunction, Mr. Ullrich suggests, and the belief of Hitler supporters that the country needed “a man of iron” who could shake things up. “Why not give the National Socialists a chance?” a prominent banker said of the Nazis. “They seem pretty gutsy to me.”

• Hitler’s ascension was aided and abetted by the naïveté of domestic adversaries who failed to appreciate his ruthlessness and tenacity, and by foreign statesmen who believed they could control his aggression. Early on, revulsion at Hitler’s style and appearance, Mr. Ullrich writes, led some critics to underestimate the man and his popularity, while others dismissed him as a celebrity, a repellent but fascinating “evening’s entertainment.” Politicians, for their part, suffered from the delusion that the dominance of traditional conservatives in the cabinet would neutralize the threat of Nazi abuse of power and “fence Hitler in.” “As far as Hitler’s long-term wishes were concerned,” Mr. Ullrich observes, “his conservative coalition partners believed either that he was not serious or that they could exert a moderating influence on him. In any case, they were severely mistaken.”

• Hitler, it became obvious, could not be tamed — he needed only five months to consolidate absolute power after becoming chancellor. “Non-National Socialist German states” were brought into line, Mr. Ullrich writes, “with pressure from the party grass roots combining effectively with pseudo-legal measures ordered by the Reich government.” Many Germans jumped on the Nazi bandwagon not out of political conviction but in hopes of improving their career opportunities, he argues, while fear kept others from speaking out against the persecution of the Jews. The independent press was banned or suppressed and books deemed “un-German” were burned. By March 1933, Hitler had made it clear, Mr. Ullrich says, “that his government was going to do away with all norms of separation of powers and the rule of law.”

• Hitler had a dark, Darwinian view of the world. And he would not only become, in Mr. Ullrich’s words, “a mouthpiece of the cultural pessimism” growing in right-wing circles in the Weimar Republic, but also the avatar of what Thomas Mann identified as a turning away from reason and the fundamental principles of a civil society — namely, “liberty, equality, education, optimism and belief in progress.”

School Scope: Education and Local Politics – Why I Am Not voting

All politics is local - or so they say. There is a local State Assembly race between a Republican former teacher and a Democratic former Paraprofessional and PTA president, the daughter of our former State Assembleywoman who "retired" and is now in the cushy job of Queens County clerk. Here is my Wave column for this week - I don't even have a 3rd party choice.

School Scope: Education and Local Politics – Why I Am Not voting

By Norm Scott

With the departure of Phil Goldfeder, Rockaway is faced with a choice between a Democrat (Stacey Pheffer Amato) and a Republican (Alan Zwirn) for State Assembly. While Phil is a lawyer, both Amato and Zwirn worked for the NYC school system, Zwirn as a teacher, Amato as a paraprofessional. So we expect there to be some focus on educational issues in their campaigns.

Zwirn did announce he was holding a rally at John Adams HS “to call attention to NYC’s floundering school system.” I wouldn’t expect anything less than an attack on the public school system from a Republican. After all, the Republican party has been all about the dismantling and privatizing the school system, led by its national candidate Donald Trump who has attacked teachers and their unions and calls for a voucher system which would leave public schools with only the kids no private school or charter school want. The article in the Wave last week had Zwirn’s views on education but so much was left out.

Charter school shill Governor Cuomo and the State Assembly voted to force the Mayor to give space to charters or pay for space if they rent. Charters toss kids they don’t want back into the public schools through a variety of ways. They brag about their scores – which of  course will be higher once you rid the schools of low-scoring kids. If we track the most “successful” charters we see a big drop in the number of students as they progress through the grades. Most of these schools don’t accept students to fill these spots so they can keep their scores high.  

Cuomo and many people who send their kids to non-public schools favor an education income tax credit. I have no problem if people want to send their kids to non-public schools but not on my back. Hey, I might want to hire a private sanitation carting company instead of using our publicly supported sanitation department. People would laugh if I asked for a tax credit. What next? Charter fire and police? After all if you believe in competition, why not privatize everything?

What about teachers being rated based on how their students score on one or two big tests, a system that has been proven faulty where in one class a teacher can be rated the best and in another class, the worst?

Both the Republican and Democratic Party have been awful on many educational issues, both parties signing off on an agenda of phony education reform (deform). Though I liked Phil Goldfeder personally, I found his views on education issues regressive and if he ran this time I would not have voted for him based on those views alone. I also like Alan Zwirn, who I bet will not denounce Trump’s views on education (I don’t know Amato). How anyone who spent their life as a teacher can take Trump seriously is beyond me. I don’t expect Amato to denounce Cuomo for his attack on educators. So I’m suspecting that I will not be voting for either of the choices for Phil’s replacement but I’m open to being surprised.

DNA Study Proves Everyone is Black: White Supremacists on Suicide Watch

• White people have only been around for a relatively short period of time. 
• White supremacists say time only begins when white people showed up.
• Suicide watch for people opposed to #blacklivesmatter

Today's NY Times has a piece affirming what has generally been understood - that  human migration came out of Africa from one source.

Examining their data separately, all three groups came to the same conclusion: People everywhere descend from a single migration of early humans from Africa. 

How We Got Here: DNA Points to a Single Migration From Africa

The estimates from the studies point to an exodus somewhere between 80,000 and 50,000 years. Time sure flies. It took only 80,000 years for a chunk of humanity to become assholes. That gene is still to be identified.

While the issue of when and where white or Asians diversified is not dealt with in the article, the guess has been that whites diversified when migration reached colder climes with less sun.

The KhoiSan, hunter-gatherers living today in southern Africa, above, are among hundreds of indigenous people whose genetic makeup has provided new clues to human prehistory. Credit Eric Laforgue/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images

Above is a photo from the article -- the people who are the ultimate mommies and daddies. Somewhere deep down I have an urge to hunt and gather. I'm going into my garden to pick a raspberry. And hunt a bear.

A Deal with the Devil: UFT/CSA in One-Sided "Non-Agression Pact"

Time for the UFT to say to CSA "fuck the rights of principals "-- me

Our pal Harry Lirtzman, who was harassed out of teaching commented:

'Harris L.Sunday, September 18, 2016 9:00:00 PM

The UFT and the CSA surely have a mutual non-aggression pact and any moves by the UFT to hold administrators accountable would be deemed a significant violation of that pact.' I'd bet thousands of dollars that there is a tacit understanding between the two unions that keeps the UFT in check.... comment on ICE blog, UFT NEEDS TO FORCE DOE HAND TO ENFORCE CHANCELLOR'S REGULATION C-33

Only the UFT is the non-aggressor while Principals can run rampant. They are working from a blueprint on how to get rid of people and divide the staff -- one of the major points is to remove or control the chapter leader -- I said this in my speech at the EB meeting -- a fundamental attack on the union at its root. How can we allow the CSA members to do that without retaliation?

At the Ex Bd meeting Leroy Barr said they had a blueprint - please share that with us. He also defended district reps after I raised the point that at their montly meetings they do not address school issues and share with each other but instead dish out what the UFT wants from often beleaguered CLs - like get the staff to vote for Hillary to stop Trump.

How interesting that there are hundreds of mini-Trumps running schools and the UFT is not interested in challenging them.

Also speaking at the Ex Bd was MORE member Dermot Myrie, who has defended himself and his wife over attacks by abusive principals - since they are black, some of these attacks racially motivated. Myrie and I are on the same page -- the UFT reps are major culprits - and he laid that out in his speech on Monday and asked how district reps can be held accountable -- he openly said that many of them were complicit with the principals and often tell teachers and entire staffs they have to figure out ways to get along.

For years I've been talking about the underlying reason the UFT has been so passive in the face of a massive assault on UFT school workers by principals and assistant principals, both members of the Council of Supervisors - the CSA. I wrote about UFT Secretary Howie Schoors comments at the Exec Bd meeting Monday - UFT Exec Bd Report: Leroy Barr Tables, Howie Schoo...
where he pretty much said there are limits as to what we can do because supervisors are in a union and they have rights. I say "fuck the rights of principals"  - of those who show a pattern of behavior that goes over some line - which we still must define. There are some great and supportive principals who we know might come under political attack from above for one reason or another, especially from the newly empowered District Supt under Farina, some of the most awful people on earth - many of them who were also abusive principals.

I don't consider the CSA a real union - they are bosses.

The UFT must begin an honest assessment of every principal in the system using their own school surveys and also stats like school turnover rate, stats on age, race breakdowns in schools and how that changed under various principals. This info should be published in the NY Teacher, CSA reaction be damned.

The CSA is small and the UFT has much more leverage with some politicians. Plus the ability to run publicity campaigns. It is time to use whatever weapons the UFT has in this war.

Tell Ernie Logan to call off his dogs or we will go after them and their union. If they really want a non-aggression pact then that must work both ways.

UFT Exec Bd Report: Leroy Barr Tables, Howie Schoor Reveals Reason for Union Reluctance to go after principals

"Principals have a union, the CSA. The have rights. There's a yin-yang in how we respond." ... Howie Schoor, UFT Secretary closing statement at UFT Ex Bd meeting

Is the UFT a subsidiary of the CSA?
We've known that the alliance between the UFT and CSA was a key issue in the lack of response on the part of our union since the late UFT president Sandy Feldman told me as much back in 1997 when I made a reso at the DA calling for supervisors to not have tenure. So it was nice to hear Howie Schoor, who I've known for 35 years, pretty much say that openly. A principal union can in no way be compared to a union of their employees, especially since they've been given unfettered power and control over UFT members with barely a peep out of the UFT.

My response would be to call out the CSA to get their rabid dogs in line or lose any future alliance with the UFT.

Yesterday I reported on the upcoming UFT Ex Bd meeting - MORE Members Elected to UFT Exec Board attend first meeting

Arthur Goldstein has a blow by blow account: NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board September 19th

As does James Eterno at ICE: WELCOME BACK NON-UNITY ENDORSED REPS ON THE UFT EXECUTIVE BOARD (updated)

The theme of the evening were calls on the UFT to do something about abusive principals. MORE used the 10-minute speaking time before the meeting for non Exec Bd members to put up speakers who raised the issue as a warm-up. Originally I called in on my own but when Dermot Myrie and Rema Margi stopped by the MORE/NA pre-meeting we urged them to call in for time to tell their stories of principal abuse. Then when we got upstairs we ran into old pal Sam Lazarus, retired CL of Bryant HS and Georgia Allignu who was running for CL because the old CL was forced to transfer due to attacks by Horror Principal Dwarka (which takes guts to put your head in the noose). Georgia was there to speak to ask for nominations to be re-opened so she could run - which was done.

Arthur- NYC Educator -  has good summaries of all our statements.

Mulgrew, unlike Randi, drops in to make his report at some point - really, why should he have to listen to questions or regular members who get up to speak during the 10 minutes? He said it will soon be June. Oh these meetings are such a chore.

Mike Schirtzer presented the MORE/NA resolution on abusive principals (see below) and Leroy Barr urged tabling so they could take a closer look at it. MORE's Marcus McArthur followed up with his own story of principal abuse. I'm copying and pasting here:

Mike Schirtzer MORE—Speakers told stories of abuse. Abusive administrators are big problem. Bloomberg years remain as 2-year teachers became principals. They really do have blueprints on how to make people miserable, run them out of schools. In fact, schools have budget issues. Ours does because of veteran staff. This causes bad admin to run people out.
We must do something as a union. Teachers, counselors, social workers ought not to feel threatened and harassed. We are a union of 200K and we must take action using any means available to us. Admin with two unfavorable ratings from staff should be removed. If this happens to teachers, why shouldn’t it happen to them?
We need a check and balance, and we need to be the check and balance.
Leroy Barr—Rises to table. We have been engaged with trying to get APs either checked or removed. We had a program principals in need of improvement. Some items here are the same as we’ve pushed. We know they are there, we are engaged in those fights every day, we have no problem bringing entire weight of union against them.
Can’t be scatter gun. Depends on nuances of individual schools. Agree with essence. We want to make sure we are creating a great environment and ensure it for our kids. Want’s to raise title of District Rep tonight. You will never know all the work they do to save the jobs of our members. They do the work every day and you don’t know what they do. Some are behind closed doors. Some members want to leave. There is a variety of answers. We need to talk about how we solve and create good environment for both teachers and students. Asks we table this tonight.
Secretary—Invites voice of support
Marcus McArthur MORE—I walked into a building 6 years ago, my first job, and CLs classroom had been defiled, garbage everywhere. Principal was responsible. Still in power, in that school. Was a lot of fighting and conflict. Was traumatic.
While union has tried, it has been a catastrophe for those who had to work under these conditions. For me, as new teacher, I was completely at mercy of that principal. Didn’t get a classroom, placed with another teacher to retaliate against that teacher. Was a big threat to me remaining as African American male, as special ed. teacher. Without support of staff, I’d have left system like half of special ed. teachers.
Asks reconsideration of resolution. We must take all action in our power. Cannot tolerate such abuse.

Before we get to the reso itself I want raise a point from Jeff Kaufman on the ICE blog who thinks it was correct for Leroy to table this because surveys are a weak tool.

Jeff Kaufman said...
While it is rare that I actually agree with Unity, tabling this motion was the right thing to do. In fact it should never have been raised. Allowing a survey to determine placement of a principal or supervisor is as misguided for principals as it would be for teachers (which would become a reality in the next contract). Our Union should be forced to take seriously members concerns about abusive principals and take affirmative steps to reassign them by showing they are abusive. The survey tactic is proposed out of weakness. Let's argue for a contract provision which shows how a principal is being abusive and allows our Union to submit to arbitration. While both provisions are probably violative of the Taylor Law let's not support a tactic which not only could be used against us but is not supported by evidence.

James Eterno said...

We have that already Jeff in Chancellor's Regulation C-33 which can be used in arbitration via Article 20. Point is a strong union would make reigning in abusive supervisors a priority. I think a vote of no confidence should trigger the process.

My comment:

ed notes online said...

Jeff has a point on the surveys which are often tainted by principal involvement who tells the staff bad results will lead to punishing the school. I think turnover rates are a clue but also chapters should be given a hearing at the UFT to lodge their complaints and trigger a UFT investigation. I think the reso must go further. There must be a significant portion of a staff willing to take action even if behind the scenes to protect themselves. The very act of a UFT investigation would cause principals to get nervous esp if publicized.

I think MORE and New Action need to think take Jeff's comments into account - and mine too. Let's not give Unity a convenient out on this issue. Leroy's argument that they do a lot must be attacked with example after example. In reports from the districts we heard nothing about what they do to protect UFT members but a hell of a lot about the charity work - good they do that but that is not their main job. I was struck by the Dist 4 DR report on her charity work but no update on the battle at Central Park East 1 where within a few months the principal had 10 teachers under investigation.

Here is the MORE Post:

UFT Leadership Tables Resolution Against Abusive Adminsitrators

Voted  to table by Executive Board. All Unity members voted to table. All MORE/NA voted against tabling resolution.
Notes (minutes) from meeting to follow tomorrow.

Resolution to Use School Survey to Identify and Remove Abusive Administrators
Whereas, UFT members in many chapters are working in fear because of abusive administrators; and

Whereas, too many UFT members are being given unfair adverse ratings by autocratic supervisors; and

Whereas, many administrators have very little experience in the classroom and are provided with a blue-print by superintendents and Department of Education lawyers to remove veteran and new teachers; and

Whereas, our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions so when a UFT member is being unfairly treated it has a direct negative impact on students’ learning environment; and

Whereas teachers have a limited opportunity to anonymously express their concerns about principals through the New York City School Survey Report, including whether “I feel respected by the principal at this school” and “I trust the principal/school leader at his/her word” and “The principal at this school is an effective manager”;

Resolved, that the UFT will publish the name of any school administrator in email updates, social media, the print and online versions of the New York Teacher and a press release the names of any administrator who receive less than a 50% favorable rating on the NYC School Survey Report from UFT members or when there is a chapter vote of no confidence in that administrator; and be it further

Resolved, that the UFT will use any means available to pressure the Department of Education to remove from a school any administrator who receives two years of unfavorable ratings from their staff.

Paul Krugman's Dishonesty as he Goes Begging for Hillary Votes

I used to be a big Paul Krugman fan. But since he has turned into a rabid Hillary and Democratic Party supporter I've been examining his columns with more scrutiny. Today's column (Vote as if It Matters) certainly verges on dishonesty.

Today: MORE Members Elected to UFT Exec Board attend first meeting

The 5 members of MORE who were elected by the high schools to the UFT Executive Board will have their first opportunity to attend a meeting as voting members later tonight at 6 PM. They will be joining the 2 New Action members who were elected, one of whom, Jonathan Halabi, has already been a member of the board.

At this point a general working consensus between MORE and New Action is expected to be in operation though each caucus is free to operate independently, as are the individuals in MORE. To get a resolution on the agenda it must be signed by 5 EB members.

I'm going to be watching to see if MORE people become incrementalists like New Action has been -- where you trumpet a big victory because you get Unity to change a few words or support elements of a resolution you are bringing up. That is acting like the union leadership which will brag that class sizes didn't go up.

And yes I will be as critical of MORE as I will be of New Action -- that is if I actually go to some of these meetings.

Looking forward to Peter Luger catered meal

A few members of MORE will be attending to support their colleagues (all UFT Ex Bd meetings are open.) If I go I will report on anything significant but I'm sure Arthur Goldstein will do a comprehensive report on his blog. I hope he includes food ratings.

Randi Spends Dough on Clinton Projects While AFT Affiliate in Newark Runs Go Fund Me Campaign

The Newark Teachers Union (NTU) an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) opened a gofundme.com account as reported on Bob Braun's Ledger Facebook page on Friday.  Donated funds are to be funneled through ERC Foundation. Repeated Google searches, however, have unearthed no information on the mysterious charity. Requests for clarification from the NTU have not been returned.
To make matters worse, the AFT is flush with cash. Opensecrets.org totaled up $1,273,694 in 2016 AFT federal campaign contributions. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton raked in $22,880 while former Democratic candidate Senator Bernie Sanders got a measly $8,229.  Unfortunate Democratic Senator Corey Booker was only granted $15. Back in 2015, watchdog.org detailed AFT donations to Clinton affiliates as $250,000 to Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Foundation, $250,000 to Clinton Global Initiative and $100,000 American Bridge 21st Century (a Clinton allied research group).
The AFT has plenty of money to spend on political candidates and politically aligned organizations with questionable agendas in regard to the future of public school education, whereas the teachers the union purports to represent have to resort to begging.
Abigail Shure, Newark Teacher

UPDATE FROM THE RIGHT:

Newark Teachers Union Goes Begging

Written By: Mike Antonucci - Sep• 19•16

GoFundMe is an online fundraising site usually reserved for people with steep medical expenses or charitable causes, but now it’s the home of an effort by the Newark Teachers Union to “stop the war on teachers.”
The union of about 3,000 members has a goal of $100,000 for its campaign, but after the first four days it has raised zero. The union claims this unique project is necessary because “we don’t have access to the same funding sources as those who want to destroy our public schools.”
That might be literally true, but NTU has an annual budget of about $3.4 million and is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, a parent organization whose budget is $188 million. The idea that it requires a GoFundMe campaign for $100,000 is laughable.
It’s possible this is merely a PR stunt to rouse the zeal of activists in the state, or perhaps AFT refused to fund this particular scheme. But if you have a few extra bucks, I suggest you bypass NTU’s page and instead donate to Bonnie’s bullet removal surgery.

Education Notes Publishes Again - Addressing Fair Student Funding, Abusive Principals and MORE

• “Fair” Student Funding Unfair to Students AND Teachers

• The Hit Job: Farina’s Crew Found the Right Bitch for the Job

• Unity-UFT Leaflet Attacking MORE on Opt-Out Could Have Been written by Cuomo, King, Gates. Slammed by Parent Group

• MORE captures almost 1/3 active teacher vote and majority of high school votes but has NO AFT/NYSUT delegates 

 Ed Notes Returns to Publishing

 Last week, for the first time in a decade, I put together and distributed an edition of Education Notes for the September 14 UFT Chapter Leader meeting. The pdf is available - download if you feel it worth sharing. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8qnFCTQLOqoSVNneHdZRGtTQjA/view?ths=true

I know, I know -- so many of the people at these meetings are in Unity and basically talking to most of them is like spitting in the ocean. I don't even bother giving it to many of them - why waste copies?

I published an edition for almost every Delegate Assembly from 1997-2004. I was a chapter leader and was frustrated at the fact that getting the floor at the DA was totally dependent on getting called on - so Ed Notes was my proactive response -- I would hand out my point of view in advance of the meeting to try to influence the debate. In the early years Ed Notes was geared to trying to use logic to appeal to Unity and the UFT leadership. This was the point where Randi Weingarten replaced Sandy Feldman - and she and her minions reached out to me, telling me Randi was ushering in a new day for the UFT, promising reforms. I was critical but not on the attack. The state of the opposition consisted of 3 caucuses and I found none of them satisfactory all of of them narrow in their vision. I raised issues that none of them had any interest in - mayoral control, testing, abusive principals, protection of chapter leaders. Ed Notes was critical not only of Unity but also the other opposition groups. At one point it seemed everyone at the DA was reading Ed Notes. I began to meet like-minded people.

I guess it was when it became clear that Randi was making changes that made the UFT less democratic while also aiding and abetting ed deform that made it clear that Unity would never change -- that holding and consolidating power was the mantra, with the blatant briber offered to New Action, the leading opposition, being a final straw in 2003-4. Old and new Ed Notes supporters felt it was time for an opposition caucus that tackled issues in depth, thus leading to the birth of ICE (Independent Community of Educators), followed by the spin-off GEM (Grassroots Education Movement), not an opposition caucus but a joint effort of teachers and parents, and finally the realization in 2011-12 that an attempt must be made to bring together the various stands of activists in the UFT into one organization - MORE. I moved Ed Notes to a blog in 2006 and devoted time to the various groups I worked with. While I had some influence I was also no longer using UFT meetings to put out  my own point of view using my style of writing -- group leaflets and newsletters often get neutered in the group process. So I decided that this year I will occasionally bring Ed Notes back to union meeting when I feel I have something to say that goes beyond the blog. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8qnFCTQLOqoSVNneHdZRGtTQjA/view?ths=true

Ed Deform Coming Unhinged

Is ed deform, mistakenly labeled as a real reform movement, coming apart at the seams? The opt-out movement where 220,000 did not take the test in NY State is the most obvious sign. Also the media criticisms of Eva and Success Academy as the press becomes more skeptical of charter claims.

Look at the media coverage on charter scams, testing, the attacks on teachers as the cause of the problems there has been a turning - you can hear it in commentary as many former ed deform supporters have begin to see the light of the failures of those policies.

Now don't get me wrong -- ed deformers are loaded with dough and have bought a chunk of ed coverage -- ie - Chalkbeat and the Campbell Brown phony The 74 ed media as examples, plus the Gates, Walton, hedge funds etc. They claim the anti-ed deform movement is fueled by the teacher unions when we know full well how little the unions have done as they waffle on the fence though Randi and crew have become more bold as the worm turns - always tailing but we'll take what we can get from them.

In just the past few days here are some things to munch on.

Ravitch: Jesse Hagopian: The Black Resistance to Charters and Corporate Reform is Just Beginning

The New Yorker - wonderful piece: Stop Humiliating Teachers

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/stop-humiliating-teachers
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The lawsuit just filed on behalf of the receivership schools

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-lawsuit-just-filed-on-behalf-of.html
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Fred Klonsky: In Chicago, DFER has been run out of town
https://preaprez.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/in-chicago-dfer-has-been-run-out-of-town/
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Washington State Supreme Court: Charter schools are unconstitutional

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/state-supreme-court-charter-schools-are-unconstitutional/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article_left_1.1

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The Charter School Movement Is a Vehicle for Fraud and Corruption

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a48531/california-charter-schools/
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The Fight to Bring Transparency to California’s Charter Schools

http://www.alternet.org/education/fight-bring-transparency-californias-charter-schools

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E.D. Hirsch, Ed Reformer Pivots -rethinking his position on blaming teachers:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-reform-movements-co-founder-denounces-its-focus-on-teacher-quality/2016/09/11/79da4976-763d-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html
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A blistering opinion should shame Connecticut lawmakers, who have failed to address the problem of educational inequality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/opinion/a-holistic-ruling-on-mbroken-schools.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share
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Ed deform is racist in nature:

Ed Deform Racist Policies Attack Black Teachers - a Civil Rights Issue for Our Times

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/black-teachers-public-schools-education-system-philadelphia

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Charter privateers on the defensive but not giving up on their Orwellian takeover schemes 

 

The Best PD Ever: A Day With Former Students 37 Years Later

Sept. 10, 2016

 Every teacher should be so lucky to see how the lives of their students turn out even if 37 years later.  I had the immense pleasure yesterday of spending an entire afternoon with 5 students from my 5th and 6th grade class from 1978/79 at the home of Deborah, one of the students who graciously hosted the event at her lovely home in East New York in a newly developed area right behind the Gateway Mall off Erskine St.

I hadn't seen Debbie in all these years but recognized her instantly.

Debbie had been only in my 5th grade class while the rest had me for both years - I looped with them. I guess about 60-75% of the kids suffered me for 2 years. How did they manage to survive a teacher who ignored data, took them on too many trips instead of doing test prep and generally wanted them to have some fun in school. And they said yesterday that the most memorable times were those trips and other activities.

To hear them say I wasn't boring was the best evaluation I could have ever received.

I also learned that the stairway outside my room was "kissing" territory. And the gals learned who Herbie, the only guy there, had a crush on back then. (I won't tell).

This was a followup to a reunion back in February 2016 that I wrote about: Where a Group of My Former Students Pass the Highest Stakes Test of All - Life

I can't think of a better professional development experience for a teacher or even a retired teacher. Hearing about their lives as students and parents and work and so many other issues was enlightening.

They are all approaching 50. One has fairly young children. Three are grandparents. One became a grand parent at the age of 36. I heard amazing stories of perseverance in the face of the crack culture of the times, teen pregnancy and raising a child as a teen while working and going to school. Another a widow who lost her love while she had young children. Heroic.

Some brought their kids and one brought a grandchild. Another one still lives across the street from the school and keeps an eye on her grandchild who goes there where she sent her own kids. Three generations at PS 147.

Ahhh, the old soon to be lamented concept of a neighborhood school where most local kids attend and mingle and for better or worse manage to get an education.

Most of them work in areas connected to health care - as secretaries or admin assistants or hospital administrators.  One is back in school for a masters in health admin. Most own a home of condo. Many found spouses or partners from the neighborhood. When one of the gals couldn't attend the others pleaded with her to bring her wife next time.

Oh, what stories and memories of growing up in the projects in Williamsburg on Bushwick Ave, of what was then considered one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. Most of them either still live in the neighborhood or have roots there. They all attended the zoned middle school, which was considered a horror story at the time (while the kids in the top class were funneled away from that school to the one MS in the district where the top students were sent.) I tried to explain some of this to them yesterday - the tracking and sorting based solely on reading scores. Almost all of them attended Eastern District, the local high school or another high school in the area.  Some dropped out at one point before finding their way back.

Some of them told how their parents when they were born had given them a Spanish name and the hospital ignored them and they have lived under the way the person in the hospital named them.

They talked about a dangerous but real community, a spirit they felt growing up in those projects. One who still lives there told me how the drug culture had lessened but the hipster gentrifiers had ironically brought some of that drug culture back. 

We are planning another one as they search for more students from those classes. The principal of PS 147 told me a few months ago she would love to host some alumni.

The February reunion and my poor attempt at a selfie

Some NYC principals use 'Limited Access Letters' to ban activist Parents

A little-known letter that's supposed to be used to protect schools from unruly parents in the wake of aggressive incidents is actually being used to unfairly silence outspoken parents in low-income black and Hispanic schools, critics say. "Limited access letters," which an Education Department staffer advised should only be used in case of a “serious incident at the school that required the involvement of School Safety Agents,” have been given out without any apparent oversight or supervision to parents across the city, DNAinfo New York has learned. The letters, which effectively serve as temporary restraining orders against parents, can be given out by principals or superintendents who feel a parent has threatened them or a staffer in some way..... DNAInfo

Much like the power principals have over untenured to make them disappear through discontinuence, they can do the same to parents.
This fits totally in line with the Farina authoritarian model of "my way or the highway."

The blueprint for principals to gain total political control of their schools includes controlling and removing resistant parents and teachers. While they have enormous power over teachers, parents who don't go along either have to be bribed or removed. Now you can't make them move though you could try to get their kids out by ising charter school tactics - harass them until they leave. But if they won't then they can resort to this tactic as reported by Amy Zimmer at DNAInfo:

How some NYC  principals use 'Limited Access Letters' to ban activist Parents from their kids’ schools

http://dnain.fo/2ccbyLp

Trump and Putin - Assassinate Opponents, Matt Lauer Savaged Over Trump and Clinton Treatment

Liberal lambs, can we talk? The notion that Clinton is disqualifyingly corrupt has been the essence of the press corps' framing of her over the past several years. Those "questions" define an aggressive attack. They land in a well-scripted sweet spot.

Has Candidate Trump ever committed an act which might be seen as "disqualifying?" We think it's astonishing that someone like Lauer would inject such a suggestion into a presidential forum. But if we agree that sauce for the goose might sometimes be sauce for the gander, we can think of at least one offense with which Trump might have been confronted:

Didn't he once spend a year lying about the birth of the reigning commander-in-chief? Had there been any truth to the various claims he advanced? Had everything he said been a lie? Was the entire thing slander?
----- Daily Howler

How Trump is never held accountable for the birther shit is beyond me.

Before I get to the above, let me address the Trump/Putin story.

Don't you love the people who say Trump is just being rhetorical and democracy is safe because of congress and the constitution and the Supreme Court. Trump loves Putin because of how he runs Russia - obliterate the opposition and if necessary hire hit men to remove opponents. It was no accident that Trump hinted at using  the same tactic to stop Hillary after she got elected.

And of course he will fire all the generals and put people in to run the army who would back him when he suspends the constitution for emergency reasons.

There was once this funny guy with a little mustache running around not being taken seriously. He promised strength they and to make his country great again and used the big lie every 5 minutes.

Krytstallnacht for Muslims:
I hear people wanting Trump to take strong stands on Muslims every time we have a terrorist act. If you don't know what this is click the link. What excuse did Hitler use to send out the brown shirts and the populace one night to destroy every Jewis business?

The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew living in Paris. Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic and political persecution of Jews, and is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany's broader racial policy, and the beginning of the Final Solution and The Holocaust.^[8]

Yes - a terrorist act of sorts by one Jew.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't trust Hillary but I don't expect we will end up in a dictatorship.

There is the flap over both the Paul Krugman column chastising Hillary critics (Hillary Clinton Gets Gored) and leftist Glenn Greenwald chastising Krugman, accusing him and other Hillary backers of trying to do their own version of Trump in going after Hillary critics even if from the left.

• Glenn Greenwald: Liberal Bias For Clinton Is 'Journalistic Malpractice'
•  
• Glenn Greenwald to Paul Krugman: 'The Last Thing Required to ... Defend Hillary Clinton Is Bravery'
• Truthdig‎ - 3 days ago
• Left-Wing Journalist Glenn Greenwald Criticizes Liberal Pundits for Trying to Delegitimize Negative Coverage of Clinton

Finally, the Daily Howler takes his shot at biased reporting especially after Matt Lauer has been savaged

(Matt Lauer Fields Storm of Criticism), (The bashing of Matt Lauer: Why many of the attacks are driven by partisanship)

over his favorable treatment of Trump compared to Hillary the other night. His target is the press and the so-called liberals in the press and how their reporting in essence gives Trump so many breaks. He can say anything no matter how outrageous "Trump says Hillary is an alien from Mars" and they will report it.

Lauer astonishes. So does Chait!

...it finally occurred to him (Chait) that Candidate Trump might win the November election. Welcome back to earth!

We think Trump has an excellent chance, and we think that people like Chait have helped create the world in which that might happen. Meanwhile, have you tried to fight your way through Josh Marshall's account of last evening's forum?

Sad! For now, one last rumination:
Lauer started Clinton off with a lengthy set of questions about the email matter. The questions have all been asked and answered about a million times by now. Perhaps for that reason, Lauer gave his initial question on this topic a bit of a booster shot:

LAUER (9/7/16): The word “judgment” has been used a lot around you, Secretary Clinton, over the last year-and-a-half, and in particular concerning your use of your personal email and server to communicate while you were secretary of state. You’ve said it’s a mistake.

CLINTON: Mm-hmm.

LAUER: You said you made not the best choice. You were communicating on highly sensitive topics. Why wasn’t it more than a mistake? Why wasn’t it disqualifying, if you want to be commander-in-chief?

We'd have to say that's amazing. In his first real question of the night, Lauer directly suggested that Clinton's conduct may have been "disqualifying."

Lauer burned almost forty percent of Clinton's segment with this topic, asking questions which have been asked a million times by now. When his own inquisition was done, the first question from the audience concerned the same topic.

We assume that the audience questions were screened. The first audience question was this:

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, thank you very much for coming tonight. As a naval flight officer, I held a top secret sensitive compartmentalized information clearance. And that provided me access to materials and information highly sensitive to our warfighting capabilities. Had I communicated this information not following prescribed protocols, I would have been prosecuted and imprisoned.

Secretary Clinton, how can you expect those such as myself who were and are entrusted with America’s most sensitive information to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security?

We assume the questions were screened. That said:

In Lauer's first question, he suggested that Clinton's conduct may have been "disqualifying." In the first audience question, Clinton was told that she had "clearly corrupted our national security." It's suggested she should be in prison.