From the San Francisco Chronicle when Carranza left to take the Houston job in 2016:
The Houston Federation of Teachers expressed "cautious optimism" about working with Carranza. The union has been opposed to Houston's use of student test scores in teachers' job evaluations – a practice Carranza pledged not to support in San Francisco.
"Houston is different from San Francisco in some ways, and there will be a learning curve to understanding our community, but Carranza's track record of social justice will provide an important foundation on which to bring equity to our public schools," union president Zeph Capo said in a statement.
Not wanting to use student test scores in teacher job evaluations will put the Chancellor at odds with UFT President Michael Mulgrew but not with the vast majority of the teachers.Here is Mulgrew's positive reaction from Chalkbeat:
Mr. Carranza has earned a reputation for collaboration with teachers, parents and school communities and has been a real champion of public schools. We are encouraged by his commitment to all children, his resistance to a “testing culture” and his support for the community schools approach.
From Houston Federation of Teachers President Zeph Capo and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten (Chalkbeat):
Houston's loss is New York City's gain. Under Superintendent Carranza's leadership and vision, we collaborated to strengthen and support public education in Houston. Together, we ended the teacher assessment sham that was VAM (value-added measures), and we coordinated to get schools aid and new books in the wake of Hurricane harvey. Richard worked tirelessly to help communities recover and heal, well after the floodwater receded. He was a proud servant of the children of Houston, and, if his track record is any guide, he'll be a similarly indispensable asset to the children of New York. While we're sad to see Richard leave Texas, we congratulate him on his appointment and New York City on its wise choice.
He looks like he will have the UFT on his side for what that is worth or not worth for the rest of us.
Oh and Carranza isn't on Eva Moskowitz' list of potential Chancellors.
On the down side from Politico:
Carranza has indicated that he's not against closing schools. He announced a hard-line approach for Houston's worst schools just two months ago, slating 15 schools for closure or takeover. And last year, Carranza announced a separate $24 million plan for 32 of the city's low-performing schools that sounds a great deal like the Renewal program: more professional development and instructional coaches for teachers and longer school days.
On Houston's budget shortfall, I'm not sure Carranza can be blamed. From Patch:
HISD is facing a $115 million budget shortfall for the 2018-19 school year for a variety of reasons, most notably Hurricane Harvey recapture, lower student enrollment and paying money back to the state for the "Robin Hood" law.
11 comments:
VAM is NYS law. Not much the new chancellor can do on that here. Lastly, I thought that Texas was a right to work state? What "power" do the teachers unions hold there? Is this guy used to dealing with big city union negotiations? That will be his first job on his first day at work here in the City.
VAM can be changed if we get the law changed. NYSUT is trying to do just that. Judging teahers based on student test scores is no longer in federal law.
I know that James. However, the fact is VAM is still on the books for NYS law. The new chancellor can not do anything about changing the law other than lobbying up in Albany. Until NYS law is changed, NYC teachers will still have a portion of our evaluation based on value added. He can however, gut Danielson and get us 2 observations for tenured teachers in the next contract. This guy seems decent. Mulgrew would be a fool not to push for changes to our evaluation system. We all want the change except for Mulgrew. If we don't get a change to the eval system, I will fully blame Mulgrew and the UFT leadership for that.
I think the climate is right to push for a change in the state law. if that doesn't work, then we can push for the two observations. Or, we can do both.
Push for 2 observations here right now since our contract is being negotiated as I type this. NYS changes to the law will take a tad of time. I do NOT want to go one more year with 4 observations. The push needs to be made now so it is in our new contract ready for next year. I thought a petition was being written on this topic?
Contract isn't up until end of November. State legislative season is until the end of June. Are you aware that contract negotiations have already started? My understanding is that only our negotiating committee is meeting. I have not heard of any talks with the city or DOE.
2 observations would be worse in my opinion. In exchange for fewer, they might try to make them unannounced, and that’s what bothers me about the current system. There’s no need for the gotcha vibe. My current AP seems to like my work. But, I’ve had some nutsos (Principals, mostly) who were off the wall. They practically walked in my classroom wearing tinfoil hats, swatting away imaginary flies. God only knows what they thought they saw. Their write-ups were indecipherable, and none of them had ever taught my subject. What’s wrong with requiring those winddings to have a planning conference before coming in (like we used to)? They always dropped in before, but, it was low pressure, and never official. This is just wacky and demoralizing.
Anno 9:49, sorry, I totally disagree with you. NYS law says that the 2 observations work as follows: 1 observation must be an announced, formal observation. The second observation must be unannounced and done by someone other than your principal or AP. This is the most fair and LEAST stressful way to conduct observations for a tenured teacher and every single teacher I know of wants this system that the rest of NYS teachers are getting. Hell, I would have not problem whatsoever if NYC teachers like you can simply have the choice of how many observations they want starting with 2 for tenured teachers.With the new chancellor, we finally have a chance to get this done as long as Mulgrew does not mess things up. We need to push this now. With Janus right around the corner and new friendly mayor, the rank and file will place 100% blame on Mulgrew's shoulders if we do not get changes to our evaluation system in our next contract.
HEY UFT!!!!
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Why should it be an observation by 2 people? Principals are often typing teachers or gym coaches. If they have to observe an advanced class they get resentful and realize even the kids are smarter than them; that’s when they lash out and demoralize staff. Stick with AP observations like it was before things went wackadoo.
I guess if you ain't hispanic, you can't be chancellor. Viva el mafia hisapnica!
Now, ask why our schools are going down the toilet.
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