Murray Polner, Antiwar Editor and Author (and teacher at Thomas Jefferson HS), Is Dead at 91

As the executive assistant to the first New York City schools chancellor, Harvey B. Scribner, in the early 1970s and an assistant to Seymour P. Lachman, a member and later president of the Board of Education, Mr. Polner conceived of a program to help hospitalized and disabled veterans earn high school diplomas, initiated night schools for teenagers who worked during the day, and instituted a student Bill of Rights.... NYT Obit

When I read this this morning I had an instant memory of Murray Polner as a teacher at Thomas Jefferson HS I had in my senior term in 1962 for an advanced political science course. I think I found it fairly boring but it was the last period of the day in my final days as a high school student. Polner apparently went on to a longer career in the then BOE and did some good things in addition to all the other political work he did.

Murray Polner, Author at LA Progressive

https://www.laprogressive.com › Archives for Murray Polner

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6 days ago - Murray Polner is a book review editor for HNN.org and was editor of Present Tense, published by the American Jewish Committee from ...

Obituary: Author and editor Murray Polner, age 91 - Blog - The Island ...

https://theislandnow.com › Blog

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May 31, 2019 - Murray Polner, a Great Neck resident since 1961, passed away on May 30. He was 91 years old. Polner was the founding and only editor of ...

Murray Polner, Antiwar Editor and Author, Is Dead at 91 - The New ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/murray-polner-dead.html

3 days ago - Murray Polner, an unswerving voice for pacifism and civil liberties and the founder and only editor of Present Tense magazine, a progressive counterpoint to Commentary that began in a period of one-upmanship among Jewish intellectuals, died on May 30 in Manhasset, N.Y. He was 91.

Murray Polner, Antiwar Editor and Author, Is Dead at 91

Murray Polner, the founder and only editor of Present Tense magazine, at his office in 1980. Present Tense, which he started in 1973, was intended as a progressive counterpoint to Commentary; both magazines were published by the American Jewish Committee.CreditLarry C. Morris/The New York Times

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Murray Polner, the founder and only editor of Present Tense magazine, at his office in 1980. Present Tense, which he started in 1973, was intended as a progressive counterpoint to Commentary; both magazines were published by the American Jewish Committee.CreditCreditLarry C. Morris/The New York Times

By Sam Roberts

• June 5, 2019
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School Scope: La Guardia HS Student Sit-in Over Admissions Policy, Forest Hills HS Principal Out Plus Neoliberalism Further Defined

Published in print in The Wave - June 7, 2019


School Scope: La Guardia HS Student Sit-in Over Admissions Policy, Forest Hills HS Principal Out
By Norm Scott

A couple of well-known historic NYC high schools have been undergoing turmoil. For the past year teachers at the 82 year old Forest Hills High School, one of the few large high schools left standing in the city (famous alum: Simon and Garfunkel, Art Buchwald, Jerry Springer, Captain Kangaroo – well, Bob Keeshan) have been protesting the actions of principal Ben Sherman, with a massive vote of no confidence. There are rumors that even the Assistant Principals voted no-confidence. And the tabloid press and education blogs (like mine) have also picked up the story. Finally, on June 3, Sherman “resigned” – meaning he will be kicked upstairs to a desk job with a salary raise. So goes it in the DOE. The UFT is getting some credit for assistance to the teachers and I have all the details, including the resignation letter at: https://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2019/06/ben-sherman-out-at-fhhs.html.

At the even better known LaGuardia High School, a different kind of action has been taking place where students held a sit-in last Friday.

D-Day - June 6 - the Invasion of Norman - and possibly my conception

The invasion of Normandy on June 6 75 years ago is not only historically significant, it is also a very personal day since 48 years ago we got married on that date in 1971 - the invasion of Norman, which was the 27th anniversary of D-Day. That's a scary thought - we were married a generation away from D-Day and now we are three generations away.

We celebrated over two days with dinner at The River Cafe Wednesday evening and going to see the Temptations musical - Ain't Too Proud last night.

I wasn't alive in D-Day - I was born on March 3, 1945. But maybe in a sense I was - for those who consider there is life at conception.  I did some math last night. I was born 3 days short of 9 months after D-Day. Hmmmm. Did my parents celebrate that day and am I the outcome?

Toasting the life of our cat Penny who died suddenly of apparently a heart attack the other night at the age of 7.

Happy anniversary desserts - chocolate Brooklyn Bridge

Outside the River Cafe - I want one of these waterfalls

THE INDYPENDENT - June Issue is out

I'm doing some distribution of this progressive monthly in Rockaway and in mid-town.

You're June Indypendent is here! This month we feature an in-depth look at Tiffany Cabán, the young public defender who is following in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's footsteps, taking on the Queens political machine and looking to make the criminal justice system work for the people it serves. Reporter Libby Rainey spent months immersed in the race for Queens' next District Attorney, talking with Cabán supporters and bird-dogging the candidate herself. Read her full report in our latest issue. And check this mini-doc from filmmaker Erik Rist on Cabán, AOC and The Indypendent. Also in the new Indy, queer activists reclaim pride, Mark Zuckerberg's plans for world domination, Hudson Yards on steroids and more. — Revolt of the Outsiders: First AOC, Now Tiffany Cabán — Fighting Mass Incarceration From Within, Progressive DAs Lead The Way — The Dark Side of Sunnyside Yard — You’re Being Zucked: Why You Should Worry About Facebook’s Redesign — Yemeni Bodega Owners Are Making the NY Post Feel the Pinch

READ THE LATEST INDY ONLINE

Happy Pride Month Check out these special features from The Indy:  — No Cops, No Sponsors: 50 Years After Stonewall, Pride Goes Back to Its Roots — Gay Old Brooklyn: Hugh Ryan Takes a Look at the Borough’s Queer Past — After An Uprising: New Exhibition Highlights Queer Art Post-Stonewall — Pride and Courage In The Age of Climate Change

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The Borgs: Opposing Unity Caucus is Futile - You Will be Absorbed or Marginalized

So what is do be done? With no organizing goal with the idea of building a counter organization to Unity, what are we left with? Often flailing away and spitting against the wind. Some people love to get spittle in their faces. 

The idea of a real opposition is dead. So what next? Abandon the UFT altogether? Maybe. There are many places to do political and social justice work. Why even bother in the UFT?

There has been a paradigm shift by a number of long-time activists involved in decades of "opposition" to the UFT/Unity Caucus dominance. The state of the union has been a topic of discussion. There is general agreement that the actions of MORE had pretty much decimated hopes of challenging Unity. A faux opposition made up of ideologues with an agenda to use a quasi-caucus as a mechanism to push their ideology will never have a serious impact but will always be a block to forming coalitions.

Some hard conversations about the state of the UFT have been taking place by people I consider as rationalists - mostly on the left -- call it rational leftism. They see the real world, not some idealistic notion. People who spent decades trying to build caucuses and coalitions that could one day challenge the Unity leadership.

I include former opposition who have decided to run with Unity in order to maintain some influence even if vastly diluted. Given the state of the opposition, they felt there was little alternative and didn't want to join the ranters and ravers. I'm not in that camp but don't condemn them for the choices they made. They made a rational decision from their point of view.


Some say they have been Borged - maybe they have.

Maybe I have been Borged when the people running the union seem preferable to some of the people I know who are ostensibly opposition.

You can't sit at UFT Ex Bd meetings and hear all the wonderful things Unity people do and not enter the realm of the Stockholm Syndrome. (a condition which causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.)

I do see signs even in me when there is no alternate narrative or a group that is serious about analyzing the problems with the Unity leadership and what needs to be done to challenge them.

There are cures -

The rationalists don't connect with the lone wolves bitching and whining on blogs about how bad the union is and why they want to stop paying dues but hide behind anonymity - and use that to cover their own racial attitudes - you know, those poor white guys crying about how bad they have it.

Now don't get me wrong. None of us thought we could ever defeat Unity in an election, especially due to the election rules, the use of retirees and the control over most functional chapters. That would be pie in the sky irrationality - magical thinking.

But we did think that a highly organized group could create a serious challenge at the school levels - to replicate the success in the high schools over the past thirty years - (at least until the 2019 elections when MORE helped blow up even that base. Don't get me started.)

We always felt that we could win the middle schools if we had sources in enough schools. As for the elementary schools, an organized effort at the district level had potential. And once the division levels were won there was an argument to be made that non-teachers were in control of the UFT and that would lead to further challenges. And from 2013-2016, I actually believed there was that potential for MORE to build the kinds of coalitions that could challenge Unity deep into the schools. Stupid and naive me - it became clear that all too many MOREs had no such intention but only wanted to use the guise of a caucus to push their ideology.
 
The 2019 election outcomes proved that point and killed the idea of  imagining a change of leadership in the UFT.

You will still see people blowing  smoke and trying to sell the myth of an opposition.

Beware! They are their own version of The Borg. 

Is there a third way?

We'll explore what may still be possible in a future post --- hint: not much.

Memo from the RTC: Doubt Is A MAJOR Theatrical Experience

Memo from the RTC:  Doubt Is A MAJOR Theatrical Experience

By Norm Scott

As one of the Rockaway Theatre Company’s videographers I video opening and closing performances. I admit that I was not enamored of the subject matter of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt about a possible case of child molestation by a priest which opened last Friday and closes this Sunday. I knew the actors and was sure they would be great. But as for the play itself, I was not so sure. So I entered the theater with an attitude of doing my duty. I left a riveting hour and a half later feeling I had had one of the great theatrical experiences. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard an audience applaud at the end of every single scene.

The play itself is way more complex than I thought, with the older traditional hard-ass nun pointing to a number of instances of the oppression of women by the male church hierarchy where even the progressive young priest tries to take advantage of male privilege. And then there is the race issue where the parent of the one black child in the school scoffs at some of the automatic assumptions being made. Thus Doubt is very contemporary despite taking place in 1964, not long after JFK’s assassination.

Kudos to directors David Risley and Jodee Timpone and stars Susan Corning, Frank Caiati, Ashley Ann Jones and Billyn Tarplain. We all know the outstanding work of RTC mainstays Frank Caiati and Susan Corning as actors and directors. Ashley Ann Jones has been a major dancer at RTC musicals since “A Chorus Line” but I’d never seen her in a dramatic role. And as the young nun she was superb. And newcomer Billy Tarplain in her one scene, blew everyone away.

Last week I wrote, “Call me prejudiced but I see this cast as capable of winning Tony Awards as well as any pros - if a Tony was given for community theater (there’s an idea!)”. Well, I truly believe that every one of the four performers deserves a Tony.

Doubt is a limited run production- there are only 7 chances to see it! Reserve tickets online at www.RockawayTheatreCompany.org for best seats. May 31/ June 1, 6, 7, 8 at 8 PM and June 2, 9 at 2 PM.

The directors of the summer blockbuster musical Newsies have offered me a small role where I get to run around the stage chasing some young people. I will be lugging my own defibrillator.

Norm’s other WAVE column is School Scope and he blogs daily at ednotesonline. com

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Ben Sherman Out at FHHS

Give the UFT some level of credit for this. They will be partying tonight at the Ex Bd meeting. Hope they have beer. Hey, I didn't know Sherman is a Rangers fan. No wonder they have won much lately.

UPDATE: Queens Chronicle: https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/principal-at-fhhs-goes-up-in-smoke/article_b3f66fa1-878d-5d51-8172-341ccab825c2.html

Arthur has a post:

http://nyceducator.com/2019/06/uft-and-community-prevail-at-forest.html

Dear friends in the media:

We are happy to inform you that Principal Ben Sherman resigned as Principal of Forest Hills High School effective 2:20 pm, today.  We know that there is no way we could have accomplished this without your persistence and advocacy.  I don’t know what will be held on Thursday to replace the protest, but at this point, I don’t care.  I am hoping that we may have established a blueprint for the removal of Principals with no principles.   Hopefully, more schools will involve the media and perhaps stage “no confidence votes of their own.

Again, thanks for all you’ve done,

James C. Hogue

Jennifer G. Hogue

Forest Hills High School

Below is a copy of the resignation letter

Sent on Behalf of Mr. Sherman and Dr. Davenport

OR

Oberhaus Richard

Mon 6/3/2019 2:20 PM

• Oberhaus Richard

Dear Teachers, Administrators, and Staff,

It has been my pleasure to work with you here at the great Forest Hills High School. Together, we have built on the fine traditions of our school to support the students of our community.

When I arrived here in April 2017, I immediately considered Forest Hills my home.

I appreciate the opportunity to work with some great educators, especially my cabinet team. Collectively, we have increased our graduation rate, the number of advanced placement courses offered and passed, as well as parent and community empowerment.  We have accomplished a lot.

While I love Forest Hills very much, I must inform you with a heavy heart that I have decided to transition to another leadership role.  It has been a pleasure to work with you for the past two years and I am confident that Forest Hills will continue to grow and develop.  I encourage you to always make decisions that are in the best interest of children.  I know that you will continue to partner with one another and our elected officials and school community to support Forest Hills. 

I have been inspired every day by the great lessons in classrooms, amazing afterschool programs, and the dedication of the Forest Hills team.  I know that you will continue to demonstrate professionalism and dedication to every scholar.

Go Rangers!

Ben Sherman

Principal

Sean L. Davenport, Ed.D.

Supervising Superintendent

Office of The First Deputy Chancellor

#ChampionsForChildren

52 Chambers Street

New York, NY 10007

LaGuardia HS and the UFT: Late to the party

UPDATE - Parent Protest at LaGuardia at 2 PM, Monday June 3.

I know a number of fairly recent LaGuardia grads from my theater work and they have been telling me this stuff for years and have not been happy but had no mechanism to organize around.The LaGuardia HS alum could be a powerful force but the UFT was the only agency with the money and outreach to do it. They didn't.... LGHS Principal Lisa Mars is an apparatchik - she has that in common with most people in Unity Caucus.  

See Daily News coverage here: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-laguardia-sit-in-20190531-ijkweesh4nbbbe3zsd7rbk4swm-story.html

The UFT is too big a player to absolve itself 

The timidity of the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership is infuriating. The UFT was pretty silent when Bloomberg destroyed most of the vocational ed programs and closed down school after school. Entire shops were tossed out in the street.

The UFT leadership seemed to philosophically agree with the DOE that voc-ed was somehow racist - that academics and college were the way to go.

LaGuardia is one of the few trade schools left where skills trumped academics. That doesn't make it an easy school to manage - many of the students are flamboyant and "active." So Lisa Mars was sent in by Farina to tighten it up and raise the academic standing at the expense of the talent. This is right in line with the policies of the past 2 decades. 

School Scope: How are we going to pay for that?

The WAVE - May 31, 2019

School Scope:  How are we going to pay for that?

By Norm Scott

I hear this question raised when it comes to the progressive ideas like Medicare for all, free college tuition, a green new deal and guaranteed incomes being promoted by people like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But no one seems to ask that question when Trump just came up with a $16 billion bail-out for farmers hurt by his tariff policies or when we pay for billion dollar airplanes or disaster relief. I mean, where did the money come for Sandy relief?

I’ve been using this space to explore various views of socialism and capitalism and the areas in between, trying to define the various concepts of liberalism and what it means to be a liberal, which on the surface seems antithetic to socialism and to conservatism. But there is more complexity to 350+ year old concept of liberalism that have been associated with both trends over the centuries: classic liberalism, often associated with Adam Smith, one of the godfathers of capitalism, with calls for free markets without government interference.

Capitalism was a 17-18^th century progressive revolutionary reaction to mercantilism - the economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances, which a government should encourage by means of protectionism.

Another definition: economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. It was the economic counterpart of political absolutism. And mercantilism was considered progressive when compared to the feudalism that preceded it. (I know I’m being simplistic, but I only have 500 words.)

So does this mean Trump’s protectionist trade polices is anti-capitalistic and a return to the 17^th century? There’s a lot to more to say (but not now) about how anti-capitalistic so many policies have been, including monopolies supported by the state. Capitalism in theory moves the economic power into the hands of individuals but is often aided by the state.

What I really wanted to talk about is neo-liberalism since the 1970s, an ultra-form of market-driven capitalism with little state interference – unless it is needed. Here’s a formal definition: Neoliberalism is characterized by free market trade, deregulation of financial markets, individualisation, and the shift away from state welfare provision. Since the 1990s the term has been consistently used in academia to imply the move from welfare state to laissez faire economic management, particularly associated with the promotion of free market ideals in the late 1980s by Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the US.

Milton Friedman, a leading guide for conservatives and libertarians, was the chief American voice.

Consider neo-liberalism a counter reaction to FDR’s New Deal which rescued us from the depression and helped win WWII and served to  guide this nation to unprecedented prosperity through the late 60s. The economic impact of the Vietnam War had a lot to do with the rise of neoliberalism which also included attacks on unions and a free market that led to the devastation of American manufacturing.

The interesting rise of Bernie Sanders and AOC are a counter-reaction to neoliberalism. Note there are intersections between some of the positions of both Sanders and Trump – an estimated 30% of Bernie supporters went for Trump in 2016.

I will close by referencing neoliberalism as the embodiment of the charter school movement -  the main agent in undermining the public school system, which Friedman considered a monopoly and called for its abolishment. Bringing the free market to education is a disaster just as it was to manufacturing and it couldn’t have happened without either the active support of the government or a hands off policy when workers lost their jobs in the millions, led by both parties – i.e, Bush and Obama/Biden. Oh yeah, wars always seem to play a role.

Bernie Sanders is one of the first politicians to call for a national moratorium on charter schools. And it is no surprise that Corey Booker and other Democrats have attacked Bernie. Keep an eye on the education policy divide inside the Democratic Party.

Norm blogs at ednotesonline.com.

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