Notes from UFT Executive Board December 18, 2017--Chapter Leader for Newly Signed DOE Managers but Still None for ATRs

by special guest Mike Schirtzer

Open Mike

No speakers-everyone is bitterly disappointed says Schoor.

Minutes--approved 

Mulgrew will not be here

LeRoy Barr-upcoming Wednesday 6-8pm emergency tax protest sponsored by Manhattan borough president and scott stringer- at John Jay college 

Asking people to come out

Final vote by congress maybe this week

Rewards the rich takes away from middle class

Contract committee is meeting 1/10 all members of ex bd are on 

Must sign confidentiality agreement

Will hear foundation and where we are going

Next ex bd is 1/8

Questions

Mike Schirtzer- Do Ctle/PD hours can hours we do in school count? Will the doe train our people in the schools?- 

A--UFT is licensed we don’t know  Doe plan, they can bring in UFT, but they do not have any formalized plan yet

Q--Class size violations- How many oversized classes are there? 

A--need report- DOE sent us numbers-next ex bd we will report back.

Maternity/parental leave- demonstration possible, no progress, we wil not take a bad deal. Every formula they show up with benefits city, hurts us, we need numbers that are fair and work for us. If we don’t get something soom we’ll take action

KJ--New Action--asks about consolidation of schools and resulting excessing.

A--One school may be working well, another isn’t- we are in agreement with doe- small schools made during Bloomberg admin, 2 JHS in same building, better to combine and cut down on administration. We will propose combining excess lists

Closing schools, school in the Bronx where kid get killed, PEP in feb or march we will get full list

We had people in those schools this morning that are being closed or consolidated to speak with our members

Some of those we agree with doe, some we do not.

Jonathan Halabi- Janella and I formed a committee on specialized schools, Janella testified in front of city council on integration- can we consider task force on high school admission process which sets up schools and children to be winner or losers?

Janella Hinds answers - I participated on diversity task force set up by mayor- it will be up and running for next year on diversity, access, and equity. We will cover admissions process, there will be DoE offcials and students along with me on this committee. We need to figure out pathway and what admissions will look like. 

District report

Howie Schoor

We now represent people who work in borough offices for DOE, over 90% yes vote.

City managers-lost on parental leave, that’s why they came with us. They got 2 and 2 percent raises, they lost holidays, so we got them a lot of things back. Happy about approval contract. Over half of chapter came in person at borough offices and they really appreciated UFT. If we weren’t here DOE would do same things to our members and take stuff from us too. Thank everyone who helped. They are great people and smart. They will have a chapter leader. DoE is not very happy, this is their managers

Mel Aaronson -treasurer-something nice in tax law, part of the proposed tax bill was tax profits of pensions, which would have taken money from us and our pensions. We fought and kept that provision out, that bill passed, but pensions will be safe

Paul Egan-legislative report- Paul mentions how eagles beat giants

We want a speaker of the city council that we can work with,. Before xmas we will know who it is. Looks like someone from Queens or Bronx. That will be in place before we come back.

Ex bd vacancies

Dwayne Clark nominates  Sung Lee CL of community school, very active-comes to every event, rallies, great asset to UFT- he is young and engergetic -young dad wants to stay active. Great asset to elementary division. Hereby elected since no other nominees

Leroy Barr nominates Elizabeth Perez started as bilingual PS 160 worked tirelessly as UFT served as special rep and political action coordinator and now is leader of Brooklyn office. She is taking on tyranny of administrators and modified many of their behaviors

Hereby elected since no other nominees

Jonathan Halabi--New Action--nominates Kate Martin Bridge

Math teacher and chapter leader, was a NYS auditor before that, has been active as a delegate, has been helpful in those that have been excessed. Stepped in as CL for small school. Previously served as HS ex bd member

Hereby elected since no other nominees

UFT Executive Board December 18, 2017. Stuff Happens and I Write About It

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I won't be going to work today and I won't be going to Executive Board either. I've asked Jonathan to take notes, and if he commits them to email I'll post them. Just in case he doesn't, I've decided to write the notes for the meeting before it happens, without having actually attended.

Secretary Howard Schoor welcomes us. 6 PM

Speakers:

Unity Caucus member gets up and tells us how great a Thing was. It was fantastic. Nobody expected it to happen, the odds were against it, and everyone loved it. This is a great victory for all of us, and truly inspirational. Who would have thunk we'd be able to achieve this Thing, especially in these times? But when we stick together, and act determined, we find a Way to do the Thing. There is applause.

District Rep. gets up and explains how another Thing happened. It was hard to achieve this particular Thing, because we were up against a Bad Principal who was very much against the Thing. But we went to the school, and not only did we go, but several people on the dais went as well. They were there multiple times and insisted there was a Way to accomplish the Thing. A member comes up and thanks the union for finding the Way to do the Thing. There is more applause.

Minutes--briefly debated after Mike Schirtzer's objection that minutes are too short. Schirtzer demands 62 seconds per minute, contending members are not deriving maximum enjoyment out of minutes as constituted presently. Unity Rep. makes point of order, saying minutes are too long because they already have to listen to MORE and New Action, sometimes for up to two minutes at a stretch. Asks minutes be limited to 58 seconds. Point of order recognized by chair, 58-second minutes approved on party lines. Second party line vote designates 58-second minutes New Minutes.

President's Report--Mulgrew is not here. 

Staff Director's Report--LeRoy Barr describes a bunch of stuff that happened, and then tells us about a bunch of other stuff that will happen in the future.

Questions--

MORE rep asks a question.

Howard Schoor gives vague response.

New Action rep asks a question.

Howard Schoor calls on someone else to make a response. Person he calls on is going to meet with someone to discuss this question, and will get back to it as soon as they have an answer.

Another MORE rep asks what about the question that was asked last time. Schoor says he hasn't got the answer yet, but will find out. Calls on someone else to explain  why. This person has been to a meeting on that very topic. Has no answer but will try to find out at the next meeting. After that he is confident he will be able to conclusively explain why he still has no answer.

Mulgrew arrives. Mulgrew speaks. Mulgrew leaves.  

MORE rep. with MacBook notes times Mulgew came and left, inserts picture of The Flash running away.

Legislative Report--Paul Egan talks about football. MORE member raises point of order, claims football talk irrelevant to union business. Point of order ruled off point and out of order. Football talk continues for 16 New Minutes, illuminating subtle and intricate differences between various kinds of football and explaining precisely why certain teams should win while others should not. Biblical references cited in support.

Also, we are facing Janus, and Janus is a pretty bad thing.

Reports from Districts--

Unity Rep. A--There was a Great Event. Event was Great. Everyone, without exception, praised and adored the Great Event and next year it will be an Even Greater Event.

Unity Rep. B--There was another Event. It was much better than the Event they had last year because this person, that person, and some other person went to event. Thanks all the people who went to Event.

Meeting interrupted when Philly steak sandwich falls on floor with resounding crash, breaking member's foot. Ambulance is called, member is taken in ambulance. After ten New Minutes, meeting resumes.

Special orders of business--

Resolution--The world would be better if people were nicer. Resolution is contained in folder. UFT VP motivates, contending she personally knows a good number of people who are are nice and likes them much better than people who are not. Several Unity members get up and state that, at their work, it's much easier to deal with nice people than not nice people. Head of grievance department is brought up, speaks in strong support. Says most conflicts are easier to resolve if people are nicer. States that if principals were nicer there would be fewer grievances.

Passes unanimously.

Resolution--To make all the little children all over the world happy. Resolution is on Kelly green paper in back of room with coffee spilled on it. Sticky note is attached to first paper in stack that says, "Please print this on Kelly green paper, spill coffee on it, and don't put it in folder." We wait while people go back and try to pick copies with fewest coffee stains. Jonathan Halabi of New Action motivates. Says everyone likes children and when they are happy the world is a better place. Says he personally works with children every day, and that when they are happy they learn better. Says when he tried making them sad results were not as good, so he now tries to make them happy instead.

Unity member steps down from dais and says, while he may or may not like to see the children of the world happy, that this is neither the time nor the place. This is an issue better left to the 300 member negotiating committee and taking it out of their hands would be an act of such unspeakable depravity that he cannot bear to contemplate it for another moment. Takes off shoe and bangs on podium.

80 Unity members momentarily look up from sandwiches and/ or phones to pay attention.

Proposition is debated. Several Unity reps contend this may alienate Trump voters and say this is not the time for such a bold resolution. Another asks whether there are studies to demonstrate this theory. A MORE member gets up to speak in support. Unity member makes point of order, interrupts her mid speech. Another Unity member calls the question. Howard Schoor praises the motion and remarks that in the over 30 years he's known this Unity member, he's never known him to speak before. Question is called.

Resolution fails on party lines.

We are adjourned.

CSA to Principals--Do Any Damn Thing You Want

The ICE blog covered this last week, comparing the CSA and UFT reactions to a memo that came from the office of Debbie Poulos, Director of UFT Contract Empowerment Dept. You may see things on this blog now and then which are critical of UFT leadership, but the fact that such a department even exists is a step in the right direction. I don't know whether we had it before Debbie ran it, but I'd certainly never heard of it before.

I've been chapter leader for nine years and I've seen how rules can be selectively enforced. If someone likes you, you can get away with outrageous infractions. If not, well, you get a letter to file on the flimsiest of evidence. The people with the LIFs may then discuss the outrageous infractions of fellow members, and it becomes common knowledge what they got away with. Rules? Judging from the memo, they don't apply to CSA.

And for a long time, it was tough to fight back. I will tell you that at least two references on that paperwork complaint form came from my school. I'll also assure you that, while some things did not make precedent, others are common sense. They say that common sense is the least common of all the senses, so I'm not altogether surprised to find CSA making blatant misstatements. Maybe they consult with DOE legal, which in my experience, appears to issue opinions about the UFT Contract without the benefit of having bothered to read it.

There are some good things happening at 52 Broadway and Debbie Poulos is most definitely one of them. Sometimes you hear gloom and doom from leadership, but it doesn't come from her office. We have real problems, and her office is in the business of working out real solutions. If that isn't possible, there are paperwork complaints. CSA is going to lose a whole lot more of them if chapter leaders are willing to make them.

Sadly, there are a whole lot of schools with no union presence. Everyone does teacher teams every day for C6, and if you don't like it, go work somewhere that follows the Contract. Principal's rating depends on teacher teams and nothing else matters. There are schools where chapter leader is like a hot potato, a job no one wants but someone gets tagged with. That's understandable in a hostile environment, and sadly there are many such environments here in Fun City. It's eye-opening to go to Executive Board and hear tale after tale of abusive principals. That's disturbing, and taking them one at a time as we do, we make exceedingly slow progress.

On the other hand, in my neck of the woods I see a distinct improvement at Queens UFT. Grievances I filed often used to fall into a black hole somewhere out on Queens Boulevard. In our school, for example (and for years), people with sixth classes were also saddled with C6 assignments. People complained endlessly about them, and UFT sources told me that was the way it was. Around September 2016, I actually read Circular 6R and found that was not the case. It says, right there in black and white, that teachers who take sixth classes are relieved from C6 duty. (It also says that establishing sixth classes requires concurrence from the chapter.)

It was tough to find someone who would grieve. A lot of people are afraid to file grievances. Aside from that, a lot of people with sixth classes felt they were risking their positions by complaining. I searched high and low, and found a bold soul to make the complaint. We were denied at Step 1 and we waited. Then we waited some more. Four months later, I started to make a stink about it and it finally made it to Step 2. At that point, the member decided going to Manhattan for the day wouldn't be any fun. I offered to go along. I offered to pay the fare and buy lunch. But the member failed to discern the fun in any of it.

I'm an ESL teacher. I'm offered an extra class every year. I never take it, even though the money would be great. (I honestly have no idea how I manage to meet the responsibilities of my current job, let alone an extra one.) So I couldn't grieve. Instead I filed the complaint and spoke with Debbie Poulos. In our multi-session school, we have an SBO to enable three days of C6, one of OPW, and one of teacher teams. Teacher teams entail paperwork, particularly on days you present. Because of Circular 6R, we were able to maintain this was inappropriate, since the members with six classes ought not to have a C6 assignment at all. We won this complaint, which was significant because neighboring schools had also been ignoring C6 rules, and for years. I'm hard-pressed to see, despite the CSA bluster, how your school wouldn't win it as well.

As for Queens UFT, grievances no longer disappear. I now get emails asking what happened to this or that one, asking me to check or follow up. This is a vast improvement over the black hole thing. A particular grievance that I'm certain would've descended into oblivion last year was brought to Step Two just last week.

CSA can crow all it likes, but I won't go down without a fight and I'm now getting very good support from both central and borough offices. It's sad that CSA has taken a practice that ought to be merely adversarial and ascended it to outright belligerence. In an ideal world, we'd all know the rules and admit it when we screwed up. Alas, in the immortal words of Tony Soprano, fahgeddaboudit.

It's funny sometimes dealing with rules. Quite often, members argue that this is wrong or that is right. I have to explain that right and wrong are not what wins grievances. We need to look for specific violations. Sometimes administrators argue right and wrong with me. Why do we have that rule? Wouldn't this one be fairer? Oddly, I only hear this when they're losing arguments about the rules.

There are rules they don't like. There are rules we don't like. There are rules neither side likes, e.g. four minimum observations even for teachers who do fine with only two. Some people say rules are what separates us from the animals (Please don't take this as a slur against animals. Though I love them, I don't always emulate their behavior.)

It's kind of a shame when CSA decides to side openly with the animals. It's kind of our job as teachers to foster humanity and cooperation. But hey, they aren't teachers anymore, and we all have to do what we all have to do.

Chalkbeat, Elizabeth Green, and Eva Moskowitz

I was once thrilled with Elizabeth Green. She wrote for a small NYC paper and was hands down the best education journalist around. I don't remember exactly what she wrote about, but I remember she was the only one doing it. She cut through the nonsense and noise and reported the truth, something in short supply both then and now.

I remember when Chalkbeat began as Gotham Schools. It quickly became a go-to for those of us obsessed with education. I was pretty excited when Elizabeth called me and asked me to write for them. She said something about my being a natural writer, which I took to mean that, despite never having attended some fancy private school, I was able to think clearly anyway.

One of my first pieces was about a Harlem elementary school being invaded by a Moskowitz Academy. I attended a public school rally there and reported what I saw and heard. Several parents said they only accepted students with higher scores. I was excoriated in the comments (They may or may not still be there. On several of my Chalkbeat pieces, comments have mysteriously disappeared.) by people claiming that wasn't the case. After that, I was subject to a really draconian editing process, more unreasonable than any I've been subject to anywhere. In fact, they let me go from this non-paying gig for suggesting that Cathie Black was sponsored by a billionaire (named Bloomberg), that TFA recruited from the Ivy League, and some other non-debatable point I no longer recall.

Later, when Chalkbeat ran some nonsensical piece about E4E getting 100 signatures on a petition for some ridiculous cause or other, I challenged them to do the same for me, and they said sure they would, no problem. We have 300 members, and it takes me 90 minutes to collect 100 signatures. I followed up, and collected 100 signatures on a petition demanding equity for ELLs in our school. Someone from Chalkbeat called me to follow up, but no article ever appeared. (So much for equity between reformies and public school activists.)

For years I've watched Chalkbeat follow every Momentous Moskowitz Moment, and often ignore activities by the UF of T. So I wasn't entirely surprised when Norm Scott pointed me to this piece by Andrea Gabor about how MSM slobbers all over Moskowitz like she's the second coming. And surprise, surprise, Elizabeth Green is among the prime offenders:

While Green notes that Success Academy students “regularly trounce their peers all across New York on state tests” she never actually gives you the scores. Rebecca Mead does—more on her New Yorker story below: On the latest tests, 95 percent of Success Academy students achieved proficiency in math and 84 percent in ELA; the comparable citywide scores are 36 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

This is important for several reasons. One is that the sole factor in considering Moskowitz Academies superior to public schools is test scores. I think it was Alfie Kohn who said that test scores measure nothing more than zip code. In any case, in a country like the United States, afflicted with extreme poverty, there are a whole lot of reasons why test scores suffer. In NYC, with 10% of its students literally homeless, that's far from a minor issue. With Moskowitz Academies keeping got to go lists and making students test prep until they pee their pants, I wouldn't send my kid (or yours) there on a bet.

Even if you accept the preposterous notion that test scores are the sole factor in determining the quality of a school, Andrea Gabor offers the following devastating tidbit:

We do know that attrition at Success charters is very high with the most compliant students, and the best test-takers, surviving. (Mead, in her New Yorker story, points out that Success Academy’s first high school will graduate just 17 students next spring, down from 73 first graders.)

This means fewer than 25% of the students who started in the Moskowitz Academy have stuck it out. This calls into question their proficiency rates as well. Once we account for the various unfactored losses, Moskowitz Academy percentages fall below those of the dreaded public schools who are supposedly sitting around Waiting for Superman. So despite all the highly compensated, hedge fund supported Moskowitz Mouthpieces, we outperform them in the only area they deem noteworthy.

If you also consider the facts that we do not treat our students like lab rats, that the public has input in how we run our schools (flawed and constricted though mayoral control renders it), and that teachers are not systematically squeezed like overripe tomatoes to be unceremoniously discarded like trash, there are various conclusions here that, alas, have escaped Elizabeth Green. That's a shame because, for my money, Elizabeth Green is as smart as just about anyone I've ever met.

What's worse is that, with Green and others pushing the unexamined Legend of the Moskowitz Academy, a whole lot of people subscribe to the corporate charter myth. There's a whole lot of money and power behind them too.

Just about the only things we have going for us are superior numbers and the truth.

I See Teachers Who Don't Care

There's a brutal op-ed over at the Bklyner this morning. It goes a bit beyond the usual "all teachers suck" theme I see in the NY editorial pages. This is because it targets the teachers of a single school. I mean, it's one thing to stereotype all of us. It's a little more hurtful when you target a small group:

The teachers at Ethan Allen don’t appear to care at all about our kids, or any of the other students they’re supposed to be educating. They only want to pass students along and wash their hands of them at the end of the year, even if this means that kids aren’t prepared for the next grade. 

This begs the question of who exactly are "the other students they're supposed to be educating." That's an odd slip for a thinking editor to miss. If, in fact, they were supposed to be educating kids of non-parents, there'd be another issue, perhaps one of pod creatures. An alternate interpretation is that the writers refer to their kids only, and have decided that every other parent, without exception, shares their impressions. Either way there's a leap of faith I'm not making.

As for the primary issue of teachers not caring, the writers have not bothered to provide a shred of evidence. I also see that the writers claim to know exactly what the teachers want. I'm always impressed by clairvoyance (although if you don't believe in clairvoyance you might dismiss this argument as a strawman). The writers continue:

It’s also nearly impossible to meet with them or with administrators, which leaves us in the dark about how our children are doing academically and socially.  

Note the word also, which suggests this is not part of why the teachers don't appear to care at all. Why is it nearly impossible to meet with teachers or administrators? Isn't that more likely a product of admin policy than teacher druthers? And given these writers' willingness to read working teachers minds, is it even true?

I don't work in a Renewal school, but I can imagine how I'd feel if I did. I'd feel as if I were expecting a piano to land on my head at pretty much any moment. I'd feel very insecure. I have friends who work in these places. They feel like they're walking on eggshells and tread ever so carefully. When anything good happens, they seem to be happy they suck a little less. Something the op-ed writer did not consider was the incredible pressure placed on them for students to pass.

When your job is on the line and your future is likely as not in the ATR, you're likely to succumb to the constant pressure placed on you. I don't know how many kids in this school were passed without merit, but I can certainly imagine how administrators would pressure teachers. I can imagine terrified teachers inflating grades as a means of survival. It's human nature, it's Campbell's Law, and it doesn't follow that frightened, pressured teachers don't care about these parents' kids. It's certainly not in children's best interests to have terrified teachers.

The writers' assertion that there are issues with the program itself is well-taken. The whole Renewal School thing is an offshoot of the No Child Left Behind/ Race to the Top nonsense that maintains the sole factor in education or lack thereof is the classroom teacher. When things don't work out we just close schools, shuffle kids around and wait for their issues to magically disappear.

But guess what? Things like poverty and lack of health care don't disappear when you close a school. Learning disabilities are not cured by firing teachers. Students who don't know English don't suddenly acquire it when you make all their teachers ATRs. Go figure. I mean, if you went by the editorials in the city papers, you'd have no idea.

It's unfortunate that people don't know that. It's unfortunate that this Renewal School program hasn't bothered to do things we know to work, like reducing class sizes. It's really unfortunate that any administration would so alienate public school parents that they felt as frustrated as these parents do. It's predictable, though, that working teachers would be vilified and libeled with little thought as to why these things may be happening.

I'm not familiar with the school in question, but I'm familiar with schools in general. Even in a non-Renewal school I feel pressure to pass as many students as possible. This is not a huge issue for me. In fact, I actually want to pass as many students as possible. Of course, when students cut, when they don't pay attention, when I call homes ten times with no result, when I speak to the students every way I can imagine with no change in attitude or behavior, it's not always possible.

I don't know the teachers in this school but I know teachers. I cannot imagine an entire staff that doesn't care about children. For people who don't care about children, teaching is about the worst job there is. Some people like that go into admin to get away from the classroom, and guess what--they're the worst administrators there are.

It's very sad that we've managed to alienate parents to the point where they believe and need to write things like this.

Baby Steps on Alternate Diplomas

I'm pretty happy to see that students with disabilities will have an alternate route to getting a high school diploma. It seems to me that passing the English Regents, for example, requires the skill of passing the English Regents. I haven't taught it for many years, and the test has changed, but what it measures is not a whole lot different.

I was talking with an English teacher who told me she was upset. Evidently, another teacher was telling students they could write a paragraph and support only one idea. She said that wasn't enough if the students wanted to pass the English Regents. I'll tell you, though, a lot of writers support one idea in a paragraph. Some spend an entire article supporting one idea. In fact, I've read entire books that support an idea.

I taught students how to pass this exam back when it was all writing. I'd always been frustrated teaching writing in high school because everything I'd seen appeared to treat a five-paragraph composition as though it were the Holy Grail. Introduction, reason one, two and three, and conclusion. Voila! You can write.

The only problem is I don't know anyone who writes like that. Unless you're aiming for a career doing English homework, I'm not sure where that knowledge will get you. Back when I was teaching the English Regents, I determined the lowest common denominator for ELLs to pass was a four paragraph composition. I drilled these poor kids to death. I read every word they wrote, and made them rewrite once, twice, three times, whatever it took.

The Chinese teacher told me a story. She said two of her students were discussing the test. "I don't know what I'm gonna do," one said. "I have to pass the English Regents or I won't graduate."

"Have you taken Goldstein's class?" the other asked.

"No, why, is it good?"

"No, it's terrible. You will hate every minute of it. But you'll pass the Regents."

That's kind of a backhanded compliment. It was my job to make kids pass the test. I worked out a formula and followed it. I didn't enjoy it at all. When I'm allowed to teach students English rather than test prep, I love it. When students learn English better, it helps them forever. Making them take that awful course I taught was ultimately not productive. I mean, sure they passed the Regents. And sure they got admitted to college. But if they had to take a writing test, they'd almost certainly have been bounced to remedial.

This was a shame because I'd have been able to teach them the same stuff the remedial courses offered. I'm pretty sure of that because I actually taught some of those remedial courses in Queens College (back when they offered them) and Nassau Community College. But hey, they couldn't graduate if they couldn't pass the test. So I showed them how to pass the test.

My students were almost all literate in their first languages. We just didn't give them enough time. I've seen geniuses from the DOE come into our school, ostensibly to meet us, and simply demand we get more ELLs to pass the English Regents Exam. Here's the thing--this exam is inappropriate for my students. They ought not to have to take it at all.

I'm not expert on disabilities, but I do know that some people are better in different areas. They tell us we must differentiate because all students are different. In the same breath they tell us all students must pass all these tests. That's ridiculous. We don't need 100% college admission. There are plenty of happy plumbers and electricians. There are a whole lot of people doing jobs like those that pay a whole lot better than jobs like ours.

Why aren't we teaching kids how to fix cars? Why aren't we teaching them how to build houses? Why are practical skills worth less than college education? And why are we insisting that everyone has to pass every test? People need to find their own paths. The State doesn't need to push everyone the same way.

This alternate for some students is a good step, but it's only one. We can do better by our kids. A whole lot more of them can succeed if we let them go where they want and need to.

A Modest Proposal

Yesterday I gave some thought to leadership's request that I organize a committee to persuade people to continue being duespayers. UFT leadership has asked me to select three people to run this committee. I thought of two, and I approached the person I deemed best to lead. The first question she asked me (and I swear I did nothing to provoke it) was, "Why don't we have our own union?"

I was pretty shocked. I blog all sorts of things but send out a newsletter that's a lot more tame. I try not to directly address union politics, though I guess my coverage of the Executive Board meetings, which I  share, reflects things like Unity curtailing our few privileges and making sure I don't get to speak. It's a good question. I think I picked a smart leader. Sadly for Unity, smart leaders think things through.

When you consider the fact that the person we chose as High School Vice President, James Eterno, is off, you know, teaching and stuff, it kind of grates on you. If you consider that not a single person we chose has voice or vote on NYSUT, NEA, nor AFT, it grates a step further. So our conversation didn't get too far. Back on topic, she said she was uncomfortable speaking in front of crowds, and I told her I'd happily help with that. She said she was better one to one, and that was pretty much what this job was going to entail anyway.

Then we came back to the elementary school teachers, the middle school teachers, the nurses and the retirees not only making decisions for us, but most definitely making decisions we did not. What the hell is up with that? How do you rationalize shutting 19,000 members out of decision making? The only answer I can come up with is that Michael Shulman went and won High School VP back in the eighties. I guess that makes it his fault. If only he'd have had the foresight to lose, Unity wouldn't have unilaterally taken our vote and choice away from us (for our own good of course).

Sure, that's bend over sideways and backward logic, but it's better than the real answer, which is that high school teachers exercise free choice and leadership cannot tolerate any dissent or debate whatsoever. They want it, they want it all, and they want it now. Anyone who disagrees can sit down and shut up, and they're prepared to rig the election if necessary to ensure that result. In fact, they've already rigged the election and that's why we have no representation on bodies to which we pay dues.

One UFT employee told me he was sorry I felt we had no representation. I'm sorry he felt I felt it, because it's simply the way things are.

Maybe dues should be proportionate. For example, elementary teachers have 100% of their chosen representation, so they should pay 100%. I don't remember how many names were on the ballot, but I do know I put an X next to MORE/ New Action. Let's be conservative and say there were 100 names. We got seven of our choices. Therefore, high school teachers should pay 7% of dues. Let's be generous and round it off to ten.

That means we should be paying $140 a year. That's maybe six bucks a paycheck. The other $1260 per member we could devote toward promoting our interests. We could pay people to negotiate separately for us. We could try to negotiate, for example, reasonable class sizes as per the C4E lawsuit. We could negotiate fewer observations for teachers who do well with two. We could take strong stands against abusive administrators, even though they're union members. All of those things are opposed by Unity, and that's a good part of why we voted against them.

We could start our own paper, New York High School Teacher, and cover stuff that our elected leaders do, as opposed to the ones the retirees chose on our behalf. And if patronage job holding, loyalty oath signing Unity picks told our reps at the Executive Board to sit down and shut up, it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't be making our decisions for us anymore.

What's the issue with that?

Are We Microagressors?

I'm fascinated by this blog, which suggests many of us are guilty of "microagression." (Here are some less ambiguous forms, but I'm going to focus on the first piece.) According to the blog, when we do things like tell students to take down their hoods, remove their hats, restrict their language, or even wake them up we may be infringing on their culture. I'm going to look at these things one at a time.

When I first started teaching, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I had no concept about hats being bad, good or anything. However, a supervisor told me that students shouldn't wear hats in class. It appeared if they did, I would get in trouble. I am not fond of extra trouble, so I enforced this policy. Over the years, it's appeared silly sometimes. It's especially ridiculous in the halls, where I see deans tell kids to remove their hats. Inevitably, they turn the corner and replace them. I say nothing about hats in the hall.

In the classroom, there are reasons other than social grace for discouraging hats. I don't want students hiding from me, and anything that covers their faces facilitates this. Hoods are worse in that respect. It's pretty easy to hide your earbuds in a hood. Fascinating though we may fancy ourselves, a lot of teenagers would rather hear music than us.

You could argue that workplaces don't allow hats or hoods, and therefore we shouldn't either. Of course, some do. A lot of tech firms foster informal workplaces. In fact, in New York City at least, there is no dress code for teachers. Nonetheless, I don't allow students to wear hats or hoods in my classroom. I make exceptions for religious garments, and I'd make an exception for a kid who was undergoing chemo. Maybe there are other exceptions, and when they happen, I'll know. Generally, though, if someone's going to get into trouble for a hat, it's not gonna be me.

Clothing sends a message. I was stuck teaching in moldy trailers for about twelve years. I'd always dressed in khakis and collared shirts, but when they dumped me in the trailers I began wearing suits and ties. This was to contrast with the crumbling walls and floors Mayor Bloomberg had given my students. Bloomberg's suit and tie couldn't compensate for his moral bankruptcy, but I hoped to send a different message to my students from me, at least.

I'm not that conflicted about language. I use what's considered bad language in certain situations. I almost never use it on this space. I'm not persuaded it's acceptable in the classroom. It's certainly not acceptable in mine. I don't write up kids who use bad language. I talk to them, and they generally understand not to use that language in class. I don't let them use racist, bigoted or homophobic epithets either, and I don't let them go unchallenged. In general, most sensible people adjust their language to fit different audiences and situations, and I hope to instill that in my students.

All in all, maybe I'm culturally insensitive. I don't know. If I am, though, I'm more culturally insensitive than most. Much of my job entails encouraging speakers of foreign languages to use English. I regularly restrict not only terms deemed socially unacceptable, but also entire languages. I don't know about you, but if I go to another country, I learn the language as best I can and use it. That's something I constantly and actively encourage in my students.

Sleeping is something else entirely. It's almost always a symptom of something occurring outside of the classroom. I've had students whose families would wake them at three AM to help them deliver newspapers. I've had others who worked in family businesses from the moment they left school until who knows when. Some will stay up until 4 AM playing Call of Duty on the X Box. There are a whole lot of reasons for this phenomenon, and my lessons, however mundane or tedious they may be, are unlikely to be among them.

There's one vital factor the blogger failed to consider, and that is self-preservation. I've read my share of observation reports, and I've seen notes about students sleeping and wearing hats. I've seen teachers get letters in file for using unacceptable language, and I wouldn't suggest that you be the teacher who lets it get past you while getting observed. I don't know exactly where the line is on preserving decorum and being a microagressor, but I'll advise my members to stay out of trouble whenever possible.

I wonder whether the author's arguments would be better addressed to administrators. We sometimes get a say in the rules, but certainly not always. There are some things against which I'd take a principled stand, like failure to enforce class size. There are rules I'll challenge formally. The rules discussed in this blog are not among those I'd put myself on the line for. Sleeping in class is especially troubling to me. If I were to tolerate it from some, others would get the message it was OK, and my class could rapidly become naptime. That's not what I come to work for.

What do you think? Are you microagressive? Am I? What are we going to do about it?

HIgh Schools Unrepresented in Union

It's a daunting job to rep the high schools. Every two weeks we step into an art film. We kind of have to play checkers with Death. I know it was chess in the film, but I feel like we begin the game halfway through. We have half our pieces and they have all kings. We are over 25% of New York City teachers and our voice is limited to 5% of a largely dysfunctional body.

I'm not saying we don't accomplish anything. We support a lot of good causes. In fact, though they paint us as mindlessly contrarian, we support virtually everything Unity proposes. Are we going to oppose supporting striking workers somewhere? One week we brought up DACA at the same time they did, and the resulting resolution was a blend of our ideas.

The problem, of course, is that we are outnumbered 20 to 1. While it's true that some of those on the committee represent nurses and others, it's also true that they vote on teacher issues. So if we bring up class size, for example, they get to oppose our ideas even though they aren't affected by them at all. We can try to work out solutions with leadership. I held back on an already prepared class size resolution because Howard Schoor said they'd meet with us. I offered to meet over a week ago and have heard nothing but crickets.

It's significant that we have been prohibited from electing our own Vice President. This is because Michael Shulman of New Action, who I've gotten to know over the last year, once had the temerity to win that office. This was an unforgivable offense. What Unity did was wait until Shulman was out of office and then change the rules. All VPs would now be elected "at large."

Let's put that in perspective. Imagine that Donald Trump decided elections were not sufficiently rigged to please his discerning taste. Let's say he determined that New York's choice was too liberal, and that Andrew Cuomo was not frothing at the mouth insane enough to Make America Great Again. Let's say Trump therefore added Texas and Oklahoma to the pool of New York voters to insure that we'd elect a Republican.

Actually, I'm surprised at the number of Unity members I've said that to who've remarked how unfair it is. Nonetheless, that's our system. High school teachers have no elected representation in UFT officers. We are the only branch of UFT who did not vote for the current sitting officer, and the election is purposefully rigged to create that result.

That's not all, though. High school teachers, like all NYC teachers, pay dues to NYSUT, NEA and AFT. I don't remember offhand how many delegates we send to their meetings and conventions. I do know that New York City high school teachers, numbering more that the entire Philadelphia teacher union, have no elected representation in these organizations.

With Janus looming, I wonder how they explain that. In the highly unlikely event some door knocker shows up to my house, I'll ask about it. UFT now asks me, as a chapter leader, to organize some committee in my school to spread the word about union. I'm a strong believer in union. I will pay dues no matter what.

But if leadership wants high school teachers to go the extra mile for them, it's time for us to have a genuine voice and vote.

UFT Executive Board Takeaway December 4th, 2017

Executive Board meetings are getting more interesting, though I'd hesitate to call that a good thing. First of all, Unity is clearly hijacking the questions period to spread the word about how wonderful they are. Predictably, they're not doing a great job.

Full disclosure--I know and like Carlos, the first speaker. Alas, he was far from persuasive about PD. PD is what you make it, and the experience I've had with it is that it's 99% a waste of time. I have heard others sing the praises of useful PD, and I'm all for it if it can be delivered. But theory and practice are two different things.Until and unless you're part of great PD sessions, no speaker on this earth will persuade you it's worthwhile.

There's also the issue of CTLE, which means many educators will recoil at PD regardless of the quality. When the geniuses in Albany declare the PD has to be accredited or you'll forfeit your teaching credential, it's hard to sit and focus on how useful something is. You're thinking, "Holy crap, I  need a hundred hours in five years or I'm gonna be working at Walmart." If you don't meet that challenge it won't matter how good PD is.

The next speaker was a better story, but it was brought by a district rep who could easily have done so during reports from districts. Disgraceful though it is for Unity to hijack the very little time allotted for lowly members, it was inspiring to see a paraprofessional bold enough to take the position of chapter leader. It was great that they were able to fight back an abusive principal who wanted to dump her for doing the job.

We then went to questions. Mike Schirtzer got up and spoke of class sizes. The ones in his school were "equalized" only days ago, in December. (For those unfamiliar with the term, equalize does not actually mean we make class sizes equal. It means only that we come into compliance. So while you have 34 students, another teacher could easily have 25.) He said that students were crying when they found their programs changed so late in the term. The fact is we give them ten days to come into compliance. Many principals can't be bothered, waiting until the day of arbitration to fix things. I once sat at the arbitration until 5:00 while my administration worked on the program.

I've been writing and thinking about the Committee of 300. I had a question about it, involving several factors. One, of course, is the observation process that makes members crazy, which I'd like to see addressed. I brought a resolution about it to this committee and they took it down with blatant strawman arguments. Every single person in the room, aside from the high school reps, went along with this logical fallacy. I wanted to know why I should suppose that the committee of 300 would be run any more democratically or reasonably than the Executive Board. I wanted to know why we could not make robust public demands like PSC was doing.

I was in for a surprise. I kind of expect them to give a flimsy response, or no response at all. But this time, in a flagrant display of anti-democracy, they did not even allow me to speak. They're deeply offended when you refer to the fact that every single one of them votes alike. That's because it directly implies they've signed a loyalty oath and would support a piece of cellophane-wrapped processed American cheese for President of the United States if anyone on the dais instructed them to.

Given that I wasn't allowed even to speak, they managed to answer my question much more thoroughly than they generally do. The Committee of 300 is a sham, designed to persuade members that there is democracy involved in contract negotiations. There will be no representative democracy, however. Leadership will do any damn thing they please, and there will be 290 rubber stamps doing whatever they're told to do. There will be some token voices of opposition but they will be outvoted, shut out, shut down, shut up or all of the above. The top down mandate is alive and well in the United Federation of Teachers and, facing Janus, leadership revels in it.

Another factor in this I can't help considering is how out of touch they are with working teachers. I teach every day, and every day I have to deal with difficulties in my classes. The whole, "sit down and shut up" thing is about the last I'd consider. I try to get kids to work within the framework of the class, to find something they can do. If I ran my classroom the way leadership runs the Executive Board, it would be chaos. (Of course, I haven't got the luxury of making 95% of my audience sign a loyalty oath to support me no matter what.) 

Mulgrew appeared for five minutes and gave us a pretty gloomy view of the contract, saying DC37 was eagerly negotiating and asking for very little. At least it isn't us this time imposing a crap pattern on the entire city. It was certainly us last time, and as far as I can determine, the pattern we imposed, 10% over 7 years, is the lowest ever. However, if DC37 imposes a crap pattern on all of us they can put a thousand people on the 300-member committee and it won't make a golly goshdarn's worth of difference.

UFT Unity thinks they are the beginning, the end, and the total package. They have hundreds of patronage employees ready to nod, pat them on the back and tell them what a great job they're doing no matter what. In the era of Janus, by steadfastly refusing even to hear member concerns, they are doing favors to no one, themselves included. 

The Ever-Expanding Zero

I've been having a rough year. My PM class contained a lot of off-level students, including a few officially named SIFE kids and others I thought were SIFE even if their records didn't say so. It made for tough planning. Do I aim low and help the SIFE kids? (In case that term's unfamiliar to you, it means students with interrupted formal education. These kids may not be literate in their first languages.) Do I aim high and hit the more advanced ones?

Actually I varied my aim and didn't really catch anyone the way I wanted. This went on for a few months. Last week, though, my supervisor moved all the lower-performing kids to the morning and the higher performing kids to the PM. This was a very good move, though it's certainly a lot more work for me.

The students, all in all, are happier. My PM class has become a little goofier. I can't tell if that's good or bad. They have this unexpected tendency to applaud at odd times, sometimes for no reason. I'm not sure whether or not it comes from me. I have this thing about zeroes. Whenever I hear teachers say, "You do this and you get a zero," I want to laugh. So I never gave zeroes until a few years ago. I started writing zeroes on pieces of paper and quasi-randomly giving them to students, slamming them down on their desks and shouting, "ZERO!"

Actually the shout wasn't my idea. One year a girl decided that my job was too important to dispense zeroes, so she took it upon herself. Her shouts were spectacular and mine are just a pale echo. Still, they tend to surprise kids who don't expect it. Now some kids you can't do that to. For example, I have a rather shy girl in my PM class who didn't talk enough. In fact, sometimes she speaks Chinese in English class when I want her to speak English. But I told her how things were. "If you speak Chinese in English class, I'm giving him a zero." I point to a boy in back of the classroom.

The boy objects. "Why do I get a zero if she speaks Chinese?"

"She's not supposed to speak Chinese," I tell him. "There have to be consequences for her actions."

The girl finds this hilarious. I see her smiling a lot lately, something I almost never saw before. The guy is a little confused, but he found a way to avenge himself yesterday. After I gave him a zero, he walked right up to me and slapped the zero on my desk. "ZERO!" he shouted, and the class erupted in applause. This went on for a while. I know they're trying to put off doing classwork but it's so funny I can't stop them.

I like to see goofy behavior in my class. I like to see happy kids in my classes. I can see more happiness all around now that I'm teaching at appropriate levels. I can't promise you that these kids will excel on some standardized test, but I can assure you that kids who are happy in English class are likely to learn more English more easily. There's a line somewhere at which the goofiness becomes too much, and you have to really look carefully to make sure you don't cross it.

But I can live with that.

Like everyone, I fret over the evaluation system. If I hit the magical E, I'm happy. My supervisor actually gives me ideas that are worth following, and could likely do that without all this Danielson nonsense, probably more effectively. I still remember the best feedback I ever got from anyone. It was from my former principal, who swore year after year he was gonna write up an observation but never did. He watched me teach a class. When he walked out, he said, "Those kids love you."

On this astral plane, if you ask me, there's no higher praise.

UFT Executive Board December 4th, 2017--UFT Unity Cowards Afraid to Hear My Question

Secretary Howard Schoor welcomes us. 6:02


Speakers

Carlos Oliveri—The word PD has endured unfair rep. Some see it as obligatory, but I hope to rouse support. My school has struggled with what quality instruction looks like. Came together through PD committee and could advocate for students. We had discussions around best strategies. We want to change narrative about PD.

Jasmine Hunt—Excited about this year. Union more visible. People coming to visit, Members can get questions answered. May play role when we ask them to stick with us. We are coming out  of the woodwork. Thank you.

Dermot Myrie—Proud to stand here knowing UFT stands for racial justice. Many hardships by students of color. We as educators of conscience ask UFT to join in cultural organizations, including BLM week of action. Urges UFT to call members, have forums, pool resources and affirm racial justice. We urge you reverse disappearance of teachers of color.

Minutes—approved

LeRoy Barr—CL weekend, full house. Reviewed Con Con victory and work that needs to be done pre-Janus. Door knocking campaign going well, engaging people, updating records. Goal is to bring this to members multiple times in multiple ways to stick with union. Will be door knocking training this weekend.

Today was Bolwing Green rally for Promesa. Protested Puerto Rican debt crisis, strangling economic prosperity of island. AFT Latino Caucus running Operation Agua. Event at ACRI cafe 6 PM Bronx 12/11. 30$ buys water system for household.

Kwanzaa celebration Dec. 14th here. DA Dec. 6. EB Dec. 18.

President’s Report—6:12 Mulgrew not here

Questions

Mike Schirtzer—MORE—Any update on Tottenville?

Schoor—met with DOE on issues, no resolution. Looking into legal case on barring from SLT.

Schirtzer—We spoke about class size, my school was 7th worst offender in NY Teacher. Up against larger high schools. Ratio-wise we may be worse. On Friday, principal equalized. Already MP 3, children crying. Teachers teacher 40 students until December 1st. What can we do further to prevent this?

Schoor—management issue. Should’ve been removed in September.

Schirtzer—What can we do to hold principals’ feet to fire?

Schoor—We are having discussions. High percentage settled on arbitration days, so they use them up. We hope some places can be resolved. Some have space problems.

Arthur Goldstein—MORE—We hear a lot about this 300-member committee, particularly when we propose changes to the way we do things. I’ve never been on a 300-member committee before, but it seems like an awfully unwieldy way to accomplish anything. For example, there are 300 UFT members in my school, but when we negotiate with the principal we try lower the number so we can have more focused discussions.

The notion of this committee is troubling to us in the high schools. We regularly come here, make proposals, and at one word from the dais, absolutely everyone in the room, without exception, votes against us. Sometimes these things are debated, and sometimes they aren’t. When we debate things, like for example reducing the minimum number of observations, people get up and argue about losing other things, though we’d never advocated, let alone mentioned giving them up. People say that we’d have less chance of doing well even though our resolution specifically said that fewer observations would be utilized for people who’d already done well.

Last year the President told the Delegate Assembly that UFT had lobbied for fewer observations. I follow education news closely, particularly locally, and despite the 300-member committee, I had never heard that before. I was pretty shocked, I now know UFT had lobbied for not only then, but also, according to Chalkbeat, at the inception of this new evaluation system. Chalkbeat says the DOE also wanted fewer observations, and that John King insisted on more. So it’s odd to me that, after UFT twice pushed for fewer observations,  it’s painted in this room as the very worst thing in the history of western civilization.

At this point I am interrupted. A UFT Unity patronage employeee brings up a point of order and claims I am not asking a question. Schoor tells me to ask a question but I refuse if I am not allowed to give background. I tell them they can read my question tonight. Unity, evidently, does not like when you refer to their loyalty oath and its obvious effects. This is what I’d have said if I were not interrupted:


Barbara Bowen, President of PSC, just told her members that she was lobbying for a significant compensation increase. In fact, they were demonstrating today outside the Board of Trustees meeting over that very issue.

Why aren’t we telling members our demands? Why are we keeping them so top secret? Personally, given the near inevitability of Janus, I think members would be happy to hear that the number of mandatory drive-bys were decreasing. I think members would like to know that we were making robust demands.

Is there any reason for us to expect that the 300-member committee will be any different from this one, in which one word from the dais kills any idea it finds remotely inconvenient?

Marcus McArthur—MORE--Speaks of disappearance of Black and Latino educators. What will we be doing about this?

Janella Hinds—Will partner on these issues.

Howard Schoor explains what he thinks I was talking about. Says LeRoy Barr will now answer question I didn’t get to ask.

LeRoy Barr—talks about team. Says debate is good (which I deem ironic since I am not permitted to ask a question). Repeats that debate is good. Says we need to have those conversations. Says we will work through things. Says there should be more than 5 people. We are looking forward to meetings. Everyone in this room is on it.

Mulgrew arrives 6:25

Thanks people for CL training.

DC37 is negotiating. Not looking for much.

Continuing sessions on paid family leave. Will be focus for next few weeks. Will try to get financial dealings done as quickly as possible.

Should be team at every worksite dealing with Janus. Unless something dramatic changes, will be May to June. We can finish preparing. Most perilous place we’ve been in long time. This is a plan to systematically stop working people from having leverage. Invited Pres. of Wisconsin Teachers Association to come in February. They don’t have collective bargaining. This is endgame. This is what enemy wants to do to us.

Mulgrew ends. 6:30, leaves

Debbie Poulos—paperwork—We continue to resolve issues. DOE reacted negatively to our page of shared resolutions. Angered principals. Do not like that CLs hear of resolutions and try to advocate for same.

Central paperwork committee met today. Many issues direct result of PPO and Quality Review. Raising with DOE that members should not be required to do redundant paperwork for principal’s rating, like curriculum mapping, pacing calendars. When we know, we help CLs. We ask that if you are aware of any issues, result of PPO, file report, indicate that it’s result of PPO.

Schoor—One page handout was great success. DOE went nuts. CSA put out “clarification.” Our agreement is with DOE, not CSA. We say DOE has to implement our agreement. Our contract is with CSA.

Report from districts

Eliu Lara—With CL—report that CL was told he could replace her with ten years seniority. We got her reinstated.

CL thanks everyone. She is paraprofessional. It has been challenging. Had to deal with a lot and learn a lot. Glad for collective action, when we work together for common cause protects all our rights. We can accomplish our goals. Thanks Eliu and others. Thanks union.

Karen Allford—Thanks Mike Schirtzer—understands budget woes, but thanks him for helping with theater production on weekends. Did amazing job. Thanks Camille Edy—DOE wanted to put charter elementary in existing elementary. We organized. We beat them back.

Ellen Driesen—12/13 wants to invite us, but Tom Brown’s event is sold out. Protection in retirement—need for this sort of thing.

Legislative report—Paul Egan—football talk—fight next is budget. Senate passed budget that needs to be reconciled. Priorities of this admin are—bill that gives billionaires tax credit for yachts while removing $250 tax credit for teachers. Good for GOP donors. Hatch said we didn’t have money for children’s health insurance. Speaks to morality of this administration. Next year is a midterm election. 2014 we were 49th in voting in NY State.

Special Order of Businesss—three vacancies. One HS, two elementary. First meeting we announce, second nominate, third vote, if necessary.

We are adjourned.

My Friend's Door Gets a UFT Knock

I got a funny message today. My friend was home, doing home stuff, when she got a knock on her door. The person at the door knew her name and said he was from the UFT. She was pretty surprised by this. He said he wanted to talk to her about Janice. She said she didn't know who Janice was. Then he said no, it's Janus, not Janice, and it's a what not a who.

So she said she didn't know what Janus was. The guy said OK, and then he left. So I told her what Janus was. She thanked me, because she didn't know. I'm pretty sure that meant she hadn't been reading each and every letter of my staff emails, so I guess it was a good thing that guy knocked on her door. Except that he didn't tell her anything.

So really, what's the point? This guy, whoever he was, went for a weekend of training, and when somebody says she doesn't know what Janus is, he doesn't even bother to tell her. Is that why we're sending people out knocking on doors? Hardly seems worth it.

Actually, it's extra work for chapter leaders like me who are available to talk to members. What are people supposed to think when UFT reps knock on their doors, mention Janus, and then go off on their merry way? It appears to be a total waste of time.

Of course I'm just a lowly teacher. I didn't design the protocol. What do I know? If they think it's a good idea to knock on doors, mention Janus, then walk away when members don't know what it is, well, they should know. After all, I haven't even got an office, let alone the time to plan these clever informational sessions.

I wonder when they're gonna knock on my door. I don't know, but I have a strong feeling it's gonna be never. Has anyone knocked on your door yet? What happened?

Revolution!

I have no idea how we've gotten to this point. The GOP just passed a tax bill that screws every homeowner in our state. It robs thousands from blue states to subsidize red states and gazillionaires. It removes deductions for teachers and musicians.

Because corporations need a permanent tax break. For goodness sake, they can be taxed at a rate of 35%. It's important that we reduce that to 20%. This is because a whole lot of them have contributed to GOP senators and congressmen. It looks like they were gonna cut them off if they didn't pass this.

I know some Trump voters. In another life, I played fiddle in bluegrass bands. I correspond with a banjo player from Kentucky who just loves Trump. A few days ago he told me that anyone who was a real American loved Trump. He backed off from that statement after I gave him a long list of people he was insulting (including my dad who fought in the Battle of the Bulge), But he still loves Trump. He believes Trump cares about people like him. A lot of people believe that. When they kick children and working people off of health care, well, it's all for the greater good I guess.

I don't watch Fox News, but a whole lot of people do. One of the things Ronald Reagan did was kill the Fairness Doctrine, which insisted that news be fair and balanced. Ironically, Fox News became a propaganda outlet for the GOP, and then adopted the slogan, "fair and balanced." While Reagan was President in 1984, I haven't felt like we were living the Orwell novel until very recently. Trump gets up in front of God and everybody and talks about grabbing pussy, and the good Christians everywhere make passionate arguments that he should be President and a pedophile should be a US Senator from Alabama.

In early 1984, I was in Europe. I had a friend, Klaus,  in West Berlin who I visited. He decided we should visit his friend, an English teacher from East Berlin. Klaus wanted me to smuggle eastern money in a gum package, but I told him forget it. It was a good thing because the police searched me on the other side of the border. It was pretty scary. I remember the English teacher didn't speak much English, and he showed me English books that said things like, "We need to practice our English because our friends from South Yemen are coming to visit."

It was surreal being in the east before the wall came down. There were stores the eastern residents shopped in, and then there were special stores just for us visitors. If you had western money, you could buy fresh fruit and vegetables, or Levis, or anything you wanted. The official exchange rate was one mark for one mark, but you could buy like 14 eastern marks for one west mark on the western side of the wall.

TV in East Germany was pretty boring. It was the Russian diplomat shaking hands with the East German diplomat pretty much 24/7. They had some TV tower the people called der spargel (the asparagus) which was some monstrosity designed to block western broadcasts. Still, a whole lot of East Germans managed to see TV from the west, which painted a very different picture of what was going on.

They were taught that Russia was pretty much the center of the universe. A visit there was a great luxury. You could buy all the vodka you wanted, though other things may have been in short supply. The thing that stuck with me the most was when the English teacher told me they sold Pravda on every corner. If you aren't familiar, Pravda is the Russian word for truth, and was the official communist party newspaper. He also told me that nobody ever bought it.

The problem here is a whole lot of Americans are lapping up Fox News like water. They believe the crap they spew, they accept the concept of "alternative facts," and they believe the crap that comes out of Donald Trump's twitter feed. It's pretty scary.

Meanwhile, our most prestigious press outlet, the New York Times, writes features about lovable nazis next door, and stereotypes ATR teachers as a danger to children. These are interesting times we live in.

What will it take to awaken the people of the United States of America?

PTA--Pass Them All

It's remarkable to read about how you get all your seniors admitted to college. If you're a charter school, of course, you simply dump every student who isn't making it back into the public schools. If you're a public school it's a little more difficult. Fortunately, it's more or less the Wild West over in DC.

First of all, you have this ridiculous evaluation system. You can rate teachers ineffective and get rid of them. Anyone who doesn't play ball is thrown out of the game. In NYC, we worry about vindictive administrators. In DC, that's probably true too. But if you factor in Campbell's Law, which basically says the more pressure there is, the more corruption there is, it's easy to understand how admin bows to pressure and allows any damn thing to happen.

NYC has been a little more progressive on this, though Sue Edelman at the Post is always turning over rocks to find sleazy principals who cheat to juke the stats. For those who bother following rules, it's a little more difficult to paint failure as success. I recall online nonsense being substituted for class time, including PE. I marvel at how you can answer a bunch of questions, or get your smart girlfriend to answer them for you, and earn credit.

I'm sure there are still makeup rules, and they're still nonsense. But they aren't anything compared to this DC scam, in which everyone passed no matter what. Basically, you didn't have to go to school until they threatened to take you to court. Pretty sweet deal if all you want to do is come in now and then to say hello. In fact, it's a pretty sweet deal even if you don't. Just drop in once in a while, graduate, and somehow get accepted to college.

I'm not sure how well you'd do in college if your work ethic entailed showing up only when the alternative was going to court. I'm pretty sure you just flunk out and lose your tuition if you can't be bothered to show up and do work. There aren't any worksheets or online programs to help with that.

Actually, over the years I've had some remarkably low-performing students who did better than I'd have expected in middle school. I teach ESL, and I usually teach beginners. I've had students who knew virtually no English (and absolutely no Spanish) who received 65 in ESL, ELA and Spanish. I sometimes wonder whether the NYC middle school teachers are pressured as intensely as those DC teachers. It's incredible for me to see kids who clearly know nothing about these subjects passing them.

I've been called in to administrators over the years to explain why I failed students. Usually it's not so hard for me. This one was absent 200 times in one month. That one failed every test. I don't fail students just for fun. I'd actually like to see them pass. It's tough, though, when the students  only come in two or three times a week, or month, or whatever. When you look at their grades and see that this is what they do in every class, it's even tougher.

You can call homes. I'm a great believer in calling homes. But once you do this four or five times with no change in behavior, it becomes an empty exercise. It's ridiculous to rate teachers for student performance. We are all humans. We do what we want. If what a student wants does not entail going to school, it's not the teacher's fault.

This lunacy was largely fostered under the Obama administration with all that Race to the Top nonsense. Arne Duncan and John King bought every reformy notion under the sun. Now you see them on Twitter, mustering the audacity to criticize Betsy DeVos simply because she's as incompetent and unqualified as they were.

I certainly play a part in what goes on in my classroom. I take responsibility for that. But until my job entails going to student homes, waking them up, getting them out of bed and dragging them to school, it's ridiculous to blame me for their grades. I can wake them up when they nod off in my classroom. But I still can't make them go to sleep before 3 AM.

There are a lot of factors in education. The American movement to blame the teacher for absolutely everything is short-sighted. While it satisfies the blood thirst of those who hate us and everything we stand for, while it makes some people feel good to punish us for the offense of devoting our lives to the welfare of America's children, letting kids and families completely off the hook for this behavior is not productive. When mom and dad have to work round the clock to make ends meet, it's hard for them to look after their kids.

As far as I can tell, we're moving farther away from offering help where help is needed. Just look at the insane GOP tax bill that rewards those who least need it, kicks children off of health care, and makes it even harder for working Americans to reach or maintain middle class.

But hey, let's forget all that and blame the teachers. It's the American Way.