Principal Sexually Harasses Teacher - Where is CSA, UFT and DOE?

“This guy’s using the school as his own personal dating service,” said Barnett’s lawyer Jonathan Tand. “He harassed her, and when she finally had the courage to leave him, he retaliated.”... NY Daily News

In every other industry, even Congress, action is taken. Women are being believed. Not in the world of the CSA, DOE. I think that in some cases we may be going overboard and also due process counts. But at the very least this principal should be under investigation over the charges if not outright removal pending the outcome.

Not the first time this principal has been in the news or on blogs:

1. School leaders allow cheating ‘to boost the numbers ...

   nypost.com/2016/07/03/school-leaders-allow...

   At Urban Action Academy in Canarsie, an 18-year-old girl with the reading skills of a kindergartner had a passing grade of 65 on the ... Principal Steve Dorcely, ...

2. Steve Dorcely, Principal – Don't Tread on Educators

   dtoe.org/steve-dorcely-principal

   Steve Dorcely, Principal. Urban Action Academy. 1600 ROCKAWAY PARKWAY BROOKLYN NY 11236

Now comes another story that dovetails into today's news: Sexual harassment of an employees. While women are believed now - when it comes to the DOE and teachers, not so much.

Hey, we know it is alleged but given the climate of seeing so many people suspended or losing their jobs based on alleged, we do see a double standard when it comes to NYC principals. A teacher is rubber roomed based on slivers of charges.

NYC principal allegedly harassed colleague after being dumped - NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/nyc-principal-allegedly-harassed-colleague-dumped-article-1.3686750

BY Ben Chapman Larry Mcshane

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, December 9, 2017, 5:01 AM

He loved her. She loved him not. And now a spurned Brooklyn principal stands accused of harassing a colleague for two ugly years after she ended their affair.
Teacher Jordan Barnett, in an 18-page court filing, recounted the vile and vengeful antics of unrelenting Urban Action Academy Principal Steve Dorcely once she dumped him for cheating.
“Despite plaintiff’s exemplary job performance, (Dorcely) targeted and callously discriminated against her on the basis of her gender and sexually harassed her relentlessly in the workplace,” the November lawsuit charged.
The oversexed Dorcely turned alternately vindictive and creepy, propositioning Barnett at time while also accusing her of bogus disciplinary violations, the court papers charged.
Queens principal accused of 'retaliatory harassment,' suit says
In Nov. 2016, the 36-year-old Barnett recounted Dorcely sneaking up behind her as she bent over to plug her cell phone into an outlet during a meeting.
“Put your butt on me,” she recounted the grinning principal whispering in her ear.
About a month later, Barnett was talking with another colleague about a breast cancer scare that left her with painful cysts due to stress.

“That’s because no one is sucking on your (breasts),” Barnett allegedly said after overhearing their chat.

Queens principal allegedly retaliated after behavior report: suit
 
Rumors abounded about the $161,871-a-year principal sleeping with “various staff members,” and Barnett alleged that Dorcely was sexually involved with another academy staffer.

The 17-year principal, who boasts a clean disciplinary record, made another unwanted advance on Barnett during a Dec. 12, 2016, lunch at a Brooklyn burger joint.
When Barnett turned Dorcely down, the principal snapped, “You’re going to regret the decision you made. Watch, you’ll see.”
“This guy’s using the school as his own personal dating service,” said Barnett’s lawyer Jonathan Tand. “He harassed her, and when she finally had the courage to leave him, he retaliated.”
  Dorcely arranged for four investigations of Barnett in the last six months, his latest bits of payback against his ex-lover, the suit says. He embarrassed her in public, and gave Barnett unwarranted negative performance reviews.
She was “constantly targeted, ridiculed and criticized by Dorcely at every turn” during the spring 2017 semester — eventually landing Barnett in therapy, the court papers alleged.

The city Education Department declined comment on the suit, and would not say if an internal investigation was underway.
The city Law Department will review the complaint and “respond accordingly,” according to spokesman Nick Paolucci.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money, and names the city Department of Education as a co-defendant.

CSA To Principals: Go Screw Teachers and UFT on Paperwork (and pretty much anything else) While UFT Keeps Hands Off

We have been maintaining that the UFT has a basic hands off CSA members in terms of public attack while the CSA tells its members to do what they want. Read our recent Another View newsletter: Exposing Unity Caucus: Another View in the UFT - H...

James Eterno comments:

Notice there are specifics from CSA and a mostly general outline from the UFT with very few specifics.You be the judge on who is doing a better job of looking out for their membership.... James Eterno, conclusion, UFT AND CSA ON PAPERWORK

James has a must read comparing the UFT and CSA on paperwork. He opens with:

We have this article from the UFT on paperwork in the weekly Chapter Leader Update. It follows the Principal's union, the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, sending something out to their members basically telling them they can do whatever they want with paperwork....  
UFT AND CSA ON PAPERWORK

In the comments section James and Arthur debate the point:

NYC Educator said...

CSA is more specific, but that doesn't make them more accurate. I know at least some of these assertions to be false. I know none of them to be absolutely correct.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 6:34:00 AM

James Eterno said...

NYC Educator, That is the point. The principals are specific and aggressive saying they can do whatever they want, even when contractually they are wrong. The UFT fights back one school at a time. Meanwhile, where there aren't strong chapters, the abuse of our members continues. I venture to say that if there are resolutions in 300 schools (probably a generous number) and 400 other schools have enlightened principals who don't bother with this nonsense, that leaves about 1000 schools where teachers can be abused.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 8:41:00 AM

NYC Educator said...

I absolutely agree with you about schools where there aren't strong chapters. I hear stories of principals who ignore the contract with impunity utterly fairly often. It's on us to stop that, and yes I know there are multiple issues facing us on that front. I still think the UFT response is better. Some of these are gray areas, some are not, but if we're willing to file paperwork complaints, and I certainly am, we will prove the principals wrong. Nonetheless, it speaks volumes that they will outright lie like that to their members. It explains a lot.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 9:09:00 AM

James Eterno said...

The principals aren't really lying Arthur. That is their position on the contract that they can basically do whatever the hell they like. CSA is fighting hard centrally and UFT does one school at a time pushback. It is not difficult to figure out who wins that one.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 1:29:00 PM

NYC Educator said...

I understand your point. I still think they're lying. Nonetheless, I see how it works. Sorta makes you think maybe the UFT should reconsider the position of not pushing back so-called fellow union members.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 3:35:00 PM

James Eterno said...

Exactly. CSA does not seem to give a damn that we are fellow union members. It used to be a partial two way street. Not any longer in too many schools.

Sunday, December 10, 2017 4:09:00 PM

Eva Moskowitz - Return Paul Tudor Money After His Support for Harvey Weinstein

Racism and Sexism rampant in Success Academy hedge fund supporters. You already know about Dan Loeb - see below -- now we have:

Paul Tudor Jones who gave Success $600,000 - which covers Eva's salary. 

Both are allies of Campbell Brown who accused the union of protecting sexual predators in schools.

Paul Tudor Jones consoled Harvey Weinstein, said people would ...

www.businessinsider.com/paul-tudor-jones-says-its-good-news-everyone-will-forget-...

1. 
   

2 days ago - Paul Tudor Jones, a hedge fund titan, expressed his support for the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in an email shortly before Weinstein was ousted from his own company, The New York Times reported Wednesday. He said the "good news" was that everyone would forget about the ...

"I Love You; Focus On The Future": Paul Tudor Jones Humiliated After ...

www.zerohedge.com/.../i-love-you-focus-future-paul-tudor-jones-defensive-after-wei...

1. 
   

2 days ago - Late last night the New York Times published a comprehensive article delving into the powerful support network of Harvey Weinstein, a network on which he apparently relied to help cover up decades of sexual assaults. Among the allies discussed in the article was none other than legendary hedge fund ...

Paul Tudor Jones Told Weinstein That Sex Allegations Would Blow ...

https://www.bloomberg.com/.../paul-tudor-jones-told-weinstein-sex-allegations-would...

1. 
   

2 days ago - Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones can't seem to get things right these days. The billionaire is losing money this year at his macro firm and investors are fleeing. Now it's come to light that Jones gave support to Harvey Weinstein as sexual harassment allegations engulfed the movie mogul. Jones also ...

Paul Tudor Jones Inexplicably Wrote An Email To Ensure That History ...

https://dealbreaker.com/.../paul-tudor-jones-inexplicably-wrote-an-email-to-ensure-th...

1. 
   

Paul Tudor Jones Inexplicably Wrote An Email To Ensure That History Will Remember Him As Harvey Weinstein's Most Ardent Enabler. By Thornton McEnery · 2 Comments / Dec 6, 2017 at 12:05 PM. 1Shares. We've been wondering when a bold-faced Wall Street name would implicate himself in this culturally shattering ...

Hedge-Fund Titan Paul Tudor Jones on the Defensive Over Ties to ...

https://www.wsj.com/.../hedge-fund-titan-paul-tudor-jones-on-the-defensive-over-ties-to...

2 days ago - Hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones took the unusual step of explaining his relationship with Harvey Weinstein, after a report indicated that Mr. Jones supported the disgraced Hollywood mogul as sexual harassment allegations unfolded earlier this year. In a letter to employees Wednesday, Mr. Jones ...

The Dan Loeb file:

City & State - Dan Loeb and the political price of racism

cityandstateny.com/articles/opinion/dan-loeb-and-the-political-price-of-racism.html

1. 
   

Aug 15, 2017 - The events in Charlottesville came on the heels of Dan Loeb, a politically powerful hedge fund manager, comparing state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the highest ranking black woman elected official in New York, to the KKK. In a Facebook rant, Loeb said she has done "more damage to people of color ...

De Blasio urges charter school head to resign over racist post - NY ...

www.nydailynews.com/.../jeff-klein-dissociates-cuomo-donor-racist-comments-article-1....

Aug 11, 2017 - Mayor de Blasio Friday called on Dan Loeb to resign as chairman of the Success Academy charter school board after the politically-connected hedge fund manager posted racistcomments about the Democratic leader of the state Senate. "Dan Loeb's comments are an affront to all people of color," de ...

Protesters outside charter school call for Dan Loeb's resignation - NY ...

www.nydailynews.com/.../protesters-charter-school-call-dan-loeb-resignation-article-1.3...

Aug 18, 2017 - Protesters stormed Success Academy Harlem 1 charter school on Friday demanding that charter school chairman Daniel Loeb be fired for making racist comments about a black lawmaker. About two dozen progressives and activists gathered outside the W. 118th Street school – where class was still in ...

Cuomo donor makes racist comments about Senate Minority Leader ...

www.nydailynews.com/.../cuomo-donor-racist-comments-senate-minority-leader-article-...

Aug 11, 2017 - Cuomo made racist remarks on Facebook about Senate Democratic Minority Leader, according to a report Thursday. Responding to a New York Times story, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb wrote that Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins has done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever ...

In emails, Dan Loeb scolded top black de Blasio official over City ...

https://www.politico.com/.../in-emails-dan-loeb-scolded-de-blasios-top-black-official-...

1. 
   

Nov 21, 2017 - In emails, Dan Loeb scolded top black de Blasio official over City Hall's treatment of black children. By ELIZA SHAPIRO ... Loeb, long known as a particularly capricious hedge fund manager, has been called a racist by some after he claimed in August that Democratic state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins had ...

The Next UFT Contract Tied to Janus Decision: Why Do You Need a Union if it doesn't negotiate?

James Eterno points out (ICEUFT Blog
UPDATES AND PREDICTION ON NEXT ROUND OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING) that the basics of the next contract will follow a pattern possibly set by another union - DC37. Other than salary there won't be much else negotiated, other than paid parental leave in exchange for a slice of the raise.

Nothing else. So when we hear the line about "free loaders" who won't pay for their share of the costs to a union for negotiating a contract, I can understand people pointing to how little was negotiated, including salary.

So what will the Committee of 300 have to do? At the very least I hope they serve decent cookies.

Exposing Unity Caucus: Another View in the UFT - Holding UFT/Leadership's Feet to the Fire

"I never read many of these things given out here but once I started reading this I couldn't stop. I agree completely agree and it explains so much. I feel so isolated."... Chapter leader leaving the Dec. 6 delegate assembly.

We (Arthur, Mike, James and I) put out our 2nd edition of Another View in the UFT, our delegate assembly newsletter. And this one focused on the transgressions of our union leadership and Unity Caucus, using excerpts from our blogs.

Our goal: Holding their feet to the fire. While we are all members of MORE, we have not been satisfied with the literature coming out of MORE which barely mentions Unity or is critical of the union leadership. A major role of an opposition is to expose the people running the union or else why be an opposition? (More on this thesis in the future.) The comment made to me after the DA by the woman is indicative that many people have little idea of Unity as a controlling force for over half a century.

See Arthur's blog on Monday's Ex Bd meeting:

UFT Executive Board Takeaway December 4th, 2017

-->
If you want a pdf to share with your colleagues email me at normsco@gmail.com.
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The articles:

• Contract Demands Behind Closed Door
• By Arthur Goldstein, CL Francis Lewis HS, UFT Ex Bd. ---nyceducator.com 
•  
• NYCEducator: http://nyceducator.com/2017/11/trust-in-allah-but-tie-your-camel.html

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UFT Leaders/Unity Caucus to Members: You are held accountable – principals and district and special reps – not so much. Should our union protect principals because they are in another union (CSA

By Norm Scott, ICE, MORE/UFT – ednotesonline.com

 

How Unity Caucus control of the DA is undemocratic 

By Mike Schirtzer, Delegate Leon Goldstein HS, UFT Ex Bd, MORE/UF

Video Teaser: Superintendent John Kuhn

From Michael Elliot:

On Saturday Dec 9 it’s time to release John Kuhn’s video from our shoot last April. We need you all to Watch, Like, Share and Tag again.

This morning we posted a teaser for John on both NPE Facebook page and Shoot4education…  Please watch and share that if you get a chance.   

With so much bad news, we’ve nothing left to do but fight as hard if not harder than ever.  John’s piece packs quite a wallop and is one of my favorites.  

School Scope: How Do You Spell “Success”? – Part 1

Submitted to The WAVE for publication Dec. 9, 2017

School Scope:  How Do You Spell “Success”? – Part 1

By Norm Scott

The current issue of The New Yorker is running a story by Rebecca Meade, Success Academy’s Radical Educational Experiment: Inside Eva Moskowitz’s quest to combine rigid discipline with a progressive curriculum. Good luck with that – the very idea of child-centered progressive education is incompatible with rigid discipline. The schools, forty six so far in NYC with a goal of one hundred, run by Moskowitz, have been controversial on a number of grounds. Educators have long been suspect of the test outcomes, which far surpass not only public schools but also all other charters and even match results in the high performing suburbs. That has caused more than a little skepticism, especially since Moskowitz claims the kids in her schools come from the same pool as the public schools. In essence, the Success lobby is claiming they are miracle workers and their demands for space in public schools keeps increasing even when so many of the 1800 public schools are also competing for space.

Educational professionals who worked with populations of students similar to those being claimed by Success have been skeptical. As someone who taught elementary school (grades 4-6) in schools with many struggling non-white children and who also holds a Masters in reading instruction, I am a skeptic, especially since I spent years trying to figure out how to break through with kids with reading issues. There are no miracles, though once in a while I saw a child make a major breakthrough.

One of the major problems for struggling readers is language – even kids born here who hear another language at home. A second issue is whether there are opportunities to read at home or have parents who focus on reading with their children. Even immigrant families whose children read in their native language can make major progress fairly quickly. Generally, the level of income and the amount of economic struggles have a direct impact on the entire process. If one were to go through any school and match reading ability with income in the home, even in the working poor, there would be a strong correlation.

I taught in a system where classes were made up of kids grouped by reading scores. Thus the so-called top class had the best readers and so on down the line. The bottom class students were the hardest to teach reading too. The UFT contract allows teachers to rotate from the top classes to the lower level readers and back every year, though in my schools, principals save the top classes for their favorites and sometimes we had to file a grievance. I did this for almost twenty years, so I had a good feel for the differences between the kids, who all pretty much lived in the projects across the street. The two times I had the very top class, I was astounded at their general on grade reading ability and also the fact that there were many less discipline issues. Now these were not wealthy people – many were on welfare or had low paying jobs. And there were a lot more two parent homes in the top class than in the bottom. Most of them had been in our school since pre-k (and we found that kids who went to pre-k did better than those who didn’t – shout out to de Blasio). Many of the students entered pre-k with some reading readiness.

Now I would bet that in Success schools we would find a heavy concentration of the same kinds of students that were in our old top classes. And those who do get into the lottery who are struggling with academics or discipline face high suspension rates and attempts to push them out, a standard operating procedure at most charters.

How can we tell? Of the 72 students who began at the first Success school in kindergarten, only 17 were left to graduate high school. What happened to the other 55 students?

There are no miracles. More next time.

(Link to New Yorker article: https://tinyurl.com/yabebvqx)

Norm  does manage to perform miracles every day at ednotesonline.com.

BAT/MORE's Jake Jaobs: Money Talked: Little Known Leaks From 2014 Show Input of Wealthy Privatizers on Hillary Clinton's Education Policy | Alternet

A leaked policy book captures the influence of billionaire donors looking to overhaul and privatize public education.

In previous speeches, Clinton campaign manager John Podesta indicated that recruiting and grooming younger, more compliant teachers was the plan to overcome resistance to corporate education reform over the long term..... The revolving door was also in full swing, with top Clinton and Obama administration officials working for “non-profits” run by Powell Jobs and Tom Steyer. In the end, the influence of the various well-connected “experts” advising Clinton could be felt in an official education platform that endorsed a test-centric approach that was increasingly unpopular with parents, students and educators, and  out of favor with voters.  .... Jake Jacobs -

While the role of the union was not the purview of this article, I find it interesting how so many are willing to let Randi and the entire UFT/Unity operation off the hook when we talk about the Democratic Party complicity. You can't talk about how the Dems and Clintons screwed unions and teachers without talking about how our own  union has been a handmaiden to ed deform. I think it needs a part 2.

But still great work by Jake Jacobs posted by Michael Fiorillo who says: While it’s a given that Trump is beyond awful, this should serve as a little reminder about how Hillary would have screwed educators.

That the article doesn't address Randi/AFT/UFT complicity with the Clintons ed policy -- well, forever, is bothersome - see my post (How Education Reform Ate the Democratic Party - Cl...) and gives Randi some cover when it mentions her pushing community schools with Hillary. Note that the BATS seemed to have some kind of working relationship with Randi at the 2016 AFT convention in Minneapolis so stepping on her toes may be off the agenda.

Despite all this it is a must read article.

https://www.alternet.org/money-talked-leaks-show-input-wealthy-privatizers-clinton-education-policy

Money Talked: Little Known Leaks From 2014 Show Input of Wealthy Privatizers on Hillary Clinton's Education Policy | Alternet

By Jake Jacobs / AlterNet

 

December 2, 2017, 8:32 AM GMT 

A rare peek into the evolution of Hillary Clinton’s education platform is afforded through an overlooked Wikileaks-published document. Entitled “Policy Book— FINAL,” the PDF file was attached to an email sent to Clinton’s future campaign chair, John Podesta. The education portion of the document runs 66 pages, mostly concentrated on K-12 policy, and captures specific input from billionaire donors looking to overhaul and privatize public education.

Vera Shlakman, Professor Fired During Red Scare, Dies at 108 - The New York Times

Pressed about whether being a Communist would close a teacher’s mind to any deviation from the party line, she replied that similar speculations had been raised against devout Roman Catholics.....

Well, Vera Shlakman, born in 1909, a year later than that bastard Joe McCarthy, outlasted him by 60 years. Of course I imagine Al Shanker was on the sidelines cheering when she was fired.

I knew and know lots of red diaper babies -- the children of parents who were in the Communist Party USA, which had widespread influence in the 30s, especially in civil rights and the fight for unions. I think they were done in by their rigid adherence to the Stalinist line, even when he made a deal with Hitler in 1939.

I don't think the militant union movements in this country could have been built without the work of the CP.  But then came the purge that left the unions in control of the kind of people who have led us to where we are today. 

I'm very ambivalent about these kinds of political parties on the left (probably some on the right but I don't follow that end of the spectrum.) When I first got involved around 1970, the leading opposition group in the UFT at the time was a known as a CP outpost of teachers who were part of the old Teachers Union (TU), a bunch of whom had been fired around 1954.  I learned from some mentors on the left that once a party line was set by the leadership -- not always obvious -- there was no way to deflect them from that line even if it became obvious that they were going in the wrong direction. But more on this topic, which needs to be explored more in depth, another time. Celebrate the life of Vera Shlakman. 108 is nothing to sneeze at. I only have 35 years to go.

Janesville: An American [Horror] Story

I added the word HORROR to the title because that is how I read the book -- like a sad horror story.

If you want to understand the Trump victory an even better story than the one told by J.D. Vance has been written by Amy Goldstein: a classic story chronicling the story of Paul Ryan's hometown, Janesville, WI and the impact of the closing of the GM plant from the initial announcement in 2008 and the chain reaction to other plants and businesses through 2013. Along with that story is the attack on unions and their deterioration from a vital part of the community to total ineffectiveness. (Mulgrew said at the last Ex Bd meeting he was bringing in a union leader from Wisconsin to speak about that devastation and how they responded.

Why UFT Leaders Won't Hold Abusive Principals Publicly Accountable?

Norm Scott to UFT Ex Bd at open mic: Let’s see everyone who works for the UFT be held as accountable as teachers are.

Howie Schoor responds: we are accountable every three years when UFT members vote in elections.

Norm (responding from seat): Janus will change your accountability equation.

Let me put aside the issue of accountability for people who work for the UFT who tell people under assault they are lucky to have a job for another time. Leroy Barr will be sure to get up at an Ex Bd meeting and defend anyone who works for the UFT even if they attack UFT members who demand they stand up for their rights.

Some people don't get why the UFT leadership won't hold abusive principals publicly accountable - echoing our president, even if they kill someone in 5th Avenue.

You see, in the UFT leadership bubble they won't do anything unless teachers in the school act first -- the classic Catch 22. They don't get why it is hard to stand up when you face daily observations in retaliation. Hmmmm- maybe I can come in and observe district reps and write them up.

I pointed out numerous times that last year's big successes at CPE1 and Townsend Harris was about parents and students acting and then the UFT seeing which way the wind was blowing caught on to the wave.

We've heard our union leaders openly say teachers need to be accountable. And teachers are held up to public scrutiny all the time while only Sue Edelman in the NY Post tries to hold principals accountable. The UFT leadership people are pretty silent about holding principals to the same accountability in a public forum.

The UFT/Unity lame excuse that principals are in another union - the CSA - does not hold water. Like give them free reign to abuse UFT members but we will honor some feudal pledge of union solidarity and protect them by not publicizing their transgressions?

I spoke at the open mic on this issue preceding the Nov. 6 UFT Ex Bd meeting, as reported by Arthur - see below -
and touched on many of these points.

Arthur's report is fairly accurate, considering I said a lot of stuff in the 5-7 minutes I spoke. I raised the CSA excuse as being lame and pointed out that 20 years ago I made a reso at the DA to remove tenure from principals because why help strengthen the very people who are often major obstacles on so many levels - the very reason we need tenure is to protect us from them? I pointed out then how few truly competent principals there when it came to being an educational leader with many being ego-driven and seeing any teachers attempting some autonomy or independent thought as a threat. I got a big laugh when I said - these were the competent ones. Of course Unity voted down my reso overwhelmingly.

Sandy Feldman was in her final months as UFT president (she was also president of the AFT since Shanker died the year before) and as the meeting ended she came up the aisle laughing and shook my hand. "I agreed with everything you said but we can't do anything because the CSA is another union." It was the first time in my 25 years in the union she spoke to me -- and I thought her feelings came through about boss and worker -- though how the boss can be considered an equivalent union member is beyond me.

Now, there was a brief period where there were some principal from hell pieces in the NY Teacher but I bet the CSA lobbied the UFT to end that practice.

But what has changed in 20 years? It's worse than ever since Bloomberg turned the Jack Welch leadership academy dogs loose on UFT members while our leaders have sat on their hands. 

What I urge the UFT to do is read the CSA - which went beyond the call in defending the awful Monika Garg,

Rosemarie Jahoda and Kathleen Elvin -- the riot act.

Here is Arthur's Nov. 7 report of my speech at the EB meeting:

ATR Karen Sklaire Benefit Show for Puerto Rico School

I posted Karen Skaire's remarkable statement to the UFT Ex Bd: ATRs to UFT - It is About Dignity, Don't Tell Us We Are Lucky to Have a Job.

I saw Karen Sklaire's one woman show on her experience teaching at the Fringe a few years and hope to make one of these fundraising shows for a school in Puerto Rico devastated by the hurricane next Monday or  Tuesday. I posted Karen's dramatic statement on being an ATR at a recent UFT Ex Bd meeting.

ATRs to UFT - It is About Dignity, Don't Tell Us We Are Lucky to Have a Job

From Our Island To Yours: A Benefit for La Escuela Jaime In P.R. is a benefit we are doing for this school in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Right now this Puerto Rican school is out of power and communication is very difficult. This is why we are doing this benefit to raise money for this school, these kids and this community.

They need:
-Air conditioners so we can get the school up and running
- A generator
- uniforms for the kids
- supplies for the students so they can start school again!

Come out on December 4th and 5th and 100% of your money to go towards rebuilding this school.

Tuesday December 5th Ripple of Hope: One Teacher's Journey to Make an Impact..by Karen Sklaire 7pm

Tickets are at:https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3177667
$25 DONATION!!!

Come see two award winning performances directed by award winning director Padraic Lillis

Take a break from Holiday chaos and make a difference! #givingTuesday

If by chance you cannot make it- please make a donation to the same site!( but we REALLY would love you to be there!)
Can't wait to see you!
Make a difference for these children and these teachers!!!

School Scope: A New Chancellor, the PEP, NY as Right to Work

I'm going to the PEP tonight with some other MOREs. While Janus is viewed as a major threat to the existence of the union, as great a threat is from the closing of schools, along with abusive principals, rising class sizes, charters squeezing us for space, and all the other issues causing dissatisfaction among UFT members – so much of this without an adequate response from the UFT – because teachers in these schools will not be all so willing to pay dues to a union they feel has abandoned them. ( I would bet that no one from the UFT will be at the PEP to argue their cases.)

--> To be published Dec. 2, 2017 - www.rockawave.com

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School Scope:  A New Chancellor, the PEP, NY as Right to Work

By Norm Scott

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Fariña to leave post? Is Cashin in the Running?

Carmen Fariña, who is apparently increasingly unpopular amongst the glitterati at the NYC Department of Education, is most likely leaving as Chancellor of the NYC schools and rumors are surfacing that our former local Superintendent Kathy Cashin, now a member of the state Board of Regents, may be in the running to replace her. While I believe de Blasio will choose a younger person of color to run the schools because with a school system that is about 80% non white, it would be easier to implement unpopular policies like closing schools. But Cashin, who has friends and foes, is an interesting option. I was a foe at one point because of her authoritarian and rigid educational policies that emphasized testing. And she put in too many awful principals under her watch – though I know and like some of her appointees. After she left the system she seemed to have a turn about in her views on testing, became a Regent and has joined with another former Superintendent Betty Rosa in pushing for more real, instead of the usual phony reforms. For us education wonks, this story is red meat. One demand I have for the next chancellor: no accent in their name so I don’t have to figure out how to type it.

Attending Panel for Educational Policy (PEP - the city-wide board of education) meetings

As I said above, I am an ed policy wonk – I know, I need to get a life – and later I am heading to Long Island City High School campus for the monthly meeting.

I’m going with a group from the MORE/UFT Caucus to raise issues around the potential closing of some schools which is suspect as just being a way to give more space to charter schools, in particular to Eva Moskowitz’ rapacious Success Charter chain. Actually, de Blasio should make Eva Chancellor of the 1800 NYC public schools, though the city would have to double to quarter million dollar a year salary to meet Eva’s current salary of over half a million for running 40 schools. Her goal is to control a hundred schools so there is a lot of space she will need, even though this is the richest charter in the nation and refuses to use any of that money to rent space.

Her goal is to ultimately push the public school(s) out of the building so she can take total control. In the long run an aspect of the charter school chains is about taking over real estate.  As the public school systems contract and head toward extinction, the buildings can be had for a song by the charters. Then come the sale of air rights and condo charter heaven.

This may be one of Fariña’s final appearances. I was at the final appearance of Joel Klein (when, in his relief at not having to be attacked by me, called me up to the stage to give me a goodbye hug) and Dennis Walcott – who shamelessly runs our entire Queens Library system which his old boss Bloomberg gutted in his dozen years as mayor. I started out liking Fariña, mainly because a good friend has had positive experiences with her, but over the years came to find her no better than Klein or Walcott and in some ways worse as she continued to defend some of the worst principals in the system. Her advice on how to get rid of teachers principals don’t like using any means necessary is being followed by all too many. Now if a teacher is awful, that is one thing. But there are all too many political vendettas by principals so the entire process becomes tainted.

Janus court case to turn nation into right to work

An upcoming Supreme Court case will next year, with Neal Gorsuch on the Court, will rule that union members don’t have to pay agency fee union dues, which will decimate public service unions, with the massive UFT expecting to take a major hit with an estimated 20-30% of UFT members not paying dues. The leadership is already cutting back. Those of us attending the bi-monthly Executive Board meetings have seen that in the paucity of macadamia nut cookies.

While the Janus case has galvanized the UFT and my own MORE caucus to action in trying to keep people on board, my concern it what will motivate people to keep paying if they perceive the UFT is not adequately advocating on their behalf?  While Janus is viewed as a major threat to the existence of the union, as great a threat is the closing of schools, along with abusive principals, rising class sizes, charters squeezing us for space, and all the other issues causing dissatisfaction among UFT members – so much of this without an adequate response from the UFT – because teachers in these schools will not be all so willing to pay dues to a union they feel has abandoned them. As a critic of the UFT leadership I still believe that a union is better for society than not having unions at all. I’m reading a book called “Janesville” by Amy Goldstein about the destruction of unions in Wisconsin and how that destruction caused so much dislocation as people slipped out of the middle class when the GM plant closed and the Auto Workers union was decimated. This is a must read horror story that tells us so much of why we are where we are today politically.

Norm pays his dues daily at ednotesonline.com.