I was just a little agitated at last week's Delegate Assembly when Leroy Barr refused to recognize my point of order or allow me to appeal his ruling so I didn't exactly listen closely when Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the Delegates. In fact, while he was talking I decided it was time to leave.
Fellow Delegate Quinn Zannoni had this comment on our rundown of the totally undemocratic UFT de Blasio endorsement post. He summarized some of the Mayor's remarks:
At his DA speech, DeBlasio said he'd done a good job at education. He mentioned higher test scores, grad rates, better PD, and PROSE.
Test scores are being fiddled with, and consequently so are grad rates:
Better PD? It took them a painfully long time to announce what would count as PD hours, and they disqualified in-school staff meetings as countable hours.
Does anyone trust anything the Mayor says about his education record?
Remember, my perspective is from a more progressive position than some of the people who comment here.
I would not like to see a pro-charter Democrat or Republican elected but think rewarding what is arguably a very anti-teacher Mayor de Blasio with an early endorsement is questionable. He is responsible for hiring Chancellor Carmen Farina and letting her continue the war on teachers. Unwavering support for Democrats, no matter what they do, is not the answer.
16 comments:
Does anyone know what counts as PD hours? Half the year gone, I've never missed a mandated PD, and have even attended some out of the building, and yet none of them count towards the 100 hours?
Unwavering support is definitely NOT the answer but what or better yet who IS the answer. I would really love to stand by/next to someone who is unafraid to step out of the shadows in order to really fight for a real, authentic education of our students. A "someone/group/movement" willing to challenge the status quo. But how? Pardon my naivete but is part of the problem that the high school folks are facing different challenges from our elementary/middle school peers? How do we get together so that ALL educators are respected? I think one thing we must do is speak out loud to the world about what's really happening in schools.
P.S. Progressive movement is a good thing!!!
Right now only if the vendor for the PD is sponsored by the state counts toward CTLE hours. There's a list on the Nysed website. The NYC Doe is not on the list. UFT is on the list so that's why they are offering courses that will count toward the 100 hours requirement. I read somewhere in blog that the DOE is applying to be sponsored by the state. I hope so.
We need to get a group of teacher in every district to run for elected office.
That is a good idea however once elected then what? Many people are afraid, tired and doubtful that change will occur. I wish we could fulfill your suggestion along with getting strong students and parents involved.
UFT endorsement is the kiss of death. De Blasio, as incompetent stooge, deserves the UFT endorsement. Guaranteed, he will lose the elections.
Unfortunately James what happened to you is all to common from the people on the left. They hypocritically preach tolerance, yet will move aggressively to silence anyone with a different viewpoint. And if that person happens to be from the right, they pull out the race card.
And if you happen to be an actor or musician, you better be silent if you voted for Trump, or you will be blacklisted and receive death threats.
Left or right has nothing to do with it. One party states like the UFT are bad no matter which side of the political spectrum they are from.
Here we go again...designating someone left/right/black/white/zoo/ghetto etc...but are confused when the word racist is used. Stick to the topic w/o using offensive words (something supposedly learned when you're in the sandbox) and we can debate/discuss ANY TOPIC under the sun. Dang it's not hard to understand. It's not about PC it's about speaking respectfully or dealing with the consequences of not.
@8:17 that's horrible and unfortunate. I wish the presidential race wasn't so hostile. Donny spoke horribly about President Obama when he was in office. He is offending alot of people and the country is divided...it's unfortunate
And if you call a racist a racist the word "niggas" is used. What is the world coming to?
My man!
90% of all sponsors (at least in Manhatten) are the UFT, CSA, or a college.
The approved CTLE sponsors (i.e. providers) are listed here: http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/resteachers/CTLESponsors.html
Looking at the list of Approved CTLE Sponsors as of yet, in the city we have:
In Manhattan:
Executive Leadership Institute
New York City Chapter of the American Schulwerk Association
New York Institute For Technology-Manhattan Campus
New York State Technology & Engineering Educators Association
New York Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionality at NYU Metro Center
New York University
NYS Statewide Language RBERN
NYS TESOL INC.
Rockefeller University
The Jewish Education Project
The UFT Teacher Center
The UFT
NYCAFLT/UFT Professional Comittees
On Staten Island:
AATSP Metropolitan NY Chapter
The Staten Island Reading Association
Mulgrew and Co. also said that DeBlasio had stood up for teachers by negotiating their contract first. That's both deceptive and wrong.
The first contract negotiation was with the nurses. The second contract negotiation was with the teachers. That wasn't out of respect for teachers -- it was because these were the only unions without contracts under Bloomberg! (And college professors.) And also, by negotiating with the most desperate unions first, they could squeeze out the crappiest contracts in order to set the pattern for all of the other public employee union contracts.
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