This is from Diane Ravitch's blog. The title: "New York City Joins Forces with Corporate Reformers."
From Ravitch:
Mayor Bill DeBlasio joined in partnership with Laurene Powell Jobs’ XQ Institute and the hedge-funders’ Robin Hood Foundation to create new schools and transform existing schools. The corporate reformers are not offering much money—only $15 million (crumbs from the billionaires’ table)—but they are getting the Mayor to admit that amateur “reformers” know more than the city’s professional educators. You might say that this deal is a vote of no-confidence in Chancellor Richard Carranza.
Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, has been consistently critical of the DeBlasio administration for ignoring the importance of Class size reduction. She is also critical of this alliance. On the NYC Parents blog, she wrote:
Robin Hood is spending “up to $5M” to create up to “10 New Imagine schools” – and will be involved in the selection process — which means the DOE is giving up authority over the design of these schools to the assorted #corpreformers there for as little as $500K each. #XQ is funding $10M for “up to 10 HS” either new or redesigned schools.
Thus the DOE must be putting in $17M more – to create or “transform” 35 additional schools, as the application specifies that “20 of the 40 schools selected will be existing schools to redesign, and 20 will be new schools.”
In other words, she says, NYC is “a cheap date.”
Even the NY Post and right wing Manhattan Institute are smiling at this initiative. It looks like Bloomberg's new schools all over again.
The UFT is of course on board.
“We know our schools are more successful when parents, educators, students and community are at the table, deciding what their school needs to engage, support and enhance education. We need buy-in from the children and adults in the building as well as the community at large,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Please don't comment that this is a reason to stop paying union dues. We need a better union, not a weaker one with fewer members. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, weingarten and mulgrew have got to be on the take.
ReplyDeletegreat way to get corporate reformers into the system to disect what is going on then destroy it
ReplyDeleteWeingarten got a huge bribe from Bloomberg for the 2005 contract -the IRS should audit her bank records. Most of it was in the form of stock and stock options.
ReplyDeleteThese deformers are reopening the gates for Eva. The UFT is finished - it is acquiescing itself and us into oblivion. Is there any entity out there less savvy or intelligent than the UFT? Maybe the Democratic Party, but not by much.
ReplyDeleteSo, by your own admission, this is a bad thing, and another uft failure. Just like all the other times...
ReplyDeleteThere are many UFT failures. Some successes too like saving our pensions from a possible constitutional convention.
ReplyDeleteWhat will the staffing process for these schools be? Will veteran teachers even get a shot at an interview? I really want to know as there are plenty of teachers in shit hole South Bronx schools that would be willing to transfer if given a chance.
ReplyDeleteYou know what gets me deBlasio is such a piece of shit that now when he feels he might lose the schools he embraces Bloomberg’s ideology! WTF!! He’s a fucking PUSSY of the highest degree. He has no shame and no morals. And the fucking UFT go along with it. The next major will obliterate public school education- no caps baby. Start looking for a job folks.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what’s worse reading Arthur’s minutes of those asinine meetings or not reading them. Retirees running for UFT office! Seriously? Does the UFT not see something wrong with that?
ReplyDeleteretro posted. how much dues did the uft take from you? $150+???
ReplyDeleteHow come nobody asked about why the uft double and triple dips on dues on the october 15 check at the exec meeting yesterday?
ReplyDelete9:14, You’re joking right. If you can force a hundred thousand people to fork over their money for no reason, would you question it? Arthur might have before he was seduced and joined the dark side.
ReplyDeleteOf course they took double dues, they only made you wait since 2009 interest free.
ReplyDeleteYa.. Crazy right? Had to give them a whopping 144 bucks.. It's almost like it's the money they would have collected if we got the pay raise! Wow can't believe they would want the money after getting us the money we should have got! They totally should have said ya, here's the money, but we don't want the percentage we would have got with the raises from you. Hahahhahaahhahahha
ReplyDeleteI am asking why nobody, as in, someone not in unity, failed to ask. It is an obvious ripoff. This is not a raise. Just surprises me. Im sure the higherups want the money...
ReplyDeleteThe entire executive board is in Unity now. No dissidents.
ReplyDelete