UFT ELECTION NUMBERS BY DIVISION

Calculating the totals for the UFT Divisional Executive Boards gives us a look at how each division voted in the election. What is up for grabs for teachers are 23 Divisional Executive Board seats out of a 102 person Executive Board that runs the union. 23 out of 102 is all the teachers choose in the union called The United Federation of Teachers.

We could win over the elementary, middle school and high school teachers and we still wouldn't have a quarter of the Executive Board.

Let's look at the actual numbers:
The total breakdown for each division is based on the top vote recipients for each caucus divided by the total votes to base the percentages on.

Elementary Schools--Total 9652 votes counted
Unity     MORE-NAC     Solidarity
7065       2333                   254
73%        24%                   3%

Middle Schools--Total 2754 votes counted
Unity     MORE-NAC     Solidarity
1655      904                     195
60%       33%                    7%

High Schools--Total 4490 votes counted
Unity     MORE-NAC    Solidarity
2077      2292                   121
46%       51%                     3%

For the total teacher vote--Votes counted 16,896
Unity     MORE-NAC     Solidarity
10,797      5529                   570
64%          33%                  3%

Functionals (non teachers) Total 10,404 votes counted
Unity     MORE-NAC   Solidarity
7748       2333                  323
75%         22%                     3%

The UFT election is at large for most of the Executive Board and all of the Officers. All members, including retirees and non-teachers, vote as a single group. Unity Caucus sets it up this way on purpose since there is no way for an opposition group to get to most of the voters in the detailed way that is necessary to really have a chance so Unity is assured victory in the overall election before it starts.

To be fair, opposition does get to have a New York Teacher ad and now an email to members. That is certainly not as strong as Meet the President and having Unity employees do their union "jobs" by going to schools and meeting members. Remember the three rules of politics:
1-Do they know you?
2-Do they like you?
3-Do they trust you?

An ad in a newspaper and an email does not compare to incumbency. The only way to crack the Unity machine is to have respected opposition people in schools to counter the Unity spin. We do better in the high schools than the other divisions because we have more opposition people in the high schools. It's been that way for decades. If we won the teacher vote, we would have the leverage to demand change in how the union operates.

Certainly winning the high schools by 5% (8% if you include the Solidarity votes) is an impressive accomplishment and we should demand structural change.

For those who prefer the individual totals:

Elementary Schools
MORE-NEW ACTION
Sharon Coughlin --2333
Katherine Lapham--2306
Tracey Pearson--2324
Patricia Dobosz--2307
Donald Doyle--2319
Dan Lupkin--2328
Michael Striker--2322
Yelena Siwinski--2324
Janice Manning--2328
Alexandra Alves--2318
Michelle Baptiste--2330

Unity
Carol Harrison--7053
Martin McKeown--7050
Sean Rotkowitz--7065
Alan Abrams--7055
Greer Hansen-Velazquez--7040
Camille Eaddy--7043
Donna Manganello--7059
Wendy Walker Wilson--7056
Lamar Hughes--7045
Mayra Hiciano-Cruz--7041
Haydee Melendez--7048

Solidarity
Elizabeth Gioia--250
Doreida Cela--237
Jeff Losak--222
Linda Acevedo--246
Jonathan Hinesley--242
Jacqueline Vinet---242
Adele Chavarria--254

The Middle Schools
MORE-NEW ACTION
Richard Covelli--896
Andrea McManus--904
Francesca Gomes--889
Dermott Myrie---882
Robert Diefenback--885

Unity
Rashad Brown--1649
David Waltzer--1650
Marcus Escobar--1653
Alexandra Fischer--1655
Joseph Usatch--1649

Solidarity
Ellen Brach--195
Asiya Joseph--179
Tamika Wilson--181
Patricio Freire--185
Christopher Rogers--178


For the High School Division
MORE-NEW ACTION
Michael Schirtzer--2286
Kujit Ahluwalia--2275
Marcus McArthur--2276
David Garcia-Rosen--2280
Arthur Goldstein--2292
Jonathan Halabi--2290
Ashraya Gupta--2289

Unity
Anthony Klug--2077
Winnie Thompson--2073
Sean Ramos--2070
James Duncan--2061
Jacqueline Shendler--2070
James Vasquez--2070
Robert Roache--2063

Solidarity
Quinn Zannoni--120
Anurag Jaiman--121
David Suker--110
Christopher Alena--119
Robert Torrens--110
James Mills--121
Christopher Denigris--108

THE ELECTION TOTALS (UPDATED)

On this page are the vote totals from the American Arbitration Association for the officers and vice presidents.

Some of our candidates went way over 10,800 votes with Lauren Cohen leading the way and Greg DeStefano and Camille Eterno right behind. These are the highest opposition totals since 2001 and we won the high schools.

UPDATE
I didn't have slate numbers at first because unlike in past elections, the AAA didn't give them to us by division as they were available. Slate numbers were buried at the bottom of the report and thanks to Francesco Portelos, I found them this morning. Sorry about missing them.

SLATE
MORE/NEW ACTION--10,658
Unity--39,094

The slate numbers at first glance make absolutely no sense since some Unity candidates and one of MORE-NEW ACTION's received fewer total votes than the slate totals. It must be the capping of the retiree vote at 23,500 that explains this. The slate numbers were a raw vote and not weighted. This does make sense as Unity's strongest division is the retirees.

President
Jia Lee, MORE/NEW ACTION          10,743.073
Michael Mulgrew, Unity                       39,175.623
Francesco Portelos, Solidarity               1,455.958

Secretary
Camille Eterno, MORE/NAC:              10,815.386
Howard Schoor, Unity                            38,851.577
Michael Herman, Solidarity:                   1,466.236

Assistant Secretary
Carol Ramos-Widom, MORE/NAC         10,773.42
Leroy Barr, Unity                                        38,858.577
Christopher Wierzbicki, Solidarity             1,466.446

Treasurer
Kate Martin-Bridge, MORE/NAC             10,762.691
Mel Aaronson, Unity                                   38,991.073
Victor Jordon, Solidarity                              1,387.992

Assistant Treasurer
Gregory Distefano, MORE/NAC                 10,840.012
Thomas Brown, Unity                                    38,906.127
Felix Backer, Solidarity                                 1,368.992

Vice President At Large
Minday Rosier, MORE/NAC                        10,714.317
Evelyn De Jesus, Unity                                   38,964.436
Scott Krivitsky, Solidarity                               1435.755

Vice President Elementary Schools
Lauren Cohen, MORE/NAC                            10,867.943
Karen Alford, Unity                                           38,901.127                                                    
Poonita Beemsigne, Solidarity                           1,333.439

Vice President Intermediate/Middle Schools
Nelson Santiago, MORE/NAC                         10,806.317
Richard Mantell, Unity                                       38,850.058
Nancy Zazulka, Solidarity                                   1,416.271

Vice President Academic High Schools
James Eterno, MORE/NAC                              10,762.351
Janella Hinds, Unity                                           38,866.088
John Silvers, Solidarity                                       1,440.378

Vice President CTE High Schools
Christine Gross, MORE/NAC                            10,748.557
Sterling Roberson, Unity                                     38.824.951
Judeth Napoli, Solidarity                                      1,474.137

Vice President Special Education
Margaret Hobson-Shand, MORE/NAC               10,626.622
Carmen Alvarez, Unity                                         39,119.34
Eric Severson, Solidarity                                         1,391.168

Vice President NON DOE
Anne Goldman, Unity                                              39,646.455

The fractions are there because retiree votes are capped at 23,500 and after that it is pro rated based on 24,000.

MORE-NEW ACTION WINS HIGH SCHOOLS!

Elections are all about expectations. MORE-NEW ACTION exceeded expectations by winning the 7 High School Executive Board seats. Each of our seven candidates received close to 2300 votes compared to Unity's getting less than 2100.

As for the presidency, Jia Lee got 10,743 votes.
Michael Mulgrew got 39,176 votes.
Francesco Portelos got 1456.

Mulgrew won but opposition easily broke 10,000 for the first time since 2001.

We'll sort out more numbers later.

I just left the count with an official printout from AAA.

UFT ELECTION RESULTS DAY 2 (Delayed until 5:00 p.m.)

I have been following UFT elections since 1997 and this is the first time I can recall that it has taken two days to tabulate even the slate ballots.

New rules that allow certain slate voters to also vote for individuals have made the counting more complicated.

Camille Eterno, Norm Scott and Ellen Fox are attending the vote count at the American Arbitration Association in Manhattan. We have been told to expect numbers around midday. We will pass the results along as soon as we have them.

UFT ELECTION NUMBERS STRAIGHT FROM VOTE COUNT

Camille Eterno and Norm Scott are reporting from the American Arbitration Association where votes are being counted in the UFT Election. Here are the latest numbers from Norm:

53,000 voted, that is up 10,000 from 2013.

Only about 2000 of that increase came from retirees who in 2016 make up 46% of the voters. In 2013, retirees made up 52% of the voters.

Updates
We have a breakdown of where the votes came from.

10,026 came from elementary schools compared to 7331 in 2013 and 10,292 in 2010.

2856 came from middle schools compared to 1879 in 2013 and 2881 in 2010.

4747 came from high schools compared to 3808 in 2013 and 5203 in 2010.

10,933 came from functionals (non teachers) compared to 7704 in 2013 and 10,629 in 2010.

24,464 came from retirees compared to 22,462 in 2013.

It looks like it is going to be a very long night as new rules mean slate voters could still vote for individuals under some circumstances.

As for the possibility of MORE-NEW ACTION winning the high schools, we would need 2374 high school votes to get our candidates majorities. That would mean an increase of 492 from the combined MORE-NEW ACTION's slate totals from 2013 of 1882. It is a bit of a lift.

Unity would need an increase of a combination of their votes and the new Solidarity votes of 782 compared to 2013 Unity totals of 1592 slate votes to win high schools outright.

It might be very close in the high schools. We ask as we did before: where did those new voters go?

UPDATE 2

The total number of ballots that were printed and mailed is 189,469 (53,026 voted; Return Rate=28%)

o   Elementary: 35,606 (10,026 voted; Return Rate=28.2%)

o   JHS: 11,197  (2856 voted; Return Rate= 25.5.%)

o   HS (Academic/CTE): 19,539   (4747 voted; Return Rate=24.2%)

o   Functional Chapters: 46, 731   (10,933 voted; Return Rate=23.4%)

o   Retiree: 62,991   (24,464 voted; Return Rate=38.8%)

NOT SO GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR UFT ELECTION RESULTS

Ballots must be received by the American Arbitration Association today as the UFT election ends. Tomorrow is the vote count. I am not going but I am very interested in the results. Camille Eterno will represent MORE-NEW ACTION along with Jonathan Halabi and some of our retirees.

Norm Scott did a thorough analysis of what to expect over at Ed Notes. He is predicting a big Unity win and he is not seeing the needle moving much in either direction this year compared to previous UFT elections. For the elementary, middle school, functional (non teaching), and retiree divisions, I agree with Norm. For the high schools, the needle doesn't need to move much to make a real difference.

In 2013, New Action and MORE received 52% of the high school vote in the election running separately. I am hoping the combined groups win a majority in the high schools so we have fully independent, non Unity endorsed representation on the UFT Executive Board for the first time since 2007.

New Action and Unity cross endorsed candidates for Executive Board seats in the last three elections. NAC remained independent, as their representatives voted as they saw fit, but they could only go so far or they would risk losing Unity backing. That real, if only implied, limitation will end if NAC is elected with MORE as we are all in full opposition to Unity.

I predict that if MORE-NEW ACTION wins, having people like Mike Schirtzer and Arthur Goldstein along with three others from MORE joining Executive Board veteran Jonathan Halabi and another NAC representative will change the Executive Board's tone. Yes opposition will only have 7 seats out of 102 but that is sufficient to matter in the sense that I believe this group of 7 will make some real noise and then try to organize in the schools based on issues they raise at the Executive Board.

Hopefully, MORE will spread the word into the schools in ways not seen in years, or really ever before, about what is going on within the Executive Board. A regular high school newsletter is essential and was distributed this year. That should be expanded next year.

On the other hand, should we lose the high schools, this election will be a real disaster for the opposition to Unity. This is of course very possible as we don't know if having the Solidarity candidates on the ballot as a third choice will cost us the high schools or if Unity's kinder and gentler approach to campaigning, where they ignored us rather than attack us in public, will net them more high school votes.

A loss at the high school level would mean it is really back to the drawing board time for the opposition. I hope that does not occur. Conversely, if we win the high schools, it would send an important message that even though many of us have been displaced from our closed schools, we still know that Unity has failed the membership and should be held accountable.

We'll know the results tomorrow. Since Camille and Norm will be there, we will get numbers to you as soon as we have them as long as I am not in class.

CAN A DEVELOPING RATING BE APPEALED?

Last fall we wrote about an alarming development where the Department of Education was bringing incompetence charges against tenured teachers in dismissal hearings who have never been rated ineffective. The teachers had been rated developing. The union said that a developing rating would only lead to a Teacher Improvement Plan. They never hinted that teachers would face dismissal if rated developing.

Two people contacted me this past weekend about challenging developing ratings through the appeals process. While I make no claim to be any kind of expert on the current teacher evaluation system or the one going into effect in the fall, I see nothing that says we can appeal a developing rating. I don't know if there is anything that says we cannot either.

I put this out to our readers: Does anyone know if a developing rating has been appealed?

Can we set a precedent?

If the DOE is violating the spirit of the education law by charging people with developing ratings with incompetence in dismissal hearings, then certainly we should be able to appeal these ratings.

It seems the DOE has been given a double victory here. For teachers rated ineffective twice, the burden of proof is on the teacher to prove they are not incompetent in dismissal hearings. These teachers are guilty until proven innocent. At the same time the DOE is still charging people with incompetence the traditional way, with the burden of proof on the Board of Ed, who have never been rated ineffective.

Don't you wish you had a union that wouldn't stand for this?

FARINA IS MERGING SCHOOLS

One of the main reasons for closing schools in New York City was to bust strong union chapters. Some of these were high schools that traditionally had a majority vote for opposition groups in the UFT. High schools were and still are the base of the opposition to Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus. The leadership of the union basically looked the other way or supported splitting up large high schools until it got out of control under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Now that Carmen Farina has figured out through receivership and out of time status that there is no need to close and reopen a school as four small schools to get rid of the staff, lo and behold schools are now merging to save costs.

In a Chalkbeat piece earlier this week Farina gave her rationale for school mergers:

When two or three schools consolidate, the money saved by paying for only one principal and administrative staff “goes back into classrooms,” Fariña said, perhaps to fund additional elective classes or after-school programs.

Duh.

Chalkbeat reported that there have been 25 mergers so far and Farina said that many more small schools could benefit from mergers.

Here is the response from retired Bronx High School District Representative Lynne Winderbaum on facebook:

Lynne Walker Winderbaum

May 18 at 9:19pm ·

Too late. We've closed all the great high schools after concentrating high-need students in them by over-creating small schools that wouldn't serve such students. Kennedy, Columbus, Jamaica, Stevenson, etc...gone. You don't have to be a genius to walk into a campus of what was once a single school and see 7 principals, 14 APs, duplicate guidance and programming departments, to realize what a colossal waste of money this generates. You don't have to be a genius to see the elimination of teams, specialized music and art classes, a variety of languages, special Ed and ELL compliance. You don't have to be a genius to see the toll taken by the displacement of students and teachers. So go ahead Carmen, merge the small schools because NYC destroyed everything the larger schools had to offer.

I agree with Lynne but I have to kick myself about why we didn't push for a merger when Jamaica was under the gun. From an earlier Chalkbeat piece: "City officials have also pitched school mergers as a school-improvement strategy, if a higher-performing school absorbs a lower-performing one."

If only I would have been smart enough to come up with this back in 2010. I could have called Arthur Goldstein and had Jamaica merge with the successful Francis Lewis. It would have solved our problems. Lewis could have an annex for their overcrowded school while Jamaica would've been attached to a successful school and magically improved. Someone at the Community Board actually pitched a version of this idea in 2010. Nobody took it seriously for good reason.

However, back then we all predicted that at some point in the future the DOE would figure out that it might save some real cash to not have so many small schools. That time may be here.

SENATE SCHOOL GOVERNANCE HEARING REPORT FROM LEONIE HAIMSON

The New York City Public School Parents Blog is reporting on hearings held by the state Senate on renewing mayoral control of the schools in New York City which expires next month and must be renewed by the State Legislature and Governor to continue.

Two noticeable absentees from the hearings were Mayor Bill de Blasio and anyone from the UFT.

The best part for me was reading Class Size Matters Director Leonie Haimson's testimony.

Some highlights:

I have opposed Mayoral control and have done so since its inception in 2003. Unlike others who have switched their positions depending on who is Mayor and what policies he espouses, I have been consistent in my views.

Why have we consistently opposed this governance system? Mayoral control as it exists here, in Chicago and a few other cities around the country, is inherently undemocratic and provides no real checks and balances to autocratic rule. As a result, it has too often suffered from insufficient input from parents and community members, closest to conditions on the ground, the result being damaging policies and unwise spending priorities. Our entire system of democratic rule, from the federal government on down, relies on a separation of powers. Can you imagine if the Governor decided to dismiss the State Legislature on the grounds that it was an inefficient governance system?

It is simply unacceptable and frankly racist that the only places where Mayoral control currently exists have student populations that are majority students of color. Suburban and rural cities and towns in the rest of the state and the country would never accept a system that so disempowers voters, including the towns that many of you Senators represent, and neither should we here in NYC. I would add that nearly every poll that has surveyed NYC voters have found the majority against Mayoral control as well, and in favor of the executive sharing power with the City Council or an independent school board.

What about the record of Mayoral control here in New York City? Despite claims of great progress, Class Size Matters analyzed test scores city students received on the NAEPs, the most reliable assessments known that exist, also known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. When gains in student test scores since mayoral control was instituted in 2003 are disaggregated by race, ethnicity,and economic status, it is apparent that New York City schools came out second to last among ten cities in improved achievement.

 Though it is true that graduation rates have increased, our gains mirror increased rates nationally, and as has been argued may also reflect increased pressure on schools to inflate their figures, through discredited methods such as credit recovery schemes and the like.

The justification for mayoral control is that the previous system was scandal-ridden, with corrupt local school boards exhibiting patronage and the like. But the reality is that Community School Boards had their power to hire and fire taken away from them in 1996, years before Mayoral control was instituted.

Moreover, the waste and fraud continues under the current system far outstrips what occurred previously. There were multiple, multi-million dollar no-bid contracts awarded under Mayor Bloomberg that subsequently turned out to be wasteful and/or corrupt. One of the largest related to a contract awarded Custom Computer Specialists, to provide internet wiring from 2002 to 2008, with the vendor hired by Ross Lanham, a DOE consultant. As a 2011 report from the Special Investigator’s office revealed, Lanham and CCS were involved in a massive kick-back scheme that stole millions from the DOE.

 The CEO of CSS and Lanham also started a real estate business together. Lanham later was indicted and sent to jail for his crimes, and the FCC excluded the DOE from more than $100 million of E-rate reimbursement funds because of the resulting scandal.

Leonie attacks the DOE on class sizes and other issues too. 

She is 100% right. This is why this blog has said it is time for the Legislature to let Mayoral control die.

LINK TO MAY DA REPORTS (Updated)

Here is a link to Arthur Goldstein's May Delegate Assembly report.

Some interesting tidbits:

Mayoral Control from President Mulgrew's Report
NY Assembly passed a 3-year mayoral control bill, no changes. Waiting on Senate, UFT does not support current version of mayoral control. Refers to NY Post editorial saying mayoral control ought not to mean total control, and says it contradicts what they said when Bloomberg was in power: Says NY Post are hypocrites, say what they say at any given moment. Says someone can tweet that out.

Since when did the UFT oppose mayoral control? It's news to me that we don't support the 2009 law.

Will the UFT have the guts to ask the Assembly in June to let the current law expire and go back to the pre-2002 school governance system? 

From the question period:

CL-Observations-deadline is coming up, but not everyone has been observed enough. How will it impact members?

Part of the Mulgrew answer:
SED will take a rating as long as there are two observations. But if admin doesn't do job, no harm should come to our members.

This is good to know.

Congratulations to Arthur for working to get the ESL resolution through.

BACK TO SCHOOL TODAY BUT NO DA FOR ME

I literally hobbled back to work today after being out a couple of days. What a great school Middle College High School is as people from the safety agent on through colleagues and students were concerned about how I was doing.

Voting in the UFT election is proceeding nicely at MCHS with only a handful left to fill out ballots and one who needs to find the outer envelope at home. I limped to the mailbox across the street from the school on several occasions to drop ballots in the mail.

Also, an email blast was sent out to my Jamaica High School list early this morning and there was some great feedback from my longtime friends. Some are campaigning for MORE-NEW ACTION.

A few readers may not believe this but after one school day back although still not feeling close to 100%, I decided to skip the Delegate Assembly. As soon as NYC Educator has a report, we will link to it. 

MEMBERS REALLY DO PROVE TO ME THEY VOTED

This post is dedicated to Norm Scott who last week wrote, "When MORE got only 1,200 elementary school votes in the 2013 election Julie Cavanagh was incredulous. 'Everyone voted in my school,' she said. My response today would be - did you actually see their ballots? Did they send you a selfie of them putting the ballot in the mailbox?"

Glad you asked Norm. As I am out of commission for a while, one of my friends, who is far too busy to follow UFT politics and inadvertently threw out the original ballot but got another one sent at my urging or rather pestering, sent these texts out this morning.

Hey James- Mailing it out today.

LOL I mailed it James. You can check me off your list.

Now this friend is helping to make sure the others in my school who never received a ballot have finally voted while I am absent.

Tomorrow is the last day to call AAA at 1 800 529-5218 to get a duplicate ballot.

Keep that ground game going and find those 150,000 UFT members who more than likely still have not cast a ballot and tell them to vote [X] in the MORE-NEW ACTION box and put it in the mail.

GET OUT THE VOTE DRIVE STALLED BY INJURY

The other day I blew out my occasionally tricky sciatic nerve so now I can barely walk let alone run around to get out votes for MORE-NEW ACTION in the ongoing UFT election. Doctor ordered rest so as I sit at home I have just been able to muster the strength to actually sit up for ten minutes at the keyboard to write this.

What I was thinking about, besides the proper way to sit to be comfortable or when would I do the recommended exercises, is how different Unity's strategy in this election is compared to prior campaigns.

• No barrage of Unity trolls coming to ICE or Ed Notes every five minutes to preach the gospel according to Mulgrew. 
• No negative campaign ads mailed to our homes calling us a bunch of communist radicals who want to take everyone's pension.
• No real attack ads at all this year.

The Unity strategy seems to be to just ignore us all as if we don't exist. Maybe they have the right idea. As long as someone is known, they will get votes in elections no matter what kind of job they are doing. Retirees are generally content and many active people like their Unity chapter leader and don't want to know about how he/she has sold out for a trip to a convention where they will support whatever Mulgrew wants no matter how awful it is. Everyone knows Mulgrew's name. Name recognition is crucial in politics.

I read a couple of recent posts over at Ed Notes and it seems Norm has discovered the three rules of politics for accumulating votes:

1-Do they know you?

2-Do they like you?

3-Do they trust you?

If they don't know who you are, you never get beyond step 1 and you aren't going to get too many votes. As Norm found out, Francis Lewis High School will produce many MORE-NEW ACTION votes because the people there like and respect Chapter Leader Arthur Goldstein (They happen to be good judges of character at Lewis) but many even in that opposition friendly school will not have voted yet.

God willing, I will be back at school in a couple of days trying to convince everyone who still hasn't voted yet to cast a ballot for MORE-NEW ACTION in the UFT election. 

While I'm recovering, I have a request for the readers: 

Could some of you please take my place and spread the word while there is still some time left in this election to remind those who may not have voted to do so. You will be surprised how many votes are still out there. I would say probably over 150,000. Why give up now? It's only ten more days until the vote count.

Ok so this pitch wasn't quite up there with a Knute Rockne speech but I can't think of anything better right now.

Now back to my other great pursuit as I wait for my daughter Kara to arrive home from first grade: Contemplating the true meaning of life.

"OPEN MARKET" HIRING IS UP AND RUNNING

We read multiple times in the past few weeks that the so called open market hiring system had no vacancies listed. The delay was confirmed by Gene Mann who reported in this week's Organizer, "The transfer plan had a delayed opening this year, but when spring came, it really burst into bloom: there were 160 vacancies in Queens high schools alone on the first day."

UFT members can transfer to a different school without permission from their current principal between April 15th and August 7th. The effective date of the transfer is the September term.

Anybody who believes the open market hiring system is on the up-and-up surely must be smoking, drinking, snorting, inhaling or injecting something because this totally subjective system has turned hiring in many schools into principal's patronage that has hurt higher salaried senior UFT members. The old seniority, SBO and integration transfer systems that the UFT gave away in the infamous 2005 contract were fairer as they were based on much more objective criteria than just principal's discretion.

When the UFT touts that more people transfer under the current system, they only do comparisons with the old seniority system which had dwindled down to a few schools in its final years. They don't compare open market with how many transferred under all three of the old transfer systems.

Stories of experienced teachers sending out dozens of resumes under open market and not getting one reply are heard regularly. Meanwhile, finding out about someone's relative who knew the principal or assistant principal being hired at a school as veterans are passed over is as common as the common cold in the winter.

Our advice to people who want to escape their current school is to network. You need to talk to contacts who know someone in administration in a school you might like to work in and play the game. I know that goes against what many feel is right.

The current system certainly does not keep in the spirit of unionism or merit based civil service hiring that goes back to the 1880s Pendleton Act, which this blog has referred to on several occasions in the past, but open market is what we are stuck with as long as Michael Mulgrew's Unity party controls the UFT.

Demanding an objective transfer system is one more reason to get out the vote for MORE-NEW ACTTION and to convince everyone you know to do the same. We will push for a fairer hiring and transfer system.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN THE UFT ELECTION

As someone who is an admitted union and political junkie, I find it puzzling that so many people don't vote in union or general elections. I shouldn't be surprised.

Most union members are too busy working, taking care of their families or just living to spend too much time thinking about voting. That is why it is essential for those of us who really care about our union to engage with the voters personally to remind them to cast a ballot.

Since the 1997 UFT election, I have tried walking around my school with a staff directory to make sure I have face-to-face contact with every UFT member in the school to urge them to vote. This is what Politics 101 calls the ground game.

At Jamaica High School, people knew I was coming and many would tell me they voted before I could speak to them. Still, some of my biggest supporters in every election did not get a ballot or didn't know how to deal with the complex instructions that come with it. My educated guess is that there are many schools out there where there is no person running around getting out the vote. Therefore, it is not surprising that turnout is so low in UFT elections citywide.

This year I am contacting my old Jamaica High School friends and colleagues by email or phone while running around Middle College High School at La Guardia Community College, my current school, with a staff list to get out the vote. I am amazed by how many people have still not received a ballot in their home mail as of this morning.

If a member does not yet have a ballot, please have them call 1-800-529-5218 immediately. The American Arbitration Association will mail the member a fresh one. The person who answers at AAA will ask some identifying information and then ask what division a member is in. The answer is high school, middle school, elementary school or functional (non teaching). This phone call needs to be made by Wednesday, May 18. Completed ballots must be received at AAA by May 25, 2016 to be counted.

If members are really serious about changing the UFT, now is the time to get out the vote. Join me in spreading the word in any way possible. We may not win but I can assure the readers of this blog that I will do everything I can to make sure everyone I know has voted.

JUDGE RULES EVALUATION BASED ON STUDENT GROWTH SCORES IS ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS

A judge up in Albany has ruled that Sheri Lederman's ineffective rating based on student test results was arbitrary and capricious. After a long day and evening at school, it is nice to come home to some positive news.

For complete coverage go to the Diane Ravitch blog, the New York City Parents blog or the Washington Post Answer Sheet.

For teachers looking to use this as a precedent for their own ineffective ratings, here is the relevant part of the decision:

LONG DAY IN SINGLE SESSION HIGH SCHOOLS TODAY

Today is our fourth open school evening in the single session high schools while other divisions will do this later in the week. Whether we keep doing four open school nights a year is supposed to sunset every year.

Have you been polled about the length of the school day for next year by the UFT? I have not.

It would revert back to the default day from the last contract with four days of extra help for small groups but only two open school evenings if the union does not agree to renew the current time schedule. My understanding is that this is a year-to-year agreement. The current schedule may be to more people's liking but shouldn't we be asked?

Also, the Absent Teacher Reserve section of the contract that includes weakened due process for ATRs is supposed to end this June. Has anyone been asked how they feel about letting the 2014 agreement sunset and going back to the 2011 pact. Have there been negotiations on a new one?

A real union would be communicating with their members regularly to find out what membership wants.

LAUREN COHEN'S HOW TO VOTE MORE-NEW ACTION GUIDE MAKES GROUND GAME A LITTLE EASIER

This is the time when UFT members have their ballots at home and will either place them on a bottom of a pile of mail, throw them out or fill them out to vote in the UFT election.

Lots of votes are out there now that could possibly be won over. Please talk to everyone in school and get out the vote for MORE-NEW ACTION. In politics they call this the ground game.

I recommend using a staff list and having a personal conversation with every UFT member in your school and then tell your friends in other schools. If someone does not understand the voting process, MORE-NEW ACTION Elementary School Vice Presidential candidate Lauren Cohen put out this how to vote guide that Jonathan Halabi pilfered and now we are double pilfering.

Please spread the word in your schools in whatever way you are able to.

 

LETTER FROM ETERNOS TO HELP GET OUT THE VOTE FOR MORE-NEW ACTION

Those of us who have dedicated our lives lately to going to schools to tell the membership that there is a real alternative to Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus now have to spread the word to get out the vote. In the 2013 UFT election, less than 1/5 of active UFT members voted. This is pitiful. We can do better. My wife and I have penned this letter to our schools and friends. Much of it is based on what we have heard in the schools from many members. A member driven union needs to fight for what membership wants. Please feel free to reproduce and share.

If we are to have any chance of denting the Unity machine, everyone who reads this must reach out to every UFT member they know (word of mouth, phone, email, social media or carrier pigeon) to urge them to vote MORE-NEW ACTION.

May 2016

Dear Colleagues,

As many of you know, ballots for the UFT election were mailed out on May 5. One should be in the mail at home. The strength of a union comes from a membership that is willing to be engaged in standing up for themselves. One of the simplest ways to become activated is to vote in union elections. As you look over the ballot, we urge you to place an [X] in the MORE-NEW ACTION box and then drop it in the mail to easily vote for hundreds of union activists who will make the UFT a stronger union.

If we are elected, we would never consider accepting a contract where members have to wait over a decade until 2020 to fully receive raises and retroactive money that other city unions (police, fire, sanitation, DC 37, etc...) were given between 2008 and 2010. Singling out educators to wait for raises and back pay while the city has record surpluses of $6 billion and NYC is creating more jobs now than ever before is a slap in the face to educators. UFT President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus allowed this to happen. The pattern raises that Mulgrew accepted for this round of collective bargaining in 2014 for city employees is 10% over 7 years, the lowest pay increases in a contract of our lengthy careers. All unionized city workers are basically stuck with Mulgrew's pathetic deal. Mulgrew/Unity needs to be held accountable.

In addition, in the 2014 contract the UFT and other city unions agreed to healthcare savings but they wouldn't tell us what they were. We found out recently that members on GHI and HIP have had co-payments for emergency room care tripled from $50 to $150 while urgent care co-pays have risen to $50. Some members who are on HIP are seeing co-payments of $10 for the first time as HIP's network for free care has dwindled by a third. These are not the last of the savings as next year we have already agreed to an additional $1.3 billion. These health givebacks recur forever. 

Unfortunately, our choices are to keep increasing co-pays, which hurts the people who need medical care the most, or to start charging everyone a healthcare payroll deduction. An honest union leader would have told us all of this when the contract came up for a vote so we could vote with our eyes open. Mulgrew has not been up front and should be ousted.

The teacher evaluation system is a disaster. We are rated now on subjective cookie cutter 1-4 Danielson rubrics along with results on unreliable student test scores on exams that were not designed for rating teachers. If we are rated ineffective for two straight years, the burden of proof for tenured teachers shifts to us in dismissal hearings. This amounts to teachers being guilty until proven innocent and is truly un-American. Mulgrew-Unity refuses to push for repeal of the evaluation system. If you elect MORE-NEW ACTION, we will work to create a fair evaluation system.

School secretaries, guidance counselors, social workers-psychologists and paras continue to have workloads expanded while absent teacher reserves have weaker due process and the army of lawyers hired by the previous administration at the Department of Education continues to help administrators make life miserable for UFT members in many schools. Some schools are plagued with abusive, vindictive, viscous and/or incompetent principals and assistant principals. Useless paperwork is out of control. Close to half of newer teachers are forced to sign extensions of probation letters. Many non-tenured teachers have been dismissed and had their careers ruined. Mulgrew has no answers to any of this other than to try to buy off politicians with contributions in a corrupt political system.

An engaged UFT membership fighting for what it wants is the answer to the problems that plague the system. Union power comes from the rank and file, not the leadership. There are close to 200,000 UFT members. Imagine the strength if we activated ourselves to truly fight for our rights and our schools. We can envision class sizes actually being lowered!

A robust, active and engaged membership will become a reality only if we elect a union leadership that pushes for it. The time for Mulgrew making back-room political deals where membership loses and out of touch leadership wins more perks for themselves is over. Give yourself a voice by voting for the entire MORE-NEW ACTION slate!

Sincerely,

Camille Eterno, Candidate for UFT Secretary

  

James Eterno, Candidate for Academic High School Vice President

ADVICE TO STATE LEGISLATURE ON MAYORAL CONTROL OF NYC SCHOOLS: LET IT GO!

Mayoral control sunsets this June. We wrote about it last week.

I have been reading the engaging debate over at Perdido Street School on the subject. It seems that there is a legitimate fear that if mayoral control of the schools is not renewed, Senate Republicans and Governor Andrew Cuomo will come up with something worse where the charter school sector will get more power. No they won't.

Albany has gerrymandered disticts in such a way so that the State Assembly is almost assured to have a strong Democratic majority. The Assembly is not going to agree to a state takeover of the system or something as crazy. If Senator Flanagan's Republicans in the Senate are willing to let mayoral control expire, I say let it happen.

Do nothing and it expires in June. They are quite adept at doing nothing in Albany.

The system would then revert to a seven member Board of Education with the mayor having two members and the five borough presidents having one each. I worked under the old system and it was not an ideal system of school governance but believe it or not, it was much less dysfunctional than the current system of mayoral dictatorship. Under the old Board of Education, there were true checks and balances.

If mayoral control sunsets, the mayor would have no direct say over the schools and would have to get agreement of at least two of the borough president's representatives to keep his chancellor. If four of the borough presidents could line up, we could see real change this summer.

If it were to revert to the old system, which I still think is a real long shot, the Assembly would not let mayoral control return even if a pro-charter mayor is elected in 2017. Borough presidents would love to have some real power over the schools and I don't see them wanting to relinquish their newly reborn authority over schools if they got it back.

Odds are this is all being worked out so there will be another one year extension of mayoral control that the Republicans will "reluctantly" grant Mayor de Blasio in exchange for some pro-charter law. I believe the Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo are happy to force de Blasio to come to Albany for renewal every year and then if he is out, it will be extended for five or more years so that a pro-charter mayor can destroy the public schools.

If the UFT was smart (we can dream can't we), they would tell their friends in the Assembly to do what Queen Elsa sang in Frozen and Let It Go when it comes to mayoral control.

UFT ELECTION FACTS

Ballots for the UFT election were mailed out yesterday. Here are the numbers for each division:

·        The total number of ballots that were printed and mailed is 189,469

o   Elementary: 35, 606

o   JHS: 11,197

o   HS (Academic/CTE): 19,539

o   Functional Chapters: 46, 731

o   Retiree: 62,991

If we want to change the union, here is what we need to do:

• Mark an [X] in the MORE-NEW ACTION box to vote for our entire slate of candidates
• Tear off the front page of the ballot
• Place the ballot in the secret ballot envelope
• Place the envelope in the outer postage paid envelope
• Seal it all and drop it in a mailbox.

Then spread the word to everyone you know to vote MORE-NEW ACTION. It is a monumental task to reach close to 200,000 members.

MEETING THE UFT MEMBERSHIP

At the end of each school day this week, I am going around Queens to stuff MORE-NEW ACTION literature into UFT member mailboxes. I try to time my visits so I can meet teachers, counselors and school secretaries in high schools that are multi- session in Queens at the end of their school day. I've also hit some middle schools and elementary schools. Meeting the teachers as they leave school has been enlightening and and given me a real boost of energy. There are so many terrific people working in our schools.

Listening to the membership has been quite an experience. What I have discovered is there are many UFT members who get it that the UFT leadership is not doing their job of protecting our rights very well and they would like a union that has their backs. Complaints about contract violations are common. I have been able to hear from young teachers who want to know how they can have job security. I have listened to veterans who aren't feeling they are receiving much support from the UFT.

When I get to make a very brief pitch at the mailboxes, I talk about how educators have been singled out unfairly by the city as we have to wait until 2020 to receive all of the money that most other city employees received in raises from 2008-2010 while the city has a $6 billion surplus in the most recent fiscal year as well as record job creation. I tell them a MORE-NEW ACTION leadership would never have allowed this to happen. This is universally met with a positive response about MORE and NAC.

I should also note that not one member who I have met has talked to me about the UFT not doing a good job on the issue of the union building alliances with the local communities. I am listening and issues like this don't come up with the membership at large. If we are truly interested in a member driven union, the members want us to be a union that fights for them before anything else.

Last night I was able to catch up on Ed Notes where there is a piece about the Mulgrew-UFT/Unity leadership getting $1.5 million from the State Education Department for the UFT teacher centers to do professional development on Common Core. This allows Unity to dole out patronage jobs and surely shows they are all for the Common Core. It gives me yet another talking point as I make the rounds to more schools today and tomorrow. Common Core and the teacher evaluation system are not that popular among the members I listen to.

One teacher told me that this is a change year with Trump and Bernie so the change theme could carry over to the union elections. A principal told me the same thing. I hope they are right.

A DAY IN THE LIFE ON THE UFT CAMPAIGN TRAIL

As this is the week where ballots go out for the UFT election, I planned to spend every spare minute campaigning for the office of UFT Vice President for the Academic High Schools. Before spring break, I drove to Richmond Hill to see Joel Berger from New Action. He had just been to a local union print shop to pick up thousands of copies of the latest leaflet from MORE-NEW ACTION.

Since I had leaflets, it was time to make a campaign appearance at Bryant High School along with former Chapter Leader Sam Lazarus. After meeting the staff at dismissal time, Sam and I split the leaflets so he could take them to a number of Queens High Schools. The time is now here to hit the road to distribute my share of leaflets so that UFT members know what MORE-NEW ACTION stands for which is so different from Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus.

Before I left school on the last day before the vacation, I stuffed the mailboxes at Middle College and International next door in our building. I also gave some to a friend who works part time at IS 193. It was very late so I figured most people would see them when we first returned to school after vacation. I was correct as yesterday (Monday, May 2), many members in my building asked questions about how to vote in the election and the leaflet. I told them to to look for the ballot at home in the mail. I then informed them how easy it is to vote for the hundreds of MORE-NEW ACTION candidates by just filling in an [X] in the MORE-NEW ACTION box, tearing off the first page of the ballot, putting it in the secret ballot envelope, placing that envelope in the outside envelope and dropping it off in the closest mailbox. Everyone told me they were looking for the ballot in the mail.

My wife Camille had a similar experience in her school as she put the literature out yesterday except because Camille is a rock star, her colleagues were asking her to sign the leaflet. Camille Eterno is running for UFT Secretary on the MORE-NEW ACTION slate. I can't top that. Nobody wanted my autograph.

After teaching for the full day Monday, it was off to spread the word to other schools. I filled the trunk of my old Corolla on Sunday with two huge boxes of leaflets to drop them off to contacts across Queens. First stop was Flushing High School where I met a helpful School Secretary and left the MORE-NEW ACTION fliers for a friend who teaches there. Next stop was IS 25 in Flushing where MORE-NEW ACTION Middle School Executive Board candidate Richard Covelli was still working as it was marathon Monday. I got to meet a couple of his colleagues and we chatted about teaching and union matters for a while.

After IS 25, it was back in the car to go to Francis Lewis High School to drop leaflets off for the amazing Chapter Leader Arthur Goldstein. Francis Lewis is a huge school so I needed to count out hundreds of leaflets to leave for Arthur. The people at the front desk are very professional at Lewis and most schools so it really isn't trouble distributing.

After Lewis, it was off to Bayside High School where a Chapter Committee member met me and happily took the fliers. From there it was over to Cardozo where I know a few people so I tried to get messages to all of them. The last stop on the tour of Eastern Queens was Martin Van Buren where Jamaica High School's former Librarian is now in that position there. I was getting a little tired then and I knew the kids and Camille would soon be arriving home so it was off to the grocery store for a loaf of Italian bread and some fruit juice before finally getting back home in Floral Park.

Soon after arriving at home, there was a phone call from a former Jamaica High School colleague to help with a grievance and messages to assist two others. My wife, six year old daughter and 22 month old son came home at the same time so the kids required attention too. Have you ever tried to play kick ball with your daughter while talking on the phone to go over facts of a grievance? That is multitasking at its finest.

After the kids went to bed, I finished up on the grievance preparation and then crashed. It is up bright and early this morning to start all over again. Today I will be teaching all day and then hitting the schools around the former Jamaica High School. I may soon run out of leaflets and need some more but this is the week where we need all of the help we can get if we are going to have any chance of upsetting the known Unity Caucus in the election.

If anyone wants to help out, please contact us at ICEUFT@gmail.com. Sam Lazarus, Kevin Prosen, Norm Scott, Don Doyle, New Action's Joel Berger, others and I will go anywhere in Queens and of course we have people in the other boroughs who can deliver material to any school in the city.

Please note that we all have the right to place UFT election material in UFT member mailboxes. If there are any issues, contact us immediately.

UFT ELECTION CAMPAIGN HEATS UP THIS WEEK

I read last night and we posted last week about how the UFT and NYSUT are being investigated over possibly making illegal campaign contributions to state politicians. It looks as though the multiple probes going on all over the state are as politically motivated as they are based on criminal behavior. We would like to see the charter school fundraising investigated too.

As to how this ties in with the upcoming UFT election, the huge campaign contributions our union gives to politicians seem to be our only strategy to push our agenda. This is a bankrupt game plan but it is all the Michael Mulgrew-Unity Caucus leadership has to offer. We need a union where the membership is actively involved in fighting for our schools, our profession and our kids. Our power comes from an actively engaged membership and not by trying to pay politicians to support us.

If you are a UFT member and you want change, you can help right now!

•  Distribute MORE-NEW ACTION campaign literature in your school this week. I have thousands of leaflets that I will be dropping off to contacts in the next few days after school but we don't have people in every school. If your school needs to hear our message, email me at ICEUFT@gmail.com or contact MORE directly. We will get you the leaflets.
• Adopt a neighboring school or schools and get the leaflets out to them. You have a right to distribute campaign literature in mailboxes on non work time.
• Ask people to fill out the MORE-NEW ACTION palm card to commit to voting for MORE-NEW ACTION.
• When the ballot arrives at home (they will be mailed out this week), it is easy to vote for the entire MORE-NEW ACTION slate. Just put an [X] in the MORE-NEW ACTION box, tear the first page out, put the first page in the secret ballot envelope, place that envelope in the outside envelope and then drop it in any mailbox.
• Help any colleagues who may be confused as to how to vote as the process looks more complicated than it actually is.

MORE has put out a series of videos. This one is great. It features elementary school vice presidential candidate Lauren Cohen and presidential candidate Jia Lee.

Or try this one featuring Michelle Baptiste.

ABRIDGED VERSION OF BUFFALO BILLION PROBE OF CUOMO

For those like most of the world who are way too busy to follow all of the specific details of the Buffalo Billion federal investigation that is now at Governor Andrew Cuomo's doorstep, there is a simple timeline from the Buffalo News. Here are some highlights:

January 2014: State selects LPCmiminelli of Buffalo as construction contractor to build state-owned plant at RiverBend.

September 2015: It becomes public that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued subpoenas sometime in June to scrutinize state's lack of competitive bidding for construction at RiverBend, and whether campaign donations or political considerations figured into awarding of contracts.

April 2016: Bharara subpoenas Cuomo's office. Alphonso David, counsel to the governor, acknowledges "questions of improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest by some individuals" that may involve cases in which the state was "defrauded."

For a television report go here.

For in depth coverage on New York's corrupt politics from a fellow teacher blogger, see Perdido Street School which is back up and running. RBE today leads us to the Susan Lerner piece in the Daily News which shows how basically everyone is involved in getting around the state's weak campaign finance laws.