ICE-UFT BLOG READER WRITES TO THE CHANCELLOR; BRONX ATR DESCRIBES THE 2019 UFT

We were cc'ed on this email that a courageous teacher sent to Chancellor Richard Carranza. We are printing it with permission from the writer. UFT higher-ups including Michael Mulgrew were also copied.


Mr. Chancellor:

You have stated many times that it is always children first.  Well, in order for numbers to be where they are, as in, the highest graduation rates ever, we have students graduating high school unable to formulate a sentence.  One look at a written piece, on any subject, would indicate that.  In a single sentence, I may see 20 errors.

 But that's okay, that student, and every other student must pass, and must graduate.  No-shows pass, 1st grade reading and writing levels pass, it just doesn't matter.  My school has a grad rate above 90%.  It is a fraud.  

I was wondering if this is a shock to any of you.  The high grad rate goes along with the other fraud, the low suspension rate.  As if student behavior has gotten better in recent years.  No, it is a watering down of the discipline code, a principal playing with his numbers, and of course a lack of UFT help or care.   

If you are so concerned, have you ever charted where the students are four years after graduation?  Were they able to finish college?  Graduate?  Get a decent job?  Since they have an "easy pass" in HS, that is what they expect in college.  Since they do no HW in HS, that is what they expect in college.  Since they can do make-up work in June to make up for ten months of garbage, that is the pattern.  A student can miss 110 days of class and do a packet to make it all up?  Wow, I wish that was available to me.  I thought there were standards.  The teacher does her job, and then in June, all those 40's turn into 65's. How this is allowed to go on boggles my mind, but it is going on all over the city.  

Keep touting the fake graduation rate, it shows how little all of you actually care about the student and well being of the teacher.  The teacher works hard developing plans, tests and policy, but it all doesn't matter.  This is a "PASS" by any means society.  This job makes teachers into liars.  Every, or most typed in grades are no reflection of student work or knowledge.  How can a student who can't write a sentence in English get an 85?  I guess we all know that if we all graded truthfully, the 85% grad rate would turn into 45%.  

I very much doubt there will be much of a reply. In the olden days, if someone wrote to the Chancellor or UFT President, one would at least get an answer.

Is the academic fraud as widespread as this teacher believes? Personally, I see a system that is huge and has for the most part been out of control since Joel Klein made principals CEOs of their schools. That culture has not changed drastically since that time (Chancellor Carranza hasn't gotten rid of the lawyers and cleared out the anti-teacher Office of Labor Relations; he added more superintendents). While it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations when there are over 1,800 schools, the bottom line for principals still would seem to be to make their statistics look good by any means necessary and then they can do whatever they want without much, if any, UFT resistance. 

Speaking of the UFT, this comment on our LaGuardia High School post from our colleague Bronx ATR says a great deal about why there is so little UFT resistance. The comment is a response to a call for veteran teachers to educate new teachers on the value of being involved in the union:

The DOE closed most teacher cafeterias, and some schools don’t even have a teacher’s lounge. Many vets were turned into ATRs and those that weren’t have a target on their backs. Divide and conquer is the DOE’s policy and it happens to coincide with the UFT’s - apathy. An apathetic workforce that creates little work for the organization that it highly overpays. Keep the workforce passive, let the school leaders do as they wish, pass everyone, don’t complain about anything or anyone, keep your head down, keep paying those union dues and make believe everything is great. Under no circumstance should you think for yourself or have the audacity to question a principal or ask for assistance from the UFT. That is why teacher complaints are immediately emailed to the principal with those teachers’ names. It instills fear, stops all complaints and silences trouble makers.