Thursday, April 26, 2018

ICEUFT MEETING FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN MANHATTAN WILL DISCUSS PROPOSAL TO SUSPEND ICE SUPPORT FOR MORE

The Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT) will be holding a meeting tomorrow (Friday) in Manhattan at 4:00 P.M.

It is no big secret that the relationship between ICEUFT and the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) has been frayed at times and lately it has kind of exploded. I have written the following resolution that I will bring up tomorrow. It kind of speaks for itself.

Whereas, a group within the Steering Committee in the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) has suspended two Steering Committee members who are associated with the Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT) without any due process or authority to suspend people; and

Whereas, due process is a fundamental human right and a basic principle of democracy that cannot be compromised; and
Whereas, the Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT) on principle will not have anything to do with an organization that denies its members basic democratic rights; be it therefore
Resolved, that the Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT) suspends all support for the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) until further notice; and be it further
Resolved, that the Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT) will continue its work to advocate for the members of the United Federation of Teachers and for public education.

This is Norm Scott's agenda for the ICEUFT meeting:
Members of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE), founded in 2003, original organizers of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) and one of the founding caucuses of MORE, will be meeting to discuss a range of issues, including a discussion of the red state teacher revolts and the status of its ongoing relationship with MORE, on Friday, April 27 at 4PM



I hope some of the commenters who I don't really know can take the time to make it to the ICE meeting.

21 comments:

Pete Zucker said...

Far out!

Anonymous said...

Far out LEFT. This is a great proposal. I hope you leave.

Anonymous said...

The squabbling is not important right now in my opinion. Everybody and every caucus needs to get on board and push for the UFT to get us a decent contract in regard to working conditions. BIG NEWS: Cynthia Nixon today announced for an immediate repeal of the NYS teacher evaluation law! This is massive news. Mulgrew can't support Cuomo for a single second more now. If Mulgrew continues to support Cuomo and not push for a repeal of the current evaluation system in place, he will forever be considered a sworn enemy of every single teacher in NYC. (On second thought, he already is considered a sworn enemy to thousands of in the know teachers in NYC!)

James Eterno said...

Sign our petition to repeal the evaluation system please. Spread the word if you already have signed.

Anonymous said...

That’s your response after all the trumpeting of MORE on your blog Pete? Are you going to jump over to ICEUFT now that they may not be as popular? You’re an idiot.

Anonymous said...

I signed the petition and go a few others to sign it. We need a full court press on evaluations right now. The time is right. Nixon is a hero for what she said today. Unless Cumo guts the evaluation system we should be supporting Nixon as of right now. She is the new voice of teachers in this state. Even Ravitch and her are pals!

Anonymous said...

The harassment and the discriminatory policies continue on the most experienced teachers while MORE does not do anything.

Anonymous said...

Awwww nah. They're not doing nothing! They are wondering how they can convince people to go on a strike JUST like teachers in other states! After the "movement" gets rolling, they'll get right around to those harassment and discrimination things.

Pete Zucker said...

And you’re insane!! Get the help you need!!

You have no idea how I think, what I’m doing. You’re fucking clueless. If you’re not who I think you are have the balls to email me.

By the way I’m part of ICE already.

Anonymous said...

You go gurl! Strut your stuff with Frank Sinatra Jr.!

James Eterno said...

Agree 5:24. Nixon is with us on evaluations for sure. What Cuomo has done may come back to bite him in the butt.

James Eterno said...

Many of the people that Pete talked about are in ICE. Can we keep the sniping to a minimum if at all possible here.

Anonymous said...

As mentioned above, the squabbling needs to cease. Opposition groups to Unity should at the very least be cordial at this crucial time in our unions history. We have a watershed moment right now where sanity can be brought back to the teaching profession here in New York City. (And New York State) If we all put the feet to the fire on the UFT maybe, just maybe we can once again show up to work each and every day not living in fear and once again be happy to teach in peace.

Bronx ATR said...

How are you going to put the UFT's feet to the fire? The UFT will double down with an earlier than previous planned endorsement for Cuomo because it has already made a deal with him for those all important dues. We can get 10,000 signatures on that petition - the only thing that will change it is if Cuomo correctly perceives he will lose votes to Nixon and tells Mulgrew he will agree to rescind/change the evaluation process. Mulgrew doesn't care one way or the other as long as the original deal with Cuomo stands.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bronx ATR, Cuomo does not need to "perceive" that he will lose votes to Nixon due to her stance on evaluations, he KNOWS he will loose votes to her due to her stance on evaluations. His camp is watching her every move very closely. When Nixon said she wanted to legalize marijuana a little while ago, the once ant-marijuana Cuomo, within a week set up a study group to see about the potential financial windgall that would come with legalization. In other words, for every move that Nixon makes that will gain her votes, Cuomo is making a countermove to get those votes. Cuomo is a jerk but he really wants to get re-elected once more to prime his presidential bid. He is watching the teacher revolts around the country. He knows teachers are pissed. He also knows that the UFT DOES NOT give a shit about the teachers in the trenches unlike the NYSUT who are actually fighting to get the evaluation system repealed. Thus, he will have to either push to repeal our evaluation system or craft a newer teacher friendly teacher evaluation system. The one thing he cannot afford to do is to simply ignore the big, fat, elephant in the room now on this topic.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reiterating what Bronx ATR already said.

Gladys Sotomayor said...

I can’t believe how it has come to this! As a member of MORE steering I was not present nor do I support the actions of steering to suspend anyone especially when there wasn’t any form of due process followed. UFT Unity caucus must be thrilled tha we are so divided. The upcoming contract negotiations should be the priority! Holding on to the executive board seat better yet increased representation on the executive board should be our primary goal not this divisive situation.

Anonymous said...

Mission Acomplished
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2018/04/26/the-debate-is-back-new-york-state-leaders-introduce-bill-to-overhaul-teacher-evaluations/

James Eterno said...

Your mission accomplished may be as premature as George Bush's was on the Iraq War.

Anonymous said...

Another failed attempt. You knew it though with ISO taking charge at the beginning. Great at organizing perhaps, but on topic with what members need and want? MORE (ISO) didn't do that or want that.

Anonymous said...

Ed Law 3020-a (2)(a) says that there must be an Executive Session and a vote by the school board (in NYC the "PEP") on probable cause for the charges before the charges are served. In NYC, this Executive Session never takes place and there is no date in the charging papers for this meeting and vote. An arbitrator does not have any jurisdiction without the vote of the PEP.