DA Takeaway October 2016

Mulgrew said, "Welcome to the nuthouse," by way of introduction. I'm not sure just how funny I find that. It's a tough job to represent people, but it's also a serious one. He could be right, but on the other hand maybe the craziest thing to do is go out and teach children. There's just tremendous pressure from all directions, and the folks who govern seem intent on making it worse.

Mulgrew, as I recall, boasted of having a part in writing the original APPR law. I cannot stress how much stress that caused teachers citywide. So when he paints a win/ win face on the matrix thing, that's hard to take too. If you're rated well on school observation, you're OK. If you're rated well on junk science, be it tests or growth, you're OK. Mulgrew has not yet demonstrated to me, or anyone who hasn't signed a loyalty oath, that this growth thing is valid in any respect. People I respect have told me this has been studied even less than test-based junk science and that there's no reason to believe it works.

Of course what Mulgrew did not say is that if you're rated poorly on both axes you're screwed. That is the case now, of course. But two things have not changed:

1. Junk science is kind of a crapshoot. Depending on what school you're in, which kids you get, and how they feel or act any given day, who knows what will happen?

2. A lot of administrators, even in relatively good schools, are out of their frigging minds. They fail to see things that happen, see things that don't, and are largely governed by the voices in their heads.

A lot of teachers feel like moving targets, flying around and hoping not to be randomly shot. This is not the best atmosphere from which to educate children. The immense pressure on teachers helps no one. And the direction we're moving, to wit, experimenting with new unproven methods and hoping for the best, is not likely to help children, teachers, or anyone not gainfully employed in making up new rubrics, materials, or continued justification for a highly compensated seat over at Tweed.

Mulgrew talked a lot of trash about Reformy John King, and Lord knows he merited each and every word. He was horrific in New York, is just as bad in DC, and he's a fanatical ideologue. Logic has no place in his mindset, and that's less than ideal in a prominent educator. Nonetheless, it's hard for me to forget that Mulgrew thought giving him the final say on teacher evaluation would be a fabulous idea. Like many teachers, I did not share that enthusiasm.

Mulgrew thanked us for the progress we made on social media. I continue to be amazed by a leader who advocates for social media, asks that we get on Twitter and use hashtags for this and that, and yet does not use it himself. He also made a remark about how we should see his email. I, for one, wondered aloud whether he saw his email, and the chapter leader next to me said he never answers it. I wasn't surprised because he never answers mine either. 

A resolution came out on blue paper with the Unity logo on back. I recall last year that some Unity folk complained when a MORE logo appeared on a resolution. Evidently, it's not against the rules. Nonetheless, in a hall full of people with trips, jobs, and potential trips and jobs, anything with the Unity logo is something they absolutely positively have to vote for.

Now this motion was for an additional year of mentoring. I'd probably have voted for it if I had time to read it, but some guy stuck it in my hands and then it was voted on. The Unity logo was enough for a whole lot of people in the crowd. They didn't need to read it, and it was a good thing because they didn't have time either.

Things were quite different at the Executive Board on Monday when an passionate David Garcia Rosen got up and spoke eloquently about the importance of the Netflix documentary 13th. People hadn't seen it, they said, so how could they vote on it? I actually thought that was a good point until two days later when I was asked to vote on a one-page resolution I didn't have time to read (and I'm a pretty fast reader). If that's not a double standard, I don't know what is.

By the way, if you haven't seen 13th, I highly recommend it. It's both excellent and disturbing. Hopefully some of those folks at Executive Board will find time to see it and come to their senses. Regardless, you will never forget it.

UFT Delegate Assembly October19, 2016

Mulgrew welcomes us. 4:30

Recognizes new CLs and Delegates “Welcome to the nut house.”

President’s Report

National—Presidential election

Mulgrew digresses, goes back to delegates, talking about Robert’s Rules and voting rules. “Out of order does not mean I’m a mean person.” Says we take positions, make endorsements based on best interests of profession and unionized workers. Says this one was easy because one person wants to get rid of us, convert Title One to voucher program.

Has been in Nevada, FL, working with retirees. Says it is ugly in battleground states. Says you feel it more there, people yell at each other based on what paraphernalia they wear. Says we have many volunteers. Hillary will win NYS, never in doubt. We’ve done a lot of work in Nevada, PA, improving. FL toss up.

Says on November 9th country will be divided. Praises volunteers for Hillary. NYSUT sending buses to Cleveland and NH. We are going into many different states and phone banking across the country. Praises those who do social media volunteering. Says much better than last time.

Says we won gerrymandering case in FL. Congressional seats in Nevada we are working on. Says all candidates say they love teachers.

NAACP in news, was attacked when years ago joined us in anti-charter lawsuit. Just passed resolution calling for moratorium on new charters—under pressure from small number of very powerful individuals. Resolution passed. UFT’s Anthony Harmon went in capacity as local NAACP president, and pushed it. Construction workers supported us, as there’s a lot of non-union work.

Charters targeting NY State, among others, to lift cap or double numbers. Says that’s why we ran TV spot. Other big state is MA, where there is a ballot referendum. NY will push via legislature. For NAACP and BLM to oppose is not good for charter lobby. MA 12 points down right now and we have to win here too.

Eva Moskowitz had party in park rather than walking over bridge. They had a small targeted TV drive.

State

Standards review started at state level. Did anyone read the whole thing? No? We have a committee looking at it. ELL committee very strong, could use more special ed. Mulgrew says we don’t want to tweak standards but rather have new ones. We want separate standards for ESL and special ed. teachers. They did nothing. So Mulgrew unhappy, wants more teacher input. Says commissioner called him upset, said they didn’t have time for ELL standards.

Federal law called ESSA wants states to do comments and application process. Date moved from March to July. Appears many people on both sides angry with John King. Feel he went way too far and became prescriptive. Mulgrew makes fun of that, as he’s done it before. Waits on changes in Washington to redo process. Feds may not force states to use test scores for teacher evaluation.



NYC has lived longer with this than anyone. Bloomberg closed schools, created system to close more. Says we want to use growth rather than proficiency, as students often come in below grade level. Says teachers should be credited for actual growth rather than proficiency, because we’ve done that before.

Chicago and Buffalo have reached tentative contract agreements. Contracts should be taken in context of whether municipality has money. In Chi, pension plan underfunded since government doesn’t pay, like NJ. Christie never mentions it’s because his state hasn’t paid in 18 years. Our state has constitutional provisions to ensure payment but Buffalo schools have shrunk. When system is broke unions have to deal. Says UFT stopped city from going under in 70s.

City

Mulgrew thanks Mindy Rosier for walking to Albany on behalf of CFE, gives her pink roses.

Watching school funding, want APPR moratorium.

Says you will hear about constitutional convention, which will threaten pensions. Says there is always a curve ball somewhere every year. Says Governor has been in NYC schools to celebrate great teachers. Mulgrew tells story about Cuomo losing the attention of elementary students.

ELL conference completely booked and oversubscribed. Room for 700-1200 coming. Says we got tired of waiting for DOE. Thanks Evelyn de Jesus.

We are equal or greater than state in terms of student performance. They don’t have as many children of need as we do. Big challenge is number of ELLs and number of languages.  Mulgrew says we can’t make them literate in native tongue before we bring them in, we don’t know their ed. background or literacy level. Says we are trying to deal with challenge.

Thanks Servia Silva DR from district 4, for organizing UFT breast cancer march.

CTLE—professional hours. No answer or guidance from DOE. We know to register in birth month. If you miss it, you aren’t penalized and may still register. Mulgrew frustrated with DOE and NYSED. They say they don’t have the capacity and still have to figure out. UFT teacher center is certified vendor in this program. DOE is not. Teacher center can give certificate. Only thing he knows at this moment. Waiting for further clarification.

Teacher eval. APPR—If it’s done correctly, it’s a good thing. Delegates do not see that happening. No agreement as of yet. Told DOE we will not agree unless we have multiple measures of non-standardized tests, but rather authentic student learning.

No final number on last year’s evaluation. Bloomberg 1800-2000, 697 (?) last two years. Says we are holding their feet to fire with 13% clause. If we don’t agree by end of year, NYC will lose 540 million from state. Mulgrew says we are close to agreement. Failure to agree with Bloomberg cost city 260 million. We are close, but we’ve been close before. You will hear about it from me. We need correct info because principals imagine weird scenarios.

Says we have to debunk myths about matrix. People say it must be 50%. Mulgrew says if student learning is good, principal says you are bad, you are OK. If principals says good and students learning is bad, you are good. Enemies ask how that can be and we say we want a fair system.

We’ve gotten better at measuring growth, but we haven’t got that perfected. Says this is, therefore. fair system. Papers will call it rigged, but it’s fair. Says in other states, they have no teachers. You could travel there and get a job. Some districts don’t even have subs, and recruit parents. This is what happens when you get rid of the teachers.

Curriculum and paperwork—1000 schools answered. To move to next level, every teacher must have curriculum, which we haven’t had since scope and sequence books, decades ago. Says we should use one for museum exhibit. We want real curriculum. 350 of 1000 have curriculum problems. Must contain scope and sequence, a curriculum map. 70 have big problems.

Number one issue with members is paperwork. It’s in contract and not being implemented. You may file a complaint online. About making member workplace better. Once complaint is filed, it remains open until resolved. Chapter leader and principal have to resolve issue. CL must attempt to resolve it. If not resolved, it goes to district paperwork committee. Principals always say CLs didn’t speak to them, but resolve when complaints go to district or central. Calls it big win for CLs.

YUBEE—classroom supplies will give any teacher 25% off. Important teachers use money. Says it’s embarrassing how much money was spent there. We don’t normally push vendors.

Ends 5:17

Staff Director’s Report

Leroy Barr—celebrating those CLs and delegates with 100% attendance. Speaks of  parent conferences in each borough. Teacher Union Day November 6th. Commemorates first strike of UFT November 7th.

Thanksgiving winter clothing drive, want new items for children. Nov. 9th next DA.

Mulgrew—day after election? Hope we’re rejoicing.

Questions—15 minutes, says Mulgrew

Dan Lupkin, CL—In 2014 we passed resolution to boycott Staples, but UFT spent 170K at Staples.

Mulgrew—Says he got out of any contracts he could with small penalty, but has asked ADCOM and will get back next month.

CL—Gets phone calls and mail from insurance salesman who claims to have ties with DOE and UFT, and that he must allow them to meetings. Are they UFT?

Mulgrew—No. Say no.

CL—In many schools, children have problems and paras are being taken to sit with problem kids in cafeteria. If it’s not in IEP they don’t have to, but it’s safety issue. How do we deal”

Mulgrew—DOE and UFT sent out language, should not happen. If child has on IEP that they must be covered, para must still get lunch. Paras are not lunchroom monitors.

CL—Many schools no longer have SAVE rooms or deans. Please help. What advice can we give members?

Mulgrew—Make it official atsafety meeting, send to Jeff Povilitis. We have regulation not being followed. Who wants to suspend small child? Parent of child hit with a chair. SAVE room is something we need to push. Not just room but program to deal with children in crisis.

CL—Sometimes functionals don’t feel like part of our chapter. How do we fix?

Mulgrew—Talk to them. I taught problem kids in basement. Only other people there were functionals. Put them on consultation committee. Have a union meeting just for functionals. Important piece and we need to do better job.

Marjorie Stamberg—We know that Trump is racist pig. We know that Hillary is beholden to Wall St. and that they are responsible for starvation wages in Haiti. Is there a way that we can have discussion and debate on a workers’ party in US?

Mulgrew—We have diverse political views which I love. You should see the emails I get. I appreciate the respect we have for diverse views. In here we go from ultra left to ultra right. If someone wants to bring a resolution we form a workers’ party it’s up to this delegation, not me.

CL—Now that schools have gone digital, what do members do about excessive email during school hours and weekends? How does that mesh with paperwork?

Mulgrew—electronic is paperwork.

CL—Up until this year I had good relationship with my principal but this year he seems psychotic. Doesn’t want to collaborate. Report cards due Tuesday while MP ends Friday. How can we get her back on track?

Mulgrew—If you had good relationship in past, use consultation committee first. If there was a 180, something has changed. Talk to DR and we will follow up.

Jim Myer—update on maternity leave? For resolutions, instead of paper, could we post or email it so people can read it, instead of wasting paper?
Mulgrew—I want everything electronic. We have to move there. Maternity leave—issue is when you’re out, sub costs less than you do. City wants plan that follows pattern bargaining. We are doing better on cost. They’d previously wanted to make money on it. They are now calling it “child acquisition program.” UFT doesn’t like word. They are at better place with cost, but don’t yet have mechanism. City has been better recently.

Motions—5:38—Ten minutes, says Mulgrew

Marjorie Stamberg—motion for this month, needs 2/3 vote to get on agenda.

Point of order—Has it been presented in writing to delegates?

Mulgrew—If three lines or less, you may say. If more, must be copied.

MS—three sentences.

Mulgrew—She will read and I will call for vote.

MS—UFT should not support either candidate of capitalism. Trump racist, Hillary beholden. We need a workers’ party. Seconded.

Voted down.

Mulgrew—Good Marjorie. Twice you got to say those things. That’s nice.

Delegate—motion for this month, for new teacher induction committees. passes out. Motion backed by Unity Caucus lit pushing Hillary. Asks for additional year of mentoring. I don’t have time to read it, but motion carries.

Resolutions

Janella Hinds—Career and tech ed. Cumbersome and convoluted to approve. Wants to improve process.

Speaker says do it because of BOCES.

Passes

Rich Mantel—Talks about arts resolution. We must expose our students to as much of the arts as possible. DOE focuses on test prep, reading and math, Want arts in every school.

Passes unanimously.

VP Goldman—Salutes and recognizes founders of first strike. Showed courage and laid foundation for collective bargaining in NYC. We must know it began with their courage and commitment, moving forward with illegal strike, unheard of. Asks that we salute them. Much applause.

Dave Pecoraro—calls question.
Speaker against motion—Delegate—speaks to previous speaker—We do need to be able to call a strike as a union. Speaks against—says first strike…

Mulgrew—If you aren’t speaking against, question has been called. Now you say you’re not speaking against it.

Speaker—against proposition that first strike is cause for unqualified celebration, Major issue was involuntary transfer. Our strikes not righteous undertaking. Harlem suffered from understaffed and underprepared teachers. This union protected teachers who did not want to serve in Harlem and Bed Stuy. UFT was against it. We need to be better prepared to deal with criticisms from charters who say we’ve deserted people. We need to talk history. Thank you.

Resolution passes.

Mulgrew—Not new to have factual errors in some people’s discussion. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Anthony Harmon—Favor of resolution calling of NAACP moratorium on charters. We have strong partnership with NAACP, I am president of Harlem branch. Was at meeting where vote took place, overwhelmingly passed in July. Ratified by board, which took strong stand. Was much discussion and pressure. NAACP does not take anti-charter position. They want to do what’s fair and equitable for all children. Was pressure from hedge-funders, but they took that stand. Op-ed pieces asked corporate funders to pull support. We should go on record and support nationwide moratorium. Asks we endorse.

Dave Pecoraro—calls question.

Speaker against—delegate—Gentleman clear he is against mismanagement. In essence, charters should be better. We need good public education, charters are private.

Motion carries.

Mulgrew—We are adjourned—Wait, there is a raffle.

I Hate Subbing

Some of my colleagues love it. After all, it's a chance to make 27 bucks, or whatever it is, for minimal effort. Who really expects you to teach Chinese or physics or whatever? Not anyone reasonable. The teacher is absent, and someone has to go in there and make sure the students don't throw one another out of windows. But honestly, in schools built in the last fifty years or so, there isn't even enough space for a human to get out of the windows.

But twice a year I owe a freebie, and I have to go out and cover some class. I did one yesterday, in fact, and the students were lovely. I got the assignment the period before, while I was teaching. I had no time to go to the department office and find out whether or not there was work for the kids. I told them to work or speak quietly and we would all be happy. Then they worked and spoke quietly and we were all happy. It was very nice.

But you never know. Sometimes you walk into a classroom and the kids start testing you. Let me see if I can get away with this. Maybe I can do that. Let's see what this teacher will do. Now this teacher, if he's subbing, will call the dean and have you removed. I mean, I'm probably never going to see this kid again. Why should I strain myself trying to negotiate? You're out. Bye bye.

Sometimes an AP, to be helpful, will come by and say, "Hey, is it OK if I send that kid back?" It must be a great burden to have one extra kid sitting in that outer office. I say, "No, I sent the kid out, and I want the kid out." That's worked well enough for me. Of course, I'm sure there are some who just send the kid back, or who ask and don't really care what you answer. That's irresponsible and disrespectful to teachers, but that's life in the big city.

In my regular classes, it takes an awful lot for me to eject someone. After all, that's an admission that I can't maintain control. That means the kid wins most of the time. I'm not willing to concede control to a kid just because he's more obnoxious than I am. Besides, I don't know anyone more obnoxious than I am, and if I ever meet that person, I will just grow more obnoxious so as to better cope.

I really feel for ATR teachers, who have to go out and do this day after day, week after week, month after month. I'm hopeful that the new incentive will pull people out of this, even though I read things suggesting otherwise, and with good reason.  It's tough for me to sub a single class, because the thing that makes my classes interesting are the kids, and the relationships we develop. Without that, I'd have lost interest in this job a long time ago.

What's the secret to successful subbing? Anyone know? It could perhaps be the thirst for money. You know, it you make 27 bucks a day, that's almost 5K a year. You could buy a used car with that, and it's likely as not you wouldn't have to push it to work every day. Or maybe you love kids so much that you don't care whether or not you know them, or whether or not you have time enough to know them at all.

I've been teaching longer than most people I know, and I haven't got an answer. Mine is to dread the inevitable freebie, and hope for the best when it crosses my path. I was lucky yesterday. But who knows what's gonna happen next time?

UFT Executive Board Minutes October 17, 2016

As always, apologies for misspelled names. Things moved very fast tonight--did best I could.

Secretary Schoor calls meeting to order 6 PM

Open Mike

Mavis Yan—CL PS 156—Lost a twenty year member, teacher center person who unexpectedly passed. Teaching family is family. UFT was very supportive. MAP services provided guidance. Appreciates DR and borough rep. Thanks MAP.

Stella Thrapcimis—PS 79 Queens. Loves teaching music and seeing what kids can do. Problem is suddenly being rated poorly by new admin. Says arts are not understood. Says admin doesn’t understand performing. Says brain highly stimulated when children play music. How can we get clueless admin who don’t know difference between reading English and reading music? How can we give PD to admin so they understand what music means? Danielson doesn’t fit music instruction. Asks for action. Asks for support and help.

Various Minutes approved

Secretary addresses ATRs. Reports says 1304, 150 less than last year. 115 ATRs took buyout last year. Looking to reduce number of ATRs. Speaks of new DOE program to get ATRs on Galaxy

Kuljit Ahluwalia—New Action—Does incentive apply to social workers, guidance couselors? AA—No.

Overcrowding—

Amy Arundell—DOE has given an incentive for permanent hiring. This year, person costs school nothing, next DOE pays 50%, third year 25.  Thus far about 20 teachers placed.

President’s Report

Mulgrew is not present.

Staff Director’s report

Leroy Barr--Manhattan conference successful. UFT gave aways 40,000 books in other event. Sunday was making strides walk. Thanks everyone who contributed. Following DA, delegates and CLs with 100% attendance will receive certificates and there will be an even.

10/ 29 there will be an ELL conference. Registration is closed.

Next EB next week.

Secretary mentions CTU contract resolution. Buffalo has also resolved contract. We don’t know what’s in it yet.

Arthur Goldstein MORE—I remember when Senator Flanigan proposed a bill to removed seniority rights for NYC teachers only. While we managed to beat that back, I was just a little upset about that. I don’t remember NY Republicans strongly supporting us at any time. In fact. Maybe there are Republican Senators who support us, and perhaps we should support them too,  Did we give 119K in COPE funds to the Republican State Senate Election campaign, and if so, why did we do it?

Paul Egan—Can’t speak to that exact number but NYSUT does all state contributions. Endorses based on variety of things. Outside NYC there are lots of GOP. To get anything passed, many GOP Senators represent other members. Gives us access and chance of getting things passed. Keeps door open for contributions.

Secretary says 35% of NYSUT and UFT are registered Republicans. We are not one party endorsee.

Mike Schirtzer MORE—In light of statement by NAACP calling for moratorium on charters, will we revisit our policy

Secretary, We will talk about it and debate it

Marcus McArthur MORE—As someone who’s twice gone through tenure process, and for members, we want to know how many probationers got tenure by district, how many denied, discontinued, and how are we making process fair equitable transparent?

Sec—64% granted last year, higher than under Bloomberg. We hope it continues to go up. We will support our members in this process. Please reach out to us, first to DR, because they deal with this. We have tenure workshops. Good intro to UFT.

Jonathan Halabi New Action—Over year and a half, we met about problems of discontinuance. Was the reduction in number of discontinuance last year, and where do discontinued teachers go? Who do they call.

Sec—Asks Amy Arundell—Doesn’t have data but a lot of anecdotal evidence about people who returned after discontinuance. Says principals fail to follow procedure and wait too long. We are in better position than under Bloomberg.

Sec—Asks about breast cancer walk

Servia Silva—Thanks coordinators in five boroughs, Thanks Deborah Penny, Rona Freiser and speaks of t-shirts. Were hiccups but everything worked out in the end.

Sec—vacancy on board for functional chapter. Next Monday we will be taking nominations. Must be functional chapter member.

Report from districts

Mary Vaccaro District 26 rep—hundreds of homeless families moved in, we need shoes, collected 1,000 pairs.  Are sending them out. Did this in two weeks.

Dwayne Clark—Manhattan conference, great day for borough and parents. Developed by parents, worked 6 months. Rudy Crew outstanding.

Joe Usatch—Speaks of Thanksgiving, supplying new garments for children. Middle school team thanks everyone who brought in garments, wants new ones for DA. Thanks for support.

Legislative report

Paul Egan—bus went to Philly last weekend, going this weekend to support Hillary. One bus from SI, two from Manhattan, may be more. If you sign, please show up. At other end, they prepare for us. Please don’t make them waste resources. If you can’t make it, tell us.

Phone banks up, running on all boroughs, you can sign up virtually.

Presidential election moving in right direction, by polls. State polls suggest Clinton up, but 24 short. Places like Florida, Ohio, can bring her close. Looks uphill by that point, though Trump would need to win all. Things can move quickly. Week is long time in politics, so we must keep on.

Vote COPE—Our COPE dollars spent on more than endorsing candidates. We lobby on issues, tenure being one of them. Constitutional Convention key for us, could be a disaster if it passes. If people want to keep pensions, they don’t want the convention. We could be like NJ, where legislature could change pensions. We need COPE contributions to support this. More important than particular candidates or party. Not single party issue because so many affected. We may be increasing our contribution, but since September we’ve had 942 new people. NY Post has attacked our pension and will continue to. Many people will buy it and we need to fight it.

Sec—There was a Single Shepard program that place guidancee counselors and social workers. AFT will have something on Haiti.

Anne Goldman—VP Non-DOE—Motivates resolution that celebrates collective bargaining and 1960 UFT Strike. Took courage, and leadership for teachers to step forward against the law. Going on strike is frightening, doing it in defiance of law is moment in history. Shows great sacrifice. We must acknowledge and recognize that. We must recognize and celebrate that courage. Here we sit with collective bargaining. We must honor, embrace and support it. Expresses gratitude to founders present now.

Passed

Leroy Barr—Rises to motivate resolution. that every school classroom have curriculum, and that arts are included. We must reach them any way we can so that they develop, explore, and grow up engaged. We will decrease dropout rate. Arts ed. vital.

After last resolved


Arthur Goldstein MORE--asks to amend resolution, adding the following:

Resolved, that the UFT will seek partnerships with parents and community groups to promote and publicize our stance on increasing arts education, and be it further

Resolved, that the UFT will negotiate with the NYCDOE to substantially increase the time for arts education for all NYC students, and be it further,

Resolved, that the UFT strongly encourage high schools to increase the number of arts electives for our students

We routinely offer students the absolute minimum. in fact in high schools, we offer music appreciation in classes of 50, which is ludicrous. Art and music can change and improve the lives of students. We are teachers, we are artists in a way, and we need to support actually improving the lives of our kids. We are more than test administrators. We are role models and it behooves us to seduce kids into loving the arts.

Leroy Barr—Asks to strike second resolved. Additions are great, important we expand to high schools. Agrees we are artists, on stage, performing. We try to be entertaining and informative. Second resolved, though, has to do with negotiating a contract. There, we discuss demands. EB should not speak of negotiating. Asks we strike second resolved.

Greer Hanson Velazquez—Thrilled to hear this. Arts important. Have worked with DOE on blueprints for arts. Thanks for resolution.

Passes as amended, without second resolved.

Reso passes.

Resolution in support of NAACP’s call for a Charter School Moratorium.

Anthony Harmon rises to speak in support. Is president of NYC NAACP branch. Attended national board meeting. Voted on this and 47 others. NAACP took a stand on what they feel is just, right, in best interest of ALL children. Some people took this as opposition to charters, but is rather against fraud, lack of oversight, tossing kids back to public schools. Also wants convo on public schoolchildren. NAACP taken many hits for this on social media. Op-eds say NAACP on wrong side. NAACP has 107 year history of standing up and speaking out. Disappointed WSJ asked corporations withdraw support. We have to support NAACP and call for moratorium. Black Live Matter and others support this move. Asks we endorse.

Jonathan Halabi New Action—Rises in support. Very important step and moment. Important for UFT. Thinks there is much further discussion. Objects to until charters change ways. Should revisit and dig deeper into what’s going on with privately managed schools. Difference between public and charters. We’ve moved far but not far enough. Urges support.


Camille Eaddy—District 16 rep—saw charter expansion decimate her district. 9 and counting there, more being voted upon, and everyone is fighting for children. Aren’t enough to go around. New people in neighborhood don’t want charters. Asks for transparency, equity, asks for support.

Sec—commends Anthony Harmon for his work.

David Garcia Rosen  MORE—proposes the union use its financial and political capital to fight against mass incarceration as reflected in the Netflix documentary 13th.  —David comes from family of holocaust survivors, wonders how horrific things are allowed to happen, why didn’t we stop slavery, Jim Crow. What are we doing to stop mass incarceration of people of color. How can we help. Netflix doc shines bright light on connection between slavery and incarceration. People of color have been locked up for everything ever since. Led to us locking up 25% of prisoners, with 5% of population. 1 of 3 black males today may be in prison. Profound effects on our students. 1 of 5 children have parent in prison, with dire effects on children. We cannot stand idly by. I will push UFT to fight for civil rights of students and families.

I know many times resolutions are tabled, and voting is blocked. Please vote your conscience. If there’s any problem with this, it’s that it doesn’t do enough. Recalls how Schindler regretted not doing enough. We cannot be board that didn’t do enough

Mindy Karten Bornemann—daughter and granddaughter of holocaust survivor. Words of people not speaking up are meaningful. I understand, but without seeing the movie, without understanding results about Netflix, thinks it’s muddled. Thinks there’s a lot of passion, but so many different things here, it’s not clear what he wants. Urges we vote against. We need to see doc first.

Anthony Harmon—Glad someone brought this and opened up conversation. Very real issue. Moves to table pending more info.

Sec—motion to table non-debatable, please finish.

AH—wants more info, hasn’t seen film. NAACP would like to make sure we’re accurate and that we are on board. Appreciates convo

Lamar Hughes—point of information—allocation of money—how much thought about who would be developing curriculum. Problem is who will be involved if we contribute 50K. Should be middle school and high school. Must make sure info presented in right way. Who will be involved creating curriculum?

Mike Schirtzer MORE—This is for UFT to run. We don’t want it in hands of DOE. We want teachers to make this. We’ve seen Engage NY. As Americans, teachers, trade unionists, I disagree it’s muddled. It’s a step in addressing mass incarceration. Saying UFT will hold screenings and develop curriculum. UFT has long history of advocating for civil rights. We need to be front and center. These are parents of our children, sons and daughters of people being locked up for ridiculous things, based on race.

Sec—Asks things limited to one minute.

Greg Lundahl—says film is powerful, are other powerful films. is this one-time Netflix permission? Would it be better to open up other media to classroom? How does this work with DOE?

David Garcia Rosen—Amazon Prime, for example, unlocked.

Carmen Alvarez—favor of tabling. How do we support staff to help our young people? This resolution doesn’t address that. Many other boots on the ground support we must give our staff, from pre-K to HS. Table so that what we do is comprehensive. Wants quick action. We must be thorough, effecient.

Stuart Kaplan—wants to table. Believes important to use visuals and documentaries, but belongs in resolution of its own. Says it’s talking about more than one topic. Says he can record it and show it to his students. Says we should unblock others.

Leroy Barr—First thought is he appreciates spirit in which it was brought forward. Suggests we table and bring back more clear and concise. Not a new issue. Did not just come up with film. This is not about theory, but life. When I look at my son I have to give him instructions. Not everyone does. We need to talk about this. People who are descendants of it understand it. When I take off my suit no one knows who I am. Father was cop and I was still frisked. They’d apologize for the way it happened.

Can talk about many writers who’ve spoken about this. We can go back very far as to root causes. Wants full discussion. Not our history but America’s. I will sit down with anyone who wants to talk about this. We want it to reflect what people go through today. Has nothing to do with caucus.

David Garcia Rosen MORE—confused what we disagree about. Equal access to HS sports resolution had a similar reaction. Netflix is like a library, and we wouldn’t block that. I don’t want to table things and have us do nothing. When that res was tabled, nothing happened. Doesn’t want tabling to mean die.

Move to table—passed

Sec—meetings will take place, meeting adjourned.

Campaign 2016--the Choice for Educators

The Washington Post interviewed both major candidates about education, and I'm not jumping up and down about either. Trump simply offered a statement about school choice, meaning charters, vouchers, and pretty much anything that doubles down against unionized public schools. Hillary is more nuanced, but not precisely encouraging. For one thing, it's disappointing she isn't still shunning spawn of Satan Rahm Emanuel. But let's look at the issues.

Testing:

A lot of us don't believe in high-stakes testing, particularly since they tend to shed light on nothing but which zip code students come from. Here's what Hillary says:

To me, the solution is better, fewer, and fairer tests.  The bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act was a step in the right direction. By providing funding to states and school districts to audit their testing systems and reduce unnecessary and duplicative tests, the legislation can help us find the right balance on testing.

It's not a bad answer, but it's not a strong one either. This is the same rhetoric we always get from testing apologists, and it really rules out nothing whatsoever. We're always hearing about how there's less testing, about how tests take less time, even when they're untimed. It really makes no difference what the truth of the matter is. That's not a strong statement, but rather a middle-of-the-road thing that makes it hard to disagree. But where's the beef?

Common Core:

When states came together on Common Core, I thought that was a laudable effort. But, like many Americans, I have concerns about how the Common Core has been implemented.

This is sorely disappointing. This is the same boilerplate excuse we get from virtually every CCSS supporter. It's like an executioner stating the process would work much better if only the guillotine were better oiled. Hillary sent Chelsea to the same elite school Obama sent his girls to. It utilizes none of the nonsense that CCSS inflicts on our children. Close reading is discredited nonsense, and if it isn't good enough for Hillary's kid, it's not good enough for yours either.

Charter schools:

Quality public charter schools can provide parents with real choices for their children. In fact, many of the country’s best public charter schools are opening doors to opportunity for disadvantaged students. That’s why I have long been a strong supporter of public charter schools and an unflinching advocate for traditional public schools.

She supports them, in case that is not clear. And she uses the ridiculous term "public" charter schools even though the only actual part of them that's public is the funding. You won't see Hillary making a fuss when Eva Moskowitz decides rules that dictate funding are too inconvenient for her. And the distinction between non-profit and for-profit charters, while it may mean something somewhere, doesn't prevent the likes of Moskowitz from paying herself half a million per annum.

Teacher evaluation:

The Every Students Succeeds Act provides a great framework for supporting educators. And specifically on the issue of evaluations, the law helps us move in the right direction by providing states the flexibility to design holistic accountability systems.  That moves us closer to ensuring every student has a supported and effective teacher in the classroom.

What does that even mean? The question specifically asked whether or not she was for VAM junk science evaluation of teachers. There is no yes, no no, and for my money, no answer. Perhaps she's saying she's glad there are alternatives. Still, I want to know whether or not the next President of the United States supports junk science.

Poverty:

...schools alone can’t overcome the crisis of children living in poverty.  This is something we all need to come together to address as a country.  Because the truest measure of any society is how care for our kids. 

I like this answer. It's her best, for my money. But if she believes that, why won't she stand up and say we have to stop evaluating teachers with junk science? Now I'm going to vote for Hillary, but with very little enthusiasm. This is because the alternative is Donald Trump, and I think he need be as widely repudiated as possible.

When she is President, we will need to speak as loudly and directly as we can. We will need to move Hillary Clinton away from these weasel positions and demand she support us. Make no mistake, anyone who supports children must also support their teachers. We are their role models, and I don't go to work every day to model being a victim. We must also demand that our union leadership speak up for those of us on the ground.

I don't have great expectations of President Hillary Clinton. But I think together we have the potential to cajole, push, move or force her toward sanity.

Class Size, Overcrowding, the DOE and Me

Yesterday morning I went to the American Arbitration Association to grieve class sizes. Oddly, we had to evacuate the building for a fire drill. I felt right at home, except for being on the street. We hastily reassembled at 52 Broadway, a block south.

As instructed, I had three copies of our master schedule, which runs over fifty pages. We had 37 oversized classes, personally highlighted by yours truly. There were three other chapter leaders there and I was set to go third.

However, as soon as I got in I learned that our master had been revised. So, lucky me, I got bumped, and had to wait until they made three more copies. Then I sat and highlighted them all over again, which is always big fun. There were fewer oversized classes, of course, so it had to be done

The lawyer from the DOE has an interesting job. Whatever you argue, she has to argue the opposite. There are always reasons to keep classes oversized. For example, if a teacher has a College Now class, they argue that since a college is paying the teacher for that class, the contract doesn't apply. It doesn't matter that the class is taught in a UFT school, that the teacher is a UFT teacher, or that the kids are in a class of 36. It doesn't matter if the kid gets a grade on her report card, or if the kid gets high school credit. Another brilliant win for the DOE.

Then there are the music classes, which are a disgrace. For reasons that elude me completely, required music classes can go up to 50. Required music is actually an academic class. The teacher might be teaching music history, and that could really be enlightening for kids who'd never be exposed to it otherwise. But the way we introduce it to them is via a ridiculously overcrowded class in which their chance of learning is not all that good. So much for how much NYC values culture, or cares whether or not our young people are exposed to it.

I understand why we might leave performing groups, like choirs and orchestras, in groups of 50. These kids are already at a point in which they're engrossed in music, and they wouldn't choose these classes if they weren't motivated. It's a lot different in required music, a class a whole lot of kids would just as soon not take.

There has been some minimal progress on the music front. Classes like guitar, in which students are not performing groups, are now capped at 34. That's a boon for kids who want to learn to play. If you have a kid in a city school, and a class like that is available, see if your kid wants to take it. I'd much rather see my kid play an instrument than read a book about music.

Then there are the classes that are simply oversized. The DOE always asks for exceptions. Always. It's the job of the DOE lawyer to argue for higher class sizes for city kids. It's kind of amazing. The motto of the DOE is "Children First, Always." How the hell is arguing for class sizes that exceed the highest allowable in the state of New York placing children first, ever? Yet that's what they do.

I would not want to be one of those lawyers. 

What does the DOE do that's worthwhile? Well, last night I was at a very encouraging meeting where real live people from the DOE met with UFT members and discussed making space for the students of my preposterously overcrowded school, among others.  They're going to look at it and discuss extending our school, the largest in Queens, to accommodate our capacity, now around 200%.

Wish us luck.

What Freaks Out AFT?

Is AFT leadership really freaked out that Joel Klein would actively support Hillary Clinton? Well, yes, probably they are. The question is really why. After all, AFT President Randi Weingarten negotiated multiple contracts with him, notably the one in 2005 that created the ATR. While Randi was President, there was a UFT blog called Edwize that suggested the ATR was just a temporary thing and that all the teachers would eventually find jobs. What Randi and her crack negotiators failed to anticipate was that Klein would hire new teachers even as thousands of UFT members lingered in the ATR.

Of course, Mulgrew killed Edwize and there's no more public record of that. (Mulgrew's approach to social media is to urge members to get on Twitter and say this or that while avoiding it utterly himself.) But the 2005 contract was a celebration of reforminess, and there was nothing in it that was worse than the ATR agreement, a direct hit on the seniority privileges Klein so detested. Even now, Mulgrew has to get up in front of the DA and rationalize it, saying there are fewer ATR teachers this year than last.

While leadership has, to its credit, hung tough in not allowing ATR teachers to be fired for the offense of having no permanent position, it's also placed them between a rock and a hard place. By removing the option of UFT seniority transfers (Full disclosure--I took one, and I've very glad I did), it sorely reduces member ability to escape a self-serving or vindictive supervisor. By supporting so called fair student funding it makes principals less likely to select senior teachers. Of course, a whole lot of principals would think twice anyway before hiring pain in the ass teachers with experience who know their rights. By allowing principals an absolute veto, as the 2005 contract did, they made things even worse.

Joel Klein is as bad as anyone from AFT says. He closed schools, likely as not on false premises. He supports all things reformy, no matter what. He advocated for a "thin contract" for UFT that would have reduced us to at-will employees or worse. He supported Eva Moskowitz with no reservations, and was pretty much there at her beck and call. He regularly trashes tenure, increasing pay, and pretty much anything in support of working teachers. He has nothing but respect for business people, and seems to defer to their judgment in all things. Though he claims to place children first, he'd set them out into a world with no job protections, where they'd be at the mercy of his BFFs in places like Walmart.

There's really no defense for something or someone like a Joel Klein, not if you're an advocate for working people. Yet despite all the nonsense he spouts, the United Federation of Teachers, led by now-AFT President Randi Weingarten enabled a whole lot of it. The ATR was far from the only
"reform" we supported. We supported mayoral control under Klein and Bloomberg. When it came up again, we demanded a few changes, failed to get them, and supported it again. We supported teachers being rated via VAM junk science, and Michael Mulgrew even boasted of having a hand in writing the law that enabled it.

We supported charter schools, failing to envision what they would become. We even started a charter school, now evidently failing. Not only that, but we colocated it, becoming an active part of the cancer that undermines city schools. We can complain about Klein, but we were best buds with him and Bloomberg for a while, and it led us places it was demonstrably unwise to go.

Even after Klein left, we actively supported reforminess. No one who's seen it will ever forget UFT President Michael Mulgrew, in a rare display of some kind of passion, offering to punch us in the face and push our faces in the dirt for messing with his beloved Common Core. And even now, as he's ostensibly against it,  the UFT has not only failed to support the opt-out movement, but also indulged in outrageous criticism of not only those of us who do, but also the movement itself.

Yes, Joel Klein is unacceptable, and it's high time we noticed. But Arne Duncan was no better, and AFT ignored that, endorsing Barack Obama term two with no reservations whatsoever. Perhaps President Hillary will sensibly refrain from naming a fanatical ideologue like Klein.  But that isn't enough. We really need to stop appeasing the reformies by giving them this and that, and then feigning shock when they want more.

It's not enough for AFT leadership to freak out when Joel Klein's name is mentioned. We need to fight against not only him, but also all the baseless nonsense he represents. Thus far we've enabled quite a bit of it. That's not on Joel Klein, but rather on us.

We need to stop laying all the responsibility at Joel Klein's doorstep. It's our fault he managed to push his execrable agenda so far. We need to stop not only him, but also his insane ideas. That means "not Joel Klein" is too low a standard by far. We need federal officials who are not insane.

I will vote for Hillary because Donald Trump comes a long way from meeting that standard. But she's got a way to go before she earns my trust. Let's remind her that we supported her early, and let's demand she actually do something for it. Let's put her feet to the fire, and if she doesn't respond, let's ask leadership why the hell we supported her, particularly against Bernie Sanders.

Send Common Core to the Scrap Heap

It's nice to see that Michael Mulgrew has evidently seen the light regarding the nonsense that is Common Core. But maybe, if there's a monument to idiocy being erected in your town square, you ought to protest before it's actually put up. Once it's up, you can always ask that they paint the clown's nose a different color, but the fact is the monument is there.

And so it is with the Common Core standards and the state's attempt to paint lipstick on the proverbial pig that it is. We've now invested a whole lot of time talking about the "rollout" and pretending that it's not the actual program that's a problem. It was entirely predictable that the state would dab a little paint on this highly flawed product and say, "There. Now it's fine. Good luck with that."

I certainly anticipated that, but Mulgrew did not. I've been to DAs where he said we were finally getting that long-awaited input that we needed to make all things right. The problem is, when you've got a product as fundamentally flawed as Common Core, a touch-up is not gonna do the job. There's a fundamental issue with anything based in a philosophy that no one gives a crap what you think or how you feel.

Were I to articulate this approach with my students, I'd likely be up on charges of verbal abuse under CR A-421. And I'd deserve it. Would you tolerate a teacher telling your kid she doesn't give a crap how he feels or what he thinks? I wouldn't. And yet we have an entire nation bribed by Arne Duncan to embrace that philosophy. And while it's nice that Mulgrew has finally come to his senses, just a few years ago he was going to punch us in the face and push our faces in the dirt if we dared get between him and his beloved Common Core.

We're sitting on a brief moratorium, in which Common Core test scores will not be used against students or teachers (unless you're a high school teacher or student, in which case, too bad for you). To hear Mulgrew speak, you'd think it was because of the UFT's activism. But if you've been reading the newspapers, it appears to be a result of the actual activism of opt-out, which has managed to keep a whole lot of students from taking these ridiculous tests. Of course Mulgrew's army of loyalty oath signers not only fails to encourage opt-out, but also actively criticizes those of use who do.

Given that, I question Mulgrew's credibility. I can't speak to the math, but there's something fundamentally wrong with our approach to reading. We ought not to be having children doing close reading, looking at little bits of whatever, and answering endless questions about little pieces of nothing. We ought to be seducing them into loving to read, via high interest materials that make them want to do more. And it ought to be largely based on--get this--what they think and how they feel. Materials ought to be selected precisely on that basis. When they love to read, then you can ask them to find arcane answers no one cares about. Or better yet, you can forget that entirely and have them do such things only when they are actually important.

I'm happy that Mulgrew mentioned ESL and how English learners ought to be judged on a different standard. But even ELLs learn on the same principle I set out above. They need high-interest materials and from there they can move on to tackle general academics. I'm afraid state enterprises like Part 154 move them even farther from that place, removing 33-100% of direct English instruction in favor of giving them a little bit of language assistance during core subjects.

It's now official UFT policy that we favor more, rather than less, instruction in English for ELLs. This is due to a resolution that I had a hand in writing and passing. However we've yet to do anything to change the directive, Part 154, that has ESL teachers running around like so many headless chickens. I've sat on a few committees, and I will be on a panel at a UFT event on October 29th. I hope to ask Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa directly how she plans to fix this.

Meanwhile, it's gonna take a lot more than us saying we don't care for the touch-up to Common Core. It needs no touch-up, and it needs no overhaul. It needs to be burned and buried, and the ground under which it's buried needs to be salted so nothing may ever grow in its place. It's hurtful nonsense, based on a falsehood. If Bill Gates really believed in it, he wouldn't send his kids to a school that doesn't practice it. Nor would Barack Obama, Arne Duncan, or John King.

If it isn't good enough for their kids, it isn't good enough for ours either. Let's consign it to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Wrestlemania 2016

On Monday night I decided to take a peek at the debate. I didn't need to get up early on Tuesday, and figured I'd have little to lose. With luck, I'd fall asleep and miss most of it. For me, it's usually good enough to watch the little pieces on TV.

But fortune was not smiling on me and I stayed awake through all of it. I'd read about how Trump had assembled a group of women who had grudges with Bill, along with a rape victim whose attacker had been defended by attorney Hillary Clinton. Thus, his response to being caught on camera saying things most people would find unacceptable from a 12-year-old junior high school loser was to make it into even more of a reality show than it already was. Honestly, attorneys represent all sorts of clients, and I understand some even represent Donald Trump. It's pretty creepy to judge them for doing their jobs.

At the actual debate it seems like Trump was really pushing the edges of his limited vocabulary to describe how bad Hillary was. She was the dumbest, the worst, she was a disaster. And everything was her fault. Why didn't she change it when she was in the Senate? After all, you get one of a hundred voices over in that place. It was controlled by the Republicans, she said. But Trump thought that wasn't good enough. Maybe she should've twisted everyone's arm until they came over to her way of thinking.

And then it was Obamacare. Yes, what a disaster. I'm personally upset to have my daughter covered until she's 26 under my policy. What a horror that is. And oh, she wants single payer. They have that in Canada, and all the Canadians are climbing over one another to get here and have surgery. Only they aren't. Unless you're incredibly wealthy you can't afford to do almost anything in an American hospital, which charges you thousands of dollars a day simply for being there, let alone having anything done.

And unfortunately, Hillary is not for single payer anymore, having failed to push it through when her husband was President. I've read that she supports a public option, which beats the hell out of having to choose between various predatory insurance companies. But Trump will magically have those companies compete and offer reasonable options, even though they have never done so before and have, before Obamacare, pretty much excluded anyone who actually had the temerity to get sick before wanting to be insured. (Actually the public option would give them something serious with which to compete.) Yes, single payer would be a disaster. How awful to free doctors of having to bill 500 insurance companies and patients of various copays and fees over which they have no control whatsoever.

And then there's the tough guy routine. Trump favors the law and order that's dumped over 2 million Americans in prison, and when he wins, he'll appoint a special prosecutor and place Hillary there too. How dare she state he's unfit, let alone run against him? He'll show her. He'll put her in prison, just like his pal Putin. And if those Dixie Chicks, or anyone else, dare speak up against him, he'll dump them in a cell somewhere, just like Putin did to Pussy Riot. Maybe he'll dump them in Hillary's cell. None of that free speech crap for the Donald. If you're gonna be a tough guy you can't tolerate such frivolity.

And when they ask him about his remarks about women, he says I'm sorry but I'm going after ISIS. Somehow, in his mind there's a connection. Maybe we're supposed to be afraid that if we don't vote for him, ISIS will somehow become more powerful. They're not open-minded, like we are. Maybe they'll torture people, you know, like Trump says he wants to do. Maybe they'll win elections and imprison or otherwise wipe out their opponents. Stuff like that happens, you know.

Honestly, I can't believe I sat through this nonsense. I'm glad I'm not a social studies teacher who assigned students to watch it. I'd probably be on charges for corrupting our youth or something. Did you endure this? At the very least, shouldn't we all get a prize for it?

Slavery Prohibited, BUT...

You may generally disregard everything and anything preceding the word but. The important part comes afterward. When your supervisor says he liked parts of your lesson but, you're likely as not facing one of those much-coveted ineffective ratings.

Netflix has a real must-watch documentary on right now. I've cited the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, the one that prohibits slavery, when my members haven't gotten paid by the DOE. But this amendment is no joke, and the prohibition against slavery is far from total. People who are incarcerated can be compelled to work for little or no compensation. That's convenient for companies who want to get around those pesky sweat shop laws, and also for people who need that eight-dollar pair of jeans from JC Penney.

You don't get to see arguments like these on popular venues like Netflix all that frequently. The whole law and order mantra through the 70s and 80s has resulted in an explosion of the number of US prisoners, composed largely of people of color. We've gone from 300K back in 1970 to over 2 million today. Much of this was enabled by laws pushed by ALEC, a partnership of corporations and politicians it bought and paid for. We all know there's an explicit connection between tax cuts for the rich and reduced services for most Americans

You see the usual suspects like Nixon, Reagan and Bush. It shows that Bush one's people were explicitly aware of the message they were sending. It shows the participation of the Clintons, who've since stepped back a little. Bill Clinton was brilliant in reversing the perception that Democrats were soft on crime, helped to remove judicial discretion, and pushed the awful and simplistic three strikes you're out law, imitated by states. He's since backed up on this, but the damage is done. Trump has actually amped up the message, and wants to push us further into this quagmire. He still pushes not only the law and order message, but urges further tax cuts for the likes of himself.

When people are afraid, they buy guns and bullets. And one of the reasons to keep people afraid is so they'll do just that. Walmart makes a ton of money selling weapons. That's one reason Walmart was a member of ALEC. And that's why, even though they dropped out for PR reasons, members of the Walmart family still quietly contribute.

A portion of this film addresses the way immigrants are criminalized, warehoused in inadequate facilities that benefit only the ALEC members (or former ALEC members) who run them. In fact, Part 154 deprives New York immigrants direct instruction in English. What on earth are people supposed to do if they aren't even supported in their quest to speak the dominant language?

ALEC is painted as a great evil in this, an insidious organization that dispenses with any vestige of common decency in order to create profit for its members. If millions of people have to be virtual slaves to support its needs, so be it. But we who focus on education have heard of ALEC before.  Indeed, ALEC does not simply push laws like Stand Your Ground, the one that allowed George Zimmerman to get away with killing Trayvon Martin (even after authorities instructed Zimmerman to stop following him).

ALEC supports privatization of not only prisons, but also schools. Corporations that had supported ALEC, like Microsoft and Walmart, are still pushing for that, only via other means. Not a day goes by that I don't read fawning coverage on how the charters are working miracles with children we, the unionized teachers, are neglecting. Gates and Walmart don't give money to charter-loving Chalkbeat just for the heck of it. (Full disclosure--I was recruited to write for Chalkbeat, but my POV did not fit in with their agenda.)

Rahm Emanuel can fire unionized teachers and hire TFA members. He can close 50 public schools, dump all their students into those remaining, and still pump cash into charters. In Detroit, the conditions in public schools are horrendous. And if you need a downside of charters, that's a good please to look. Nonetheless, media regularly trumpets the story that charters are the silver bullet, and it doesn't matter if they abuse children, falsify graduation rates, expel inconvenient students, pick and choose who they accept, or even dismiss entire cohorts.

School closings are yet another symptom of the privatization push. If you think the ATR was created just for fun, think again. We've got maybe a thousand teachers running around from school to school, week to week. This does awful things to people, and it's probably intended to. If it rids them of a few unionized teachers it works. Replacing them with disposable temps cuts less into the all-important profits.

Our school system is directly affected by all the same people who've poisoned our prison system. Voucher supporter Corey Booker, in the Netflix documentary,  can talk about how prisons enable institutional racism, but that hasn't prevented him from taking money from the very people who push such things.

The scourge of poverty, studiously ignored by all the reformies, is what we'd be studying if we really wanted to improve education. How on earth can we reasonably discuss educational equity when more than half of our children live in poverty? ALEC's agenda includes the decimation of union, as personified by members like Scott Walker. How do worsened working conditions and fewer opportunities help our children? Your guess is as good as mine, and you'd better believe that charters don't want or support union.

Don't miss this important documentary. If you don't have Netflix, visit someone who does and watch it together. And while you do, bear in mind that the same people who've enabled this horror in our public prison system are actively in process of using our children for even more profit. They're not assigning them to forced labor just yet, but they're substituting test prep for learning and tedium for reading.

Reforminess may not be placing our kids in literal prison, but it's an atrocity nonetheless. 

When Things Come Together

 Full disclosure--I may say something good about an AP here, so if you can't take that, please stop reading now.

On Wednesday morning, my colleague Paula Duffy, English teacher and UFT delegate, Eric Mc Carthy, AP Security, and I met near the Francis Lewis trailers at 6 AM. From there, we drove to the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan for the Daily News Hometown Hero Awards.

I had applied posthumously on behalf of my colleague, Kevin O'Connor, who passed away suddenly last Spring. We had known since last summer that he'd won and had to keep it secret. Kevin taught social studies and worked as a dean.

Kevin would surely have done the same for me. Eight years ago I had to take a semester's leave when I got cancer, and he ran around seeking contributions from colleagues. He presented me with a $500 Visa card. That made for a lot of lunch dates for my wife and me before I went back to work.

Kevin had applied for the dean position a few times before he actually got it. He seemed to find his place and a really distinct voice in our school as a dean. He had endless patience for kids, and he had a way of connecting with the most troubled of kids. Kevin had had his own troubles, and he was able to quickly understand what troubled kids needed. Often it was a non-judgmental adult ear, and he was always ready and willing to provide one. Ears like those are hard to find.

Kevin himself found one in our AP Eric McCarthy, who would always listen and help him out with scheduling issues or whatever he needed. Any extended conversation I had with Kevin always included praise for Eric. I was really happy to hear this. As chapter leader, I get to hear absolutely every negative comment about every AP. It was very nice to hear something different for a change, and it's pretty good to be able to repeat it here.

Kevin, like me, had the insane habit of coming to school ridiculously early. He lived in Long Beach, which is not precisely a hop, skip, and a jump from Queens. The only way to beat the traffic is to leave well before you need to. Thus on days when there was some awful accident or something Kevin and I would be among the only people who showed up on time. Our drive to beat the traffic made for many early-morning conversations.

When my colleagues and I got to the Edison Ballroom, they were pretty impressed by the surroundings. I think they expected something like a school breakfast, with tables full of bagels and cream cheese, and a big coffee urn with 500 people waiting in line to take a cup. Instead, we got fresh fruit, table service, eggs, quiche, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. It was a nice change, though we'd all drunk too much coffee to eat much.

There were celebrity presenters, one for each of the eleven award recipients. There was Chancellor Carmen Fariña, a bunch of TV newscasters, and rapper DMC. But we all almost fell out of our seats when Mayor Bill de Blasio broke from his general comments and started speaking about Kevin O'Connor. It was almost too good to be true to see the Mayor of New York City recognizing someone much beloved by our children, a thousand of whom stood to mourn and praise him at a ceremony held in our courtyard.

We're the largest school system in the country, with 1.1 million students and 76,000 teachers. One out of 300 Americans is a New York City student. So there's a lot of bureaucracy, and a lot of nonsense. There are a lot of people sitting around Tweed who've never taught a day in their lives. There are principals who haven't either. Consequently there's a great deal of nonsense with which we have to contend. (I may even have written about that once or twice.)

But sometimes they really get everything right. On Monday, everything kind of came together, courtesy of sponsors NY Daily News, UFT, CSA, DOE, and CUNY, and the excellent judgment of the mayor, who obviously had choices, and chose to come out and speak about Kevin.

More please.

You Will Differentiate Instruction the Same Way for Everyone

That seems to be the main thrust of the new grading policy. A big thing, for me at least, is the policy on what is and is not acceptable for participation. I had been doing precisely the thing that the DOE seems to loath—granting a participation grade at the end of each marking period. I essentially gave a positive grade for students who raised their hands and were active all the time, a negative grade for those who spent most of the time sleeping, and various degrees in between for others.

Now here’s the thing—DOE gives an example that you give credit each day when a student brings a pencil and notebook. That is, of course, measurable. It’s also idiotic, as it’s a preposterously low standard. I think the reason they gave that example was because it was very easy for them to think of. And thus, we part ways. I actually think about grades a lot. To me, bringing a pencil is only a marginal step above breathing.

But they don’t need to think about it. They just need to sit in air-conditioned offices and tell us what to do. Why bother considering the real lives of lowly teachers, let alone the students they ostensibly serve? Treat everyone the same.

So if someone places a student in my class, tells me she has a 70 IQ, and the girl looks appears so fragile that if you touched her she would break, well, rules are rules. If she doesn’t participate each and every day, screw her, she gets zero. If one of my students is from a country where they have classes of 50, if she’s been taught all her life to sit down and shut up, if she’s so painfully shy that she actually trembles when you ask her a question, give her a zero. Everything is black and white in the ivory towers of the DOE.

Your opinion cannot be quantified. Let’s say you teach strings. Let’s say one of your students comes in and plays a beautiful piece, with perfect vibrato. She makes you feel as though you have reached nirvana. I come in and scratch out something that sounds like I’m strangling a cat.

But we’ve both brought in our violins and cases, and how the hell are you gonna prove she plays better than me? Is it on the rubric? And who’s to say I didn’t find my own piece to be breathtakingly beautiful? Who the hell are you to judge me without a rubric? And if you do have one, and you tell me how badly I played, maybe I’ll just report your ass under Chancellor’s Regulation A-421, verbal abuse. You made me feel bad. So screw you too.

After all, the supervisors are using rubrics. They come in with that Danielson thing and check boxes. These boxes contain the evidence.  Plus they have notes. So who cares if the notes came from the voices in their heads and nothing they say actually happened? I’ve seen supervisors outright make stuff up.

So is that the solution to this ridiculous rule? Do we lie and say that students who didn’t participate did?

I have a disagreement with my co-teacher over what volunteering means. For her, it’s, “Did you raise your hand and get up and do something?” For me, it’s you, you, and you. Thank you for volunteering. I usually do that and call on everyone. Should they get less credit because I forced them to? Or should I wait and hope for the best? Here's another manner in which I part ways with the DOE--I'm willing to negotiate or discuss it. I don't just say, "Here's how we do it. If you don't like it, screw you." Because that's not how you work productively here on Planet Earth. 

Here’s what I think—I think if you’re a teacher you should have discretion. I think it’s ridiculous that everyone must be graded the same without exception. I think what’s excellent for me may be so-so for you. What if you’re the person who plays that violin like an angel? Do you seriously believe the Department of Education won’t place you in a class with a cat strangling, off-key person who can’t spit out a tune to save his life?

Oh, and your self-contained class must be held to the same standard as the gen. ed. class. The fact that there are only 15 kids is the accommodation. That’s it. The fact that the Regents exam holds them to a lower standard doesn’t mean you can because screw you. And screw the kid too. It’s no problem for the DOE, which is impeccable in treating everyone fairly.

And that class with the push-in ESL teacher? The one where everyone is learning about the Civil War for 40 minutes a day and the ESL students are supposed to be concurrently learning English? Too bad the native kids only need to learn about the Civil War. You need to learn both, in the same time, because screw you. NY State says that’s how we have to teach it and that’s the way it is. So screw you, and screw your students too, because you have to be fair but we don’t.

That’s what the new grading policy looks like to me so far.

Rock Steady

That's the United Federation of Teachers, according to the million-dollar commercial I keep seeing on the morning shows. The politicians throw barbs at us but we never waver. It doesn't matter what positions they take because we're above it all. We're hard-working and passionate. About what I have no idea, nor does anyone watching the commercial.

We show up every day. We teach kids every day. We walk around classrooms and call on our students. I kind of take that for granted. If the assumption behind the commercial is that this is unexpected in some way, shape, or form, I have to say I'm a little surprised.

Some teachers, like those in the commercial, are young and good-looking. That may or may not be part of the message. Of course, being a lowly teacher, I can't be entirely sure what the message is. I'm also not sure who the commercial is directed at, or of what exactly it's intended to persuade them.

At the Executive Board meeting President Michael Mulgrew, who deigned to show up for ten minutes or so, said it was reviewed very well. I have no idea who reviewed it or what they said about it, but I guess that's on a need-to-know basis, like Mulgrew's top secret plans for "authentic" evaluation measures. Evidently, in a union with ostensible democracy, no one's supposed to know what the hell the people they elect are doing. Who knew? (Besides, if he told us what it was, I'd certainly report it here, and that would ruin the whole surprise. Therefore it's my fault.)

Another thing I learned at the Executive Board was that there was a song called Rock Steady, and that it was recorded by both Aretha Franklin and some group I'd never heard of. Leroy Barr advocated for the Aretha version while Howie Schoor stressed the importance of whoever else sang it. The controversy raged all night while we upstarts from MORE/ New Action discussed class size and overcrowding, which did not happen to appear on the Unity/ Rock Steady agenda.

Usually UFT commercials show up a few months before union elections. The last one showed Mulgrew running around with a UFT bus telling people what a great job we're doing. I doubt it gained him many votes because most of us can't be bothered voting at all. We're too busy trying to keep our heads above water. We're too busy trying to survive Danielson observations from Boy Wonder supervisors who need either glasses, brain and personality transplants, or all of the above.

But the important thing to know, if you aren't fired by an insane supervisor for being rated ineffective, is we're Rock Steady. And it's true, you know. For example, we in the UFT haven't even tried to negotiate a reduction in class size in half a century. That's why there are still 34 kids in your high school class if it isn't oversized. (Unless, of course, you teach music or gym. Then you have up to 50 per class, 5 times a day, often on an alternating basis. So you might have 500 students a week. You also might be expected to not only know all their names, but also to differentiate instruction.) Like I wrote the other day, we don't bother with frivolities like air conditioning classrooms, and it's likely plenty of schools still use relatively toxic heating oil. Too bad we finally got rid of those coal furnaces. That would make us even more Rock Steady.

It's a little ironic that the UFT claims to be above the fray even as they have a Clinton campaign office embedded at 52 Broadway. I only know this because Mulgrew told us at some meeting or other. I can't remember how many times I've been offered AFT-Hillary t-shirts over the last year. I guess that wearing them won't make me any less Rock Steady.

Here's the thing--I don't want to be above the fray, and I don't want to be Rock Steady, if that's what it means. I am absolutely partisan, and I'm always amused when UFT Unity commenters come here and accuse me of presenting only one side. Of course I present one side. (So do you, by the way.) I'm here to speak about what I believe in. That's why I've been Rock Steady in my opposition to leadership since 2005, when it dropped the UFT Transfer Plan in favor of the Absent Teacher Reserve, you know, the thing that gets smaller every year. It's therefore OK that over a thousand teachers haven't got classrooms.

It's not easy, and it's not fun. But someone has to speak out for better education. Someone has to spend time thinking about what's wrong for our members and kids, and someone has to speak out about it. We will be rock steady in our advocacy for better teaching and learning conditions.You can invest our dues money in nebulous TV commercials that influence no one.

But we will let people know exactly what you do, and when it's appropriate, exactly what you fail to do. We are, and will remain, rock steady in our advocacy for reasonable learning and teaching conditions. We will not sign loyalty oaths, and we will not sit down and shut up. Sorry if you don't like that.

Fight us or join us. We're up for whatever.

Update: There's also a song by Bad Company with the same name. I don't like it all that much, but here it is. 

Saint Rudy Digs a Hole

Wouldn't you rather have a genius for President than a woman, asks Rudy Giuliani. This comes after a few days of outrageous statements, including an assertion that everybody cheats on their spouse. You see, to Rudy, it's no one's business what happens in your personal life. Unless, of course, it gets in the way of your personal convenience. That's why, back when he was NY Mayor, Rudy sued for the right to bring his mistress into the home he shared with his wife and young children.

Meanwhile, the man Rudy says all this crap for, Donald Trump, openly ridicules Hillary Clinton for staying with Bill after his various escapades. Not only that, but Trump speculates that Hillary wasn't faithful to Bill either. Why should she be, he asks. Now there's part of this that these guys aren't wrong about. Why should Hillary be faithful to Bill? I don't know. I don't much care either.

That's the point where Rudy is right. I sure don't want to know who or what he's having sex with. The notion of a loathsome creature like that reproducing, or even attempting to, is something I certainly don't wish to contemplate. His best buds Trump and Christie? Maybe I want to know even less.

Rudy used to have to pretend to be moderate on social issues, as did Trump. Or maybe they actually are moderate on social issues and are lying now. It's hard to say. But now Trump's all for allowing discrimination against the LGBT community because, I can only suppose, you don't land the GOP vote without it. It isn't enough to just vilify Mexicans and Muslims when you're aiming for that particular demographic.

Both of these guys paint a very different picture when they're looking for support outside of New York. I guess New York can take it as a point of pride that when people run here they behave differently than when they're trying to sell themselves to the country at large. Prejudice and hatred don't sell quite as effectively in our neck of the woods.

I've got a lot of reservations about Hillary, but at this point I will probably vote for her. For one thing, it's much different choosing her against Donald Trump than against Bernie Sanders. I was very proud to vote for Bernie, and quite disappointed that the media presented him as a loser even when he was winning.

But there are two reasons I'm choosing her now over Jill Stein, for whom I voted four years ago. For one thing, I gave Barack Obama a chance eight years ago. He kind of broke my heart by selecting slimy little worms like Arne Duncan and John King to run education, or do the bidding of Gates, Walton, and their merry band of billionaire hedge funders. In fact I voted for Hillary in the primary against Obama. I guess I have to give her a chance.

More persuasive, though, was a message from activist Fred Klonsky, Fred says even if you reside in a reliably blue state, like his Illinois or our New York, that it's important to send a strong message rejecting the likes of Trump and Giuliani. The hatred, misogyny and bigotry that they represent must be repudiated as strongly as possible. If I can contribute some small piece of rejection, I'm gonna do it.

Hillary will owe us big time as far as I'm concerned.

110 in the Shade (and in the City Classroom, Too)

Yesterday I played fiddle at Terrhune Orchards in Princeton, New Jersey. On guitar was Bob Harris, who spent years playing with late and legendary fiddler Vassar Clements. He told us stories of playing with Vassar in Houston on 110 degree days. He spoke of how Vassar, who used to think Nashville had the worst weather, changed his mind in Houston. We were lucky yesterday. For one thing, it was October. That helped a lot.

Now my heart goes out to musicians playing in hot weather. It's uncomfortable, and miserable, and it's hard for me to understand why even fans want to be out there watching music they love. But you have to respect people who brave miserable conditions to do their jobs. And I suppose a lot of you see where I'm going by now.

At my school, a lot of rooms are air-conditioned. That puts us in a better place than a lot of other schools, which simply are not. (Some administrations will say they just can't, that the electricity is limited, until Moskowitz comes in and air-conditions an entire floor.) The Department of Education, in its infinite wisdom, places no upper temperature limit on classrooms. So when my members email me about the miserable conditions they're suffering, my best bet is to ask them if they've got some medical condition that precludes their being in such a place. Can you get a doctor's note? Because then you're protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. And while pregnancy is not a disability, if your pregnancy causes some condition that makes it inadvisable to sit in a pressure cooker, you can find alternate placement.

I was in trailers for maybe 12 years. I feel like they're part of me. I strongly advise you not to trust anyone who tells you that tin is a good insulator. They are miserable when the AC is out. You really cannot be expected to accomplish anything in a tin box on a 90-degree day with no AC. To its credit, my administration will let you leave the trailer when it's particularly miserable, with no AC, no heat, a sheet of ice on the floor, a sheet of ice on the path to enter, or a flood outside. I'm confident other administrations can't be bothered with such trivialities.

In fact, newer DOE buildings are completely air-conditioned. That's a great idea, particularly because these new buildings haven't got windows you can actually open. Of course, sometimes the AC goes out in these buildings, and when it does the DOE just keeps them open anyway. After all, when the snow comes up to our noses, Carmen Fariña declares, "It's a beautiful day," and says that because Macy's is open, we should be too. What Fariña fails to consider, though, is that Macy's AC is maintained so that it does NOT go out on hot days. No one is going to walk into a miserably hot store to buy anything. And I'll bet you dimes to dollars that Fariña's office is air-conditioned, even as tens of thousands of city kids swelter in miserable classrooms.

This year, I'm in a computer room. It's a large room, with space enough that we can run a class, and the computers are along the perimeter. In fact, the room is so large that it has not one, but two air-conditioners. One has been broken since day one, and with our southern exposure, the room has been miserably hot most of the term. It's particularly awful in the afternoon. I think last Friday was remarkable for not being as uncomfortable as the rest of the year. I'm told the school has ordered a new AC for that room but that it hasn't come in yet.

I really looked for ways I could file an effective grievance. Thankfully, neither I nor my co-teacher suffer from any respiratory ailment. I thought perhaps there were regs for computers. I know that AC has been an addition to computer rooms for decades, even as we humans were told to sit and suffer. I can remember many times I've opted to go to computer rooms or language labs simply because I knew they were air-conditioned. I thought perhaps I could find some regulation in place to protect the computers but alas, I've come up empty so far.

Listen, if they're gonna judge us on student engagement, they ought not to place us in rooms where the natural inclination of sentient beings is to lie down and sleep until the heat passes. And if that argument isn't enough--how about this one? It's 2016. The city is obsessed with making students college and career-ready, and colleges and careers are now air-conditioned. That's a fact, Jack, and we're not preparing our students well by making them suffer in sub-standard conditions.

We, the United Federation of Teachers, opted to wait until 2020 to get paid for what our brother and sister unionists got back in 2009. Consequently, the city is sitting on a ton of cash we lent them interest-free. Why the hell not invest in making learning conditions not miserable for one-million kids?

How about that, Chancellor Fariña? What's more basic than that?

Food for Thought

Take a gander at this video and let me know what you think.