Sunday, March 24, 2013

MORE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JULIE CAVANAGH TAKES ON HER UNITY CRITICS


Wow. While having breakfast with my husband and almost nine month old son (who is finally on the mend after more than a week of a fever ranging 102-104 every day, during the same time my best friend’s 18 month old daughter was in the hospital, who by the way is also a teacher and a single mother of two young children) I picked up my phone to see a mention on Twitter from Arthur Goldstein (teacher and chapter leader in Queens). I frankly couldn’t believe what I was reading. Usually a mention from Arthur has me in stitches, not this time.

Now instead of relaxing while my baby takes a nap, I am writing this in response to comments on the ICE and MORE blogs attacking my commitment as a unionist and chapter leader and questioning my worthiness as a candidate for UFT President. All of this because I, and the caucus I represent, had the nerve to insist that Michael Mulgrew engage in a forum or debate with me so that our members can be fully informed and engaged when it comes to their voting choices in the upcoming election.

First let me say that I do not feel I need to defend my role as a chapter leader. Nearly every UFT member in our school, signed my petition for UFT President, and many of my colleagues are actually running in this election with MORE. 

Second, I certainly do not need to defend my attendance at Delegate Assemblies. While I do attend, often, DAs are not a democratic forum. As I am sure the commenters on the ICE and MORE blogs know, and as all Unity folks know, for most chapter leaders, the first DA in October is their last. Why? Because, the room is not even large enough for all of the CLs and delegates to be seated and when you do go and sit, you listen to Mulgrew practice his stand up routine for an hour or so, after which you *might* have the chance to ask a question or bring a resolution to the floor if Mulgrew recognizes you. Regardless, it is an effort in futility because it really doesn’t matter what you say, ask or bring to the floor; the ruling Unity caucus will disagree with it or vote it down, since they control the DA. If the UFT leadership actually held Delegate Assemblies each month that were informative and provided fair and ample time for discourse and discussion, I would be there in a New York minute. As this is not the case, I attend as many delegate assemblies as I can, but sometimes other events such as a childcare issue, my son being ill or an important meeting in my community to bring a new partner into Red Hook to service children and families with disabilities will take precedence. I do not need to go to the delegate assembly to prove who I am or that I am committed to my union; I act every day in a way that highlights why I should be president of the UFT.

I am a mother and a teacher. I have been a teacher for thirteen years, and have been working with children with special needs and their families for even longer. I have stayed in the same community and school since moving to NYC in 2001, because I am committed to the process of leading school change and improvement from the school level. I became chapter leader at the request of my colleagues a few years ago and have worked hard with them, our parents, and our principal to make sure our children and our teachers have the best learning and working conditions possible. I fought for my school during the dictatorship that my union handed to the mayor, during a co-location of a charter school in my building that my union didn’t adequately help fight (which is difficult since the UFT leadership chose to co-locate its own charter), while our class sizes rise steadily and our budgets are slashed, while teacher’s choice was eliminated and insultingly reinstated to cover no more than a few boxes of pencils, while ATR’s rotate in and out of my building- some of whom have approached me on the brink of tears desperate for someone to listen to their struggle, during a time of a tidal wave of assaults on our children, our schools, and our profession. 

Throughout this time, I not only worked in my own school community, I worked with parents and union members across the city and the country to fight back. You can find links to some of my work here, but I will list a few highlights: I co-wrote/edited/produced/and narrated a film that stood up to corporate education reform, a film that has been seen by hundreds of thousands of people in every state and on every continent (except Antarctica); I have appeared on several TV and radio programs and written several articles where I have spoken out forcefully against corporate education reform and for the schools our children deserve -- and I was invited or asked in every single case to participate, so while those in Unity caucus pretend to not know who I am or what I have done (but yet "know", falsely, that I am not at DAs) apparently the national media does; I have also worked with other union members in the city and nationally -- I helped organize a conference, and attended and facilitated, in Chicago in the summer of 2011 with other teacher union members; I helped lead the solidarity efforts with Verizon workers at the end of that same summer. I have sued, with a parent and a student, Mayor Bloomberg for the right to protest school closings and co-locations on his block and successfully organized and co-led that protest. I was the only teacher petitioner in the effort to stop and overturn the appointment of Cathy Black and also recently the only teacher on record to join with parents in sounding the alarm of student and teacher data privacy issues regarding SLC/inBloom data systems (Randi Weingarten, by the way, sits on inBloom’s advisory board). I say all of this not because I think anything that I am or that I do is so special, I share this information to highlight the outlandishness of the attacks from people whose usual line is there should be no attacks on union folks because we are under attack from outside forces and therefore need ‘unity’. I also share this because these are the things the president of a union should do.

Beyond of all of this, if Unity caucus can attack me for the number of times I went to the DA (this year I believe I have been to four DAs), the number of grievances I have filed (none), the number of UFT trainings or committees I have attended (none), then I wonder why they nominated Randi Weingarten as their presidential candidate, since she never attended a DA as a chapter leader, was never a chapter leader, and therefore never filed a grievance, attended the trainings etc.  

I personally do not think any of those things are what makes someone qualified to run our union. What matters is leadership. What matters is vision. What matters is the philosophy by which one will govern and represent the membership. I believe in a union that is member led and member driven. When I, or a candidate from MORE caucus, become president of the union, you will not have to attend a DA and sit idly and listen. The DA will be yours. When we take over leadership of our union, we will organize, support and build fighting chapters at the school level with elected district representatives who are trained organizers.  When we run the union, leadership and staffers will make salaries equivalent to the teachers we represent -- there will be no extra perks, no double pensions.  When we lead our union, you will not go more than three years without a contract, at least not without organized job actions and a fight. 

When Unity’s stranglehold of the leadership of our union ends, the members will have representation that believes in solidarity with other unions and in the power of our collective action. You will have a union that educates, mobilizes, and organizes our members and the public and who organically partners with parents and young people. You will have a leadership that truly understands that our working conditions are our students' learning conditions, that a harm to one is a harm to us all, and that we must stand side by side with deep roots in the communities we serve to fight for social, racial and economic justice in our schools, in our city and across the country.

I am more than ready to share who I am with the members of the UFT and I am happy to answer their questions. In fact, that is precisely the reason I sent the email below to Michael Mulgrew. I believe a union membership with a less than 30% voter turnout needs to be engaged and exposed to open discourse and conversation between the two people who seek to represent them.

Mr. Mulgrew, I am still waiting for a response. 

____________________________________


My email to Mulgrew:

Sent: Mar 14, 2013 8:01 PM

Michael,

I hope this email finds you well.

While we have differences and disagreements concerning education policy and union democracy, we both are committed to our union and the children we serve. In that spirit, we should be able to engage in an open conversation during election season so we can ensure our fellow members are informed and engaged.

To this point you have ignored outreach regarding your participation in a debate or question and answer town hall with me. I would like to directly and formally ask you to participate in such an event.

I believe that our members deserve the opportunity to ask questions of their presidential candidates and I strongly believe this kind of open and honest discourse strengthens our union: an educated and engaged membership that is listened to and participates makes us stronger.

There is precedent for an event such as this between presidential candidates during election season.  As you know, Randi has participated in presidential debates in the past: one in 1999 and again in 2001.  


I am open to a debate format with a third party moderator or a town hall question and answer event with the membership. My only specific asks are that the event be filmed and/or livestreamed so that we can maximize member participation, that the date, which I am open to any, be agreed to a few days in advance, so that I can secure child care and that the date be as close to April 3rd as possible, so that we provide a fair amount of time for members during the election timeframe.

I look forward to your response.

In solidarity,
Julie Cavanagh

________________________________________
Links to embed:
Link to comment sections w/ attacks from both blogs:
Link to put where it says "here" for some of my work: http://juliecavanagh.tumblr.com/articlesandvideo
Link to film:       http://vimeo.com/41994760

35 comments:

  1. Pretty good resume if you ask me. In terms of debates in UFT elections in the past, there were presidential candidate debates in 1999 and 2001. There was a live radio debate in 2007 between Unity's Jeff Zahler and me when we were both running for the Executive Board.

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  2. Sunday, March 24, 2013
    Should Working Mothers With Sick Babies Attend the DA? By NYC Educator

    http://nyceducator.com/2013/03/is-ufts-delegate-assembly-forum-for.html

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  3. Working parents everywhere salute you Julie.

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  4. Julie - Unity is attacking you because they are SCARED. They have to cut you down any way they can.

    So by their thinking Mulgrew has no kids therefore he makes a better UFT president??? At this point a chimp would make a better UFT leader

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  5. Mulgrew has a grown daughter. Let's get it right. I agree with everything else the Queens teacher said, particularly about the chimp.

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  6. I just posted this on Ed Notes:
    In the midst of dealing with a sick child and getting ready for a few days of breathing room from working as a full-time teacher, mother, chapter leader, presidential candidate, school and neighborhood organizer, best friend and supporter to too many people to count, Julie Cavanagh found the time to respond to the Unity hack/slug attacks while Mulgrew hides under the table.

    Listen, I actually happen to like Mulgrew from what I see of him, but if he had to face a debate with Julie and answer tough questions about UFT policy he just wouldn't hold up. So I don't blame him for ducking. That doesn't make him a bad person and maybe it means he is smart to not want to debate Julie, knowing full well her capabilities.

    But then the Unity attacks on her qualifications in such a coordinated manner means he must bear responsibility for them and that means he is condoning them while the anonymity of the commenters provide cover for people who are clearly amongst the leadership, allowing Mulgrew to say, "who me?" It happened to Kit Wainer in the 2007 campaign when thousands of teachers received an mailing at home attacking Kit. Randi claimed she didn't know. Sure. Can we expect a similar mailing with the same type of attack on Julie this time?

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  7. Yep. I'm checking my mailbox daily.

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  8. The likening of MORE to the “Rent is too Damn High Party” is way off the mark. Presumably the anonymous (read, cowardly) poster was implying that MORE came out of no where with no real following. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lets take MORE’s candidate for president, Julie Cavanagh, who anonymous posters are attempting to drag down (anonymously, of course).

    Julie highlighted a lot of her education activism in her response to the anonymous comments on the ICE blog (read Julie’s reply here - http://morecaucusnyc.org/2013/03/25/cavanagh-defends-her-record-and-asks-mulgrew-to-debate-his/). But one thing she didn’t mention was that when I was having a problem at my school, it was Julie and not the UFT who came to help us.

    In 2010, the NYC DOE proposed housing Millennium Brooklyn in the John Jay High School campus where I teach. While Millennium Brooklyn is not a charter school, many of us at the John Jay campus were opposed to the co-location because of the scarce space in the building. There was also the problem of the DOE failing to release promised funds to the school (outrageously, they told us that allowing Millennium Brooklyn in would release those much-needed funds for our crumbling building). I knew Julie from the Grassroots Education Movement (this was way before MORE) and her fight at PS15. After telling her about what was happening at my school, Julie attended a joint parent and teacher meeting at my campus to help explain what would happen next after the proposal and what steps we could take to prepare for the hearing and the PEP. Julie also attended the hearing at my school and spoke powerfully both to the DOE from the microphone but also privately to at least one CEC member about the failure of the DOE to fund the schools at John Jay. Again, this was before there was any MORE, before Julie was running for any office. Julie, a true activist dedicated to education justice, came and said what the UFT leadership didn’t.

    When you look at the names on the MORE slate you will find much of the same. Far from being a “fringe” group like the anonymous says, the names you see running with MORE are some of the most dedicated activists who have often stood up while the UFT leadership sat down. The names on the MORE slate are the activists who have attended practically every PEP since mayoral control began. The names on the MORE slate are the activists who have attended school hearings to work with teachers and parents defending their schools, again, since mayoral control began.

    Mulgrew and the UFT leadership may talk touch in front of the cameras or during an election season, but it has been the activists in MORE who, before MORE even existed, who have been the real front-line fighters since the beginning.

    I proudly stand with them.

    John Yanno, Chapter Leader, Secondary School for Law.

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  9. Julie, if you are reading these comment, I hope you also go over to SUPPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS on Facebook where this story also unfolded. Even teachers across the country are incensed.

    btw, read the latest issue of the New Republic where Unity leader Weingarten and her BFF Bill Gates co-wrote an article on teacher evaluation. It's up on SUPPORT. This is what Unity stands for, more teachers need to know this!!!

    SUPPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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  10. Any Unity slugs out there want to debate someone from MORE? You can wear masks.

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  11. Silence from Unity. They are waiting for Leroy Barr or someone else to give them their blogging orders. They have no idea what to do if not told.

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  12. Kudos to Julie. Stand up proud and strong. There are many who support and respect you. Mulgrew should pull in the dogs, apologize for their rude behavior and set a debate date as Julie has requested.

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  13. Don't hold your breath waiting for the debate. Do you think Mulgrew would risk it? Today's strategy seems to be to ignore MORE.

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  14. Mike Mulgrews sister if the CFO of a firm out of Staten Island that does Professional Development and tutoring and has received millions of dollars in contracts from the DOE. His sister Kathleen,(may be using her married name ), was a school teacher and has no business experience yet, since her arrival at Brienza Educational Advsntage, the company has been awarded major DOE contract dollars. Coincidence???

    The Fog

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  15. That is Brienza Academic Advsntage sorry for the mis print.

    The Fog

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  16. How were the candidates chosen? Do people realize that there is a candidate for Vice President that reports fellow UFT members to their principal? Do people realize that the same person screams at fellow teachers in front of students? Why would anyone vote for this when the candidate has reported fellow chapter members for termination? Why would anyone debate someone who would allow such a candidate on their slate? Sad, scary and true.

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  17. How about some specifics?

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  18. When we post vague unsubstantiated allegations, it's your duty as duespayers to blindly accept them. Vote for Unity, even though we're too chicken to debate!

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  19. First and foremost, anyone would hope that Cavanaugh's baby is healthy and will be okay. What readers of this blog may not realize is that Cavanaugh did not vet the candidates for Vice President. To have a candidate that literally rats out fellow teachers to the principal and then for her to not remove that candidate from the slate illustrates a serious lack of awareness. Mulgrew is aware. It was unfair of the slate to pressure Gloria to pretend her vote was not counted. The truth should always be told. Just ask all of the teachers who work with that candidate for VP. How many chapter leaders can verify that that candidate should be removed?

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  20. Still won't tell us who you are or who you are attacking. Can we please know? This new line of attack is even more pathetic than the attacks on Julie.

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  21. On the contrary. Cavanaugh should have a meeting with all of the candidates to discuss what everyone else is aware of and this candidate should be removed from the slate. It is never too late to tell the truth. The slate should also apologize to Gloria. All she had to do was say, "Since the last meeting was Parent Teacher evening, I could not record my vote against the proposal." instead, your slate panicked and backed Gloria into a corner. The previous committee had a minority report. No biggie. Just tell the truth. Some of you owe Cavanaugh an apology because you withheld the truth about the VP candidate and some of you owe Gloria an apology.

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  22. Unity's great fear is the membership wakes up and sees them for who they are. This whole crazy attack episode proves this.

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  23. Not attacking either Cavanaugh or Gloria. Quite the opposite. Asking for true unionists to run on all slates and for the truth to be told. Michael Fiorello submitted the minority report last time. No biggie. Why did that not happen this time? Why is the background of those running for VP not a fair question? Your slate lacks credibility. That does not mean that Cavanaugh or Gloria are the ones who scream at fellow teachers in front of students and report them to their principal for termination. The truth is painful to face, but not impossible to fix.

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  24. Learn how to spell Cavanagh.

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  25. Okay. Now will you convene a meeting and expel the candidate who screams at fellow teachers and reports members from their chapter to the principal for termination?

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  26. That's about half of the Unity Caucus slate, including DR's who come to buildings and don' t tell chapter leader and then go make deals with peincipals. Let's throw them all out.

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  27. Let's elect district reps. What a novel concept. Didn't we used to do that? Oh Unity stopped that. MORE will bring it back.

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  28. You owe Gloria an apology for making her lie in public. All she had to say was, "I couldn't make it to the last meeting because of Parent Teacher Evening, but I would like to record my vote against the proposal." Michael Fiorello issued a minority report the last time. No biggie. You did not vet your candidates for office. You owe yourself the truth. There is a candidate on the slate that screams at students in front of fellow teachers who also reports teachers to the principal for termination. Interesting how your responses do not address either issue. The voters will see through that. If you cannot figure out that you need to fix this egregious error in judgment, then you are part of the problem.

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  29. When are you going to stop bringing up issues and respond to our anonymous unsubstantiated allegations? How can we trust you if you don't publicly respond to whatever innuendo we see fit to hurl in your direction?

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  30. How about candidates like Randi Weingarten wbo are on the advisory board of an organizatiin that is trying to buy student info. Let's vet them Unity.

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  31. You don't get to confuse our baseless innuendo with facts. Let's get that straight at the outset.

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  32. Oh sorry Mr. Lunatic.

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  33. Good. Now let's stop discussing the issues and continue to trash your candidate for taking care of her baby, and let's have a detailed discussion about the nameless person against whom we're leveling an important unsubstantiated accusation.

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  34. There are a number of candidates on the Unity slate that scream at ATRs: STOP COMPLAINING. YOU'RE LUCKY TO HAVE A JOB.

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