Our friend Merry Tucker sent this to ICE mail.
I decided to count the photos of Mulgrew in the latest issue of the NY Teacher:
Total: 27. + 4 (all on one page) in the state edition.
One page had 5 of him!
3 pages had 3
2 pages had 3.
In the competition of ego-mania, I think Mulgrew wins. and he's just started his reign.
Doesn't the ICE blog have 3 Eternos...wait...two of them are family members.
ReplyDelete31 pictures? He should be working for the teachers instead of posing for pictures. Mulgrew solve the closing of the public schools and give jobs to the ATRs.
ReplyDeleteJeez, we have a new UFT President and ICE starts their criticizing of him by noting the amount of times he's featured in one of the first "NY Teachers" as he starts his presidency. Seems kind of petty to me.
ReplyDeleteIf Mulgrew was elected president that would be one thing, but he was selected by the Unity Executive Board and now they are clearly running a campaign through their newspaper. This is a travesty that we are paying for with our dues. That's not petty at all to criticize.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a "Vote Mulgrew" message anywhere in the New York Teacher. Instead I see a new President working hard for the membership. Criticize a person all you want for their policies, not that they're out and about trying to be proactive. That's exactly how the job should be done.
ReplyDeleteICE would also criticize Mulgrew if he wasn't making his presence known. He won't ever get good coverage here.
ReplyDeleteThe UNITY Executive Board? Leaving to the side the fact that there are New Action members on the Executive Board itself, it appears that ICE only recognizes the legitimacy of democratic elections they win.
ReplyDeleteI was more concerned by Dick Iannuzzi's article. It "warns" of changes being uncomfortable without giving specific examples, but does sites some charters as an example of what works.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this all mean? Changes in tenure? Changes in evaluation that do include test scores? Changes in salary via merit pay?
If Mulgrew was really working for us, why is he announcing he wants larger pay raises yet says nothing about the impending layoffs of aides, praising the so-called changes in Governance, but does not decry the loopholes that give the advantages to Klein, does not address the class size issue with many sitting with 30 or more, or the new contracts approved by the Mayor's controlled DoE??
I must get 20 pieces of mail from the Bloomberg campaign not to mention the nauseating commercials that declare his success with the schools, so it doesn't surprise me that Mulgrew is using the NYTeacher to get his face out there.
New Action=No Action
ReplyDeleteUnity=sellout
Mulgrew= more of the same or worse for $90+ per month
That will soon be 96 dollars a month to be abandoned by your union but oh the pictures look great.
ReplyDeleteJust got a postcard with pictures of Mulgrew Liu and DeBlasio. The Mulgrew campaign will be non stop. If they spent a little time improving our conditions instead of trying to get face time, then maybe we could have some respect for our Unity leaders.
ReplyDeleteAll of those pictures of Mulgrew in the NY Teacher being criticized here are of him doing more than spending a "little time improving our conditions". The arguments here are petty.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't particularly surprising that there were so many pictures of Michael Mulgrew in this issue of the New York Teacher. After all, he was a presidential pick that came out of relative "Nowhere". Most UFT members have absolutely no clue about who he is. They need a bit of an introduction to prepare them to vote for him in this spring's election. Unlike Sandy, who was long an acknowledged successor to Shanker before she ever took office; and Randi, whose ascension to the throne was also long foreseen, Mulgrew was not well known until the last year or so, and then only to those well versed in internal UFT politics.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there were more important questions raised in this issue of the New York Teacher.
Of most concern to me were the following:
1) Mulgrew's comments on page 5, in "A Q&A with the new UFT president". When asked about Arne Duncan's proposal to bar states like NY that won't use student test scores to evaluate teachers from receiving large federal education reform grants, Mulgrew responds in a way that kinda makes you wonder. "...Since the New York State law on test scores and tenure sunsets next year anyway, [uh-oh, gulp!] we're going to have to find a way to move forward that makes sense for students and teachers. Whatever that solution is, it has to be valid...[uh-oh, gulp again]. If the UFT turns out to be as strong in its defense of member rights with regard to use of test scores for evaluation and tenure as it was in opposing mayoral control, etc., everyone is probably in deep doo-doo.
2) While we're on the mayoral control issue, was I the only one who was a bit jolted to see the official take laid out on page 6 of the NY Teacher -- the Insight column titled Then and Now?
At a moment when Bloomberg/Klein are running on an unlimited campaign budget for re-election on an I-Turned-the-School-System-Around ticket; and while the UFT appears to be remaining neutral in the November election; and while most people who actually work in the schools believe that the system has gone to hell in a handbasket under the Bloomberg/Klein stewardship, this piece claims that not much has changed over the last seven years. In fact, it even asserts that some positives have occurred during Bloomberg/Klein's term of office. The charts and graphics for the article give the superficial reader a positive spin on what's been going on during this period of turmoil (reduced class sizes, higher salaries, more support staff, etc.) COULD THIS BE A SUBTLE WAY OF ENDORSING BLOOMBERG/KLEIN WITHOUT ACTUALLY MAKING AN ENDORSEMENT?
This kind of stuff seems more important than the actual number of pictures Mulgrew scores.
11:11 p.m. Thanks for reading the NY Teacher. Most of us get disgusted and it becomes lining for bird cages.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention that those 8 New Action candidates only won because they were on the Unity slate. ICE/TJC outpolled New Action in every division. There's democracy for ya.
ReplyDeleteAs to Mulgrew picture, I'm for the entire NY Teacher having a full page photo of Mulgrew with no text. We could wall paper our bathrooms - or out houses.
Classy...sigh.
ReplyDeleteTeachers in District 20 received and invitation that says "MEET THE PRESIDENT" You know who the president is: Mulgrew-- They will have free food and drinks. Save the date for October 30, 2009. Where? at the
ReplyDeleteYellow Hook Grille
Neighborhood: Bay Ridge
7003 3rd Ave
(between 71st St & Ovington Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11209
(718) 238-1089
Let's join the teachers in this area and complain to Mulgrew about CLASS SIZE, CLOSING OF SCHOOLS, ATRS AND RUBBER ROOM PROBLEMS. THE UFT IS PAYING THIS GET TOGETHER WITH THE UFT MEMBERS' MONEY.
They did the same thing after Randi was annointed. You didn't see Randi doing much Meet the President in the last few years after she was established.
ReplyDeleteDues money is being used to indirectly fund the Mulgrew campaign .
Only the membership can stop it.
To spend membership dues on drinks and food to meet Mulgrew is disgusting. How about giving the teachers some of the money back to buy school supplies.
ReplyDeleteSchool supplies won't help Mikey get elected to keep the Unity machine humming for another generation. Everyone who fails to vote will have only themselves to blame when things don't improve.
ReplyDeleteWhen is he going to make a statement about the ATR situation. We are all in limbo. And we are all sick and tired of the Bloomberg ads. The UFT will endorse Bloomberg they are afraid of him.
ReplyDelete