Oral arguments are today at noon in the case where a judge has already issued a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the DOE from forcing the original five plaintiffs from having to return to work in school buildings. 20 new people have filed affidavits to join the case. They are all seeking accommodations to work remotely from home.
Both sides submitted their written papers and answers. The concluding paragraph from Attorney Bryan Glass:
53. Given the serious safety concerns above, among the 5 petitioners and the 20 proposed intervenors who have boldly come forward out of their own pocket to publicize their severe discomfort and dilemmas (despite paying union dues) to seek safe remote teaching accommodations, these 25 educators should be afforded the same remote accommodations that 30,000 of their colleagues already have been granted by the NYCDOE since the start of the 2020-21 school year. They should not be the victims of standardless arbitrary and capricious decision making subject to the whims of unidentified nameless administrators and inconsistent application of vaguely defined rules.
I think they have a very strong case. We will update you when we hear more.
Update: The oral arguments were heard on Friday. Judge needed more information so we worked part of the afternoon to help to update an affidavit and coordinate documentation to be submitted as exhibits.
Outside of the court case, we heard some horror stories about teacher programs that don't adhere even slightly to the UFT Contract. I suggest people keep documenting what's going on. Put complaints in writing.
Update 2: UFT Solidarity has it on their website that the judge has transferred the case to a different judge since both sides agree that the DOE is not a city agency so since the city is not a party, the case goes to a different judge. New papers will be filed on Monday.
80 comments:
I'm one of them. It's ridiculous that the UFT leadership has failed us so much that this needed to be done.
It's clear to me that after this school year, nothing will ever be the same again for public education in NYC.
Forget just de-certifying the UFT -- I honestly think we need to push to dismantle the DOE altogether.
End mayoral control.
James, for us that are relatively new to the system, can you talk about how things were better pre-mayoral control?
Teachers were respected before Bloomberg. Some people here call me an old school chapter leader because we were taught by UFT to be assertive in dealing with administrators. The mayoral control system changed all of that, especially the 2005 contract which gave principals enormous power and led to the dysfunctional system we have today.
"I work in Central DOE, and I know for a fact that our policymaking around #nycschools #schoolreopening has not incorporated the voices of rank-and-file educators, school leaders, parents, or students" (1/10)
@CityWorkers4NYC
"When asked to run “community engagements,” DOE staff were explicitly told that there was not room for incorporating feedback into policies" (2/10)
"Instead, policies were created, approved, and sent to engagement staff to “sell” to families" (3/10)
"Most of the time, DOE staff did not know who created the policy or where it was coming from" (4/10)
"I have sat on calls in which senior leaders at the DOE plead for us to listen to community voices in the reopening process. To implement a meaningful remote start with viable options for childcare, instead of the blended model" (5/10)
"We were told those decisions were “above our pay grade.” We all knew what that meant - it was up to City Hall" (6/10)
"In one instance, I was asked to “engage” around a new policy that would be rolled out in the coming week. I asked if we had spoken to principals or educators about whether the policy made sense. I was told no." (7/10)
"I raised huge concerns around releasing yet another policy that would impact students and educators, but that didn’t incorporate their voices. The policy was approved by Cabinet the next day" (8/10)
"The Mayor’s statements about “flow of information” are patently false. Central has been uplifting the concerns of the community, begging to incorporate their input, over and over and over again" (9/10)
"Our parents and educators deserve so much more. City Hall needs to delay in-person learning until January, go back to the drawing board, and allow DOE to build meaningful community centered policy
Who made systemwide decisions?
Bloomberg populated the DOE with a large number of type A personality shyster lawyers as well as a large number of delusional elitists who could not make a career in their chosen profession, so as to creatively assert the privatization of the public commons...namely the public schools. Bloomberg himself was Mr. Elitist and Mr. Privatizer.
Chancellor made decisions but he was accountable to a seven person Board of Ed. 1 appointed by each borough president and 2 appointed by the mayor. City Hall had the power of funding but had to have coalitions to get things done.
When people point to corruption in the old system, they are usually talking about before the 1996 law which took most power away from community school boards.
I personally favor the people electing the school board as they do in the vast majority of school districts in NYS and throughout the country.
End DeBlasio's term as mayor. He is not capable of performing the duties and obligations
required for mayoral control of the schools. DeBlasio is an unattractive public nuisance and reckless, ruthless, and incompetent steward of our schools.
Ending mayoral control and bringing back the old Board of Education is not enough.
Everything has to change from the top to the bottom. A complete system wide reboot that gets rid of irrelevant, outdated standards and requirements, useless administrators and bureaucrats, along with stupid rules and regulations
Bring back the trade schools and add in computer science academies. Let high school age students go to work while completing courses THEY WANT online. Stop requiring a college degree for everything.
Replace elementary schools with community centers that teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and other basic skills while giving parents the babysitting they want.
And completely revamp the college/university system while you're at it. Make it optional rather than a requirement.
There needs to be societal wide redefinition of what education is really about.This entire system has been a rotting, stinking corpse for some time, and this pandemic is the perfect opportunity to get rid of TONS of fluff and bullshit.
Put it in the hands of the people.
Yes and years ago before Bloomberg you had Seniority transfer rights. You could transfer out of a school after 10 years regardless if the new principal wanted you or not. Now they have this stupid big waste of money ATR pool.
James
The details of pre-mayoral control was 32 local districts k-8 with elected school boards and supt who were very powerful locally. There were many negatives but also positives - and I won't get into that debate but I would prefer that to what we have.
The high schools however were centrally managed like today. But we had a central school board with the mayor appointing 2 or 3 and borough presidents one each so it was attacked as being unable to get anything done -- in that system the UFT was able to play a major role - sharing power in many districts and exerting enormous influence. That is what gave them power. But they didn't always use it in our interests. I had many complaints about abuses against teachers but it was never en masse.
Bloomberg ended all that and in essence threw the UFT out as partners and remade things to reduce UFT influence.
The UFT should have been pushing for an end to mayoral control all along. Instead it’s like Mulgrew is a deBlasio employee. Is he giving up a week’s pay to share in deBlasio extremely exaggerated pain? ‘Look at me NYC - I gave a up a week’s pay! Oh, the pain...!’ What will the UFT trade away next under the guise of saving jobs and going remote? Get ready, deBlasio will be asking very soon. The thing I would be worried about is Mulgrew agreeing to them. They have the capability of ranging from healthcare give backs to no class size limits - use your imagination. At this point deBlasio is going to have to go fully remote regardless and Mulgrew is going to make like it’s his negotiating skills that got it done and something had to be traded for it.
I agree with you Norm the old system was preferable to what we have currently.
You have to feel bad (lol) for those teachers at Stuyvesant who signed a petition against the principal's policy that they can't lower test grades for students who take exams late saying the principal is underlying their authority. The poor poor teachers. I'm sure anyone would trade with you in a second. Suck it up! If the kids are good they'll still be good after high school regardless of whether you take points off an exam.
Trust him? Well, he and Mulgrew are leading you to slaughter.
Bill de Blasio’s City Hall rife with dysfunction, bombshell emails reveal
https://nypost.com/2020/09/17/bill-de-blasios-city-hall-rife-with-dysfunction-new-emails-show/
UFT
More than 900 operational issue reports filed by UFT chapter leaders on behalf of their chapters and scores of protests at individual schools since Sept. 8 demonstrated a huge teacher shortage as well as gaps in safety measures.
And what has the uft response been?
Why are you paying dues?
someone at P.S. 146 Ann M Short School in East Harelm tested positive today. How can I make sure it's added to the list?
By the way, TRS is still closed, but I should risk my life?
@10:27 am...
My 2 cents...
I think mayoral control is the main reason why educators are unable to use their own professional judgment. The DOE is doing the bidding of its leader: The mayor. A mayor wants to be re-elected or show success by an increasing graduation rate by any means necessary. Im sure you know how that affects your teaching. How would you feel if you are allowed to actually teach and grade authentically? How about knowing that there is a FAIR but strong discipline code? Mayoral control = Pressure to submit fake grades. Fake diplomas. No discipline for students who harm the learning environment. Destruction of a strong middle class IMO.
@10:33am...
The DOE is consistent. It doesn't know if it should scratch its watch or wind it's arce. Common sense is not on its agenda--ever.
Bring back strong community schools. Bring back vocational schools i.e. Norman Thomas. Murray Bergtraum etc. Strong Community schools build community. Growing up in nyc we had strong community schools. Our middle schoolers then continued on the community hs or tested into Bklyn Tech, Music and Art, Norman Thomas, etc. Guess what? These kids from the projects "including yours truly" entered college or the workforce very prepared. My neigbors, classmates and friends became doctors, lawyers, educators, administrators, deputy mayor, NYPD, NYS police,lawyers,etc. There wasn't a desire or call to change the SHSAT because there were so many strong community hs that churned out well prepared folks. My point is that mayoral control hasn't really worked for folks in the community. It has destroyed opportunities for inner city kids. It's underestimated and written off these kids and their families. I was one of those kids. It's an attack. Yes. If a mayor or anyone else wants to attack people, those people will fight back...by any means necessary.
Heyyyy @ 10:55 am...
RIGHT ON!!!
precisely @ 11:26 am
if Diblahsio wants to really help he should "give up his remaining months of being mayor" so NYC can heal.
100 percent correct. Little Mike started the decline. Never was good after. Nuff said
Any word on how the case went today, James?
BB (Before Bloomberg)
All of this is from one of the lowest performing districts in NYC:
1. Schools were not seen as a business forced to deceptively churn out graduates. High school diplomas meant something.
2. Schools were much more about teaching and learning.
3. Schools were more honest regarding the students. We didn't pretend everyone was a "scholar."
4. The standards were real.
5. Everything was not the teacher's fault.
6. Schools had a good number of experienced, seasoned teachers with 20+ years in the system.
7. The younger teachers respected and admired the seasoned teachers. We listened to the older more experienced folks; especially about union issues.
8. Retirement parties every June for those with 30+ years in the system.
9. There were consequences for those students who disrupted learning. Everything was not picture perfect but at least there was something done if teachers were threatened or disrespected.
10. Administrators had many years of experience and had a clue or at least they were not so obviously stupid and incompetent as they are today.
11. Everything wasn't about being politically correct. It was about doing what was best for children.
12. People told the truth.
13. A lot less wasted taxpayer money
14. I didn't know any teachers on anxiety meds 30 years ago.
15. We didn't have PD. You learned how to be a good teacher by teaching, watching the experienced folks, and listening. My principal did lessons for me to observe my first year.
16. We certainly did not have 25 year old graduates of Harvard or Yale working at Central telling us what to do.
17. We didn't have to produce a stupid tenure binder. If you were good, the principal knew it and if you were awful, the principal knew it.
18. Administrators did not need rubrics to know what good teaching and learning looks like.
19. Teachers became teachers because that was what they wanted to do (except those trying to avoid Vietnam). Now, it just seems like a fall back for people who are not smart enough to do anything else. Then they quickly become administrators.
20. Test results were not the end-all and be-all.
21. The governments were a lot less involved.
22. The students were held responsible for learning and for having their supplies. There were no free passes in my classes. My administrators never questioned my grades or holdovers.
23. Educational Consultants? You would have been laughed out the door. The consultants were the seasoned teachers.
24. The UFT meant something. When they spoke, I listened (this was until 2005).
25. We didn't have 5 page long lesson plans, with differentiation, and groups, and all the other PC nonsense. Each lesson took 30 minutes to an hour to prepare. Now each lesson takes about two hours.
26. 30 years ago, I would spend a couple of hours after school on school work. Now, I spend 3 - 5 hours after school each day on school work.
27. Per-session was rare. It is not the cash cow that it is today.
28. There was respect for blue collar jobs. We had trade classes in the high schools. Everyone did not have to go to college.
29. Years ago, I didn't know anyone who left the NYC DOE system because of administrators, the students or politics; they retired with 30+ years, they moved, made better money somewhere else, etc.
30. Now, the teachers who leave or quit, leave because of the administrators, politicians and they fear the students.
Before Bloomberg, the schools did have problems but the leaders were not so immoral and incompetent. There is no way that Bloomberg would hire the majority of these administrators to work for his businesses. Did Bloomberg sink the system on purpose? I don't know but we are suffering for it now.
This is an amazing post. It is how I remember my schooling in the city. I’m 45 and it is these factors mentioned above including others as to why I became a teacher.
Bloomberg is a raging asshole. He basically destroyed the profession in the city. There are only a few schools left with that old school mentality and you’re lucky if you work in one. We all need to work together to make the good ole days the new days again!
31. There was no atr pool. If you were excessed, you waited in the district office until something opened up in your district and you were sent there automatically. There was none of this open market bs also. You had Seniority rights to transfer.
Exactly! I work in a school with wanna be college professors. Everyone wants to teach honors, college now, AP meanwhile kids can't read or write and college is worthless in its current form. Vocational Ed is the way!
End FSF and bring back seniority transfer!!!
@WFS BINGO! That's not just 2 cents, that's 2 million.
Amen. @1:29.
Hey 4:10 pm...
I love your post. It Is a pretty accurate pic of education in NYC. It makes me nostalgic.
Why do I have to apply for family leave? My school district is closed. I have three young kids to take care of. I am willing to work from home. HELP!!!!!! I guess help is not coming from the UFT anytime soon.
@4:26pm
Exactly. I had warm and dedicated educators who pushed me to do well, parents who insisted that I do exceptionally well and my own desire to soar. The profession was looked upon as aspirational. Someone mucked it up.
The city has temporarily closed two Queens public high schools on Friday after both reported a second case of the novel coronavirus among staffers in a seven day period, the Department of Education announced.
Beach Channel Educational Campus in Far Rockaway and P.S. 90 Horace Mann in Richmond Hill reported their second COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to DOE officials, launching and investigation and a 24-hour-long shut down of the buildings.
IBO claims city will have to pay 1.3 billion to keep schools open.
No way this happens. I feel they will go remote at some point.
The bad part of remote is that this city has lost all faith in mayor and a lot of families will leave. This will have a grave impact on this city.
I cannot think of a dumber mayor than de blasio in our nation’s history.
In the interests of fair reporting, pre-Bloomberg, even though I would take the old system:
Total local political machine in my district where to be an AP you bought into the machine - with political donations.
My principal was appointed and only taught for 6 months - her husband was connected.
The principal instituted a test focused program where teachers were rewarded and punished based on test scores -- starting in 1980.
The UFT had massive political control of the district - the UFT Dist rep eventually became superintendent.
The district funneled $8 million to local Hasidim who had 3 members of the school board leading to an FBI raid of the district office. They still got away with it.
Just a few nuggets - and one of the reasons we ended up with mayoral control - but I'd still take that system since you could fight against it locally.
I loved the old days. Things were clearer. Grades were honest. One principal per building. Goodness! Multiple APs throughout the building. Administrators had many years of experience. Administrators cared about their supervisees. There was Sunshine Club for those that were ill, became new parents, etc. Flowers were sent. There was true school spirit. There were true neighborhood schools. Teachers were respected by students and parents. The union was respected by the principal.
What is a good PE lesson, everyday, on a computer? Ya know, 15 minutes, with students, on google meets?
Yes, I remember the good old days. We had Holiday celebrations in our department office, Secret Santa for the department, we celebrated birthdays, went out for lunch during pd days, ate in the full service teachers cafeteria, went to all the student shows which had pretty large crowds. It always felt like a second family. I could go on and on.
Surprised no update about this
Part of the problem is there are no longer ANY consequences for any choices made or actions by students. The behavior has to reach level Z for anything to be done. If you grow up with no consequences, you will think are no consequences as an adult. And agree-it’s a shame there are so few tech schools. I know many students would succeed in those. Someone who doesn’t give a damn about Lord of the Flies (and that’s ok) could care 100% about learning to fix a car. Said student walks away with a certification and confidence that he/she has a skill.
I got in right on the cusp of change (2002)...I was lucky to be able to experience some small fragments of what you posted. It was all downhill after that. What the decades before that must have been...my own teachers back in the day never seemed stressed.
If you're school has a positive COVID case, let it be counted. Add it to this google link for MORE (a more action oriented, activist branch of the UFT) anonymously with a pdf or screen shot of the principal's letter confirming it using this link (copy/paste it into your browser):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScM4Gu8m8-TReH7qMYcm-p59WUuuzlUIds9PhREOCNO3qM5NA/viewform
You can write to:
Marilena for MORE Media Team
marilenadorellemarchetti@gmail.com
Let’s not go overboard romanticizing the good old days. The 32 district officers were filled with corrupt practices. If you weren’t related to one of the school board members you’re definitely had to be involved
In their campaign
to have any shot at a supervisor position. Each of the 32 offices were filled with do-nothing curriculum specialists who were also, not surprisingly, politically connected .
The merit system was definitely not in vogue during the 70s, 80s or 90s. Although I must concede that the atmosphere was generally much more benign as far as teacher observation and discipline are concerned.
Yeah started in 2001 so I only worked for a couple of years in some of those conditions. One thing I really identify with was that young teachers respect3d the veterans. Very true. And definitely not true for most new teachers. (Millennials)
Yes, Bloomy was a diabolical genius who ate the UFT and BOE and shit it out in its current form of the DOE and United Frightened Teachers. In all the time he’s gone nothing has been changed. Mulgrew has used Bloomy’s divide and conquer policies to strengthen his strangle hold on the UFT. It’s true no one trusts deBlasio, but what’s much, much worse is no one trusts Mulgrew. He showed himself fully 3/17 - 3/19. Ironically, he had ignored his own heritage and a small but concerted teachers fight to have St. Patrick’s Day declared a NYC holiday. He’ll never be allowed to ignore 3/17 again - it will follow him forever.
When is mayoral control up for renewal in the state legislature? We can pressure the state not to renew.
It was also much easier to stay in the system for 30 years. Today that seems like an impossibility.
The "everyone needs a college degree" push has to be adjusted to the real economy, but we should not prepare young people for careers that don't pay and that have been, are in, and will continue to be in decline like automotive repair, technician. These jobs don't pay well and there are fewer jobs in these fields each year, so not a great option for young people.
How about health care and tech? Yeah, this is where the jobs are and will be in the future, not in cars, building them, repairing them, servicing them.
Building, fixing, repairing the robots that build, fix, repair automobiles is a better option.
Automation is taking all of the so called on-shored jobs that were off-shored and outsourced to Asia and South and Central America.
Vocational school for the future not the past.
At top programs at great innovative universities like North Eastern we can find a model. Most universities and colleges our students attend, SUNY and CUNY, are still producing too may useless sheepskins. But this is changing. At North Eastern University, a model for what higher education can be to meet the fierce competition of global employment, the old walls that divided high schools from higher education and from the community and the workplace have been razed. This is not what Cuomo has in mind when he talks of re-imaging education. We can learn a lot from Massachusetts.
All this nostalgic talk sounds rather fascist and reactionary, too much of it in the teaching profession, a reason why the militancy that is advocated here is never going to manifest itself, as the membership in the UFT is essentially in tune with make a america great again, a nostalgic sentiment that seeks to protect people and things and ideas that simply can't be defended and to perpetuate the status quo.
Secret Santa and Sunshine Clubs "sounds fascist and reactionary"? You must really be afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome!
If the NYC DOE is not a city agency, what kind of agency is it?
How is a Secret Santa fascist and reactionary? It was something that was totally voluntary. You must be a Bah-Humbug!
Technically, it is legally still the Board of Education controlled by the Panel for Educational policy which is the Board of Education. The mayor controls 8 of 13 PEP votes, that makes it mayoral control.
If Mayor de Blasio had been named as an individual Respondent, I wonder whether the original judge would have kept the case. It’s obvious that Chancellor Carranza and PEP are doing whatever the Mayor wants them to do.
Shelley,
I really don't understand what you mean. Being able to describe a time in which teachers taught and students learned you think is fascist and reactionary?
Militancy that is advocated here? are we reading the same blog posts? You think the membership in the UFT is predominantly for Trump?
Truth, honest work, safety, morality, and standards should always be defended especially in a time that people seem to find these virtues optional. Especially in a time when tax payer funds are being used to misguide and corrupt children instead of teaching them how to think on their own.
I would say the membership is about 1/4 pro Trump reflecting city basically. I have no scientific evidence to support that but it seems a decent educated guess based on observations over the years.
In many schools, you won't find a Trump supporter amongst the UFTers while in many others, there are plenty.
Personally I like to look back and reminisce about positive experiences. I don't necessarily want to return to that era but I can appreciate the experiences. Historical references can be beneficial. Imo
the mayor hired the chancellor so i would assume the chancellor will do EXACTLY what the mayor wants him to do. We need people who are of good moral character. Do no harm. Be respectful to ALL. Do more listening and less talking. More action. Less vitriol. What has happened to just plain old decency and respect. SMH...seems like all the chickens are home.
@1:24 pm...
Absolutely. However, can you further expound on " tax payer funds are being used to misguide and corrupt children instead of teaching them how to think on their own"?
Stay safe. Speak up. Be strong
Amen James!!!
@ TJL
Stay safe. Stay strong. Peace out!!!
@Teach NY...
Absolutely. In what society is it profitable to have NO consequences? All children want and need structure. They may push up against the structure but the structure should remain fixed. The ahem Discipline code is garbage. Restorative justice? Fix it or we are just prepping some kids for the penitentiary. Rules are REQUIRED in every society. Imo the DOE Mayor and UfT mucked over the students. Now they are mucking over educators. When the dust settles and hopefully Muldew is removed, educators need to speak out and refuse to just go along to get along.
The Good Old Days—were before the political nonsense of ‘No Child Left Behind’ under Bush Jr. and then Obama with ‘Race To The Top’, the Common Core Standards, testing results linked to teaching performance, the impact Charter Schools—and so on.
Don't forget Danielson.
There are plenty of teachers who support Trump, my guess is more now than four years ago. On my travels as an ATR many teachers opened up to me, in large part because they would never see me again. They would never, ever admit it publicly and be branded a racist. I was shocked at how many were for Trump back then. One Black female principal I became friends with was a big Trump supporter back then, but I was probably the only one in whole world who knew it, lol. We used to argue (civilly) a lot - a very rare person then and now. Trump wins big this November.
Fuck Danielson.
It's also tough to support Biden when he supports increasing Charter Schools.
Where did Biden say that? Read his education platform. It is pretty good and I didn't see anything on charter schools or teacher evaluations. His wife Jill is a community college professor and a big supporter of public schools. Joe Biden I don't believe would be another Obama on public ed. Biden is problematic in other areas for me such as foreign policy but I will still vote for him over Trump.
https://joebiden.com/education/
No update on court case???
We provided two updates. A different judge has the case. New papers filed on Monday.
Lydia posted an update on Facebook. The decision did not go in favor of the teachers.
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