UFT DA March 2017--UFT President Shuts Down Move to Amend JHS 145 Reso

• Announcements

Mulgrew thanks us for being here.  Moment of silence for UFT members who’ve passed.

President’s report—Michael Mulgrew

National—Says we’ve set out a strategy and now have to adjust to changes. We can now officially get rid of Friedrichs and say Janus, out of Illinois. On schedule for fall docket of SCOTUS.

Said our strategy has to be to protect NY from DC. Says he will call President 45. Plan to repeal Obamacare will be voted on tomorrow. Congressman Collins from Buffalo bribed for his vote. Still has to go to Senate, but if it passes Congress, it’s now shifted a huge cost, 2.4 billion, to NY State. Until we extend or expand millionaire’s tax, we already have 3.5 billion deficit.

We’re within 12 days of budget. If we have to put plan for additional 2.4 billion, it’s a big problem. Mayor and governor working together. NYC reps understand this. Points to Andrew Pallotta from NYSUT, says he’s working with us.

We are in constant attack politically, besides challenges in workplaces. Won’t be easy. How many times can we say Public School Proud and we have to do this and that. Says we are the leadership and we have to keep pushing or they will win.

If NY pols want to screw NY worse than anyone else, they will hear from us. Says he wants to show John Oliver but language is too bad.

Likes that we can use Trump’s ed. budget to say we told you so. ESSA is still the law. Once you pass a law, it’s then up to the agency, which sets regs. Law remains and regs give guidance. ESSA regs have been rescinded. Looks like they will leave ESSA rescind regs, and thereby enable budget.

Additional funds for Title one, without regs, can be a billion dollar voucher program. Title 2A is teacher PD, Saturday, after, summer school. Trump’s person said nothing proves after school or feeding children makes them do better in school.

They want to defund, destabilize public ed. and say it doesn’t work. Want more money for charters, no transparency or accountability. Says pols are either for local public school or against it. Says we now have the most famous Secretary of Ed. in US, for wealth and incompetence.

Says this relates to Lobby Day and we will tell state officials. Education and health care are biggest pots of money and we are working together. Thanks Paul Egan for reorganizing after blizzard. We need to say Feds want to destroy public ed. and ask if they are with us or against us.

Talks snow day. Says some people have to report. It is not contractual that you report. City makes decision school based personnel have to report. Mulgrew asks why others don’t, and is told they have to take personal days. Union didn’t and wouldn’t agree to this. We have no more snow days. If we get another blizzard day added on at end of school year. Next year’s calendar has two snow days. In my heart I stand with people who say St. Patrick’s should be holiday, but torn as union leader.

Tonight there is a PEP panel closing schools. You will hear a lot about Renewal Program in mayor’s race. Third doing well, third stable, and third moving down. Tonight they are voting on 145 in the Bronx. If no supports are offered we need to tell the tale. We have reformers saying public schools are failing, will use closing schools as examples. If nothing is being done by DOE behooves them to change what’s going on. I go to Banana Kelly which is all of a sudden in better place and see a happy staff with collaborative leadership.

Teachers. counselors and secretaries have bosses. We follow directions. Administrators also have bosses, superintendents responsible to chancellor. Fault rises up when there is failing leadership. If we don’t move all of our schools reformers us this against us.

Proud of mayor for saying ICE won’t enter schools without warrant, as students were fearful. You can’t tell us our job is to protect children and ask us to step aside when people come into our buildings. ICE said we will not enter buildings except under exigent students. We don’t know what that means but we’ll see. Parents have said they are fearful.

Despite all that Public School Proud working well, will push after budgets. Will report next month.

Vouchers and tax credits across country are unprecedented. Outside NYS people are disgusted. Fewer people in ed. schools. This isn’t helpful. Still we need to educate children.

Feds no longer fund community learning schools. Teacher choice, dial a teacher and BRAVE we will push.

OPW under teacher discretion. Exception when principal mandates something, Part of arbitration.

Speaks of success in paperwork complaints.

Says principals are departmentalizing everything, including kindergarten. From K-3 departmentalization requires SBO.

4-6 ELA and math are posted positions but preference sheets must go out before decision. Departmentalizing anything else is SBO.

DOE is now approved CTLE vendor. We worked to help them because was in member interest. We can’t do their work for them. They have to do paperwork to be approved. They also have to get approved instructors. We have quite a few approved, but Monday PD is not approved because NYSED wants to know how DOE will be sure it meets criteria.

We started last June but putting CTLE together took a lot of work. DOE doesn’t work as fast as we do.

We have to stick to our plan, insulate NY, push people on public ed., renew coalitions. Saturday this place was full of guidance counselors. Thanks chapter. Saturday PM 1100 paras celebrated. Previous Sat. early childhood. College and career fair last week. Thanks Janella Hinds.

Says this is righteous fight. We’re right, they’re wrong. We’re good they’re bad. Says we take fight to them, support friends, we win. 5:10

Staff Director’s Report—LeRoy Barr

College and careers called future in focus 460 students, 26 unions, made sure children are college and career ready. Thanks Janella Hinds. Early childhood conference, guidance conference, para luncheon, March 25th, Men in Education Forum starting at 9. CL weekend. Please call and fax and thank those who participate. PEP meeting tonight, asks people to leave and show support for this school. Rich Mantel there now. We have resolution there. Go to Tweed and show support for school, against Moskowitz Academy. Enjoy break.

Questions

CL—DOE hired Randy Asher. Is DOE really trying to help ATRs or will he try to fire them?

We try to protect ATRs. We went five years with no contract and didn’t sell them out. Would have made us at will employees. Have spoken with Asher, willing to work with him. You could utilize existing agreements. I don’t know their intent. We’ll see where it goes.

CL—How can we coordinate with other unions against constitutional convention?

We are coordinating. We’ve done more school visits and may be ahead of curve. They say we only care about our pensions. Of course we’re concerned about them. Shows they don’t understand constitution. Pension is agreement. We pay this, you pay that, and this is what we get when I meet conditions for retirement. Reason is that many people didn’t get what was promised. NY State said agreement was agreement. Pols used to protect working people.

You will see this amp up after budget is settled. Great piece in New Yorker about reclusivee billionaire, donates to Trump, and a lot of money for constitutional convention.

CL—Charters—original concept was collaboration, laboratory, been eroded and made negative. Can we put forward Shanker’s view instead of DeVos’?

This was not Shanker’s idea. He changed position when he realized it was about privatization. No one remembers that. We have many examples of good ideas being mutated into bad ones. DeVos thing led us to good place with state officials. If charters solve problems, fine. If they make money or don’t take all kids we don’t want them.

History of vouchers was to avoid segregation. Some in south closed public schools and gave vouchers. Deprived African American students of school. This history will be told again. You don’t have choice if voucher covers pittance or if you’re cut out. No choice when you destroy public ed.

CL—Members worried about TRS letters saying they are at a deficit. They are receiving lump sum based on retroactivity, Pension contributions problematic.

Don’t freak out. Retro can’t be included in final pension, but is part of pay that must be included in pension. Ask Tom Brown and we will help.

Delegate—CTLE hours. Paras concerned. Having hard time getting to UFT. Issue is it’s good idea but it’s coming so much during our time. Paras don’t get paid on our level and teachers not paid on level of being constantly certified. Police laugh at us. We are giving away a lot of time. can we do this during school hours?

One of the reasons why we helped DOE become CTLE certified is this. We have four more years to get 100 hours. We will develop more in regular day.

Motions

Paul Egan—UFT supports proposal to keep people in homes and save people millions. Home stability. Passes.

Peter Lamphere—MORE—Supports JHS 145 and DA adjourning to join PEP in solidarity. Defeated

Political Endorsements—Paul Egan—Recommends endorsement of Stringer for Comptroller. Record as great advocate of our union. Stands up for our pensions and NYC fiduciary responsibility.

Michael Freedman—CL—Says he defeated Moskowitz for Manhattan borough prez.

Marjorie Stamberg—opposes Democrats and Republicans. 40% of people prefer socialist.

Question called.

Endorsement passes.

Egan—Recommends Laticia James—Didn’t defeat Moskowitz but has great track record in NYC.

Question called.

Passes

57th Anniversary UFT—Resolution—Mel Aaronson—In 1960 UFT formed through merger, and many other groups joined. Teachers all over America benefited from our work in becoming first local in country to have collective bargaining. Took a lot of work including three strikes, but this thanks those who came before us. Pledges our continued fight for what we look forward to, better ed., civil and labor rights.  Further supports fact we will support each other in safe and healthy workplace. Urges everyone to support.

Dave Pecoraro—calls question

Mulgrew asks veterans from 1960 to stand. Much applause. Standing ovation.

Regents Grading

Janella Hinds—This resolution covers scoring for Regents exams. Says what happens in January and June is waste of time and resources. We seek better system. We would like tests moved and people to remain in their schools. Asks for support.


Arthur Goldstein—MORE—For the last few years, midyear Regents exams have been a mess at my school and others. One year the principal decided that we would proctor school midterms that week. It was a disaster, as no one remembered that ESL students also take tests, and administration for students with special needs was virtually impossible at this volume. We had a new and improved plan this year that also did not work with members, who had a ton of mandated projects and no time to grade them.

This will also save the city a ton of money, which could be used for a whole slew of purposes more worthy than correcting tests. The state raises cut levels to make us look bad, and lowers them to make politicians look good. I understand that they might therefore assume we are as corrupt as they are. I’d argue there’s no reason we shouldn’t grade our own students, but since regulations rule that out, I’ll argue there’s no reason we shouldn’t grade other students from our schools. In fact, smaller districts all over the state do just that. Honestly if we aren’t honest or capable enough to grade papers, i have no idea why they even hired us.

But since they did, I urge you to vote for this resolution and restore some small degree of teacher autonomy.

CL Bryant Georgia ?—speaks against, says this is opportunity to meet other colleagues, says principals will pressure teachers, and there’s good per session.

Retired teacher—Says if tests are changed and moved, doesn’t believe principal of one school will ask you change tests for other schools. Saves money and makes sense.

Question called.

Passes

Carmen Alvarez—Support of Immigrant New Yorkers—Speaks of undocumented and fears. Federal threats chill our young people and their families. Asks we support them.

Marjorie Stamberg—Wants to amend. Would like to add to stop broken windows arrests, which undercut claim NYC is sanctuary city. Would like to not permit ICE or other immigration officials in our schools, will stop deportations.

Stuart Kaplan—opposes amendment—says resolution speaks to supporting immigrants. Says it supports families. Amendment would take away from nature of what resolution is written to do. Says we should stand with what DOE says.

Retired teacher—Understands amendment is illegal. If ICE has subpoena they can come in.

Speaker supports reso opposes changes. Compliments Stamberg. Says reso says to city you are doing right thing.

Question on amendment called.

Amendment defeated.

CL—Asks to close all matters.

Resolution passes. 5:55

Karen Allford—Supports Juvenile justice reform. Our goal is to make sure all kids read by third grade. We’ve seen coaches, libraries, after school programs but with 1.1. million kids some may be incarcerated. We don’t want 16 and 17 year olds with adults. They are children and we must support them to raise the age. Only NY and NC do this. Please support.

Question called.

Passes unanimously. 5:57

LeRoy Barr—Supports Resolution in support of JHS 145. Spoke about this a lot. Don’t want it replaced with Moskowitz Academy. We should attend tonight and make DOE do their job. A school that wants to succeed needs opportunity to do so. Please support.

Delegate from Adult ed.—Was heartbreaking to see students, former students and teachers say what they had not had. DOE sat there and said it was done deal. Moskowitz has already advertised she has space. Didn’t make a difference. Time to become rowdy.

Dave Pecoraro calls question.

James Eterno calls to amend—

Mulgrew says it is a courtesy—after back and forth rules Eterno out of order—doesn’t allow him to speak.

We are adjourned.

Update: Here is Eterno's proposed amendment.

When Students Step Up

When you have a co-teacher, a lot of things are different. You can immediately deal with a student issue by taking that student out in the hall and discussing whatever there is to discuss. Immediately things get better. Or worse. Or stay the same. But hey, at least you tried. Forgot that handout? You can go get it. Sent a student to the nurse's office and you suspect he's walking the halls having big fun? Go check.

There are some things that you do, and some things your co-teacher does. You develop a routine. You write a lesson, and she makes it look more Danielson than you would. Is that a good thing? Who knows? But if it's Danielson it's better when someone is observing, even if Danielson herself doesn't buy into that train of thought. Maybe your co-teacher decides she should take attendance, and maybe she does it better than you would. Maybe much better.

But if you're gonna be absent, you have to alert your co-teacher. You can't just leave her hanging. Are you the one who wrote the plan for the day? Will she be the one hanging in the wind when the Part 154 police come to make sure you're doing whatever the hell it is they want you to do? Regardless, you have to be careful. I haven't actually been absent this year, though I've had a few times I thought I would. But as chapter leader I have to go to meetings all the time, so she's been on her own on more than one occasion.

On the other hand, I hadn't taught solo since last year. I was actually pretty nervous one day last week when my co-teacher didn't show up. I didn't tell her that, of course. Don't worry, everything will be fine I said. Actually it was. One big reason was that one of my students got up and decided it was her job to help. When I asked why this student was absent, she identified two more. When I had to hand out papers she took half. When I had to call people to the board she said, "I'll do it."

In fact, she sat at the teacher desk and kept an eye on what was going on. She gave people looks. You know the look. Usually only teachers have it. But this kid saw a need and she filled it, having never done anything like that in her young life. Then a boy who sits in front decided that he was going to help too.

Sometimes when there is a need people just step up. Like when the most verbal student in your class is placed in another class, suddenly another student becomes the most verbal. It makes you wonder just how much verbiage you've left untapped. I guess we never will, and the best we can hope is that those groups and pairs you set up actually result in more worthwhile conversation. Of course you can never know whether the ones you aren't watching are just gesticulating and pretending to make sounds so you will shut the hell up and leave them alone.

But I'm encouraged when kids I like and respect step up and give me new reasons to like and respect them. I'm particularly encouraged when they just step up and do it on their own without any request from me. It's really more than I have any right to expect.

UFT Executive Board March 20, 2017--CPE1 in House, JHS 145 Reso Watered Down

Secretary Howard Schoor tells us there will be five speakers tonight.

From Central Park East 1—James Schoff—Thanks teachers and parents. Says new principal came to school, was less democracy and teacher voice. Progressive school, practices do not match standard curriculum, principal was disruptive. Tenured teachers pushed back and were under investigation for various charges. Some unsubstantiated, others ongoing. Whenever she is challenged there is investigation. Supe refused to engage, but met some with parents. Only 3 tenured teachers left in school. 5 teachers left last year. 2 currently under investigation. As far as he knows, charges unfounded. New untenured teachers afraid to speak. If teachers can still teach we want them returned to our school. Without them our school will fail. They are talented and to make them ATR would be a crime.

Bonnie Massey—parent, UFT social worker, son went to CPE 1 because it was democratic and progressive, staff was empowered. Since new principal, kids are learning something other than democracy. 70% of parents want her removed. We have worked very hard, and been ignored and insulted. Principal has lied to parents, tried to pit them against one another, created unsafe environment. Oversaw largest drop of scores in city last year. Traumatized teachers and children over lies, targeted CL and delegate. Hostile and unsafe work environment. Asks for your support. Mulgrew said he would protect our children, and we need support. Offers info packets.

Marilyn Martinez—CL of CPE 1 sitting in rubber room, going through process. True they have not put in grievances. As school they wish to take care of issues in democratic way. Has been impossible with new principal. I am going through 3020a for my involvement and opposition. High teacher turnover rate should raise flags. Teachers disappearing. Teachers not receiving support, facing removal procedures. Teachers forced to leave. Fears for colleagues still in school, wondering who is next. Who is Monica Gart and why is she so privileged?

Fran Myers—Adult Ed.—Says it is weakest link of our union chain, can be used to break union. Expresses solidarity with CPE1. Says we need to be visible and support one another. Similar things happening in adult ed. since Rosemary Mills is supe. All old principals are out along with many APs. Some retired and other couldn’t take her directives to unfairly U rate people. Signed non-disclosure agreements. Asks for investigation of her hiring practices, says they are from one part of the world.

Schoor—Give us a list of issues and we will take it up with DOE.

Minutes—approved. EB and Adcom.

Mulgrew arrives—6:17

President’s Report—

Federal—Budget—Says he will say 45 instead of President’s name. Was all we expected. Using this in Albany. Knew they would come after public schools. Title 2 gone, no community schools, no class size, no PD. Base title 1 left intact because it was in legislation. Suspended and killed ESSA guidelines and regs. Says they don’t want to open it up again. SCOTUS started today but no one listens because of Russia investigation. We want to use Fed things to gain state influence. NY Senate had egregious charter language, we’ve faxed and visited all over. We say they are DeVos puppets. Most well-know Sec. of Ed. is DeVos. If you know her you don’t like her. We have to push.

Dept. of Labor cut 20%, hurts seniors, jobs, safety.

I said there was a storm coming, it’s here and we are prepared. Saturday we had a para fest. We packed room with guidance counselors. Early childhood conference packed. All had PD, all were here, and we talk of how we have to work with parents and push back. We had faith based breakfast. Texas has no vouchers because ministers work to lobby for public schools. Texas minister came here and we will try to organize them here.

DC constantly in disarray. Some people say it’s on purpose to slide things through when no one is looking.

Second snow day. We don’t want a third. Snow days not contractual. Some members have to come in—all city workers except school based personnel. Two snow days next year. If we have to make up time they will add it at year’s end. Says members should know about snow day limitations.

Dave Hickey will do presentation on finances of UFT in a few weeks for EB. Says there is fake news about UFT being two months behind on dues. Says we are never behind on dues. In January city collects them and we don’t get them until March. We’ve always been on time. We have solidified financial shape of union. People who’d hurt us start investigations that we pay for.

Our expenses have gone down and extra money goes into service. We did a resolution when 45 won and we filed and refinanced our properties. We didn’t wait for interest rates to go up. We have our own politics with DOE. We still have friction. Our biggest issue is their lack of responsibility reigning in principals. Everyone has a boss and principals can’t do whatever they wish.

I am going after superintendents because they are responsible for principals. They are the reason we had to put up with bad principals. We have to also do work in Albany. This is not a fluke that’s going away. People in government want to kill public education and destabilize school systems, introduce privatization.

Our union will be strong financially, prepared for attacks, but we are the ones at the forefront of this fight. In state houses controlled by people who don’t like public ed., controlled by rich people, it’s a very tough fight. We will amp up the fight. Thanks us for work we’ve been doing. Amazing that our events are full. Activists know what is going on.

Mulgrew moves resolution up. So moved.

Refinancing passes.

Mulgrew says this is our fight and we’re not going to lose. Everyone loves neighborhood public

schools. DC wants to snuff out education for millions of children.

6:37 Mulgrew leaves

Catlin Preston—teacher at CPE 1 for nine years. First signer of letter to principal, eleven days later had first LIF for insubordination, 11 days later, second, one year ago was reassigned. March completed 3020a. Pattern of administrative abuse. Teachers suffer, no consideration for children, asks for action. 

Staff Director’s Report—LeRoy Barr

Speaks of conferences for paras and counselors. DA Wednesday. Saturday Men in Education Symposium. CL Training next day. EB next week.

Arthur Goldstein MORE—Regents week has become problematic for some large Queens high schools, including Francis Lewis and Bayside. It’s also hugely expensive for the city, which now has to pay a whole lot of money for things we used to do as a matter of course. I’m thinking money like that could be better used, for example, to preclude higher medical copays for UFT members. In any case, I’ve been told that if the Exec. Board passes something and it doesn’t go the DA it becomes UFT policy. First, is that true?

If so, I’d like to ask when you are going to discuss Janella’s resolution about Regents week with the DOE.  IF not, I’d like to know when this is going to be introduced at the DA. (People on dais seem to think it's not true. Michael Shulman, from audience says it is and Schoor says he stands corrected.)

Schoor—Will be resolution 2 next week.

Janella Hinds—Regents has been problem for last two years. Is high on agenda. Hoping to pass it Wednesday.

Jonathan Halabi—New Action—Thanks speakers, says President spoke to issue. CPE was a particularly progressive school People who applied wanted to work there. Family at my school said it’s important we support Marilyn. Would like this to be poster child for Public School Proud campaign. Gratified to hear superintendent would hear from us. Would like to hear reports on supe who undermines type of school she runs. Looking forward to report. Can we hear specifics about this?

Schoor—We are open and respond to questions. We will respond.

Mike Schirtzer—MORE—We got an email from Mulgrew about Trump plan that we could lose 140 million in funding. But we are going to the state and NY State Government owes us, according to AQE, 1.9 billion dollars based on CFE. Are we doing something about that on Lobby Day? What’s our plan going forward. If we get that money we could give big middle finger to Mr. Trump.

Paul Egan—Lobby Day is always about budget. That’s why DOE allows us to be released. All our discussions will be about that. Will we get 2 billion? I don’t think so but we will keep pressure on them. We want NYC to get its fair share. In Albany more elected Dems than GOP but GOP controls. We need to get along with IDC but will hold all accountable.

Reports from districts

Janella Hinds—reports event that took place March 9th—College and careers. Students from 30 schools. Got great feedback and very proud. Will be second next year.

Ellen Dreisen—District 20—May is public school proud arts month. Schools will do performances. We’re very excited. Superintendent invited DeVos

Shelvy Abrams—Saturday over 1000 members. Many new, had never been to such a function. Many honored by their peers. Thanks everyone.

Arthur Goldstein MORE—A few weeks ago several teachers and I joined Vice President for Education Evelyn de Jesus at the NYSABE, or NY State Association for Bilingual Education Conference., I’ve never been in a group so large where everyone had such a razor sharp focus on the kids with whom I work every day. Everywhere I went were people focused on their future. We sat at tables with superintendents and principals, people of whom I’m generally suspicious, and the thing we mostly discussed was how we can keep our kids safe.

Michael Mulgrew told NYSABE if they came for our kids they’d have to arrest us. I was very happy to hear him say that and I’m ready to join him if it comes to that.

Evelyn can’t be here right now, but one thing I heard her say several times, was that she was ready for whatever happens. She said in Spanish, better than I could, that she could dance if they wanted, or fight if she had to.I’m happy to say, though, that in this union, in this city, and at NYSABE, there seems to be no sunlight between our positions on protecting the children we serve every day.

Paul Egan—Legislative report—Lobby day postponed because it was on blizzard day. We started again and booked again. As of now we have 750 people. Sadly day before testing. Still time to sign up.

We will also be doing district meetings at month’s end talking about budget issues.

We will be doing many endorsements. This month we are doing for comptroller and public advocate. Recommends Scott Stringer and Tish James.

Schoor—We recommend that.

Jonathan Halabi—New Action—Do they have opposition?

Egan—not significant.

Passes.

Tish James endorsement—

Paul Egan—Petitions haven’t been circulated yet. There may be opposition later, but no one who hasn’t started now is serious.

Passes

Resolution—57 anniversary of UFT

George Altomare—NYC special, never know where you’ll get inspiration. Real inspiration comes from within. In 1960 we had nothing more than dreams. 1200 of 50K teachers wanted collective bargaining, equality at table, had dreams. Was crowded on train today. Gentleman, well dressed, started chanting or singing. Said over and over, in the land of dreamers, dreams come true. That’s what we were as NYC teachers 57 years ago. No one expected us to survive or grow. We are a citadel of good will and humanity. We won a strike, won a union, won collective bargaining, and we thought that’s it, now we can just teach.

That wasn’t true. We had some big strikes. Strike of 68 tested us. In 75 the fiscal collapse, when we thought it was over, we survived and so did the city. Then we faced Bloomberg, and now we have today. We have to remember one thing Jefferson said—Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. When we get to a situation like this—Vigilance is price of liberty. Are we willing to pay the price?

Passes

Mike Schirtzer—MORE--Raising resolution in support of JHS 145. Threatened with closing. On PEP agenda, will vote whether to close. Have been in media. Rich Mantel has been fantastic on this. Community made it to Brooklyn, Bronx. JHS is a community school. Should not be closed. Wasn't provided what it was entitled to as renewal school.  We’re endorsing de Blasio Fariña should be on our side. This is Trump-DeVos agenda. A non-unionized charter would replace it. Latino and Muslim students. We ask to adjourn DA early and go to PEP to show support as union. We need to do more, to come together. If we can send a bus to DC, we need to go to Tweed and say closing community schools is unacceptable.

LeRoy Barr—Wants to echo comments. Rises to amend. First resolved—UFT will continue to take stance against closing. Strike rest. Strike second resolved that DA attends. Says many people will attend. We are up against a lot and can’t adjourn business of DA, but I will encourage all to show at PEP.

Jonathan Halabi—New Action—supports original resolution, supports edits to first resolved but wants to keep second. How often can we give union support to our brothers under attack? Person who receives solidarity gains much. Person who participates also gains. No business more important than letting our members stand in support to each other. Nothing more important than giving that sense to all our members.

Eliu Lara—supports amendments. Says Lehman open because we fought. Clinton HS open. We fought for that. A bunch of people from that school will go. We are supporting 145.

Janella HInds—speaks in favor of amendments. We only have DA once a month and need to get through agenda. LeRoy will announce from podium.

Marcus McArthur—MORE—Speaks in favor of original resolution. Understands we have important business. We live in peculiar times. Normal protocols no longer apply. Politics of our country, political leaders, don’t respond to a seat at the table. Don’t address our concerns in democratic and respectable fashion. This is why people are hitting the streets all across the country, Occupy, BLM, Women’s March, our institutions are disconnected. We have public schools in neighborhoods that serve low income black and brown students. We’re talking about closing that schools with union-busting, segregated corporate model. That’s catastrophic. We’ve gotta draw a red line at some point. Our union is formed out of fight, protest, solidarity. This is our calling right now. We’re in a generational fight for soul of our city and country.

Karen Allford—Supports resolution as amended. We know how to balance our priorities. We have to get through DA and have folks there. We have a good enough ground game that we can finish at 6 and have people there. We are smart enough, we can juggle schedules, and get both things done. We have to get through business of budget, alert members about DeVos and we can balance both.

Kuljit Ahluwalia—New Action—Stands in support of original resolution. We need to get involved. We can pick a time that doesn’t interfere with union business.

Vince Gagli—Moves to close debate.

Mike Schirtzer—MORE—point of information—Why are we striking part about march and rally?

Schoor—Mr. Barr said what he wanted. Not open to debate.

Debate closed.

Schoor—Resolution before us, keeps whereas, strikes last resolved and amends first.

Passes resolution as amended.

Jonathan Halabi—New Action--Did we vote on everything?

Schoor—Calls vote. Says yes agrees with Barr.

Passes.

Revotes for resolution as amended.

Passes

Resolution passes.

We are adjourned.

The Art of Co-Teaching

A lot of people complain about supervisors. I hate to admit it, but I tend to get along well with mine. Whenever we have a conflict, she sits me down and talks until I agree with her. I actually recognize what she's doing, but she manages to persuade me, and once I agree with her there isn't much left to discuss. But she also has a perverse streak.

Three years ago I said to her, "Well, I'm gonna be in the trailers forever." They'd pretty much become part of me. So what does she do? She pulls me out and puts me in a real classroom for the first time in over a decade, using some flimsy excuse about a turf war with the English department.

One of the little-known things about us trailer trash teachers is that we don't use classroom technology. This is largely because no one puts expensive equipment in some trailer. The classroom they moved me into, though, had a computer and a monitor. In the beginning I panicked, but fortunately the impressive looking computer equipment didn't actually work. I would hang my jacket on the monitor and demand credit for using the technology. (The next year, when it actually worked, I started using it, but had no place to hang my coat. You can't win.)

Last year, there was a lot of Sturm und Drang over ESL. We weren't real teachers because Part 154 said teaching a language didn't involve actual subject content, so we had to pair up with other teachers and hope for the best. I was lucky, though. While my colleagues were pairing up with English teachers, it turned out I was a licensed English teacher. Who remembered that decades ago that was how I started? I could never manage to get a job as an English teacher, so I went into this ESL thing.

Co-teaching wasn't a new thing, but it was more concentrated in special ed. before this. I watched various pairs of teachers having conflicts. Once I was appointed, with another teacher, to break up a class between two teachers who simply could not function together. Later I was forced to get involved with several pairs who needed to separate but could not, with various unrewarding resolutions. I thought, "Who the hell needs this?"

But then I made an egregious error. I told my AP, "I don't ever want to co-teach with anyone." For some reason, utterances like that get my AP thinking, and what do you know, the next year I had a co-teacher. That wasn't my only mistake, though. For a good part of the previous year, I'd been commenting to the AP that one of our new teachers was very quick-witted and personable, and I repeatedly said good things about her. These two things together kind of sealed my fate.

So now I have a co-teacher. As co-teachers go, we get along well. We have conflicts. I work very quickly. I cannot survive otherwise. She likes to think about stuff. I'm like, "WHY are you THINKING about stuff? It's not EFFICIENT!" But she just sits there thinking anyway. Our classroom is an odd place. I am running around like a lunatic, with kids constantly telling me to calm down. I tell them, "I AM PERFECTLY CALM!!!" My co-teacher is thoughtful and patient, forever working out ways to get things done despite all the noise.

On Monday there will be a class size grievance for my school. Two of the oversized classes are ours. I'm pretty sure they will stay that way because we have two teachers. Nonetheless, I'm gonna complain. After all, if I don't do it, who will?

I have to conclude, though, that my AP has persuaded me once again. I pride myself on being a huge pain in the ass and the craziest person in my classroom. I'm fairly confident that few of my students or administrators would begrudge me that description. This notwithstanding, as far as I can tell, my co-teacher and I get along a hell of a lot better than a lot of pairs I know.

This is what my AP planned all along. I hate it when they are right.

The Art of the Spiel

BREAKING--President Trump today offered to restore the cuts to Meals on Wheels if Nordstrom's would restore the Ivanka Trump line of fine Chinese-made clothing. He said it may not have been selling well, but blamed President Obama.

Nordstrom's CEO, Roger P. Duvernoy, replied, "Is he off his meds or something? No one wanted to buy that crap, so we took it off the shelves."

Sean Spicer, in his press briefing, said it was not President Trump, but rather Duvernoy who'd be ultimately responsible for the cuts. "Look, we tried to work it out. We made a very reasonable offer. But hey, if Nordstrom's doesn't wish to support the First Family, they're clearly un-American and don't care about our elderly. This was a good faith offer."

President Trump was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

The Most Popular Politician in America is Bernie Sanders

That's what this poll says. And it breaks my heart to think we played it smart by going with Hillary, the sure thing. I am really angry with people who still tell me we made the right decision. I am really angry with people who tell me Bernie couldn't have won. Hillary Clinton lost an election against perhaps the most unpopular candidate who ever ran. While she got more votes than he did, she lacked the vision, the foresight, and mostly the popularity to defeat a person who should've been an easy target.

Donald Trump is targeting Meals on Wheels, a program that costs a whole lot less than his Florida vacations or providing security for Melania and the kid here in Fun City. While he visits his own resort every weekend and we peons pay the bills, he plays golf. He relentlessly criticized Obama for doing the same thing a whole lot less.

Trump's heath plan is ridiculous. We cut and cut, you're screwed and screwed, and millions of Americans will be on their own. Meanwhile, Trump blabbers about his bigot wall, about keeping out Muslims, and about how tough he is. He's gonna bring down ISIS. You know how you bring down ISIS? Put them on Trumpcare.

Fox Poll:@BernieSanders 61% approval@PPact Planned Parenthood 57%

Obamacare 50%@TheDemocrats 32%

D Party needs a radical makeover.

— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) March 17, 2017

And still on Twitter and Facebook people lecture me that running Hillary was a good idea. She had all that experience. So what if she took all that money from Goldman Sachs and won't tell us what she said? So what if she's massively unpopular? So what if she was compromised in other ways as well? So what if she failed to offer any significant improvement to the lives of American people, things like universal health care, a living wage, and college tuition for those who can't afford it?

The fact is that Donald Trump went out there and promised significant change. While he's a pathological liar, a malignant narcissist, and likely delusional, he resonated. He certainly picked up the bigots and xenophobes among us. And they certainly feel empowered with white supremacist Steve Bannon sitting in the White House.

The prevailing wisdom among those who pushed Hillary above Bernie was that he was too extreme. Several people have cautioned me that you can't elect a Jewish socialist. It's interesting to see people who are ostensibly progressive say Jews can't get elected. They said the same about Catholics when JFK ran. And they said the same about African Americans when Obama ran. People just don't like that group. I suppose they said the same about women when Hillary ran.

Then there's the socialist label. Bernie actually refers to himself as a Democratic Socialist, which means he embraces practices like those in Europe, where people have, you know, universal health care, a living wage, and cost-free higher education. But the people lecturing me on social media can't be bothered with that stuff. They just say you can't elect a Jewish socialist, and of course they aren't bigots, because maybe they are Jewish, maybe they have a friend who's Jewish, or whatever.

And they aren't prejudiced against socialists, because they don't even know what socialists are. Certainly they haven't bothered to do the most cursory research on what Sanders means when he calls himself that, because hey, he's a Jewish socialist, a Jewish socialist can't win, and they're very keen and incisive so they've decided to go with the sure thing. Hillary was the winning bet and why take chances? It was her turn. She's been around for years and years and years and anyone grasping for genuine improvement for America is crazy and demanding too much.

The result of all this brilliant thinking, in case it isn't crystal clear, is President Donald Trump. Time for all you supporters of mediocrity and hollow talk to give up the ghost, renounce neoliberal nonsense, and work toward bringing Americans what they need. In case I haven't made that clear, it's universal health care, a living wage, and cost-free college.

Every time we thoughtlessly reject those who'd actually help us, we risk moving even farther away from what we need. 

The 6th Class

In my school, a lot of people teach six classes. A lot of them love it. After all, if they're in a shortage area, they can make about 12K extra per year. That's not bad.

Like most things, it's not always good. In my own department, I was discussing how it's problematic. One of my colleagues said she really needed the money, and I certainly understood that. Life in the big city is expensive. I live 20 miles from Queens and even I know that. On the other hand, I pointed to another colleague, a very young woman who just started with us, and said if enough people had six classes, she wouldn't be here. In fact it's likely that some other teacher, just like her, is not here because some of our departments have so many teachers with six classes.

A few years ago, there was a woman in my department who was having issues. She was new and I try to help new teachers sometimes. I walked into her class the first time and she appeared to have no lesson plan at all. Kids were involved in some complicated procedure that some of them had completed, and others had not. The ones who had completed it plagiarized, absolutely positively. I told her she was lucky that it was me and not the principal. The next time I visited she had a sentence on the board, that, "Students will be able to do some thing or other." I knew that this sentence had some place in a lesson plan perhaps, but not on the board. This teacher left our school at the end of the year. Last I heard, she works in a charter. She had six classes and that didn't help at all.

I've presided over all sorts of fights over sixth classes. It's problematic in that most of our classes are annualized, the contract says they have to revolve each semester, and that sometimes they don't get posted. Also, sometimes people get appointed in October and say hey, how come my job lasts only four months and hers lasts five? Sometimes people work it out amongst themselves, which is kind of cool. Other times I tell people they won't prevail in a grievance and they file anyway. For me, that's sometimes convenient as I can write one grievance and recycle it ten times. Rotation, actually, is a pretty simple thing to figure out.

Of course, other times these jobs are available to everyone, so the fight becomes who doesn't take it. I'm an ESL teacher and in fact I'm now the senior member of my department. I am always offered an extra class and I always turn it down no matter what. I can't figure out how I keep up with what I'm already doing now. Yesterday I came in over an hour early, which I always do, and left over an hour late, which I don't always do. I don't even know how I find time to write the blog (though I have to say doing it so frequently has caused me to write a lot faster).

This September I learned something that has caused me no small amount of existential pain. For years UFT reps had told me that if you took a sixth class you gave up a prep period, and it does indeed say that in the contract. I took this at face value until I had a conversation in which someone told me to seek out and read Circular 6R. It turns out that it specifically says anyone who does this is excluded from the C6 assignment. This is not largely followed in my borough, at least. So I found a member to put this to the test. Sadly, the member later decided not to pursue the grievance.

So I'm looking at other ways to fix this. I'm sure I'll find one. I can understand how a principal might feel like, hey, I'm paying you all this money and you say you won't do potty patrol for me anymore? That's not fair. On the other hand, if I go out and call some kid a jerk, I'll be facing charges under CR A-421. I could say to the principal hey the kid is a jerk so that's not fair either. But that doesn't mean I won't get a letter in my file and face 3020a if I keep calling kid jerks.

Moral discussions are interesting. I like them. I have them in my classes sometimes. I'll have one with you all day long if you like. But right or wrong, I'm in trouble if I fail to abide by the contract or any number of chancellor's regulations. Then there are state and federal laws and all sorts of other things that hinder my self-expression. This notwithstanding, if I want to stand up at a faculty conference and warn everyone that the end of days is nigh, isn't it a violation of my First Amendment rights when the principal orders me to sit down and shut up?

Well, it isn't actually. And it doesn't matter if Trump is president and I actually believe the end is more nigh that usual. I can scream it on soapboxes and mountaintops, but if I do it in meetings and classes I'm likely to find myself shuffling papers somewhere while awaiting that 3020a. I guess, though, that screaming while I shuffle the papers couldn't make anything worse.

Do you teach a sixth class? Do you want to? Is it better to dole out the sixth classes or hire new teachers?

Making Nice With Governor Andy

 I was pretty shocked that UFT leadership declined to join a pro-education march because they were trying to maintain a good relationship with Andrew Cuomo. To me, it feels a lot like cozying up with a scorpion. I mean, maybe it seems like a good idea at the time, but after a while you're gonna get stung.

Andrew Cuomo was the very first Democrat for whom I declined to vote. I had never heard of a Democrat whose platform entailed going after unions before. It didn't seem like a good idea to me so I voted for Green candidate Howie Hawkins. Cuomo was lucky to be running against frothing-at-the-mouth lunatic Carl Paladino that year, and seemed invulnerable for some time thereafter. His sheen is looking a little tarnished lately, but I don't buy it.

It appears, though, that UFT leadership does. After all, he's withdrawn his "principled" opposition to the millionaire's tax, and with the advent of Trump,  is trying to remake himself as Bernie Sanders Lite.

I got a recent email from a friend who pointed out several things with which our newly-minted progressive governor is still not precisely supporting us:

Elimination of foundation formula that drives more funding to NYC and other high needs districts--That doesn't sound so good, does it? I'm writing this from my chronically overcrowded building, where you're lucky to make it up the stairs in time for class. We're facing massive potential federal cuts, what with Betsy and her tax credits, and I'm not at all certain how we could endure cuts from one source, let alone two.

Raising of charter cap in NYC--Haven't we got enough buildings that have dumped libraries so as to accommodate Moskowitz-branded test-prep factories? Don't enough kids pee their pants while "slamming the test," or whatever the hell it is they do in those places? Haven't we already done enough to accommodate a two-tier system where Moskowitz does whatever the hell she pleases, refuses to agree to conditions everyone else takes for granted, and then trashes us for the crime of taking and keeping every NYC kid no matter what?

More funding for charter schools statewide per student--I don't know if you've thought about where the money for that will come from, but I have no doubt it will come from us. We'll be told to do more with less. Sadly, we're already doing that. There comes a point when you end up doing less with less, and if we haven't reached it yet, it's a miracle. If Andy's our friend, and this is how our friends treat us, who needs enemies?

More funding that we have to pay for their space in NYC if DOE does not co-locate them in our public school buildings--I don't suppose I have to tell you where that money is coming from. It's preposterous and outlandish that Bill de Blasio, even with so-called mayoral control, is compelled to support charters he, and we the people who elected him, do not even want. This rule came along three years ago, and a highly-placed source in NYSUT told me that Michael Mulgrew supported it. While I haven't got the proper equipment to read Mulgrew's mind or search his soul, I can say that UFT leadership did not raise a peep in protest when this happened.

All of which would be terrible for our schools--That's true and I don't personally trust Andrew Cuomo any farther than I can throw him. It's nice that he placed his finger up to the wind and determined that people in NY are very anti-Donald Trump. But it's not hard to determine that Andrew Cuomo is a self-important, self-serving, morally bankrupt windbag who does whatever suits his relentless ambition.

Andrew Cuomo is already running for President in 2020 and will say and do anything he deems necessary to suit that goal. Nonetheless, he's still the same scorpion he was when he first ran for governor, stated he would go after unions, and pretended to be a Democrat.

De Blasio Makes a Good Call

I don't know about you, but I just made breakfast and I'm sitting in my cozy living room drinking coffee. I'm pretty happy for 1.1 million schoolchildren and over 100,000 DOE employees who are not going in today. I heard almost immediately yesterday when de Blasio made his call to close the schools, and I ran around the halls and offices telling people. I watched kids and teachers literally jump for joy.

This is a far cry from the Klein era, when I'd be up and blogging at 4 AM wondering whether or not the schools would be open. I'd see my car snowed in and the guy on channel 2 would be shaking his head that the city had yet to make the call. It would be maybe 5 AM when they determined that yes, it was a terrible snowstorm and they were closing.

I took my dog out over an hour ago. He hates this weather and I knew it was only gonna get worse, so I dragged him out of his little bed and pulled him reluctantly outside. He still hasn't spoken to me, but I expect he'll get over it. Hopefully later my wife or kid will take him out and he'll be thankful I did so before things got so bad.

I absolutely recall days as bad as this or worse when I went in. The only concession I made was not dressing as I usually do. I figured if they made me shovel my way in and out of work that I'd dress the part. I'm very grateful, this morning, to not be in my car and listening to Mayor de Blasio announce that everyone should stay home. Instead, he actually made it possible for all of us to do so and is putting his money where his mouth is.

I understand the thought that this inconveniences parents who do have to go to work. I understand that this may cause some of them to stay home, and that there are two sides to that coin. But here in Nassau County, they've always closed the schools on days like these. People like me often had to go to work when that happened. And despite all those school closures, our island has not, in fact, broken away and floated into the Atlantic. I expect New York City will survive this day as well.

Bill de Blasio set a precedent last month when he made an early call to close the schools, a precedent he followed yesterday. He gave parents and teachers adequate notice. He didn't make them sit by the radio. He didn't make thousands of teachers get up, shovel themselves out, set out to work and turn around. That's happened to me at my chronically overcrowded school, which I've had to to report in as early as 7 AM. Now, at least, parents who need to make preparations won't need to make a mad rush at the last possible minute.

Could this be ushering in a new era of treating snow days in a manner that is not insane? We can only hope. Now if he'd just unload the Bloomberg-era DOE lunatics.

Will They or Won't They?

 Update--Mayor Bill de Blasio has closed NYC schools tomorrow, March 14th.

I'm really wondering whether they're gonna close the schools tomorrow. Snow Day Calculator says there's a 99% chance, but this is New York City, so you never really know.

I hear there will be 12-18 inches of snow. De Blasio closed them last month for far less, so perhaps that sets a precedent. I hope so. I usually go in no matter what, but I remember two nights where it took me four hours to get from my school to my home, a distance of 23 miles. Right now, I'm wondering whether that's such a good idea.

On snowy days, I like to stay home and hang out with my dog. He's just a little guy, and he's utterly bewildered by the snow. What the hell  is this stuff, he seems to wonder. Why can't he get into my backyard, which he sees as his private restroom. Why should he have to suffer the indignity of pooping on the front lawn? You don't see humans doing that, usually. Why should he have to do it?

Given the last snow day was a lot milder than many days I've gone in, I'm thinking a big snowfall will make de Blasio call Carmen Fariña and tell her no it is NOT a beautiful day and don't you dare say so. I'm in total agreement. A beautiful day is NOT a day in which you drive west on the Long Island Expressway with cars constantly crashing to your right and left. A beautiful day is NOT a day when you drive home at a speed of five miles an hour and have to pull over to manually wipe off your windshield. And a beautiful day is NOT a day when you drive in and hear the mayor, your boss, say, "Jeez it's awful out there. If you don't have to come in, for goodness sake, stay home."

On the other hand, a ridiculous snow day when only half the kids show up is a good excuse to give a ridiculous quiz that they all get a hundred on. Talk for five minutes about the wonders of art and the different forms that have existed all over the world at different times, and then ask them what color the whiteboard is. Talk about how language has shaped politics, how it forms the way you see the world, and how the Eskimos have twenty words for snow. Then ask the kids what language people speak in China. Give them ten questions like that so they get a high score and feel like it wasn't a total waste of their time coming in.

On the other hand, on days like that don't you feel like the people who didn't come in are smarter than you? I don't necessarily feel that way while I'm in the classroom, but oh, during those four hour drives home I don't feel so smart at all. And as much as I like to see the intrepid souls who are as crazy as I am on days like that, I think if I see a foot of snow outside I'm gonna give up immediately and stay home. I have a feeling that if it's that bad, de Blasio will close the schools.

One thing--last month Mike Mulgrew told the DA that we had only one snow day, and that any day more than one would have to be made up. However, I've now heard from both Mike Schirtzer and a very meticulous school secretary of my acquaintance that we have 182 days this year, and that we can actually take another without having to make it up. So let's hope Mike 2 is right and Mike 1 made a mistake. While you can never be 100% sure about Mikes, my school secretary friend knows everything, as far as I know. (Of course, that's only as far as I know, and I can't promise to know more than either Mike.)

What are you gonna do if Snowmageddon 2017 arrives tomorrow morning? Will the mayor's decision affect yours or have you already got your mind made up?

Update--My most reliable UFT source says we have TWO snow days, so we would NOT have to make up tomorrow. 

Can You Teach an Old Democrat New Tricks?

Shaun King has a lucid and chilling column on the future of the Democratic Party--or lack thereof. At a time when Donald Trump is the least popular starting President, the Democrats and Hillary Clinton have managed to make themselves even less popular. That's a remarkable achievement. King explains it very clearly--the Democrats fail to stand for anything. They oppose Trump, but take the same corporate cash as the GOP and fail to put forth a much-needed alternative.

No one knows this better than teachers, having lived eight years under an Obama administration that treated us, incredibly, even worse than GW did. in fact, Diane Ravitch wrote that Obama gave Bush a third term in education. The Democrats, in their zeal to "triangulate" and get donations from anti-labor causes, embraced Bill Gates and so-called Democrats for Educational Reform. When teachers are rated by junk science test scores, they have Barack Obama to thank for it.

Then there are, of course, those of us who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. Bernie spoke of universal health care for all Americans, as opposed to the compromises of Obamacare, which it appears we are likely to soon lose anyway. He spoke of a living wage for Americans. He spoke of free college for all.

Hillary and her supporters told us that was pie in the sky. You can't have that. You are "Bernie Bros." In fact, just recently a UFT employee attacked me for being a Bernie Bro, and went so far as to say he should not have been allowed to run. Of course, this person misses the point entirely. I had no problem voting for Hillary when the alternative was Donald Trump, but a lot of Americans felt, with a choice like that, they'd just sit it out. I voted. I got everyone I knew to vote. Of course, in our twisted and preposterous electoral system no votes from NY State mattered anyway.

The question then becomes where the Democrats go from here. They just failed an important test by selecting a Hillary supporter rather than a Bernie supporter to run the DNC. In case it's escaped your attention, Hillary was a tremendous failure, one of the worst in the history of this country. It was her turn to run, so she ran, and like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney, electoral results showed that being your turn did not translate to becoming President.

All evidence suggests the Democrats are planning to go their merry way and hope for the best. And all results suggest that is a failed strategy. I am personally very angry with the Hillary supporters who berated me during the primary. I am incredulous that they muster the chutzpah to continue blaming me, or worse, Bernie for their miserable, hurtful and humiliating loss. It's like they don't see what's right in front of their faces, or they simply refuse to.

I'm a teacher. A lot of my job entails talking to students. Sometimes I have to explain what they did wrong and try to show them how they can do better. With die-hard Hillary fans, this is tough. Okay, take this gun and don't aim it at your foot again. If you aim the gun at your foot again, it's highly likely you will end up shooting yourself in the foot again. Oops. You did it again. There goes your foot. Let's go back to the emergency room right now before Trump kills Obamacare.

Democrats need  a message more effective than, "We're not Trump." I see no evidence of any such message and that's a shame. Of course we can possibly raise another party from the grassroots, but that could take years. We could easily sit through term two or more of Trump while we wait.

Forget What's the Matter With Kansas. What's the matter with all of us? Can't we do better than this?

Happy Students Learn More and Happy Teachers Teach Better

I wish I could tell you I thought of that title, but it's a direct quote from Texas superintendent John Kuhn. Don't you wish all superintendents thought that way? Imagine looking toward being productive and helpful rather than vindictive and petty. I know, it's asking a lot, but it's kind of common sense. Of course, there's a Spanish saying that common sense is the least common of all the senses, and I must say I'm a subscriber to that train of thought.

Every day I read articles everywhere on the perfidy of teachers. We don't want to work. We get health benefits and we don't deserve them. Our jobs are easy. We should get rid of all those messy certification requirements and let just anyone do it. Let's judge teachers by test scores. Let's ignore the fact that this is utter nonsense and never, ever question whether the tests are even valid. Let's assume that Moses carried the tests from Mt. Sinai alongside the Ten Commandments. Let's open charter schools because they're all about saving the children. Public schools are dropout factories.

It's tough for us because if you just read these pieces and take them at face value, the arguments appear to not be insane. But when you're in the classroom each and every day, you see things the bureaucrats don't. You see things the papers don't. When some genius in Albany decides that teachers shouldn't grade the tests of their own students it might make sense. After all, if teachers are rated by the tests, they have an incentive to juke the stats.

Now that's true. But why are we being rated by tests when the American Statistical Association says teachers change test scores by a factor of 1-14%? Of course there's that assumption that we're crooks. Now I will freely admit that I want my kids to do well in my classes and on tests. But that only means I'll help. It doesn't mean I'll cheat. Of course, if I were in Albany, where they lower the bar when they want to make politicians look good, and raise it when they want teachers to look bad, I might assume that cheating is rampant. After all, since they cheat as a matter of course, it's only natural that they assume everyone else does too.

Then there's the assumption that teaching is an easy job. You just sit on your ass and watch kids work. Some people say that worked in the 50s, but I don't believe it. Teenagers may wear their hair and clothing differently but they're always teenagers. Me, I would not want to sit unprepared in front of 34 random teenagers and hope for the best. I prepare every day. If I just sat around and handed out worksheets the kids would probably toss me out a window. Not everyone can do this job, no matter what self-styled geniuses like Nick Kristof write in the NY Times. There are very good reasons why half of all new teachers leave in the first five years. In fact, I've seen inspiring and brilliant young teachers walk out of my school, generally a better place to work than many others.

It's not much of a miracle to attain good test scores when you select only students who have proactive parents. Let's take a look at so-called miracle charters. First of all, they are not a default--they require parents to take the step of finding a school and entering a lottery. That in itself sets them apart from the public schools everyone attends. When you add to that the fact that charters can dismiss students who don't attain desired test scores without replacing them, the field becomes even less level. Kids who are dismissed from charters get sent back to public schools, who are then labeled as failures for the scores of those very kids.

What's really amazing is, with all those advantages, charters don't tend to do that much better than public schools. And consider what it would mean even if they did--if you chain kids to their chairs until they pee their pants their test scores can be higher. Who the hell wants to treat children like that just so they can get a few points on some test?

Not me. I believe it's our job to find joy in life and share it with them. I believe that kids should be able to laugh, even if they have to laugh at me. I want my kids to look forward to my class. It doesn't mean that I won't give them tests, but it means they won't necessarily be sitting around in my classroom waiting for the bell to ring, or death, whichever comes first.

John Kuhn is onto something. Someone send the memo to school leaders, up to and including Betsy DeVos. Of course that's a joke. Fanatical ideologues don't believe in joy.

But I do.

An Eye for an iPhone

It's almost inconceivable that an ostensible public servant could introduce a health plan in which people were asked to choose between phones and health. And yet that's exactly what Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah managed to portray a few days ago. You see, to Chaffetz the issue isn't why people can't afford a $10,000 visit to their friendly local ER. The issue is that they're greedy, and that they'd rather have an iPhone than be alive.

Of course that's absolutely absurd, as is the GOP plan to replace Obamacare. The notion, obviously, is to pass on costs to those who can least afford them. Subsidizing insurance by age rather than need means that someone as wealthy as Bill Gates could be eligible for huge benefits while a single mom in Brooklyn will be more or less on her own. I'm sure that makes sense somehow, to someone, but who it is I have no idea. Of course Chaffetz himself has a government health care plan, and if it's good enough for him, why not offer it to all Americans? 

And how on earth can cutting Medicaid support help America? Medicaid is beneficial for states, and ultimately saves money. Clearly the priority of the GOP is not a healthy America, but rather a more wealthy insurance company. And don't forget the uber-rich, who will get a huge tax cut benefit even as our poorer friends and neighbors get cut.

I honestly don't know how Chaffetz or Ryan can get up in the morning and face themselves in a mirror. Were I the motivating factor for a plan like this, I'd take the first opportunity to leap from a tall building. Nonetheless, these guys suffer no such scruples.

If you feel like buying an iPhone, you can get one brand new for as little as $399. I'm not sure what drugs Chaffetz is taking, but I've yet to hear of the health plan you can buy for $400, even if you're the healthiest 22-year-old on God's green earth. In fact, I think you'd be fortunate if you could find a halfway decent plan for $800 a month. As a matter of fact, I have very good health insurance as a NY City employee, and there've been months when I paid $800 in co-pays. With $30 doctor visits and lab fees, $50 visits to Urgent Care, $150 to ER and $200 to hospital admission, those dollars can really mount up.

Despite that, I know how lucky I am. What I really don't understand is how anyone could vote for a lying sack of crap like Jason Chaffetz. I mean, I suppose he must have qualities other than his outright contempt for poor people, but what on earth can they be to remotely compensate for that? The man is a loathsome reptile.

It's disgusting that he insults poor people, as though they're greedy. This guy has a great medical plan, makes almost 200K a year, has a whole lot of his expenses paid by we, the people, and wants to begrudge poor people the small comfort of a phone. I don't understand for the life of me why people vote for these morally bankrupt windbags. I read a whole book called What's the Matter With Kansas and I still haven't got the slightest idea.

But the real sinners are the ones who write the propaganda to keep slugs like this one in office. I hope there's a special ring in hell for those people, because their job entails making life hellish for real working Americans here on earth.

The Ever-Shifting Standard

It's fascinating to read the opinion columns in the New York Post. Yesterday they were all bent out of shape about waiving the current literacy test for incoming teachers. Evidently this test results in fewer teachers of color than white teachers passing. How good is the test? I have no idea. Now I personally think literacy is key for teachers, even though it appears unimportant in a President of the United States.To me, for example, when Donald J. Trumpp, uses the word tapp, it makes me think he's full of crapp.

But let's talk teachers. I certainly hope that we can model the use of English for our students. Let's assume, for the moment, that this test is a fair measure of literacy. Now I can't tell you exactly why we should assume that, since NY State created the NYSESLAT exam to test language acquisition, and in fact it measures no such thing. Also, the state has a history of moving cut scores to get the results it wishes. Wanna fail everyone and make teachers look bad? Raise the cut scores. Wanna pass everyone and make Bloomberg look like a genius? Lower the cut scores.

The problem is not necessarily this test. It's not impossible that this test is a precise measure that's absolutely accurate. Of course I have no reason to assume any such thing, but that doesn't make it impossible. The problem, in fact, is that this standard applies only to public school teachers. It does not apply to charter school teachers, who may be appointed despite not having teacher certification. And yes, that applies right here in good old New York State.

So my question is why doesn't the NY Post go after those substandard charter school teachers? If it's outrageous that public school teachers fail to meet this standard, isn't it equally outrageous that charters can hire people who not only don't meet it, but may fail in other areas as well?

I know people who've been banned from public schools, either temporarily or permanently. Where did these people find work? In charters, of course. Now I'm not saying these people are bad teachers. They were targeted by the lunatics at DOE, sometimes for bad reasons and other times for none I could determine. Sometimes I read about these teachers and sometimes I know firsthand that their charges are trumped-up nonsense. But you know what I never read? I never read that, oh my gosh, this charter school hired this awful teacher that isn't good enough to work in a public school.

Let's talk student teachers. I've had many, and most were great. There was one glaring exception, an ESL teacher who made fundamental usage errors on my board, errors some of my students noticed. She offered lessons I knew she couldn't have written, since she seemed not to understand them, and when I looked I was able to find them lifted in their entirely from the internet. Oddly, her college professor seemed not to notice. My student teacher also had a charming habit of trash-talking me for criticizing things like her differentiation of "might" and "may" in cases where there was none. My colleagues, none of whom liked her all that much, reported this back to me daily.

When this teacher asked me for a recommendation, I declined. I told her, truthfully, that I never wrote recommendations for student teachers. (Actually that was simply because no one had asked me.) She went and complained to my supervisor about that. I told my supervisor it was because she was incompetent, and the supervisor was happy to leave it at that. Actually there was nothing she could have done, since I'm not required to recommend anyone, even people l like.

Where did this student teacher end up after failing to score a gig at my school or any other public school? You guessed it. Last I heard she was at a charter school, saving the world from awful public school teachers like me and you.

So where's the standard? Well, to me it looks like Public School Bad, Charter School Good. When there's profit to be made from our kids, it's positive. When Eva Moskowitz can bring home a bundle of cash, somewhere around 500K a year last I checked, all is good with the editorial staff of the New York Post. I don't know whether Murdoch is losing money on this enterprise, but the important thing is to get the word out.

Whatever it is, it's our fault. I've grown fairly accustomed to such messages over the year. We've been found guilty of the awful crime of educating New York City's children, no matter where they come from, what their handicaps, or what their home lives are. And as long as the charters continue to select the students they want, dump those they don't, and hold a blatantly lower standard for the teachers they run through like chewing gum, we'll always be guitly. 

A Clean Campaign and an Honorable Election

 That's what NYSUT Unity is promising this year. This begs the question, why would anyone expect anything otherwise? If they weren't, there'd be no call to say any such thing.

The wording is curious too. The campaign will be clean, they say, but they don't promise it will be honorable. The election with be honorable, but there's no indication it will be clean. I'm curious why they didn't assign both adjectives to one, or better yet both of these things. If I needed to assert that, I certainly would have clarified. I'd also offer examples rather than just my word. But that's me.

Here's the promise:

A promise for a clean campaign & honorable election - https://t.co/EwaxXUUFSe #unionpride @nysutra2017 @AndyPallotta #RepresentationCounts pic.twitter.com/0Bu6JHYS9r

— NYSUT Unity Caucus (@Unity_Today) February 28, 2017

Yet my sources tell me that NYSUT has yet to agree to debate Stronger Together. Is that honorable? I hear that the implication, for reasons they haven't bothered to enumerate, is that ST Caucus is not honorable. I have my own issues with Stronger Together, but they mostly amount to an honest disagreement. I have very vivid recollections, though, of traveling all over the state to forums with Unity/ Revive, and I recall very well how they were arranged.

The first one was in Long Island, and was pretty much open. We had no idea what the questions would be and each side got a few minutes to answer. I'm pretty sure that anyone in attendance would tell you we kicked their butts all over the place. Alas, of those that followed, all but one was much more tightly controlled. Some entailed everyone reading statements with no interaction. One like that was somewhere in Westchester and run by a Revive supporter.

There was another, in fact, in Saratoga Springs, where they spoke, we responded, and then they got to speak again. Two to one. That's clean and honorable, isn't it? I remember that pretty vividly because I slept in some crappy hotel that night, woke up at maybe 4 AM, and then drove like hell to make it to work the next day. There was one in Newburgh, NY where they said they couldn't show because of work commitments. I felt very little sympathy because I went, drove home in a blinding rainstorm, and made it into work the following day.

March 16th in Mount Kisco there will be a forum, and NYSUT Unity has not yet committed to it, Why? Likely as not because it will follow the same format as the one in Long Island did. I got to observe Andy Pallotta pretty closely over those forums, and I can tell you this--unexpected questions were not his forte. This notwithstanding, fielding questions from your constituents, whatever they may ask, is fundamental.

What Pallotta is good at is reading statements. He's a very good reader. When he has a script he can sound commanding and persuasive. On the other hand, Martin Messner, who happily peddles MetLife/ NYSUT insurance that costs twice as much as Allstate, had trouble with that. This guy, who works with NYSUT finances, did not appear to understand what he was reading. Maybe that's why he can endorse an insurance plan that makes us pay double. Who knows?

Let's talk honorable. Is it clean and honorable to dump the sitting President for acting like a President? Once Richard Iannuzzi took action against Andy Pallotta for supporting a Cuomo gala, his fate was sealed. Iannuzzi curtailed Pallotta's money supply, which was a big no-no. NYSUT finances are a mess, in fact, according to my friend Harris Lirtzman, among others. I'm not sure why that merits re-election. I'm not even sure why the deteriorating pension tiers or the APPR that's brought morale to a low I've never seen in three decades teaching merits it either. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only legislative victory Unity/ Revive achieved was to get double pensions for the officers, so they wouldn't have to go through what they put Lee Cutler through.

How about Karen Magee? I'd heard almost two years ago that she wouldn't be getting a second term, because she somehow labored under the misconception that being elected President meant she was President. A friend of hers told me Magee herself didn't hear about that until January 2017. Anyway, it appears they're now doing away with the fiction that Pallotta doesn't run NYSUT and he's running for President, so we'll grant at least one point for their honesty.

As for clean and honorable argument, the person in charge of the NYSUT Unity campaign feed is purposeful but less than admirable in that he traffics largely in logical fallacy. As far as I can determine, he would not know a proactive argument if one were beating him over the head. His prime argument against Iannuzzi was that he lived like a king because he held meetings in some club they'd joined in Albany. The Unity/ Revive folk said they'd prefer to hold meetings in Starbucks. Hey, Governor Cuomo, meet us at a Starbucks so we can negotiate an APPR that doesn't rely on junk science. How do you suppose that would work out? How many times do you suppose they did that?

The last time I read the NYSUT PR guy he'd posted a personal attack piece against me. Among other things, he called me a part time teacher and a part time unionist. I discovered this piece because AFT President Randi Weingarten tweeted it and commented how good it was. I pointed out, on Twitter, that this managed to libel not only me, but also every working chapter leader in New York City, and Randi took it down. The rest of the post was strawman/ ad hominem nonsense. Several of my friends wrote me that they left comments, but this particular clean and honorable NYSUT Unity guy doesn't post them. That's one way to avoid argument, I guess.

Another, of course, is to refuse to show up to a forum. What about it Andy? Are you willing to debate Michael Lillis? How about you Martin? Ready to debate finance? Are you guys willing to put your money where your mouths are and participate cleanly and honorably? Are you willing to stand alongside your opponents and let the public see how able you are next to them?

Hey, it doesn't matter to me. I'm a New York City high school teacher, and like my 20,000 colleagues, I'm not represented no matter who wins. But since we have the honor of paying your salary and at least one of your pensions regardless, it would be nice to know that your campaign consists of something more than telling us how honorable you are. I have never known anyone, honorable or otherwise, to advertise not to be honorable. Saying how honorable you are, to me, means less than nothing. But hey, any time you want to show me you're honorable, I'm here every day, ready to accept your PR guy's apology.

Alas, if you have any honor, you're also gonna have to stand in public and defend your record, repeatedly, and all over the state. So what's it gonna be, NYSUT Unity? Are you gonna answer unscreened questions? Or are you fraidy-scared?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Hell Freezes Over

Photo notwithstanding, this isn't about the Eagles. I'm just sitting here pretty much in shock that anyone from UFT would recruit me to do anything whatsoever. But it just happened nonetheless.

It's been a very interesting but bumpy ride for me on this blog. I started in 2005, with a view toward defending the UFT against the slings and arrows of the press, which seemed to hate us and everything we ever did. I had written a few times for New York Teacher, and they were the first people who ever paid me to write.  That said, I had personally taken exception to the 2002 Contract for adding time. Given that we had recently taken zero percent increases, I saw further such increases as a way to wipe out any gains and effectively leave us working extra time for free.

Shortly thereafter the 2005 Contract showed up. I had been in negotiations to write for Edwize, the gone but not-much-lamented UFT blog. I found the 2005 Contract to be a virtual abomination, and stating that publicly marked the end of my Edwize career before it even began. So I stayed here, and developed a voice that may have criticized union leadership once or twice, here and there.

I've run for office a few times, and last year, with the support of the MORE Caucus and the high school voters, managed to win a seat on the UFT Executive Board. We go there twice a month and support almost everything Unity brings up. Unity, which outnumbers us by over ten to one, opposes almost everything we bring up. It's a pretty funny position to be in, but you never know when they'll come to their senses.

I've been on an up and down quest to help reform the awful ELL policy called Part 154, and have not had a whole lot of success getting the kind of attention it deserves. I had a journalist all set to write about it, but for whatever reason, we had a lot of back and forth and it never happened. My friend Aixa and I made it all the way to being on TV, but haven't been able to get sustained attention thus far. I was able to help initiate and push a resolution with UFT to reform it, but nothing much has happened since then.

While I was pretty happy about it, I also almost fell off my chair when UFT VP of Education Evelyn de Jesus invited me to the NY State Association for Bilingual Education Conference in White Plains last weekend. I had signed up to do work with a UFT ESL committee, but didn't expect anything to come of it. I spent three days with people who were passionate about the kids I see every day. It was pretty amazing. Evelyn also spoke to me about presenting on future occasions, which surprised me even more. In fact, Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa, who I've been trying in vain to reach out to, actually walked up to me after she spoke and said told me was working on Part 154.

I'm more than happy to work with my union to promote our shared values and help the kids we serve. Fun though it may be fight all the time, this might be a better way to go. It's something I've been urging on this space for some time. We are fighting the worst dangers I've ever seen. Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump would be happy to close every public school in the country, make a few bucks on privatization, and maybe bring back child labor It appears inevitable that the United States will move backward to become a so-called right to work country. And if that isn't enough, my students, from every corner of the globe, are facing fears and dangers worse than I ever thought they'd have to encounter.

So I want to thank Evelyn de Jesus for thinking of me for this. I'm ready to work with UFT to preserve and protect the rights of my students. I'll do whatever I can. If we can give them a better and/ or safer education, I'm up for it. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, at the conference, that if they came to our schools we're ready to be arrested. I know I am. These kids are like my own children and they've been one of the best parts of my life.

I'm ready to stand for them, to defend them, and to fight for them. I'm thrilled to see UFT leadership feeling the same way, and they have my unqualified support in this.

Banana

My students like to test me. Often I fail. But not always.

The other day, I said, "See you tomorrow." One of my students, from El Salvador, said, "No, I'll see you mañana."

I said, "No, TOMORROW."

This back and forth went on for some time. Once more, my student said, "Mañana."

A Chinese girl in the back of the classroom said, "Banana."

A bunch of students picked up on it.

The next day, I was giving an exercise, and very pretentiously began to say, "You may begin..."

And a whole bunch of students, from all parts of the globe, replied, "Banana."

"We can do it banana."

"Good idea."

"Let's not do it now. Let's do it banana."

In my classroom, you see, we don't just learn English. We invent entirely new languages. We only have one word so far, but I see a big future for our new language. Once we work on it a little, I'm gonna send it to Pearson so they can make it compliant with the Common Core State Standards.

Executive Board Takeaway February 27.2017

There were a few striking things that occurred on Monday night. The first was Howard Schoor’s joke about how popular the questions period is. This was at least the second time he made that crack. This is significant for a few reasons. One, of course, is that we high school reps are seen as a pain in the ass rather than contributing members. Contributing members are expected to sit quietly and never contribute anything. That was pretty clear later in the evening, after Jonathan Halabi asked a question, Schoor asked whether he had answered it, and a woman nearby remarked loudly, “YES, he DID!”

Questions, for Unity Caucus, are a nuisance to be avoided. This is very odd for me because I’m a teacher and questions are pretty much my stock in trade. Can you imagine a teacher in a classroom making jokes about questions? In any case, since the overwhelming majority of this board sits quietly, never asks questions, and never rises to say anything whatsoever, I can only assume that the meetings were quite peaceful before we arrived. Also I hear the food was much better. Monday at 3:30 I went to a ramen joint on Broadway so I wouldn’t have to eat the crappy sandwiches, but they tell me when the board was all Unity they had food that people actually wanted to eat.

Of course there are exceptions to the sit down and shut up rule. When someone on the dais puts out the bat signal, the Unity loyalists all rise to argue against things like effectively enforcing the class size provisions of the contract. The system works great, they say. They fixed it in my school, once, and therefore there is no problem systemwide. We suffered and gave up pay for the existing provision, 50 years ago when most of use were not even alive. We should drop this resolution, form a committee, invite no one from the high school Executive Board, and work out this issue.

So basically, we have dozens of people pissed off about the downgrade in catering, people who’d have been perfectly content to sit and do nothing. And that, I have to assume, is mostly what they did before we came around to ruin everything.

I asked about the resolution that would bring Regents grading back into schools. This resolution has been on the DA agenda twice and has not come up for a vote. It’s not a priority for leadership. More important, evidently, is to show a clip from SNL with Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer. It was pretty funny, but it was also on network TV as well as all over Facebook. Of course Mulgrew isn’t on Facebook, so maybe he assumes no one else is either. Who knows? Maybe they think it's a good idea to laugh at Trump, whose name Mulgrew wouldn't utter, as he does everything in his power to cripple American union.

The worst thing, though, was the response about whether or not UFT would support the pro-education March this Saturday. Mulgrew deigned to grace us with nine minutes of his precious time, and stressed over and over we have to focus on supporting education. Yet we are not officially supporting a pro-education march this Saturday in Manhattan. This is because AQE, the organization that sponsors it, ran an anti-Cuomo ad. The ad states, correctly, that Cuomo is very much in sync with Betsy DeVos. He has attacked the public education “monopoly,” as he calls it. He has also supported tax credits for private schools, back door vouchers, just like DeVos.

These are simple facts, demonstrated on the ad in Cuomo’s own words.



But we want to get our “seat at the table” and therefore we must not antagonize him. For some reason, UFT leadership believes Cuomo is our friend this week, and also seems to believe that he would not stab us in the back in a New York minute given half a chance.

It must be liberating to ignore history and hope for the best. From my vantage point as a working teacher it’s very tough to do that. I don’t believe a Cuomo changes his spots. I believe AQE is right on target, and I’ve seen Cuomo pimping for charters very recently. I don’t doubt for a moment he’d stand with Moskowitz again on request.

I’m willing and ready to listen, and I’m not afraid of questions. I’m afraid I don’t see those qualities in leadership, and I’m literally afraid that UFT will continue to not only make the same egregious errors that left us adrift in Trumplandia, but also double down on them and ensure, at the very least, that it takes us longer to crawl our way out.

DeVos of Da People?

There is no question that US Secretary Betsy DeVos is an active enemy of public schools. At the right-wing conference she attended last week, she opened with a hilarious commentary ridiculing public school students who are too poor to buy lunch. She proudly told the crowd that she told Bernie Sanders there was no such thing as a free lunch.

That's news to most students in my Title One school, which relies on the federal government to give them lunch every day. Maybe DeVos is feeling jolly because her BFFs in the House are moving to take away lunch from poor kids who come to school hungry. Or maybe she finds the free lunch thing amusing because she herself was born rich and married richer. Clearly my students (and I) showed a lack of vision by failing to do that.

I don't suppose there were many free lunches in the elite private educational institutions DeVos and her children attended. When your family can pay tens of thousands of dollars annually for you to be away from the riff raff, you don't mix with the sort of people who fall into that category. That, of course, is one reason a whole lot of private schools exist.

The problem, in fact, is exactly the opposite of what DeVos says it is. She'd tell you that we need more choice. She'd tell you that we need charter schools and vouchers. She'd tell you that HBCUs are about school choice rather than utter lack of it. She'd tell you that we're condemning our children to inadequate facilities by sending them to the public schools that she and Donald Trump have deemed unfit for their children. Ironically, under absolutely no scenario they put forth will our children, whether or not they get free lunch, be attending school alongside the DeVos and Trump children.

If so-called school choice is not the problem, what is? I'd argue it's Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump. I'd argue it's Michelle Rhee and Michael Bloomberg. I'd argue it's Andrew Cuomo, Joel Klein, Bill Gates, John King, and absolutely every one of the so-called education reformers who decline to send their own children to the schools over which they preside. And yes, I'd have to include Barack Obama in that crowd as well. While I understand taking special precautions for the children of a US President, I have no idea how he rationalizes pushing one system for our children, and opting his into a school that does almost the polar opposite.

If Betsy DeVos had been required to place her own children in public schools, can you imagine Detroit, in her home state, facing crumbling, rat-infested buildings as a matter of course? Do you suppose she'd allow such conditions to even exist if they could affect her own kids? In fact Betsy's privatization efforts have led to the deterioration of public schools all over her state. Sadly she's not alone.

People with a lot of money give it to folks like Andrew Cuomo, who pushes thinly-veiled voucher schemes much like DeVos does. It's Cuomo who advocated and enabled the junk-science based evaluation system that's brought teacher morale to the lowest I've ever seen it. It's Andrew Cuomo who criticized the system he championed as "baloney" because not enough unionized working teachers were fired as a result. Of course Andrew Cuomo didn't send his kids to public school either, so why does he give a damn what happens to them?

Anyone who'd presume to lead a public school system ought to have a stake in it. If Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein had to send their kids to public schools, would our children be sitting around in crumbling trailers? Would they and their teachers be rated via tests of quality that can be described, charitably, as dubious? Would they set up junk science systems to demoralize and fire the people whose jobs entailed helping their children?

Of course not. There ought not to be a multi-tiered education system, and Finland, generally regarded as the world's best, hasn't got one. Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, and as long as we allow it to be controlled by hypocritical windbags with no stake in it, we're not going to reach that ideal. And as long as we entrust our children to people who find our children's poverty a source of hilarity, we're going to move farther from that goal, at a rapid pace.

We need to find leaders willing to put their money where their mouths are, and to do that they're going to have to put their children where our schools are.