GHOST TEACHER REVIEWS A WEEK AT LIC HS

Our roaming ATR correspondent describes a week spent at Long Island City High School as a Ghost Teacher. One has to ask how the UFT and DOE came to this agreement. It is clear the DOE couldn't care less about educating children.


Today was my last day of 'ghosting' at Long Island City HS. Now entering the third month of one of the most surreal experiences of my life, I can no longer refer to my ATR duties as actual teaching. I'm speaking for my own demoralized self when I write this and do not mean to offend any other ATRs, but taking attendance, monitoring bathrooms and doing endless periods of cafeteria duty is not the work of a professional teacher.

So I 'ghost', each week haunting another NYC school building, gliding through hallways unnoticed by students, faculty, and even UFT presidents. I ghosted at Beach Channel last week, LI City this week, and next week I'll be ghosting at a hallway near you.

This morning (Friday) was my last day at LICHS, by the way. The APO (Assistant Principal Organization) wanted to see me bright and early so I floated down to his office. Our meeting was brief and to the point. "I'm required to give you an interview before you leave," he began. "We have no positions available so...consider yourself interviewed."

My fellow, apparitions, you cannot make this stuff up. As I stepped out of his office, I repeated his words to myself slowly, keeping a close eye on the second hand of my wristwatch... A five second interview! Life in the Big City, I guess, and one disturbing, narcissistic phrase lies at the heart of all this dream-like absurdity and madness: Mayoral Control.

MIND BOGGLING: AN ATR REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

An ATR from Jamaica sent this email to me yesterday.


Reported to LI City HS today as five day ATR, a nice looking, modern building, six stories tall. I covered three different teachers, none of whom taught English (my certification). When I got to my last class, the freshmen all asked, "Are you our real teacher or just another sub?" I asked another teacher leaving the room why this class had no regular teacher as we steadily approach November. Her reply was stunning. "We actually have five vacancies in the building," she said. "We're in transformation, which means they're trying to cause as much chaos as possible until they can shut us down." Naturally, this is the compete opposite of what the word 'transformation' means, unless the DoE means transforming into more boutique academies and creating still more ATRs, which is exactly what they intend.

I'm certainly glad I spent my summer attending five separate DoE job fairs, while some buildings are intentionally understaffing and have absolutely no intention of hiring ATRs. I could tell from all those bobbing heads and smiling faces during July and August that no one was actually looking to hire teachers, let alone pay attention to what we were saying. Yet at this point in my career I can honestly say that I know who I'm dealing with when it comes to the Dept of Ed, a truly vicious, union busting entity. The real question I have is where my union is during all this madness. When will our pseudo-tough guy president finally step up and protect his people? I was paying tolls last week in the Rockaways at Beach Channel. This week I'm on the complete opposite side of Queens in Long Island City. The DoE is obviously testing my limits, but not one message, call, or e-mail from my union telling me to hold on, to keep fighting, to wait until things get better. So Alright, fine. I'll simply stop waiting. My fiance is a teacher in this troubled system, as well. From here on in, we are a teaching union of two.

Delegate Assembly Report

Wednesday was the first DA of this school year. Without giving away any state secrets, we will attempt to report on the DA as fast as possible.

Mulgrew report: (I was a little late)

Problems with Sesis should go to Carmen Alvarez.

New evaluation system for teachers: There is a letter out to DOE on problems with the new evaluation system because there is not a system based on trust in NYC. Cincy, Ohio and somewhere in Maryland using Danielson framework happily. Only restart and Transformation using Danielson in NYC. Everyone else is using old system. Problem is DOE implementing it properly. It looks like lawyers are in charge. Example is rubrics. Dr. Danielson horrified by DOE rubrics used in her name. Reforms won't work in top down mayoral control system.

Yesterday, UFT sent letter to DOE. Mulgrew said system is broken. DOE is looking for evidence based teaching. 26 months to go with these people in power but we don't want a broken system. UFT must be responsible. We are frustrated. DOE says all is well. DOE disconnected. DOE is calling for engagement. They don't know how to support us. Send problems with evaluation to Michael Mendel. Many schools are not ready for Danielson.

Absent Teacher Reserves: ATRs are being placed but still 1,100 atrs. People staying in district with weekly assignments. Union chapter leaders should reach out and welcome atrs each week in their schools.

Food drive at next da.

Bronx educational summit last week. Same day 28 buses and an Amtrak train went to DC for Martin Luther King dedication and also UFT raised more money than any other group in making strides against breast cancer.

UFT announced BRAVE, helping to stop bullying. Hotline for kids and parents being bullied. UFT spent 50,000 to have the anti-bullying hotline. Politicians all there and grateful to UFT. David Kazanski spoke about anti-bullying hotline run by Life-net. Hotline is up and running.

Mulgrew summarized by saying UFT is engaged in the community.

UFT giving some help to Occupy Wall Street.

Upstate slammed by Hurricane Irene. Most don't have flood insurance. Teachers upstate saving their towns. Story off press radar screen. Small union leader from upstate spoke next about how teachers were there when Wall Street was not.

Mulgrew came on again to say contract negotiations moving forward. UFT preparing for fact finding. (I don't see how much good can come from this but we won't say more.)

Staff Director Report:
Leroy Barr talked of all uft has been doing.

Questions:
A delegate asked about support for laid off dc 37 colleagues. Mulgrew answered that dc37 put money on table but mayor laid people off anyway. UFT feared mayor would lay off people to make a point and he did just that.

Question about contract. No real answer. that we can report here.

Question about School Construction Authority. UFT working on PS 51 situation. SCA checking lease sights.

Julia Schlakman, excesed teacher from Jamaica, asked who represents her as an atr. Answer was chapter leader in school she is in each week.

Question about bullying by administrators. Answer was to document.

Question about class sizes where a middle school has 36 average in grade 8. Answer is to file contempt of court charges if DOE does not abide by arbitrator's rulings.

Motion period:
Gloria from gem and ice presented a motion that resolved to march to support occupy wall street by marching there after the DA. Motion received 2/3 vote to be put on agenda but time later ran out so it was not acted on.

David from Beach Channel resolved that atrs have a chapter for as long as atrs exist. He explained that atrs have a right to vote. Leroy Barr spoke against it saying said that we do not want to create a permanent chapter for a temporary position. The motion failed but got a great deal of support. Mulgrew acknowledged that voting would be a problem and they would work on it. (I voted for it.)

Regular motions were next on the agenda.

A resolution on on a DA endorsement passed easily. Dan Donovan was the candidate.

Resolution on the new evaluation system was next. VP Leo Casey spoke in support of the resolution. UFT wants this done right and will wok for that. Sam Lazarus spoke against. His school, Bryant HS, is one of the restart schools using the new system and teachers hate it. He said majority would be rated ineffective or developing. He talked about mandated, scripted lessons and teachers having to have exit slips filled out each day by each class. Teachers must rework lessons. Staff is shocked that UFT would support framework.

District rep James Vasquez spoke saying there are issues but the resolution was not about restart schools. Another two delegates praised Danielson and then the delegates overwelmingly supported the resolution. Meeting then ended.

My own feeling is that the new evaluation system will be used against us by the usual suspects and that this can never work under the current DOE leadership. I voted with Sam. A friend said that the UFT promoting Danielson sounds a great deal like 2001-02 when they touted mayoral control of schools. Look how well that turned out.

LAID OFF DC 37 WORKERS NEED TO HAVE THEIR STORIES TOLD

Leroy Allison was an Elevator Operator at Jamaica High School. His last day on the job was last Friday. Leroy was one of the 700 school support people laid off by Mayor Bloomberg. He had over twenty years in the system and was close to being able to retire, but since he was buying back for years where he wasn't in the retirement system, he cannot afford to leave now.

Some of you might be saying that the job title of Elevator Operator is probably obsolete and that because unions protect employees whose jobs are no longer necessary, this is why many people hate unions. Well if you say that then I can say you are totally wrong. Leroy Allison worked all over Jamaica High School. He was retrained and did much more for the school than the elevator which was often broken. The fact that the school never changed or expanded his job title is not his fault. He should not have been laid off.

Over the years Leroy's job evolved to where he was the stock person who filled all of the supply orders for the school. He was also in charge of incoming and outgoing mail for the building. In addition, he spent time helping with student entry in the morning and also toiled in the student cafeteria helping out there. Mr. Allison truly performed many tasks. Without him, I don't think I could have administered the SAT exams on Saturdays for the past decade. He was greatly respected throughout the school.

Only months away from being eligible for full retirement, Leroy was let go in a move that just shows how stupidly the school system is run. Already there is virtually no paper being distributed at Jamaica. Besides Leroy, all of our school aides have seen their hours cut leading to a potential safety crisis.

Leroy was replaced by an Elevator Operator who was excessed from another school and was able to bump him. As the city takes out their vengeance on the lowest paid employees while at the same time allowing retired administrators come to schools as paid consultants, while simultaneously collecting their Tier I pensions, many of us are enraged every day that we walk into work as we see injustice everywhere.

We can only hope that some intrepid reporter will tell the story of each of the hundreds of hard working people who were let go for no other reason than the mayor was apparently angry at their union. Bloomberg and Walcott need to be held accountable for this outrage. I am energized that the City Council held hearings on the layoffs and strongly criticized the Chancellor the other day.

Please don't let up until Leroy and every other employee has their jobs back.

Mayoral Control on Trial Saturday

Come to DC 37 on Saturday to see and/or participate in the trial that will at least let people express their anger at mayoral control .

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

ATR ANGER AT UFT MEETINGS

The press has discovered that the Absent Teacher Reserves are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. We have seen the reports from the Bronx and Brooklyn meetings about how enraged the disenfranchised ATRS have become. The ATRS are now migrant workers, pushed from school to school on a weekly basis. ATRS received their new assignment for next week through a cold email from human resources. Hang in there ATRS. Between your forced weekly moves and the DC 37 layoffs, these are terrible days.

Don't despair. Come to the October 20th ATR meeting at 5:00pm at the Skylight Diner on 34th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) to discuss the next steps in the fight for dignity.

Also today, Teacher Ronin (ATR) Marc Epstein explains the folly of closing schools over at Huffington.

FIRST ATR COMMITTEE LEAFLET

We Are ATRS: Absolutely Teaching Ready –

but denied the opportunity by the Department of Education.

They’ve closed our schools, reduced the student population through charters, excessed us through outrageous budget cuts and made it illogical for a principal to hire us because we are experienced, well trained adults who insist on respect and are more than a few steps up the salary schedule from new graduates.

Demand Respect & Justice for ATR Teachers

The "hiring" freeze was not a freeze at all: ATRs must be placed before any new teachers are considered with no salary penalty to the school: The DOE claim to lift the hiring freeze this summer was bogus as principals were only required to interview 2 ATRs and then were free to hire newbies and less experienced teachers. Ex: one large HS in Queens has 5 newbie math teachers.

2,000 excessed teachers have swelled the ranks of the ATR- teacher pool as ATRs are obligated to waste time at Job Fairs that for the most are exercises in futility. This is an injustice that:

· Is unprofessional, disrespectful, demoralizing and humiliating to teachers who have dedicated years of satisfactory service to our school communities. Both a “no layoff/firing guarantee” and a permanent classroom job are what all teachers deserve.
· Is an unconscionable waste by the DOE of taxpayer money in these lean budget times, costing the city from $80 to $100M yearly.
· Discriminates against students, parents, and schools by denying adequate quality staffing.
· Foments larger class sizes and a deterioration of the quality of teaching.

The attitude that "We are lucky to have a job" is not acceptable

ATRs demand that the UFT:

· Insist on no new hiring until all ATRs are placed.

· Call for ATRs in "obsolete license areas" (like Reading) to be allowed to recertify in a new license or get the summer crash course that TFA and TFs get to allow them to fill vacancies shortage areas.

· Create ATR Chapters with elected CLs in each borough to provide fair representation: ATRs shifted from school-to-school do not have a permanent Chapter Leader to represent their interests.

· End the agreement that forces ATRs to be wandering substitutes at different schools each week: parents, especially women with young children will face child care issues due to unpredictable assignments. The UFT must recognize that the DOE aim is to drive many to the brink of quitting.

· Publicize the plight of ATRs to all teachers and the general public in all media.

Every teacher is a potential ATR through excessing, closing schools and charter school growth. We refuse to be swept under the rug by the DOE and the UFT. We need to organize ourselves since the UFT refuses to do so. We need an outreach campaign to our fellow teaching non-ATRs (but possibly soon to be) to get them on our side.

Our strength is growing. The bigger we get the better the chance the DOE and the UFT will be forced to respond in a positive manner.

======================================================================================================

What you can do: Attend meeting we are calling for ATRs on Oct. 20, 5PM at Skylight Diner (34th St. and 9th Ave)

· Attend one of the UFT borough office meetings and distribute this leaflet and ask people to join this committee.

· Join the GEM ATR Committee sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement: Email - gemnyc@gmail.com.

· Follow updates and post your stories at: nycatr.blogspot.com & ednotesonline.blogspot.com.

· Support and sign the resolution at the UFT borough ATR meetings (see reverse side on some leaflets or check the blogs).

======================================================================================================

Long-term demands:

· Restore rights of excessed teachers lost in 2005 UFT/DOE contract when ATR pool was created: bring back guarantee of right to vacancy in license area at another nearby school. Put an end to current open market "principal choice."

· End fair funding formula: schools get charged for teacher salaries giving principals incentives to NOT hire higher salaried/senior teachers.

· Protect LIFO (Last In First Out), seniority and tenure contractual rights: Privatization advocates are pushing hard to eliminating tenure/seniority rights guarantees as they've done in Chicago (ATRs get 9 months) and Washington, DC (ATRs get 6 months) before they are fired.

· Fight for a diverse teaching force: ATR ranks are filled with a high proportion of Black and Latino experienced teachers. Last year, the UFT passed a resolution to protect and promote “diversity in the NYC teaching force”. Ensure that the UFT uphold the spirit and letter of that resolution.

· Stop the charter-privatization of our schools: The nation-wide and local City drive to dismantle, close public schools and replace them with non-unionized charters helped precipitate this massive ATR pool. End mayoral control of schools: none of the above happens without turning the system over to the mayor.

NEXT STEPS: ATRs will gather October 20 at 5PM at the Skylight Diner (34th St and 9th Avenue)

ONE ATR'S FRUSTRATION BOILS OVER

Irma Segovia is a Spanish teacher who recently was improperly excessed from Jamaica High School. It was a wrongful excess because Ms. Segovia has over twenty years as a regularly appointed teacher and shouldn't be excessed. This is what the UFT contract says about excessing twenty year veterans in Article 17B Rule 10:

“Teachers at all levels who have served 20 years or longer on regular appointment shall not be excessed except for those in neighboring schools who are excessed to staff a newly organized school.”

The language is clear and unambiguous. Nobody is being excessed to staff a new school. They are being excessed to become wandering ATRS. The contract says twenty year teachers should not be excessed but Jamaica had teachers with Rule 10 status excessed in June and the grievance process is playing out slowly as usual. To be fair, I have been working behind the scenes with UFT help to try to get Irma back but DOE basically has said that they don't care about no stinking contract. Making matters worse, we have fourteen classes that are still uncovered while teachers who could teach them are working as substitutes in other schools. Frustration is mounting.

Irma is a wonderful teacher and a fine person who I am happy to know. She volunteered to serve on the school's UFT Chapter Consultation Committee for years and she made a diligent attempt to find a job after being illegally excessed. However, getting an email on Friday night for a mandatory interview Monday clear across town is more than she can take. According to the contract, teachers in excess are supposed to be assigned within their district. After the latest email from DOE, Ms. Segovia sent me this email out of utter frustration and agreed to allow me to post it.

Hi, James:

Here is another attempt by the Human Resources to ignore the UFT contract. They are so convinced they can get away with it, like their new twist on Article 17B rule 10:
"Teachers cannot go back to their schools when the school is being phased out"

Now, they want me to interview outside my district and it is “a mandated interview.”

I have had interviews offered via email but I emailed them back saying it was a hardship
because of the commute (Staten Island, The Bronx, Brooklyn).

Do I have to attend if it is out of my district? It was sent today at 5:00pm through the DOE email. I couldn’t even call them to argue my case because it was sent too late.

All these atrocities, the games being played by the DOE, the ignoring of the UFT contract, the rule bending, and all the other things that go on and ATRs are experiencing (that you won’t even believe because they have not happened to you, yet) MUST be reported and the public must hear the truth behind “the no child left behind excuse.”

Let’s get people from “20/20” or from “60 Minutes” It’s time for the big reporters to report what the mayor and his puppets are doing, have done and will rampantly continue to do to the NY children and to the system if they are not investigated and stopped.

Teachers are held accountable for everything the mayor and the DOE deem wrong or bad even when it does not make sense.

When do the mayor and chancellor and even our questionable Mr. Mulgrew get to be accountable or graded for their irresponsibility for the destruction of the school system in New York City and abuse of power? As long as we keep on paying our dues, never!!!

We were sold out! Our rights are being violated and our integrity as professionals is being questioned.

Sincerely,

Irma

NOT MANY JOBS AT LATEST "JOB FAIR"

On Tuesday the Absent Teacher Reserves from Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were compelled to go to the Brooklyn Museum to attend a job fair. All of the reports I have received say that there were very few positions there for the hundreds of ATRs who attended.

We are also hearing about schools that are hiring multiple new teachers and passing up on the experienced teachers who are out there. This is really sad.

DOE ESCALATES ITS WAR ON EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS

Tuesday was the day for the latest ATR job fair where experienced teachers had to line up for what we have been told were very few positions. Next week there will be another one of these pseudo hiring halls.

Meanwhile back in Jamaica High School, there is nobody covering the library as the librarian was excessed and has been assigned as an ATR to a school in Long Island City. Therefore, the library is closed most of the day; it is only open because there are no classrooms available so some teachers, including myself, are teaching there. In addition, 35 classes at Jamaica are oversize as our phasing out school is squeezed into a smaller part of the building.

I was also informed by another friend who was excessed from Jamaica that she has nothing to do at her new school. 35 oversize classes at Jamaica with no librarian and teachers are sitting around as ATRs in other schools doing nothing. How can the DOE, the union, the press and the public allow this to happen?

It gets worse. Today a former colleague, now an ATR, talked about having six working periods in a row in a long term assignment when the contractual maximum is four. I also heard a report about a teacher who quit rather than face a second year as an ATR. In my opinion, this is exactly what the DOE wants.

The agreement that the UFT and DOE signed in June that allows ATRs to be moved every week (I was told weekly rotations will start as early as October) appears to be an effort to make ATRs so fed up with the system so that more of them will resign.

To add further insult to injury, the city eased its so called hiring freeze this summer to further decrease the chances of experienced people being picked up in a different school.

The city lost on non seniority layoffs (Last in First Out) when the state refused to change the civil service law earlier this year but humiliating ATRS by sending them around to different schools every week and making them travel across the city to hiring halls that offer only a few jobs appears to be a way around the law. It looks like the DOE plans to make life so miserable that these professionals will become demoralized and leave. Please hang in there ATRs.

We must push the UFT into supporting ATRS or find another way to help. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. If the UFT tells you that you are lucky to have a job in this economy, I would acknowledge that they have a point but that all teachers, including ATRS, deserve to teach with dignity. The current system robs these pros of a chance to practice their craft in a truly meaningful way.

For those who are in the so called good schools and aren't worried, you should be. It's very easy for the DOE to move well prepared students into schools the DOE likes and flood a school on the DOE hit list with students who are less likely to succeed.

The only positive development is that there has been some coverage of the plight of ATRS in the Huffington Post from my colleague Marc Epstein that was picked up by the NYCATR blog. Chaz and Ed Notes are also noting the brewing anger of ATRs.

BRIEF ATR SUMMARY

ATRs

About half of the UFT staff from Jamaica High, and I'm sure many other closing schools too, were recently placed into excess because of a steep decline in enrollments caused by student transfers, graduation and the lack of a grade nine class in our phasing out schools However, that does not mean excessed teachers have no rights. Absent Teacher Reserves need to know that they have not been abandoned by us, no matter where they might be assigned. Some people I know have already found positions while many others are assigned temporarily as ATRs.

Under the agreement reached last June between the DOE and UFT which the Jamaica Chapter opposed, the DOE can reassign UFT ATRs on a weekly basis within the district. This is horrible treatment of these professionals that is educationally unsound as ATRs being moved around on a weekly basis can never develop any kind of rapport with students. However, this nomad provision does not mean the DOE can assign teachers to duties that would not fall under a teacher's job title. Therefore, it should be a maximum of five classes and a professional assignment and no more each day in secondary schools. ATRs are still entitled to a prep and a duty free lunch. If there are problems, let the UFT know about them. Let this blog know too.

If a teacher or other UFT member is offered a full time position and asked to stay for a year as a provisional teacher, understand that this assignment would only be for the remainder of this school year and that next June if a principal doesn't like that teacher's work, the pedagogue will remain as an ATR. Conversely, if the teacher doesn't like that school, he/she can demand to stay as an ATR. It is a mutual consent doctrine.

The DOE always had the right to permanently assign teachers but they generally don't do that these days as far as I can tell. Last June's agreement does allow for teachers who are filling in for a long term absence or leave to be able to decline to be used in a particular position if it becomes an official vacancy.

The DOE has the right to send ATRs on interviews during the regular school day.

The DOE does not have the right under current conditions to assign anyone out of his/her district/superintendency. For example, a high school ATR in Manhattan should be assigned to a Manhattan High School and not to an elementary school or a middle school (unless it is to a school such as a 6-12 school listed in the high school district). Also, an elementary or middle school ATR excessed from District 28 should not be assigned to a school in District 26.

Finally, anyone in excess should know that according to contract Article 17 B Rule 8 that there is a right of return to the school in which the person is excessed. Feel free to use the sample letter below that all excessed teachers should send.

Date____________________________

Dear Principal______________________________________:

As per Article 17B Rule 8 of the UFT Contract, I would like to exercise my right of return should a position in my license area, _________________________________________, become available. Please inform me immediately if there is such a vacancy so that I can be placed in it.

Sincerely,

____________________________________________

Sign Name

_____________________________________________

Print Name

Email me with questions or concerns. I know this gets complicated but I hope it helps.

ATRS OF THE CITY NEED TO JOIN TOGETHER TO STOP THE MADNESS

If you haven't already done so, then go on over to the NYC ATR Teacher blog for some real honest insight into the life of an Absent Teacher Reserve. The post about the latest so called DOE job fair is deeply moving. I can confirm from information I have received from other people who were there that NYC-ATR's post is absolutely accurate. Basically, at this time many ATRs appear to be on an informal "Do Not Hire List." Here is an excerpt of the blog piece:

The saddest thing I saw was a male teacher about my age, who had two kids with him, about the ages of my older two. His name tag said, “Technology and Computer Science” and his kids kept pointing to tables saying, “What about this one, Dad?” or “This is a high school, Dad, how about here?” and he kept answering, “No, they don’t want me, they don’t want me.” My heart broke for this man, and my anger flared at a system that throws people on the trash heap like day-old bread.

The ICE UFT blog has been complaining since before the ink dried about how the ATRs were left with third class gypsy status by June's UFT DOE agreement that will allow the DOE to redeploy ATRs to different schools every week this fall.

My phone has been ringing every day and text messages and emails have been pouring in from friends who are ATRs and can't find jobs. Remember, my school is phasing out so roughly half the teachers were excessed in June.

It's time to get these people together at more than just job fairs.

BUILDING BRIDGES ON RADIO MONDAY at 6:00 PM; RALLY TO OPPOSE SCHOOL LAYOFFS WEDNESDAY AT 4:00 P.M.

If you are anywhere near a radio or a computer tomorrow, then tune in at 6:00 p.m. to WBAI's Building Bridges show. WBAI is at 99.5 FM or on the web at http://www.wbai.org. The show is hosted by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg. Tomorrow's Labor Day special runs from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm.

At 6:00 pm there will be a panel discussion on education that will feature Mark Torres, Brenda Walker, Clarence Taylor whose recent book is called Reds at the Blackboard, and ICE-GEM's Yelena Siwinski.

On Wednesday at 4:00 pm ICE is one of the cosponsors of a rally at Tweed (52 Chambers Street in Manhattan) supporting our colleagues who are facing layoff. Here is the media advisory.

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 2, 2011

Contacts:

Mona Davids, New York City Parents Union,

Protest and Rally Against Egregious School Staff Layoffs

Who: Coalition of parents, teachers, labor and community leaders including the New York City Parents Union, Local 327-DC 37, United Federation of Teachers, Coalition for Public Education, Grassroots Education Movement, Class Size Matters, The Mothers' Agenda New York, NYCORE, Teachers Unite, Independent Community of Educators, New York Charter Parents Association and OurSchoolsNYC.org

When: Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Time: 4:00PM

What: Protest & Rally Against Egregious School Staff Layoffs

Where: New York City Department of Education, 52 Chambers Street

Manhattan Borough Pres Scott Stringer and PEP Rep Patrick Sullivan at Tuesday's Press Conference on Verizon Contract

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_q3KqERrVc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EsKXwhTy-s

The Verizon Battle Continues Tuesday at 11 am

NEWS CONFERENCE

11am, Tuesday, August 30^th

Make Verizon Pay Back the Money it Made from a Fraud on our Schools and Settle a Fair Contract with its Workers

What: Education advocates, labor unions, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and other elected officials will join together to demand Verizon pay back its ill-gotten gains from our schools and settle a fair contract with its workers.

When/Where: 11am, Tuesday, August 30^th in front of the Municipal Building.

Background:

On August 17th, the Mayor’s PEP approved a $120 million contract with Verizon. According to the Special Investigator for the Schools, Richard Condon, Verizon knew about and profited from an overbilling fraud scheme[1]. Verizon’s direct profits in the scheme were at least $800,000, according to the investigator, but the PEP approved the contract anyway.

The fight is not over: Verizon should pay back the money it made off of the scheme and make the schools whole through a restitution – and settle a fair contract with its workers. This issue also deserves more scrutiny from the NYC Council, which Councilman Cabrera has promised.

Verizon has contradicted itself on the schools contract, allegedly telling some members of the PEP and the media that it may pay back its proceeds from the scheme. Verizon also sent a letter to the PEP denying its role in the fraud and falsely claiming that the Schools Investigator’s report did not say that Verizon was aware of the fraud.

Verizon is demanding massive givebacks from its workers, including: freezing pensions for new and current workers; raising health care costs by thousands of dollars for current and retired workers; cutting benefits for workers injured on the job; and shipping more jobs overseas.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s representative, Patrick Sullivan, was one of four PEP votes against approval of the controversial contract. Borough President Stringer, CWA, education advocates and other elected officials (list in formation) will call on Verizon to pay back the money, make the schools whole, and settle a fair contract with its workers. Please join us!

---

[1] http://gothamschools.org/2011/04/29/report-on-thieving-doe-consultant-damning-for-ibm-and-verizon/

Editorial in Queens Chronicle on Equal Education Access

There is a newspaper editor that understands education and the American ideal of equality of opportunity. Read the Queens Chronicle's editorial on the disgusting inequities in Queens schools that calls for fairness for all students. Here is an excerpt.

Failing, charter, specialized, zoned, achieving — whatever a public school is labeled as should not matter when it comes to making sure every student has equal access to resources and a chance to graduate with the skills needed to succeed in college, should they want to attend.

This is not happening in Queens, and Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott should be ashamed.

The editorial makes sense for sure.

Brian Jones and Diane Ravitch on Democracy Now

Watch and enjoy Democracy Now as Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez interview two people, Diane Ravitch and Brian Jones, who know the facts when it comes to education. We need a real war on poverty and not more standardized testing to improve education.

Also, the UFT was on the losing side in court on the release of the flawed teacher data reports.

We need to support every teacher if the union is not successful in the last appeal and these stupid reports are released.

NYSUT Wins in Court on Teacher Evaluations

Some positive news for a change from Albany as a judge invalidated some new state education regulations on the teacher evaluation system. It looks like administrators will not be able to use one test to make up 40% of a teacher's evaluation.

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/08/24/judge-rules-invalid-some-aspects-of-teacher-evaluation-regulations/

Judge rules invalid some aspects of teacher-evaluation regulations

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/79051/nysut-claims-victory-in-court-ruling/

NYSUT claims victory i n court ruling

http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/mediareleases_16923.htm

Ruling on teacher evaluations a win for education

NYSUT Media Relations - August 24, 2011

ALBANY, N.Y. August 24, 2011 — New York State United Teachers said today a state Supreme Court ruling on teacher-principal evaluations is a significant win for the state’s public education system.

“This decision upholds the role of practitioners and the value of collective bargaining,” said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. “We are pleased the judge has upheld the statute as NYSUT interprets it. Today’s ruling is good for students and for teachers.”

• Download: The Ruling (PDF)

NYSUT, Iannuzzi said, remains committed to a fair, objective and transparent teacher-principal evaluation process that uses multiple measures — a process upheld by the courts.

Iannuzzi added the union is hopeful the state Education Department will be at the table in collaboration with NYSUT in order to proceed in the context under which the statute is written.

NYSUT, the state’s largest union, represents more than 600,000 teachers, school-related professionals, academic and professional faculty in higher education, professionals in education and health care and retirees. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, Nationa l Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

Back from Vacation

My family and I spent a couple of weeks in Jamaica WI so now I'm catching up on what is happening back home.

My take on the Verizon strike is that it still has the potential to be a very significant accomplishment. While management was out for substantial givebacks in areas such as health benefits, they have not been successful. The company was following the Scott Walker Wisconsin tactic of union busting and it did not work. Yes, the workers returned to work without a contract but the old contract will carry on indefinitely until a new agreement is reached. This private sector union through its militancy won the status quo doctrine that public employees in New York have under the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor law. Please sign the solidarity statement as this story is far from over.

Meanwhile back at the schools, the ATR situation is worse than ever as June's agreement is implemented. You can read all about it in this Times article. I personally know so many good people who are stuck in ATR limbo, which is third class citizenship for teachers. I hope the ATRS continue to highlight their plight to the UFT leadership and demand that something is done to stop the week-to-week movement of these people who have done nothing wrong but because their schools or programs have closed or shrunk or budgets were cut, they are looking for a job. DOE slapped the UFT and the ATRs by allowing principals to hire new teachers and leave ATRs in the ATR pool. As for layoffs of non UFT school personnel, they are totally unnecessary but occurring currently.

Teacher and activist Michael Fiorillo has an excellent suggestion on the Common Core Standards: "I propose that heretofore everyone refer to these as the Microsoft-Pearson standards, as it is the companies (in the guise of their 'non-profit' foundations) that are creating them." I like the idea. The billionaire boys club, as Diane Ravitch refers to them, really has no business making public education policy.

My former colleague Brett Rosenthal has written a piece for the Washington Post Valerie Strauss blog comparing his current suburban school with his previous school: Jamaica High School. It is interesting reading. I told one of my friends yesterday that we have spilled oceans of ink describing the inequities at Jamaica High School but the mayor and chancellors refuse to listen. We truly need to put the public back in public education.

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS RALLY & MARCH & A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE

Almost on a whim, my wife Camille and I decided we would pack up a bag and head down with our two year old daughter Kara to DC for the Save our Schools rally and march on Saturday July 30. We are very happy that we made the trip. Some news reports have even been ok.

Thousands of people were willing to make the trip from all over the country to stand together in the DC summer heat and humidity to stand up for public education. What a great feeling there was in that heavy air.

As many people have already said, it was a pleasure to see teachers, parents, students and activists united in support of our embattled public schools. It was a personal thrill for me to finally put faces to names such as George Schmidt, publisher of Substance in Chicago. Meeting School Gal for the first time was also a pleasure. Also, it's always fun to hang around with the New York GEM crowd and of course parent activists such as Leonie Haimson and Khem Irby.

We met educators who are willing to stand up for themselves from places like Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, the state of Washington, Washington DC, Louisiana and other areas. I recall Randi Weingarten telling the UFT Executive Board just a few short years ago how there was not much happening around the country. She couldn't say that now.

It was also exciting to see the leaders of Save Our Schools turn down an invitation to the White House during the four days of activities. In addition, we know we have support from celebrities like Matt Damon and Jon Stewart. Now that we have left DC we can't allow the momentum of the SOS march to stop.

People have asked what's next and even though we couldn't stay to plan for the future, there are ideas worth pursuing. Since the number of public educators is in the millions and most of us are completely at our wits end because of high stakes testing, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, we might want to start contemplating using the economic power that we have to our advantage.

I believe we need to hurt the people who want to destroy public education (Koch brothers, Waltons, Gates, etc...) in the only place that they care about: their wallets. Collectively, this national movement of educators, students and parents can do it.

After reading NYC Educator last week, I listened to urbane folk singer Billy Bragg's appearance on Democracy Now. Bragg recently wrote a song called Never buy the Sun about Rupert Murdoch's troubles caused by the newspaper phone hacking scandal in England. The only heroes he found in the Murdoch affair are the people of Liverpool who have been boycotting the Sun (daily edition of the weekly News of the World paper that Murdoch recently shut down) for two decades after the Sun printed lies about a football tragedy. Many of the rest of us willingly buy up Murdoch's garbage. We do have the power of the purse if we choose to use it. As I found out last Saturday, there are many of us out there who can spread the word to many others.