ONE YEAR SINCE CHAZ PASSING

I was reminded the other night by Lydia A and Jonathan Halabi that it has been one year since Eric Chaz Chasanoff passed away.

Tonight is a good time to copy Jonathan Halabi's tribute to Eric over at JD2718. It is well worth reading. Eric and I used to talk regularly about our blogs. I think Jonathan captures the essence of what Eric was all about here. At the end, Jonathan notes how Eric always endorsed him in UFT elections.

Here is what Chaz said about my wife and me in his 2013 election endorsement: (note we are no longer in MORE).

Treasurer:  Camille Eterno - MORE  Mel Aaronson was a very effective Treasurer but has been long retired.  I want an active teacher who understands the present day realities of the classroom to handle my money.  Being married to James tells me she is a good decision maker.

Executive Board: - High School -

Jonathan Halabi -  New Action/Unity  He really tries and has been a dissenting voice in the past.

James Eterno - MORE - The best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be.

Okay, I probably should not have looked that up but you do understand we respected each other greatly. Rest in peace, Eric.

Jonathan Halabi's tribute to Chaz:

Eric “Chaz” Chasanoff was one of the best-known New York City teacher bloggers. He was an exceptional advocate for teachers, and a opponent of arbitrary and unfair policies.

policies.

Eric wrote regularly for well over a decade. He started in 2006. And he didn’t stop, until COVID stopped him.

During the pandemic he was writing every two or three days. On April 26 he wrote about reducing administrative costs, and not school budgets. And then… Silence. On May 2 I wrote to him. He was already sick, and did not respond. I didn’t know. I wrote to other bloggers, to his UFT borough office. And then we learned.

Eric was a weatherman – on TV – before he was a teacher. He became an earth science teacher. Earth Science Eric. Read here as James Eterno, his UFT Chapter Leader at Jamaica HS, talks about Eric.

Eric wrote about teacher issues. He wrote about teacher financial issues – pension, TDA. He wrote about problem schools, and problem administrators. He wrote about good work the UFT did, and he wrote about serious problems with the UFT.

Eric was independent, and fiercely so. He belonged to no caucus. Every election he endorsed people from each caucus, including some from Unity. I am proud that each time I ran, he endorsed me.

Eric was not a leftist, as some critics of the UFT leadership are. His views tended to be a bit left of center, but they varied, issue to issue. In the last presidential election he lived through, he did not vote for Donald Trump or for Hillary Clinton. I believe, had he lived, he would not have voted in 2020 for Trump or for Biden.

Eric’s most consistent “politics” were those of fairness. He advocated for fair treatment, again and again, for teachers who the system abused. The system abused Eric, too. Read here as NYC Educator Arthur Goldstein stands up for Eric against twisted charges (this is from 2012).

After that, the NYCDoE put Eric, a highly qualified teacher, in excess. They made him what is often called an “ATR” -forcing him to wander from school to school. But for Eric, that gave him more experience to write about, and more people being victimized by bad administrators or by the system to support.

And that’s what he did. He taught. He advocated. He wrote. He wrote after he retired. And he wrote until one week before his death.

He was missed, immediately. Many bloggers wrote of his passing. I did. Twice. Eric’s memorial page on the “UFT Honors” site is full of tribute.

I will close this post with what I shared on that page:

Eric wrote on his blog Chaz’s School Daze almost two thousand times. Most of his readers, and he had many, did not know his name. He was not writing for recognition, or promotion. He wrote because he cared deeply. He cared about students and schools. He cared about teachers, especially about teachers. And most of all, Eric cared deeply about right and wrong.

I was trying to think of one example that really stood out. And I looked at Eric’s early writings, about politics and teaching and the value of experience – but the one that caught my eye – in his first month on-line – was about a girl’s basketball game. One team’s coach had run up the score badly on a weaker opponent, 137 – 24. Eric, who had coached, was horrified:

• * Don’t run up the score on an inferior opponent.
• * Keep your best players out once it is a blowout.
• * Never embarrass another team.
• * Show class and be a role model for your players.

It was that same sense of right and wrong that motivated his defense of teachers. And it is that sense of class, and that dedication to fairness that I will remember.

Rest in peace

ENGEL AND BOWMAN ON EDUCATION (Updated: It looks like Bowman won and so did AOC!)

I understand the UFT basically endorses Democrats who are incumbents as a matter of form. One would have to be in prison to lose a UFT nod if already in office. However, occasionally a candidate comes along who checks all the boxes on education and is hard to oppose. This election that candidate is former Bronx Middle School Principal Jamaal Bowman in New York's 16th Congressional District.

Bowman is backed by the Justice Democrats, the CSA, the New York Times, the Badass Teachers Association, The Sunrise Movement, The Working Families Party, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and others in a kind of a Who's Who of the progressive wing of the party. A quick look at Bowman's education plan shows there is much to like.

For example:

Instead of privatization, expanding charter schools, and shutting down public schools, let’s equitably invest in our public schools, pay our teachers a living wage, and fund full-time nurses, counselors, social workers in every school. 

‍

Instead of a test-and-punish regime that stigmatizes, labels, and ranks students, teachers, and schools, we should educate the whole child: nurturing their physical, cognitive, social, and creative development. 

‍

Or this:

7. Raise teacher salaries to the living wage of at least $60,000 a year and support the rights of our educators to collective bargaining and to advocate for quality education for every student. 

8. Support efforts to unionize in our schools. Support federal action to counter anti-unionization policies and practices, such as exist in so-called “right to work” states. 

Diane Ravitch is on board with Bowman as is Leonie Haimson with the NYC Kids Pac she belongs to. 

What about the UFT?

They are backing Eliot Engel, the incumbent. A reader who lives in the district sent this:

Dear,

As we witness and participate in this moment of truly meaningful civic engagement, it is also the right moment to show that our voices matter. With the New York State Primary on June 23, it is critical for us to engage with candidates for public office to share our vision for our communities before we cast our votes.  

Please join us this Wednesday, 6/17 at 4 PM for a virtual rally to get the vote out to send Congressman Engel back to DC to fight for all of us.

RSVP HERE

Long before becoming a Member of Congress, Eliot Engel was a member of the UFT and NYSUT and worked as a public school teacher in the Bronx. Eliot knows how important our public schools are and works every day to ensure our students in the Bronx and Westchester have the bright future they deserve.

Eliot has always been a teacher, an advocate and our ally in Congress. He has had our back and now he needs our help.

AFT National President Randi Weingarten as well as local leaders from the Bronx and Westchester will join the rally in support of Eliot. We have to build relationships with our future elected leaders if we want to enact meaningful change. Please, if you can, join us this Wednesday for a virtual rally in support of Eliot.

Thank you and stay safe, 

Cassie Prugh

UFT Political Director 

PS: Breaking news! Hillary Clinton endorses Eliot Engel

I checked Engel's education record and, of course, he voted for No Child Left Behind with its test and punish program for schools that was a disaster. Its followup, the Every Child Succeeds Act, isn't much better and Engel was a yes vote. Check out his education platform for yourself here. 

I think it is clear Bowman is the better candidate for public education. I have one concern left: Why aren't the teachers who worked for him coming out to support his candidacy in droves? Maybe they are and we just don't know about it. If my last principal, Linda Siegmund, was running for any elected office from City Council to President, I would be leading the charge as would most of the staff to campaign for her. However, it was a teacher from another school who spoke at Bowman's initial campaign rally.

Leonie sent me some links to Bowman's record on the Learning Environment Surveys but those surveys are often unreliable. Leonie also did find a tribute on Twitter and one on Facebook from two former teachers who worked for Bowman.

Is the UFT going to trot out teachers tomorrow to speak poorly about Bowman at the virtual rally? I sincerely hope not but if anyone is out there who knows teachers or others who worked for Bowman, could you please get some information out now. I think it would be helpful. One retiree said to me that Bowman looks good but was he decent to his teachers or did they say good riddance when he left? This retiree wanted to know before sending his ballot back.

As for the UFT, they will always support the Democratic incumbent unless he/she is in prison as I stated earlier. That said, I don't remember the Union rallying for Joe Crowley in 2018 before he lost to AOC but yes, they are supporting AOC now. 

One more point: this piece is about a Democratic Party Primary. I ask for our right-wing readers to please stay out of this internal Democratic in house squabble. Thanks.

Update: June 24, 2020, from Buzzfeed:

Jamaal Bowman, a former educator and middle school principal from the Bronx, declared victory Wednesday over Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term member of Congress who represents New York’s 16th congressional district.

Another UFT defeat here but AOC, who the UFT endorsed this time, won big.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A resounding primary win by Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a fellow liberal’s lead over a longtime New York congressman signaled fresh momentum for progressive politics amid growing calls for economic and racial justice in the United States.

RANDI'S EMAIL ON DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN FORUM

The AFT wants your feedback on the presidential forum held on Saturday in Pittsburgh.

You can respond to the request for feedback by contacting us or going to AFT.org. It is nice to be pandered to by the candidates rather than vilified. Email us if you want to be involved.

As for the AFT's process, this is better than the 2015 rubber stamp by the AFT for the Hillary Clinton endorsement, although everyone should still be skeptical and watch Randi's actions closely.

James,

Saturday we co-hosted the Public Education Forum 2020, and I want to know what you thought.

We had an incredible day, with seven of the major presidential candidates discussing public education and taking questions in front of an audience of nearly 1,500 people, including American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association members, parents, students and community allies. The candidates addressed how the narrative has changed regarding the promise and purpose of public education and what we need to ensure all children have opportunity regardless of their demography or geography.

I talked to many participants who felt that, while it was a marathon, the forum was riveting and historic. They felt heard.  

One of the things that struck me during the forum is how far we've come. A decade ago, the popular trend was privatization, austerity and deprofessionalization. Even some Democrats loved the idea of competition and high-stakes tests and used them to measure everything for a variety of purposes, including to close struggling schools, leave kids back and fire teachers.

But Saturday, when the major Democratic candidates came to a forum dedicated to public education, they rejected that DeVos and Trump agenda. Even candidates we disagree with on some policies showed a true commitment to public education.

We got to hear about plans to substantially increase funding for Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and community schools. The candidates talked about equity and justice. They talked about regulating for-profit charter schools and stopping voucher schemes that would drain money from public schools. They talked about fixing public service loan forgiveness and the need for affordable and debt-free college. They talked about the right to organize—for school staff, teachers, higher education professionals and even graduate workers. And they talked about school lunch and meal debt, helping students with self-confidence, and the need for wraparound services.  

Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren took time from the campaign trail to specifically answer questions on topics we haven’t heard enough about during this campaign. In fact, the first question of the day came from a student, which reminded us that teachers really do want what students need.

All of our collective work lifting up public education and putting it at the center of our communities has gotten us this far. And I'm proud of what we've all accomplished together.

There's still a lot to do, but Saturday’s forum showed that these Democrats are ready to work with us to fund our future.

I’m so proud of our partnership with the NEA, the NAACP, the Schott Foundation’s Opportunity to Learn Action Fund, Journey for Justice, the Service Employees International Union, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, which made this forum happen.

While this is the end of the first phase of our AFT Votes presidential endorsement process, member input is key to our endorsement. So tell us what you think.

In unity,Randi WeingartenAFT President

P.S.: If you missed the forum, you can watch it here.

TWU-EMS UNION LEADERS SLAM DE BLASIO AS "FAUXGRESSIVE"

Mayor Bill de Blasio has delusions of grandeur apparently as he tours the early primary states to test the waters for a possible presidential run. Many of us are laughing as the thought of de Blasio winning the presidency is laughable. Two NY union heads are putting their money where their mouths are to make sure a de Blasio bid for the presidency never comes close to getting off the ground.

The Chief Leader civil service newspaper covered the story.

Even as Mayor de Blasio takes trips to New Hampshire and Iowa to burnish his national reputation as a progressive, city public-employee unions are spending nearly $1 million to offer voters a very different take on his job performance. 

For John Samuelsen, the international president of the Transport Workers Union, the local newspaper ads in early-voting states is a wise investment in helping to shape the 2020 Democratic field and to correct what he believes are misconceptions about Mr. de Blasio’s record. 

'He's a Fauxgressive'

“I think he is a fauxgressive, not a progressive,” Mr. Samuelsen said in a phone interview. “He’s the exact kind of Democrat that got Trump elected, and he’s exactly the kind of candidate that if he gets traction in the primary will get Trump re-elected.” 

He continued, “He’s in bed with non-union developers and the billionaire class. He’s an elitist that has this mix of the social liberal with the corporate Democrat, and that approach is a sure loser for us in states we need to win in, like Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan.”

In 2016, the TWU was one of a handful of labor unions to endorse Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. It has yet to make a 2020 endorsement, but Mr. Samuelsen thinks a Sanders-like message is  required to carry the states where Mr. Trump was able to make inroads in traditionally pro-union areas. “The working class is over and done with corporate Democrats,” he said.  “Sanders has that edgy class-oriented economic-security message for working people.”

In response to the TWU leader's critique, Raul Contreras, a spokesman for the Mayor, said he had a progressive track record of which the  city could be proud. “Pre-K and 3-K for all, mandatory paid personal leave, significant job growth, low crime and the lowest jail population since 1980. That’s a pretty good record they’re attacking,” he said. 

 EMS Unions Join Chorus 

The TWU is not the only union spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to share its take on Mr. de Blasio with an audience beyond the five boroughs. On Feb. 25, District Council 37’s Locals 2507 and 3627, which represent Emergency Medical Service workers, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times blasting the Mayor for comments he made justifying a $35,000 pay gap between Emergency Medical Technicians and Firefighters because their work was “different".

The piece goes on to quote a political science professor who says there is no risk to go after de Blasio for unions because he is a lame duck mayor who will be term limited out in 2021. I fully understand that Samuelson is an Andrew Cuomo ally so it is not unexpected for TWU to criticize the mayor.

What is very difficult to comprehend is why the UFT is so reluctant to be critical of the mayor. Has he been that good to the teachers?

Our raises under de Blasio have been anemic  and we are still waiting until 2020 to get back much of the money we worked for from 2009-11 that Mayor Bloomberg denied us. de Blasio could have afforded to pay us that money back in 2014. As for conditions in the schools, they are as bad as or even worse tthan ever for many teachers and students according to everyone I hear from.

Under these conditions, shouldn't the criticisms the UFT has for the mayor be more bold and not so tepid?

HOW FAR WILL DOE GO TO BACK A PRINCIPAL EXPOSED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NY POST?

The Ben Sherman Forest Hills High School story grows larger every day. This is today's cover of the NY Post:

Here is an excerpt from Sue Edelman's front page article:

This school is going to pot!

Students at highly-regarded Forest Hills HS openly smoke and vape marijuana throughout a building that has spun out of control with a principal who’d rather befriend kids than enforce rules, furious teachers say.

“Never in my 15 years of teaching have I been bombarded with the strong scent of pot in the school hallways — and even in my classroom,” a teacher told The Post.

Principal Ben Sherman, who joined Forest Hills in 2017, shrugs off the pot-puffing — saying “it’s going to be legal” anyway, teachers complain.

“With the decisions he’s made, our school is definitely spiraling downhill,” said English teacher Adam Bergstein, the United Federation of Teachers chapter leader.

With some 3,800 students, Forest Hills is popular and overcrowded. While neighborhood kids are guaranteed seats, the school has several prestigious programs that admit only high-achievers.

In 2000, the school received a “National Blue Ribbon” award for excellence, and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton gave the commencement address.

Last year, the school boasted a 91 percent graduation rate, with 81 percent college ready — well above the citywide average.

But unrest reached a peak on Valentine’s Day, when faculty — in a staff mutiny rarely seen in the city’s Department of Education — slapped Sherman with a vote of no confidence, 195 to 21.

The vote becomes an official UFT document, which the union will present Monday, with a list of staff concerns and demands, to Queens high school Superintendent Juan Mendez. If Mendez does not resolve the issues, the documents would then be shared with deputy chancellors and local politicians in hopes of spurring DOE action.

This blog wrote about Ben Sherman back in 2011 when he was principal at East West International High School and he forced out two successive chapter leaders and a former delegate.

We concluded back then that Sherman is a union buster. In the New York City Department of Education, a principal is rewarded by being sent to a larger, prestigious school like Forest Hills after getting rid of union activists.

Now that Sherman is front page news in the NY Post, let's see how much support the DOE gives him.

Will they reign him in?

Will they remove him after 90% of the staff votes no confidence in him?

This is what the DOE's Doug Cohen told the Post in a statement:

“Principal Sherman has been an effective leader for Forest Hills High School, and the superintendent is continuing to support the school. We take these complaints seriously and will continue to ensure a supportive environment for all students and staff.”

Maybe under Chancellor Richard Carranza the "My Principals, Right or Wrong" philosophy will change at the DOE. We shall see.

It will be interesting to note how the staff feels tomorrow upon returning to work. I'm betting the staff morale will be a little higher after the vaction at Forest Hills compared to before the break.

WILL RANDI EVER MOVE ON FROM HILLARY?

Day one of the AFT Convention in Pittsburgh and guess who the featured speaker was? You get no prize for clairvoyance, even if you had not heard anything about the event, if your answer was Hillary Clinton.

Will AFT President Randi Weingarten ever move on?

A summary of some of what was said from Weingarten and HIllary is in coverage from WESA in Pittsburgh.

Hillary Clinton pulled few punches in a fiery 25-minute address to the American Federation of Teachers in Downtown Pittsburgh mid-morning Friday. Denouncing President Trump across a range of issues, she warned that “they are trying to rip the heart out of America. .. .They want to turn us against each other. They want to divide and conquer.”

And later on:

She spoke harshly of Trump’s policies on a range of issues like immigration. which have featured immigrant children being taken from their parents at the border, with little apparent thought given to their reunification.

 “The test of any society is how we treat the most vulnerable among us, particularly our youngest, our oldest, our people with disabilities," she said. "And right now, my friends, our country is failing that test. We have never seen such organized cruelty, disdain and contempt for those values.”

Speaking to an assembly that included teachers from the United States and 25 other countries, Clinton also called for opposition to the pending U.S. Supreme Court appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, who Trump has nominated to replace swing justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh is a staunch conservative whose fifth vote on the 9-member Supreme Court could overturn numerous legal precedents cherished by Democrats.

“This nomination holds out the threat of devastating consequences for workers’ rights, civil rights, LGBT rights, women’s rights, including those to make our own health decisions,” Clinton warned. “It is a blatant attempt by this administration … to reverse decades of progress.”

“I used to worry that that they wanted to turn the clock back to the 1950s. Now I worry that they want to turn it back to the 1850s,” she added. “These will be urgent fights.. … [E]verything that represents the progress we have made over the past 125 years, to make our country freer and fairer, to pursue the dream of a more perfect union, is at stake.”

Clinton urged teachers to educate their students and “keep standing up for the truth ... for evidence, for reason.” But she said voting in November was critical.

For those interested in hearing President Weingarten's views, read on.

The AFT, which boasts over 1.7 million members in education and health care nationwide, was an early supporter in the contested 2016 Democratic primary contest. So early, in fact, that union supporters of Bernie Sanders were upset at how quickly union leaders made their pick.

During her own speech prior to Clinton’s address, Weingarten seemed anxious to keep that in the past. She told members that in November, “We must be together, and we must be all in, which is why I am so glad that both Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders are with us at this convention.”

On Saturday, another potential 2020 Democratic hopeful, Senator Elizabeth Warren, is expected to speak. Sanders is slated to speak at the convention on Sunday. 

In addition to lambasting Trump with remarks of her own, Weingarten laid out a number of challenges facing the union.

She spoke at length about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Janus case. A 5-4 court ruled last month that government unions could not collect dues from employees who opted out of the union. (Employees cannot be compelled to join a union, but because the union negotiates for benefits and working conditions, the court previously ruled that non-members could be charged for the cost of that representation.) The ruling is expected to weaken unions -- especially those who, like teachers, work in the public sector.

Weingarten decried the ruling repeatedly, calling it the work of a “right-wing” court majority that “wants to destroy the aspirations and dreams of working folks.” But she also pledged the union would fight, boasting that its now counted 1,755,000 members – “the highest number ever.” Over a half-million members had “recommitted” to the union – agreeing to remain as members – since January, she said.  

For those who want even more, here is a video feed from AFT from Pittsburgh. I watched some of it and felt I was back at a Delegate Assembly. Scary.
For the record, I fully agree with Randi that the right wing has a three pronged strategy: 1-Suppress the vote, 2-kill the unions, 3-privatize public education. I just hope that she has better ways to stop them from being successful. In case you didn't know, I suggested a more militant approach to fighting Mayor Michael Bloomberg back before she sold us out in the 2005 contract.

ICEBLOG ACKNOWLEDGED ON END OF THE YEAR LIST

I often wonder when I write the blog who is reading it. Sometimes, I am a little startled that we go beyond the target audience: UFT members, other public school teachers, public school activists and union supporters.

One of our readers who has commented a couple of times is libertarian Mike Antonucci who to me is quite anti-union and particularly against the teachers' unions he follows religiously. Norm Scott often cites Antonucci to see what the other side of the political spectrum is thinking. Mike and I have one point in common: We both don't think much of our union's leaders.

Anyway, Mike did a "Top Ten Most Memorable Teacher Union Quotes for 2017" for a cite I care not to link to and guess who made the list? The ICEUFT blog was right there at number 8. I don't know whether to be satisfied or enraged but here is the quote that made this top ten list:

 8. “[UFT’s ruling Unity Caucus] will come out and call anyone pushing a fragmentation drive real nasty names long before it ever got to the stage where there is a new union. I would expect they would say anyone signing or spreading a petition to make a separate bargaining unit was Hitler, Mussolini, the devil, and maybe Stalin all rolled into one.” — James Eterno, United Federation of Teachers chapter leader, curbing any enthusiasm for the idea of splitting off a high school teachers union from UFT. (Oct. 5, ICEUFT Blog)

Well no Mike, I am not trying to curb any enthusiasm for splitting off a high school teachers union. I'm being realistic. I want people to know what they are up against in challenging the Unity Caucus. I would be enthusiastic if there were enough teachers who wanted to activate themselves to defeat Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus at the ballot box or if a sufficient number of high school teachers (over 6,000 out of 20,000) were willing to sign petitions to start a separate bargaining unit for high school teachers.

Mike Antonucci does have a sense of humor. The other time he linked to us was when the AFT endorsed Hillary Clinton back in 2015. The ICEblog said back then: "AFT President Randi Weingarten's Executive Council coming out for Hillary was about as surprising as a 7-eleven store having a slurpee machine."

OK, so I admit I do like when someone gets my sense of humor. Randi once criticized me at the Executive Board for my sarcasm. I guess I should be happy to be cited by anyone, even the right wingers, but why can't more of our target audience hear us and rise up to overthrow the Unity Caucus machine? That would make me one of the most fired up people on earth.

HISTORY OF HOW DEMOCRATS ARE AS BAD AS REPUBLICANS ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

Jennifer Berkshire has written a piece in TheBaffler.com that every teacher, parent and student in a public school as well as Democratic Party insiders should read.  Norm Scott says, "This article is so good I want to print it out and eat it." I kind of agree. The title and subtitle say it all:

How Education Reform Ate the Democratic Party
The Democrats and DeVos have more in common than they'd care to admit

In the article Berkshire meticulously tells the history of Democratic Party support for ed deform (privatization) from the early 1980s, when Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary started a crusade for teacher competency testing, right up through  the summer of 2017 when Success Academy Board Chair Dan Loeb compared teacher unions to the KKK. It's all here.

Loeb was certainly not coming from a point of view that is far off from establishment bipartisan elite thinking as Berkshire points out masterfully:

There’s another reason why we can’t dismiss Loeb’s view that teachers unions promote income inequality and serve as a barrier to progress of any sort as just another crackpot rich-bro outburst.

That’s because it’s now a key policy plank of responsible elite opinion almost everywhere. Flip back to The Economist—the bible of savvy, entrepreneurial-minded social criticism—circa 2012, and you’ll find Loeb’s screed rendered in assured magazine prose, minus the overt racist incitements. To wit: “no Wall Street financier has done as much damage to American social mobility as the teachers’ unions have.”

And where The Economist goes, influential “thought leaders” are sure to follow. So now, as America ponders the mounting economic disequlibriums that gave rise to the Trump insurgency, concerned plutocrats can all agree on one key article of faith: what is holding back the poor and minority children who figure so prominently in the glossy brochures of charter school advocates is not the legacy of racist housing policy or mass incarceration or a tax system that hoovers up an ever growing share of income into the pockets of the wealthy, but schoolteachers and their unions.

It was thus no great shock to see that, just weeks after Loeb apologized for his offensive language, attributing it to his passion for “education choice,” David Osborne, a professional Democratic party thinker who heads up something called the Reinventing America’s Schools Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, said essentially the same thing. On a swing through Philadelphia to promote his new book on the wonders of school privatization, Osborne told an interviewer that teachers unions belong in the same category with segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace. “They’re actually doing what George Wallace did, standing in the schoolhouse door, denying opportunity to poor minority kids.” To document their perfidy, Osborne cited the opposition of teachers unions in Massachusetts last year to Question Two—a ballot initiative proposing dramatic charter school expansion. Voters rejected the measure by nearly two to one—the same ratio, as it happens, by which wealthy pro-charter donors dwarfed the union spending that so upset Osborne.

Berkshire then writes an in-depth history showing how the Democratic Party has all along been involved in the war on public schools since 1982.

Redistribution and government intervention were out; investment and public-private partnerships were the way to go. Neoliberal man (there are no women included in Rothenberg’s account) was also convinced that he had found the answer to the nation’s economic malaise: education, or as he was apt to put it, investment in human capital. “Education equals growth is a neoliberal equation,” writes Rothenberg.

But this new cult of education wasn’t grounded in John Dewey’s vision of education-as-democracy, or in the recent civil-rights battles to extend the promise of public education to excluded African-American communities. No, these bold, results-oriented thinkers understood that in order to fuel economic growth, schools had to be retooled and aligned in concert with the needs of employers. The workers of the future would be prepared to compete nimbly in the knowledge-based post-industrial society of the present. For the stragglers still trapped in older, industrial-age models of enterprise and labor, re-training—another staple of the neoliberal vision—would set them on the path to greater prosperity.

Of course, not everyone was on board with the new program—yet. The teachers unions were impeding progress, but that was to be expected, writes Rothenberg, citing what he described as the development of an “education bureaucracy . . . counterproductive to the goals of the 1980s.” By the final pages of the book, he is exultant, concluding that “Neoliberalism is being internalized by the Democratic Party.” The party’s 1982 midterm convention in Philadelphia had come and gone with no call for national health insurance, a federal jobs program or a guaranteed annual income. By the next year, even the teachers unions appeared to be coming around; both endorsed a study of yet another cornerstone of the neoliberal vision for schools: merit pay.

Therein lies the problem: The AFT, NEA and certainly the UFT have gone along with just about every ridiculous school reform policy that have hurt their members. The unions are sheep in wolves' clothing put up by the reformers to give the story a villain.

You name it: school-wide bonuses (instead of calling it merit pay), closing or redesigning schools, charter schools (the UFT even started two of our own), test based teacher and student accountability and more have all been supported by the union. I want someone to find one major anti-public education policy the unions have resisted. Turning New Orleans into an almost fully charter school system, while the Black middle class in that city was decimated, was only possible because the unions hadn't resisted in a generation and could no longer put up a fight.

I will never forget when then UFT President Randi Weingarten from the podium at the Executive Board yelled at my friend Ed Beller and me because we didn't "get it" but how she understood the political situation in 2004. No, I did "get it" Randi. We needed to put up a real fight back then by threatening job actions just like we need to now.

Where was the great teachers' strike since the advent of school reform? It hasn't yet occurred (sorry Chicago and Seattle your strikes were bold but they have not changed the game) and now it might be too late.

The Union's strategy at the local, state and national level of making deals with the reformers and getting what we can has resulted in losses all over the place. When one wants to look at the cause of the demise of public education and the Democratic Party, part of the blame has to go to the unions for going along with school reform through the decades. It started with the sainted Al Shanker and only worsened with Sandra Feldman, Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew.

In NYC  back in 2003, NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein proposed gutting the teachers contract down to 8 pages. When a deal was finally reached in 2005 on a new UFT contract, Klein got much of what he wanted and all the UFT could do is say we did the best we could by not giving up everything in tough political times. It should be noted that 40 percent of the teachers did vote no on that contract. Little has changed since that time. Once a union moves backwards, the attacks will only get worse (see Loeb, Osborne, Economist quotes above).

Berkshire's only omission is she does not fault the unions for being willing partners in their own demise. Her conclusion, however, is spot on.

The irony is that the DeVos-Trump vision for fixing our schools is almost as unpopular as the GOP’s plan for health care; if there’s political ground to be gained with Trump supporters, the defense of public education is fertile territory. DeVos’ nomination sparked ferocious grassroots opposition, red and blue, and in a cabinet of rogues, she remains Trump’s most reviled official. Her signature issue—paying for private religious schools with taxpayer funds—has never been popular with voters, even in deep red states.

The problem is that the Democrats have little to offer that’s markedly different from what DeVos is selling. Teachers unions, regulation, and government schools are the problem, Democrats continue insisting into the void; deregulation, market competition and school choice are the fix. Four decades after the neo-Democrats set their sights on the education bureaucracy, the journey has reached its predictable destination: with a paler version of what the right has been offering all along.

When the Democrats next attempt to rouse the base of unionized teachers they count on to be their foot soldiers, they are sure to meet with disappointment. In once reliably blue states like Michigan and Wisconsin, the unions have been eviscerated. The right went all in to crush unions—not because they “impede social mobility,” but because they elect Democrats. That wager is now paying off handsomely.

All I can add is that the Democrats are better on education when they are an opposition party.

Have the Democrats learned their lesson on school reform that you don't eat your base? I hope so but I am skeptical. Too much money to be made from the reformers.

My fix:

1-Challenge every last Democrat in primaries who supports any version of school reform that includes charter schools, closing or redesigning schools, rating teachers based on how well students do on exams, school choice, merit pay, etc...

2-Reintroduce the idea of militant unions nationwide even in the face of the defections the Janus Supreme Court decision is likely to cause when union dues become optional. If the teacher unions fight to make substantial contractual gains instead of accepting more concessions, the unions will again win over the teachers and the public too if we fight for an agenda parents support (lower class sizes, age appropriate curriculum, safe schools, strong neighborhood schools, and more) in addition to what we must have (decent salaries, benefits, job security, autonomy in the classroom and more.

In short, we need to be the powerful force the right wing accuses us of being but we are not in reality.

WE DON'T NEED A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION NOR MORE MONEY FOR COPE

By Constitution, New York State and its local governments have to fund pensions properly. This is why the national pension time bomb discussion doesn't include New York.We rank 40th out of 45 states in terms of pension risks. Not bad.

This is from Bloomberg:



On the other hand, our pensions are still in peril as 2017 will see a constitutional convention referendum on the ballot in November. Many in the UFT are going to use the threat to our pensions from a constitutional convention as an excuse to convince members to up our contributions to COPE (the union's political arm). Even the usually right on the money NYC Educator buys into this argument as his latest post shows. Our pensions are protected by the state Constitution and a convention could put them on the table.

I oppose the constitutional convention and will urge my colleagues to vote no. There are better ways to amend the NYS Constitution than a convention that could very well be controlled by corruption plagued Albany insiders and their well funded friends. I don't see much good that can come out of it. While I support the UFT-NYSUT fully on this issue, I cannot endorse donating anything more than a very nominal amount to COPE (I give a symbolic 25 cents and many of my colleagues believe that is too much). The UFT-NYSUT-AFT record in political endorsements or non-endorsements is abysmal.

Some history:

In 2017 we endorsed Mayor Bill de Blasio's reelection early. What has he done in return? Raised copays for medical and continued to allow Carmen Farina's many abusive principals to have basically free reign to keep destroying the careers of too many of our members.

In 2016, we gave the maximum amount allowed to anti-public education Republican Senate leader John Flanagan's Republican Campaign Committee and we refused to endorse opponents of some horrible Republicans. We endorse Independent Democratic Conference state senators who vote with the Republicans for charter schools.

2015 gave us the early endorsement of Hillary Clinton by the AFT-NYSUT_UFT while Bernie Sanders was launching an upstart campaign from the left. How did that one work out?

2013-14 saw the infamous NYSUT $10,000 contribution from now President Andy Pallotta to get a table at Governor Andrew Cuomo's private concert birthday party featuring Billy Joel and Unity rejecting my anti-Cuomo resolution. That came out real well when Cuomo was reelected. Well no it didn't. See the Education Transformation Act of 2015 featuring the Advance observation system and four years minimum probation to achieve tenure for more details.

Need we go back further to the UFT endorsing Bill Thompson in 2013 but not supporting him when it mattered when Michael Bloomberg ignored the will of the voters who wanted term limits and ran for a third term in 2009?

Oh and then there is the UFT support for mayoral dictatorship over NYC schools which has to be approved by the State Legislature and governor. We were fine with it in 2002, 2009 and every year since 2015 even though the public by huge margins does not think the mayor should have exclusive control of the schools.

Enough already! Forget COPE and donate to the worthy causes of your choice. If you want to work to defeat the constitutional convention, start here at the AFL-CIO website and then spread the word to your friends to vote no.

DO WE WITHDRAW SUPPORT FOR STRONGER TOGETHER?

The Independent Community of Educators has been a strong supporter of the statewide opposition to Unity Caucus in the New York State United Teachers called Stronger Together Caucus.

Arthur Goldstein wrote an excellent piece yesterday on the state of our state union that has truly made me wonder about about the future of the opposition at the state level. ST Caucus gave me and many others real hope that there could be change at the state union level.

I have copied Arthur's blog post in its entirety below and ask our readers this question:

At what point would we be forced to withdraw our support for ST Caucus?

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Will Stronger Together Caucus Buy Into Fatal Timidity of the UFT, NYSUT and AFT?

After a bruising loss in a presidential campaign, United Federation of Teachers leadership has redoubled its quest to learn nothing whatsoever. It wasn't enough that we went all out for a presidential candidate who stood up for half-hearted, warmed-up pablum rather than real solutions for America. We needed to continue our march toward mediocrity because that's our prime directive.

As such, even after a loathsome reptile manipulated his way into the Presidency of the United States, even after he swore to cripple our power via the Supreme Court, even after he enabled and emboldened vile bigotry, racism and homophobia all around the country, we remained too timid to even utter his name.

Leadership knows best, after all. They understand about manipulated elections and suppression of democracy because that is their stock in trade. When high school teachers get uppity and elect officers of whom they disapprove, they change the rules so they can't do that anymore. When chapter leaders dare to elect the District Reps they wish to support them from opposition, they simply change the rules and hand pick them. That's how you maintain power by any means necessary without regard for democracy.

And now there are stirrings in NYSUT. After UFT and NY State Unity leadership led a coup to overthrow a sitting President who objected to financial support of Andrew Cuomo, there are still hundreds of locals who feel disenfranchised. There is a lot of anger, rightfully so, that NYSUT has now become just another arm of the UFT, and doesn't even bother to pretend otherwise. Thus, there is for the first time ever, an opposition caucus in NYSUT called Stronger Together. Stronger Together is largely the brainchild of firebrand Beth Dimino, the outspoken President of the Port Jefferson Station Teacher Union. Alas, Dimino is stepping down and while there are some very capable people remaining, it's an open question whether there is anyone remaining who can rival her vision and passion.

There is, of course, a potential NYSUT solution for all those pissed off locals. They could run a few members of the opposition on the Unity ticket. This would not only preclude a contentious campaign, but also perhaps mute the vocal opposition. It might even give NYSUT locals the impression that it is no longer being run by the machine that shoved Hillary Clinton down the throats of rank and file with little to no member input. The new members could voice opposition within NYSUT, and perhaps the machine would be forced to pay lip service to member concerns. But it's hard to believe that they will accomplish anything substantive. In fact, it's hard to believe the machine would do even that, obsessed as it is with perpetuating itself via absolute control.

Remember this? This is the campaign pamphlet that Revive NYSUT passed out at the convention in which they overthrew mean old Dick Iannuzzi, who'd finally objected to Pallotta buying tables at Cuomo fund raisers. Despite ostensible opposition, President Karen Magee pretty much said it was Common Core or anarchy. NYSUT never opposed Cuomo, and never opposed APPR. In fact, the only legislative accomplishment they can boast of is making sure that leadership got double pensions.

There really are good people, smart people, in Stronger Together. I'd feel better with them in leadership than the current UFT pawns. But the fact is, even if they make any such deal, I'm absolutely certain it would be contingent on said pawns staying in place. When one of them is replaced, it will be by a sitting UFT official. That deal is already in place and UFT leadership can't even be bothered keeping it secret.

As bad as UFT leadership is, a strong bastion of principled resistance to the counter-productive and anti-democratic machinations of the dual Unity Caucuses is still right here in Fun City. I am very proud to be part of it. It's nice that Revive NYSUT can campaign on transparency, but the heart of NYSUT still lies at 52 Broadway, and they are nothing if not secretive and manipulative. We're still waiting, for example, to learn when it will be okay to mention Donald Trump's name, as opposed to disingenuously attributing the explosion in racism and bigotry to "The Presidential Election."

I certainly hope that Stronger Together succeeds in reforming the union. The rationale is that we are facing a really tough time, and that the only way we can face it is by presenting a united front. Here in NYC, we've heard that song before, specifically from the New Action Caucus. New Action made a deal with UFT Unity in the Bloomberg era, citing the threat that Bloomberg faced to our very existence. But New Action learned that didn't really work for them. Last year they decided to join the MORE Caucus and we took the important first step of winning the high school seats on the UFT Executive Board. Though we are massively outvoted by the Unity machine at Executive Board, we've shown that leadership is unwilling to take firm stands against things like class size violations and abusive administrators. When members see proof of what leadership does and does not stand for, high schools will no longer be alone in opposing ridiculous "seat at the table" politics.

MORE is affiliated with Stronger Together, and has been for a few years now. We ran in opposition to the machine, and I was proud to run a David and Goliath campaign against Executive VP Andrew Pallotta. I don't speak for MORE and I don't make decisions for it. But as a New York City high school teacher, I certainly pay dues to NYSUT, and I can't help but notice that there are exactly zero people elected by UFT high school teachers who have a voice in its decisions.

You could argue that NYSUT has UFT representation, and that's certainly true. But the fact is, in the last UFT election high school teachers decided to go another way. And before you dismiss us as a bunch of cranks, the fact is we have more members than the Philadelphia Teacher Union, not to mention the overwhelming number of NYSUT locals. In fact, my school alone has more members than some NYSUT locals.

Again, I'm not speaking for MORE, or ICE, or any UFT-affiliated caucus or teacher organization. But I can't and won't support any movement that doesn't provide a voice and vote for the high schools I represent. I'd be very surprised if MORE took a position contrary to that. If Stronger Together chooses to go ahead and ignore or even tacitly endorse our disenfranchisement, it's no better than the machine it purports to oppose.

And if UFT, or AFT, or NYSUT thinks that backroom deals will protect it from Friedrichs Mach 2, it's laboring under a serious misconception. We need representation, not rationalization. We've had the latter for decades, and it's gotten us precisely where we are today.  

RANDI HOLDING FUNDRAISER FOR MAYOR DE BLASIO WHILE AFT MEMBERS IN NYC INCLUDING MY WIFE SUFFER UNDER MAYOR

Class Size Matters leader Leonie Haimson sent out this piece from Politico.

Our national Union leader, AFT President Randi Weingarten, in early January will be co-hosting a fundraiser for Bill de Blasio's reelection. I kid you not. The fundraiser will be held while many of Weingarten's members here in New York City are being harassed, attacked unfairly, bullied, intimidated and unfairly rated by abusive administrators. Life in the schools in NYC is a daily miserable existence filled with fear for many, many UFT members.

From the article:
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, will hold a fundraiser for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign in January, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO New York.

The fundraiser will be held at AFT headquarters in Washington on January 5. Guest tickets are $1,000 a head, “supporter” tickets are $2,500, and “host” tickets are $4,950.

Weingarten's latest fundraiser is all the proof we need to show that the AFT has learned absolutely nothing from Hillary Clinton's recent defeat. It's top-down, don't bother to ask the rank and file because Randi knows what is best for you, unionism at its worst. At the very least, maybe Randi could do one of those polls she claimed the AFT did before endorsing Clinton to see how the members in NYC feel about de Blasio's reelection before raising big bucks for him.

As for the UFT, now we know why President Michael Mulgrew is in such a hurry to put together a committee to rubber stamp a de Blasio reelection endorsement.

We also now are fully aware why the UFT will not come out publicly against any of the multiple abusive administrators who are making life a living hell for many good teachers here in New York City including my wife Camille. Camille works for a principal and two assistant principals from hell at Humanities and the Arts High School. We have filed numerous union busting grievances, APPR complaints and for arbitration on the annual rating which was ineffective. To that extent, the UFT has been supportive. However, it has not been sufficient to stop the attacks against Camille and other members of the Humanities and the Arts Chapter by the administration.

To that end, we have repeatedly pleaded with the UFT leadership to take the next step by publicly condemning Acting Interim Principal Kayode Ayetiwa and Assistant Principals Moussa and Stergiopolous but to no avail. Why don't we plaster their names all over the NY Teacher? The answer on why we don't do this is the UFT wouldn't want to insult de Blasio/Farina's principals when the AFT President is raising major funds for the mayor's war chest.

The UFT is willing to sacrifice its members to de Blasio/Farina rather than really fighting for them.

What a travesty.

IS ANYONE EXPECTING A POSITIVE FUTURE FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION UNDER DONALD TRUMP?

People are just so optimistic sometimes. By hoping for the best from President elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks, supporters of public education would seem to be either in a state of denial or delusional right about now.

Like many other rational public school educators and parents, I thought every time a new Education Secretary was going to be picked since the early 2000's that our situation in the schools could not deteriorate further. I didn't get those predictions right or maybe I'm just an eternal optimist too.

Rod Paige of the Houston miracle followed George W Bush to DC to give us the impossible requirements of No Child Left Behind (admittedly with Democratic support). Paige was replaced by Margaret Spellings who was succeeded after Barrack Obama was elected by Arne (Race to the Top) Duncan, followed by Clueless John King. Obama and Bush were complete bipartisan disasters when it comes to public schools.

Now let's face reality this time around: Donald Trump is ready to take office and privatizing education is now a top administration priority.

The next Education Secretary will almost certainly be be a pro-private school voucher, pro-charter school, anti-public education zealot. Mercedes Schneider and Diane Ravitch are speculating on who will be named and the choices look like they are bad, worse and worst for public education.

Our kids are scared and our future as public educators looks quite bleak so how is the mighty United Federation of Teachers reacting?

Of course our union is trying not to ruffle any feathers. The evidence is that the leadership wants to take out the words Donald Trump from a resolution calling us to action.

The time is right for us to be bold when our very existence is being threatened but instead it's looking like business as usual down at UFT Headquarters.

Here is how NYC Educator puts it:

What you see below the post is a resolution that targets "the presidential election" where it used to target "President-elect Donald J. Trump." The obvious implication is that leadership, after wholeheartedly endorsing Hillary Clinton, is fraidy-scared to directly criticize the new American Bigot-in-Chief. And from where I stand, that means we are pandering to bigots, racists and anti-Semites.

We are fighting for our schools and our profession. It will not be easy to save our schools or our livelihoods. You would think the UFT would be able to write that Donald Trump, and not the presidential election, is a problem for us.

UPDATE: I just opened my email and AFT President Randi Weingarten has sent a message that is more powerful. It is copied below the UFT resolution.

Read the resolution as well as Randi's email and tell us what you think.

Resolution Calling for Respect for All People

(Changes are in bold; original language is crossed out)

WHEREAS, President-elect Donald Trump the presidential election targeted communities on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and religion, and displayed abusive behavior toward women, has threatened the nation's promise that all people are worthy of respect; and

WHEREAS, President elect Donald Trump the presidential election has outlined an education agenda overtly hostile to public schools and teachers, promising to prioritize vouchers and charter schools at the expense of public schools; and

WHEREAS, the recently-concluded presidential election has returned open racism homophobia and misogyny to the forefront of national politics and featured incendiary rhetoric with little precedent in modern history; and

WHEREAS, in the aftermath of the election, our communities have suffered hate-motivated violence and vandalism at a pace exceeding the wave of Islamophobic incidents in the wake of the September 11 attacks; and

WHEREAS, this divisive political atmosphere has given rise to fear and anxiety among students and inflamed racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom; and

WHEREAS, people are upset and feel that government has failed them, there's no reason to give into a climate of fear; and

WHEREAS, the UFT remains committed to creating a safe and supportive environment as well as stamping out bias-based bullying and harassment in all its forms by providing training for compliance with the Dignity for All Students Act and by operating the Building Respect, Acceptance and Voice through Education campaign, which includes an anti-bullying hotline, fairs and presentations in schools; and

WHEREAS, the New York City Department of Education Respect for All campaign considers harassment and discriminatory behavior, physical injury or threat of injury, harassment, teasing, taunting, peer rejection or exclusion to humiliate or isolate a person to be a violation of Chancellor's Regulations A-831 and A-443, and the Student Code of conduct; and

WHEREAS, the Dignity for All Students Act approved in September, 2010, by the New York State Legislature contains the following provisions:

• A policy that specifically prohibits discrimination and harassment in public schools based on actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, sexual or physical or mental disability, with procedures to ensure that the policy will be implemented and enforced; 
• Training of administrators, teachers, and other school related professionals and students on how to deal with diversity in schools and address incidents of harassment and discrimination when they arise;
• Documentation and data collection to determine just how prevalent the problem of harassment is in New York's public schools and where the needs are most profound;
• Funding to implement the principles above in a way that avoids unfunded mandates for school districts; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT affirms that public education is critical to the future of this country; that all communities inside our school communities deserve respect and dignity; and that workers have a right to unionize and be treated fairly, and that the UFT will aggressively fight the erosion of these core values; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT calls upon every school to launch a series of actions to defend our communities and our schools and affirm our values, beginning on Monday November 21, with a Day of Action; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT calls upon every school to form an action committee to plan and execute these actions; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will partner with and encourage the DOE to support the expansion of the Respect for All initiative, so that school communities serve as sites where all students and staff are safe from acts of discrimination because of ongoing positive and developmentally appropriate behavior and speech in and out of the classroom; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT urges the DOE to require time during the school day for educators to engage in conversations and activities that will support learning communities that celebrate diversity while ensuring tolerance, respect and positive conflict resolution, and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will urge the DOE to present professional learning to develop our abilities to design and implement learning activities during which differences are respected and celebrated.

James,
After a bitter campaign, and an election in which Donald Trump won the electoral vote but Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, our nation remains deeply divided. And the division seems to be worsening: In the 10 days since the election, the hateful rhetoric of the campaign has spread and even turned violent.

In his victory speech and during his “60 Minutes” interview, Trump urged Americans to come together as one united people to take on the challenges before us. But his actions tell a different story. By appointing Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn—three men with long and disturbing records of bigotry and racism—Trump is only adding to the climate of fear.

It is our moral imperative to fight the normalization of hate, and while we will take actions in our schools, work sites and communities to protect our kids and fight bigotry and bullying, as so many of our members already have, Trump has a unique and moral responsibility to denounce these hateful and intimidating actions.

This morning, we sent Donald Trump a letter signed by the AFT and the Southern Poverty Law Center calling on him to speak clearly and loudly against the hate. More than 100 groups representing millions of people have also signed. Add your voice and name to our letter.

In the months leading up to the election, Trump’s campaign rhetoric found an audience with those who would use our differences to divide us. And in the days following the election, we have seen people—seemingly emboldened by his victory—committing harassment, vandalism, property destruction and even assault based on those differences.

We know that millions of his supporters would never participate in these actions, but the campaign rhetoric has created an environment that enables and encourages those who wish to harm others.

Personally, I am especially troubled by incidents taking place in schools and on college campuses—places where we do everything we can to ensure our children are safe and nurtured, and have the opportunity to grow and learn free of intimidation and hatred. But now we are hearing reports of disturbing behavior: children chanting “build the wall” at their Latino classmates, Muslim students and educators harassed for their clothing, male students intimidating their female classmates, LGBTQ kids threatened and harassed, and swastikas being painted on classroom doors.

There is no room for this in America. Donald Trump must step up and lead by denouncing the hateful rhetoric and violence following his election.

Many of these hateful acts have been carried out in his name. And while Trump may not condone this behavior, his silence gives tacit permission to those who carry out these acts.

As Americans, we are better than this. You can stand up against these attacks by adding your name to this petition.
Trump has said he will be the president for all Americans. We ask that he keeps that promise by loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the ideology that drives them.

We must all send a clear message that hate has no place in our public discourse, in our public policy or in our society, starting with our next president. Sign the petition now.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT president

P.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center is collecting data on the effects of this divisive climate, especially in schools. Complete its survey here.