Wednesday, February 28, 2018

NEW CHANCELLOR LOOKS LIKE MORE OF THE SAME

Mayor Bill de Blasio has picked the new Chancellor. He is Alberto Carvalho. Politico, ABC 7 and other media outlets have profiles on Carvalho who has led the Miami Dade schools since 2008 when he took over from former NYC Chancellor Rudy Crew. Carvalho will succeed retiring Carmen Farina next month.

Since Carvelho won a not so prestigious award from Eli Broad, a notorious anti-teacher reformer, Carvalho might be automatically disqualified from any pro-public school list of possible Chancellors. Add to this his support for school choice and his placement on Eva Moskowitz list of acceptable Chancellor candidates and this does not bode well. There probably aren't going to be any major changes from the disastrous policies that have plagued NYC schools since 2002 or maybe even 1999 when Crew left. Carvalho's claims to fame are that he lowered the achievement gap for English Language Learners and raised the high school graduation rate to record highs in Miami.

As far as Carvalho's relations with the teachers union goes, the Politico piece says this:

In 2011, Carvalho helped implement a merit pay system — considered anathema to most teachers union officials, including (AFT President Randi) Weingarten — that tied raises to teachers' evaluation scores and provided bonuses for highly effective teachers. He had occasional confrontations with groups of teachers upset about pay issues and rising health care costs. And he was sometimes at odds with the leadership of Miami’s local teachers union, United Teachers of Dade. After Miami-Dade schools and the union settled a new contract late last year, Carvalho praised the deal while UTD President Karla Hernández-Mats said, “It is absolutely not what our members deserve.” 

As we head into discussions on a new contract in NYC with a contract ending late this year and considering we will most likely lose members when the Supreme Court probably lets public employees stop paying union dues, I think we can safely say the road ahead is not going to be easy.

Our best hope is a renewed militancy among the members.


24 comments:

  1. Fat chance...Too bad we didnt stay strong, now its too late, and its over.

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  2. Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits. Keep them coming.
    That's the only action that works.

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  3. Like the Janus lawsuit is working to destroy us.

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  4. Obviously they know that using the legal system will help them bypass the voting process. So we should learn from that.
    The legal system is there for anyone that is smart enough to take advantage of it.

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  5. What? Weingarten loved merit pay in Newark.

    Abigail Shure

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  6. Health care. It's what Buy Me Bill is going to tell Mulgrew to fuck us with - guaranteed.

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  7. There not enough words that can describe the level of messed up this is turning into...... we have people here who could have been great for this job.... but of course not....

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  8. Yeah, Bill De Blasio the Progressive!

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  9. was anyone forced to watch carmen's farewell video stream during monday pd? im not sure how her reflections on her career will aid in my effectiveness and alignment.

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  10. WHO READ THE UFT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CONTRACT SURVEY?: UFT sent out a survey asking elementary teachers questions on what they want to see in the next contract. The link is on the UFT Solidarity Facebook page and I suggest every teacher on this blog should go read it. It has a bunch of questions on observations thank god. However, one of the questions asked if teachers would be willing to work a longer day in exchange for more pay. I swear to God this is true as I filled out the survey. This was exactly how we got a fake "raise" in the 2005 contract. The UFT better not even CONSIDER asking us to work one minute more. Maybe they are asking this as a way to use extended day time as a wedge to get paid maternity leave in. If this gets presented to us, it is all the more reason to quit the UFT. With this new possibly shady Chancellor and a new contract around the corner things are gonna heat up really quick. (However, I did read that the new Chancellor balanced the Miami school budget by firing a ton of admins but not a single principal.)

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  11. Interesting reading. Same old - same old?

    http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alberto-carvalho-ignores-black-schools-6395042

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  12. THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ALL SURVIVING LABOR UNIONS OF THE FUTURE:

    USE THE ACTIONS OF THE UFT FROM 2000 AND ON AS A GUIDE FOR WHAT NOT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE

    GOOD LUCK TO ALL EMPLOYEES IN UNIONS IN USA AND THE WORLD

    SIGNING OFF FOREVER
    SINCERELY
    THE MUL-SCREWED

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. look for the UFT to accept a lousy contract but the city will agree to pay rest of retro money right away.

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  15. Absolutely not in favor of extending the workday. What needs to happen is that students need to study. What ever happened to that concept.

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  16. You need to get with the times. If the kids don't study, it is the teacher's fault.

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  17. I think the Who is relevant here

    "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

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  18. If we are going to quote Pete Townshend, can't we teachers just say, "We're not gonna take it?"

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  19. Is there ever any good news anymore for us here in the trenches teaching these kids? Every story is negative as far as public schools go and this appointment of chancellor is just another disappointing story although from my initial reading this guy seems to be OK.

    However we are inundated with constant negative posts regarding our livelihoods and its never any good news. We have had to deal with Bloombergs, Gates, Kleins, Devos, Koch bros, on and on the news is always bashing and negative. We are people who work a respected profession but we are allowing the ill fated humanity to constantly bash our livelihoods purely for jealousy and greed of money.

    Tough time to be working in education as all seems to be negative regarding unions, teachers, principals, chancellors no matter what its always a negative post from our colleagues. No one in their right mind would want to be a teacher why would one? Low pay, low morale, constant bashing all the while kids are the worst generation of our time. Worst generation due to electronic technology such as social media crap. Funny thing, most people think these kids of this generation are computer savvy and we grown up teachers are not computer savvy. However, get on a computer with a student doing a college application and you will see the students are clueless on how to even complete an on line application. Clueless. Just because these kids can look at their phones, take pictures and send text messages in short hand, does not mean this generation is computer savvy. Actually, they are clueless.

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  20. cavallos a goner he turned down the position..only in the nycdoe

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  21. Yeah, amazing. Fuck these schools and these kids. They are all crap.

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  22. Carvhalo turned down the job

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  23. Probably after seeing the PEP meeting shit show.

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  24. Only a dumb incompetent stooge would choose to work for the dope from park slope.
    On a fool's errand without hope, what educator would hang by rope?

    For the same amount New York paid, Carvhalo stayed true Miami Dade,
    His decision was made so he decided , he stayed, Yo DeBlasio you was played...

    What would this chancellor, Lisbon immigrant, charismatic presence, work for the essence..
    of a lazy mayor, a doomsayer, phone purveyor to a city full of kids that never sleep
    One million childrens' education, just for provocation, fake graduation and a testing infatuation. On line education or a week of meditation. Choose your station, the future of
    our nation. the future's procrastination.--------

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