Friday, March 22, 2013

GLORIA BRANDMAN SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON THE SCHOOL GOVERNANCE VOTE

Chapter Leader Gloria Brandman corrects the record on her vote against the UFT School Governance Committee plan. Read what she says in bold and then you can look at the emails between Gloria and Carmen Alvarez, UFT Special Education VP. Below that is my commentary.

Fact: The final Meeting of the Governance Committee was held on March 12, 2013 which was Parent / Teacher night in most elementary schools around the city.
Fact: I emailed Carmen and Emil letting them know about this mandated night meeting.
Fact: Carmen said that they know but would hold the meeting anyway. (See emails)


Fact: The prior meeting before March 12 was March 7. This was the meeting when the vote for approval was held. Myself and Joan S. attended and voted NO to the governance plan regarding the PEP.
Fact: I was not allowed to correct the record at the DA although I was calling out Pt of Personal Privilege because the speakers were incorrect in what they were saying.

Here are the emails:
-
To: Jamie Hutchins; Carmen Alvarez

Cc: Paul Moore
Subject: Re: Governance Meeting to Review Final Documents
Hi,
Tomorrow night is P/t Conferences for most of the Elementary schools, most falling between 5-8pm.
Gloria Brandman

Sent: Mon, Mar 11, 2013 11:47 pm
Subject: RE: Governance Meeting to Review Final Documents

Yes but we have a timeline....Carmen

Sent: Tue 3/12/2013 7:02 AM
To: Carmen Alvarez; Jamie Hutchins
Cc: Paul Moore; Emil Pietromonaco
Subject: Re: Governance Meeting to Review Final Documents
I will not be able to attend, therefore. 
How many elementary school teachers are on this committee? 
Thanks. Gloria


its a mix ....Carmen


What kind of committee chairs schedule a meeting when they know certain members cannot attend and then declare that they have unanimous approval for what they put out and subsequently do not say anything when other committee members criticize someone who could not possibly have attended that meeting?

The only thing Carmen said at the DA on Wednesday concerning this was to scream at me to sit down when I raised a Point of Order to stop the personal attacks against Gloria.

Emil and Carmen: I respect the two of you as I have worked with both of you.  I really hope you will apologize to Gloria for what Mulgrew allowed to go on at the DA Wednesday.







19 comments:

Anonymous said...

You voted yes . There was active discussion You were there and supported the committee position

Anonymous said...

Which version of the "truth" is this? 2.0? 4.0?

Anonymous said...

At Wednesday's DA, in front of several hundred people, Gloria stated that she was at the last governance meeting and voted no. Now she's backtracking and saying it was the second to last meeting. She said nothing at the DA about communicating with Carmen and about not being able to attend the final meeting.

This is absurd. It certainly doesn't set any record straight.

Affording Gloria the benefit of the doubt, that she didn't outright lie, I would have to question anyone that would want to elect for leadership someone unsure if they were at a meeting and unsure of how they voted. Ladies and gentlemen, these are your MORE candidates. Choose wisely.

Anonymous said...

"Right, Mr.Eterno. I was wrong, you didn't lose my homework assignment. My dog ate it the morning I was going to give it to you."

Anonymous said...

Gloria, I was there as were others. Those of us that know you, clearlywatched the way you voted specifically because you are a member of the more caucus. Your FACT is fiction or possibly revisionist history. The vote was unanimous. The entire group voted for the proposal, including you and the other person. It is not difficult to see the hands of sixty people . And, when Emil said the vote is unanimous after all hands were up, you did not say that you disagreed. You actively participated during the committee and voted yes. But when all of the committee members spoke at the DA you say you didn't hold your opposing hand up high. Really

Anonymous said...

Even if you Unity guys are totally correct, you have no right to personally attack Gloria over and over again. She voted no but couldn't be at the last meeting. Since none of us were at those meetings, we will never know who is right. I notice none of you can defend the report as it is weak like everything else the UFT does. Let's have a real debate about the report. Besides personal attacks, do you offer anything else?

Anonymous said...

One thing you can see here is how people that write this blog like Jeff Kaufman defend people with everything they have. I wish our union would get 100% behind their members like Jeff does.

Anonymous said...

The point is that Gloria could not be at the last meeting because the UFT leadership scheduled the meeting the night of Parent Teacher Conferences. What kind of "leadership" does that?
As a member of the committee, if she disagreed with the final report, she SHOULD have been given the right to explain her position at the DA. That is democracy!

Anonymous said...

What kind of democracy is the union allowing when you have a meeting on a night when the elementary school teachers cannot attend? Did you not want certain voices present? If this was conference night for the high schools, I can bet the meeting would not have been held. A mockery was made of the DA. Mulgrew and his puppets who stood up at his command should apologize to both Gloria and Joan. Also, why are you watching Gloria so closely because she is a member of MORE? Were the NA folks watched to see how they voted? I think not. Good educators are accurate observers. I think UNITY/NA members should practice their observation skills.

Anonymous said...

Let me understand what the last few MORE posters imply...

To disprove what Gloria said at the DA is to attack her personally. And, to question Julie's commitment and involvement is "attacking a new mom".

Seems like MORE excuses, MORE diversions, MORE stories, MORE nonsense!

Anonymous said...

Maybe just maybe there was a vote on March 7 when Gloria and Joan were there and then another on the 12th when they weren't. Seems very plausible.

Anonymous said...

But In front of the DA, Gloria was adamant that she was at the final meeting.

Now she's saying she wasn't and there was a dialog between her and Carmen Alvarez regarding it being scheduled during PTC.

What? Are we supposed to believe that Gloria forgot about that for a few days?

There are holes in this story.

Seems like the MORE people are now trying to manufacture a controversy over scheduling to divert focus from Gloria's inaccurate testimony at the DA.

Anonymous said...

Gloria is a good woman. Go away people attacking her.

Anonymous said...

She should apologize for misspeaking at the DA. Resolves all of this.

Anonymous said...

Gloria did nothing wrong. Mulgrew should apologize for unleashing his dogs on Gloria.

Anonymous said...

Err, "do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

Nothing wrong with deception?

Anonymous said...

In order for me to vote for a slate, the slate has to have courage and a backbone. For you to stand up at the delegate assembly and say that you were not allowed a voice was very disturbing. I was there, you did not voice a concern. However, you get up at the delegate assembly in front of your caucus members and say that you were not allowed to speak. Every hand, question, and concern was addressed at all meetings. I want to support a caucus with a backbone and voice, who will not put their head in their shell when they are called on the carpet. I am supporting UNITY!

Anonymous said...

Unity is backing off of Julie but still attacking Gloria. Oh don't you Unity guys feel pretty stupid about now. How about a presidential debate?

Anonymous said...

Why did Gloria lie?