DA REPORT: DEMOCRACY DEFEATED AGAIN BY UNITY

The Unity majority brought out the retired troops to Wednesday’s Delegate Assembly (I saw people I   have not seen in years) to make sure they had enough votes to pass an amendment to the UFT Constitution to expand the Executive Board and add to the voting power of the retirees in UFT elections. I voted no on the amendments as they will limit democracy even further as UFT elections for retired members are essentially rigged. 

As usual I was not able to get the floor to speak to counter the Unity propaganda machine’s salute to the union’s retired members.  President Mulgrew framed the issue by saying that it was necessary to change the Constitution because the UFT has grown so much over the years with the addition of the Child Care Providers who recently joined us and the expansion of the Retiree Chapter.  He was right and adding twelve seats to the 89 seat Executive Board does make sense.  Also, putting a committee together to discuss a possible new vice president for the non teaching members of the UFT seems logical.  However, adding to the weight of the retiree vote in UFT elections is extremely unfair and undemocratic even though I agree with Mulgrew that the retired members are very helpful in our mobilization efforts.

Before Wednesday, the retiree vote in any UFT election was capped at 18,000.  This means that if more than 18,000 voted, the tally was capped at 18,000 and the voting numbers were based on 18,000.  For example, let’s say 20,000 retirees voted and 10,000 voted for caucus A and 10,000 vote for caucus B.  Since the vote was capped at 18,000, Caucus A would receive 9,000 votes in the election and Caucus B would get 9,000. 

This obviously flies in the face of the principle of one person=one vote but the union did not want its retired members to dominate, hence the cap.  The amendment raises that cap to 23,500.  This number is not that far off from the number of active teachers who actually vote so the retirees basically now control the union.  That is not healthy at all but it is worse because any opposition group has virtually no legal right to reach out to retirees.

In 1997, New Action (a caucus within the UFT) filed a complaint with the state Public Employees Relations Board asking for the names and addresses of all the retirees so the caucus could send election materials to them.  PERB dismissed the charge.  In his account of the dismissal, PERB’s Phillip L. Maier said, “The Board affirmed the Director’s dismissal of the charge as deficient on the grounds that retirees are not public employees under the Act, do not have any terms and conditions of employment and are not in the UFT’s bargaining unit.  Therefore, the UFT owed no duty to New Action to supply this information.” (Phillip L. Maier: The Taylor Law and the Duty to Fair Representation)  If retirees are not in our bargaining unit, then why can they vote at all for who represents the actual members of the bargaining unit?  They should vote for their own vice president. 

Let’s get this straight:  Retirees are not in the UFT’s bargaining unit but retirees have a huge say in deciding who will represent the active members of the bargaining unit.  On top of this, an opposition caucus has no right to addresses (or emails I presume) to send out election literature.  That is an incredibly unfair election process.

Unity argues that it is a fair process because they run an election advertisement for each caucus at every election. They never mention that the ad is buried in the NY Teacher newspaper once every three years. 

Imagine this on a national scale: Suppose that only the Republican Party was allowed to contact the voters in almost half the states and they said this was fair because they put in an advertisement once every three years for the Democrats but the rest of the time they just flood them with their own literature.  That is basically the election process for the UFT. The New York Teacher is fundamentally a Unity Caucus publication that is filled with scores of pictures and stories about Mulgrew and the leadership every two weeks.  When election time comes, the opposition gets its two page ad.  Any political science student knows this is not sufficient contact for a serious campaign.  Essentially, UFT elections at the retiree level are rigged.  In the schools it is a little different which is why opposition groups have successfully won the high schools and even once the middle schools.

The infamous Stalin once claimed that it isn’t who votes that matters; it’s who counts the votes.  For the UFT, it is a matter of who has access to the voters.  Since only the Unity leadership has the names and addresses of retirees and an opposition group is not entitled to send literature to what is essentially half of the actual voters, an opposition caucus cannot possibly make the number of contacts that any political scientist would say would be necessary to have a reasonable chance to win an election.

Unity called out the retirees en masse on Wednesday to make sure the amendment to increase the retiree voting percentage passed and it carried overwhelmingly.  I raised my card but never had the opportunity to speak to make the points I just made above on why increasing the retiree share of the vote is just an insurance policy for the Unity Caucus, which has ruled the UFT for around half a century. 

Perhaps Unity is worried that the active membership has finally had it with their policies as we are under siege in the schools and so we might rebel against Unity.  The retirees who are spread out all over the country (and abroad) but can only be reached by Unity (except for one advertisement every three years) give them some nice insurance just in case the active membership comes alive.

As for the rest of the meeting, there was only a report from the President as we left early to head off to Brooklyn for the Panel for Educational Policy Meeting to protest the latest round of indefensible school closings and the DOE walking out of negotiations on evaluations.

In his report, President Mulgrew said that the current unsatisfactory rating appeal process was corrupt and keeping it was a non starter in negotiations.  He went on to tell us that the city is trying to split the union and this will be another ugly fight.  He continued by noting that he wants to settle the NYSUT lawsuit on evaluations but it looks like State Education Commissioner John King is supporting the mayor which makes it difficult.  He told us the Governor wants the lawsuit settled and many districts upstate are just waiting for a negotiated settlement.  He also told us to expect a pounding from the Daily News and NY Post but that he enjoys it and the membership understands it.  He said we have to do the grassroots work in the communities and that he has full faith that the union will not be divided. 

On pensions he told us that we have paid for every pension benefit we have and we will not surrender our benefits.  He then talked about appointing a committee to add another officer for the UFT since the functional chapters are growing.  Then he motivated the Constitutional amendments.  Subsequently, Mark Torres called a point of order and demanded that Mulgrew leave the chair since he motivated a resolution. Mulgrew turned the chair over to Secretary Michael Mendel for what was the usual mostly one sided pro Unity debate.

The body then voted overwhelmingly for the amendments (no surprise there) and we left to head to the PEP where Mendel and VP Leo Casey made emotional presentations attacking the DOE.  Mendel asked the DOE how they sleep at night and Casey said that just as the DOE walked out on us in negotiations over the evaluation system, we were now walking out on them. 

Overall it was just one more nauseating afternoon and evening as a DOE employee and UFT Chapter Leader.

BLOOMBERG GOES AFTER US AGAIN

Mayor Bloomberg made attacking teachers the centerpiece of his state of the city address last week.  His attacks are tired and getting old as are the constant NY Post and Daily News editorials blasting teachers.

A quick little walk through the last three years shows we are his favorite target.  First there was no raise for us even though virtually all the other unions have received two raises of 4% in the current round of collective bargaining.  Then, it was two straight years of layoff threats that included the mayor's failed push to change state law so he could fire us at will. Now the mayor wants us to have weaker due process without appeal to an independent reviewer and since he can't get his way, he is now attempting to close most of the Transformation-Restart Schools and open them up the following day with half of the teachers being replaced.

It would be comical if the lives of so many UFT members and students were not impacted.  As I read our contract, he can redesign schools based on Article 18D, which allows management to excess at least half of the teachers in a given school.  Whether he can do this as part of the Federal Turnaround program without first negotiating it with the UFT is highly debatable and will more than likely be decided in the courts or by the state Public Employees Relations Board.

I have some ideas on what the union can do to help the teachers in the 33 PLA-Restart Schools that will necessitate us being a real union.  Maybe the UFT will do more than just use the legal system and local protests.  It's time.

The teachers in the Restart schools and citywide need to know that we are dealing with a desperate billionaire mayor who will do just about anything to get rid of us.  The mayor's plan is irrational.  If he excesses half of the staffs in many schools but our contract and state law prevents tenured people from being terminated without cause (thank God), then there will be an explosion of Absent Teacher Reserves.  It appears that the mayor is willing to spend an additional $100,000,000 on an expanded Absent Teacher Reserve pool (regular teachers who roam from school to school each week at full pay but cover classes for absent teachers) to obtain $60,000,000 in Federal funds.  Can city hall do math or does the mayor have a Captain Ahab like obsession?

The mayor seems overly determined to bust the UFT.  This will probably be his last chance as his time will run out at the end of 2013 and there doesn't seem to be any call for another extension of term limits this time around.  He needs to kill us off now or never.  He looks desperate but do not underestimate the forces that want to destroy public education and the UFT.

 ... to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

—Moby-Dick, Ch. 135 or is that Michael Bloomberg talking to teachers?

LEO CASEY COMPARES U RATING APPEAL PROCESS TO STALIN SHOW TRIALS

Great post at EdWize on why we need a neutral review for ineffective ratings.  VP for high schools Leo Casey said the UFT has has done the research and found that UFT members won 10 of the last 2,000 U rating appeals.  That's a .05% success rate. Interesting that  he compares the DOE review process to a Stalin show trial.

Another good piece over there was the one Casey wrote saying that the study showing that having good teachers increases student earnings was not peer reviewed yet it was released to the public. In addition, Jackie Bennett's work on how closing schools are set up to fail is also enlightening reading.

I have not been a big fan of Edwize since the 2005 propaganda pieces selling the horrible contract but I will say that some of this stuff going up nowadays is quite helpful.

UFT CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES NOTHING BUT A POWER GRAB BY UNITY

Last Saturday, I received  the agenda for the January 18, 2012 Delegate Assembly well in advance.  It contained two proposed constitutional amendments that won't do anything to make the UFT a more democratic union.  The UFT Executive Board, which has the constitutional responsibility for running the organization, will be expanded from 89 to 101 members.  The reason to add to the Executive Board is that the UFT is growing with the addition of the Family Child Care Providers and many new retirees.  Therefore, I agree that it does make sense to add to the Executive Board.  However, the Executive Board is one of the least democratic institutions in the world because of the at large system of voting for most of the seats that in such a huge union makes it virtually impossible to challenge the incumbents.

Most of the Executive Board and all 11 officers (president, vice presidents, etc...) are elected at large which means all members of the union vote for each position.  At large voting allows a retiree or a non Department of Education Family Child Care Provider to be voting for the high school vice president and most of the other people who represent the high schools.  This is ridiculous.  It is just as absurd for a high school teacher like me to be voting for someone to represent the Family Child Care Providers.

A better amendment would have been to put in place some kind of proportional representation system so that if a caucus (political party) receives a certain amount of votes (say 25%) in any UFT election, then that caucus would get that percentage (25%) of the seats on the Executive Board.  That is a fair system but you won't see that happening because the leadership of the Unity Caucus, which has run the UFT since the sixties and has a monumental financial advantage in every election, would have to deal with smaller groups who have support concentrated among certain UFT members.  Having that kind of diversity on the Executive Board would make us a stronger union as more voices would be heard but it would dilute the power of the ruling caucus so don't expect such an amendment to see the light of day.  Also, restoring the right of each division (high school, middle schools, elementary schools, special education) to exclusively elect their own vice presidents will not happen because the ruling caucus would have to admit that they might lose some day.

Expanding the voting representation of the retirees is simply a Unity Caucus insurance policy to expand their power. The retired UFT members are the most loyal Unity constituency so expanding their voice makes sense to Unity.  However, whether or not retirees should vote for active member leaders is highly debatable.  The New York State Public Relations Relations Board took up the retiree topic in 1997.

New Action (another caucus within the UFT) said the UFT should give them a list of retirees so they could mail the retired members UFT election material.  PERB said that since the retirees are not part of our bargaining unit, then no caucus was entitled to their addresses.  Since the state does not recognize retirees as not part of our bargaining unit, then one has to ask why they should be voting for who will represent active members?   Retirees should have their own vice president that they elect exclusively to represent them.

The retiree vote was capped at 18,000, meaning that if more than 18,000 voted, the votes are weighted so 18,000 is the maximum.  That cap will be raised by the amendment to 23,500.  Forgetting the issue with one man=one vote, this is a pure power grab by the ruling caucus to make sure that their loyal retirees have even more of a voice than they do now.  The active people will be further marginalized. What is really needed is to alter the UFT's fundamental foundation.

The structure of our union is basically designed to perpetuate one party rule forever and these amendments will worsen this.  In order to win an election with close to 200,000 voters spread out over many states, a caucus would need a ton of money to have a reasonable chance to communicate with so many members enough times to make a difference.  The Unity Caucus has the union patronage jobs and free trips to union conventions to buy loyalty and those people spread the word in the schools and in retirement communities. To obtain those perks, Unity members must sign a statement saying they will support the positions of Unity Caucus in union and public forums.  Many have termed this statement the Unity Loyalty Oath.  They also must pay to join the caucus.

One ad in the NY Teacher at election time is all the opposition is allowed and that is certainly not enough to get through to these masses of people to win an election.  The UFT structure is extremely unfair and these amendments will not change that.  Adding to the retiree vote total will just further alienate more of us.

I will be voting no on the constitutional amendments. It makes no sense to expand the Executive Board without changing how it is structured and expanding the retiree vote will not strengthen us.

Had the union really taken democracy seriously, they would have put together a committee with membership from all parties and independents and come up with a more democratic structure.

DOE WALKS OUT OF NEGOTIATIONS ON TEACHER EVALUATION

The Saturday midnight deadline will come and go but there will be no new teacher and principal evaluation system for the teachers in New York City in the Transformation-Restart schools.  This is a positive development.  Any agreement that would have been hammered out with the Department of Education would be a disaster for teachers.  Reports from Transformation schools say that the new evaluation system based on the Danielson framework that the DOE has been able to partially implement this fall is nothing more than an attempt to get rid of veteran teachers.

Without an agreement, the city risks losing millions of dollars of federal Race to the Top funds called School Improvement Grants.  Since most of that money is earmarked for more of the same data driven nonsense that is destroying the public schools, I say keep your blood money.  We don't want it.

Under the new evaluation system that is mandated by a state education law, instead of rating us satisfactory or unsatisfactory, the new ratings will be highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective. All schools will have to use the new evaluation system by next school year but the law mandates that details and a review procedure need to be negotiated with the teachers' unions.

The UFT agreed to let the new system partially start in Transformation-Restart schools and negotiate the details by the end of 2011.  The schools received part of the federal money but State Education Commissioner John King announced this week that if there is no agreement on how to fully implement the new evaluation system in the Transformation-Restart schools, the schools will lose the money. Gothamschools.org reported that the UFT was holding out in negotiations for a fair review procedure for teachers rated ineffective.  The UFT wants ineffective teachers to be able to appeal their rating to an independent arbitrator.

The DOE wanted to keep the kangaroo court system otherwise known as the U rating appeal in effect where teachers appeal unsatisfactory ratings to a DOE panel and then we almost always lose these appeals.

Gotham reported, and UFT President Michael Mulgrew confirmed, that the UFT was willing to go to binding arbitration over the details of the evaluation system but the DOE said no.  This concerns me as the UFT's record in arbitration is not so strong where we could say with confidence that this would be an easy victory.  For a reference just look at the 2005 contract that was mostly hammered out by arbitrators.  Arbitrators are hired and paid for jointly by labor and management so they tend to split the baby in half and give something to both sides.  I would not want our future evaluation system put into the hands of arbitrators.  We need to keep it in our own hands.

In arbitration, the DOE would more than likely ask for the sun, the stars and the moon as they did in 2005.  Remember the 8 page contract proposal that would've basically taken away all of our rights.  The UFT would be reasonable and responsible and ask for a few gains and the arbitrators would split the baby and give the DOE half of what they wanted.  That happened in 2005 and we are now suffering as multiple schools are closed and our members are shuffled around as Absent Teacher Reserves. Before, 2005, members who were excessed were placed in new positions and those coming from closing schools had preferred placement rights. In negotiations the DOE wanted all excessed people fired after a year and UFT wanted them placed as they were before.  The arbitrators wouldn't fire the excessed teachers but they called for the new system that allows for teachers to be unassigned ATRs.  It is a disaster that has gotten worse for ATRs with last June's agreement to allow them to be rotated to different schools each week.

I am imagining how arbitration would go on the evaluation system.  The DOE will come in and say they want to keep the current U rating appeal process for teachers who are rated ineffective.  The UFT will say that we want an appeal before an independent arbitrator and the arbitrator's dilemma will be how to split the baby down the middle.

 The cynic in me has a plausible answer. Since a high volume of ineffective ratings is almost guaranteed by the Danielson framework. this would allow arbitrators to land many jobs and a boatload of cash if they agree with the UFT position.  However, the arbitrator will not rule outright for the UFT as this would anger the DOE.  Therefore, to make the DOE happy, our ever intrepid arbitrator would say yes the cases have to be heard by arbitrators but they will make the standard for us to show we are not ineffective so high that few, if any teachers, will have their ratings overturned.

DOE is then happy because they can fire more teachers and shut many more up through the fear of the dreaded ineffective rating.  The UFT is happy because they can tell their members they won them an independent review process.  The arbitrators are elated about having more work.  In fact, everybody wins but the teachers.

A better strategy than arbitration for the UFT, NYSUT and the principals who will also be covered under the new evaluation system, is to demand that the state change this ridiculous law that will hurt children as many competent educators will be terminated if it fully goes into effect.  The suburban principals are with us on this as their letter opposing the evaluation system shows.

As for people in schools, our position must be to educate our members about the dangers of the new system and put pressure on the UFT to not cave in under any circumstances.

Finally, I want to thank my daughter for taking a fairly long nap today so I could write this.

Happy New Year!

NOTES ON MY MEETING WITH SOME COLLEAGUES

Members and former members of Jamaica High School met last evening. I heard from people who are now in Brooklyn and Queens.  Here is what my friends are reporting:

• The Danielson Framework for evaluating teachers is very anti-teacher and if it is implemented citywide, it will lead to many teachers being terminated. Teachers at the restart-transformation schools where they use Danielson universally hate it and many are blaming the UFT for not protecting them. We will provide specific details in a future post.  

• Being an Absent Teacher Reserve and going from school to school on a weekly basis is a horrible way for people to make a living as it robs teachers of their professional dignity.  ATRS pretty much feel they have been abandoned by the UFT. 

• Newer teachers who are being denied tenure feel that the UFT does nothing to help them.

Not a pretty picture.  However, when I go to Delegate Assembly meetings, I hear how it's not so bad out there.

Happy Holidays!

HOLIDAY GIFTS TO JAMAICA AND WASHINGTON IRVING FROM GARY RUBINSTEIN

Schools like Jamaica and Washington Irving have been trying to show the world that we are viable but the New York City Department of Education ignores everything we say that shows us in a positive light.

Now blogger Gary Rubinstein has crunched some numbers and finds we have some very respectable passing rates on Regents exams.  He found that Jamaica ranks 164 out of 424 schools and Washington Irving rates 175 out of 343 in Weighted Regents Pass Grades.

I don't think this metric is the greatest way to measure schools but it is another statistic that shows two schools doing well.  Why does the DOE ignore these numbers?  The answer is that the decisions on school closings are purely political as all of us already know.  This is just more evidence. Thanks Gary.

PROTESTING AT PEP

Gloria from ICE-GEM on NY 1 coverage of PEP protest last night.

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/152547/panel-votes-to-approve-new-charter-schools

Ever the optimist, Norm posts coverage at Ed Notes.

Of course, the rubber stamp PEP approved all of the charter co-locations.

The moral of the story: We never give up.

Congratulations to Peter Lamphere

A judge has overturned Peter Lamphere's 2009 Unsatisfactory rating.  Peter was chapter leader at Bronx High School of Science.  This is positive news for sure.  We salute the people at Bronx Science who have been standing up for their rights in the face of great adversity.

The story was covered by Gotham.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:  Monday, December 12, 2011  
Contact:  Peter Lamphere, peter.lamphere@gmail.com

Judge Overturns Arbitrary Unsatisfactory Rating for Bronx Science Teacher

In an oral bench decision Wednesday, December 7th, New York State Supreme Court Justice Paul Feinman granted the petition to overturn a 2009 Unsatisfactory rating for Peter Lamphere, former math teacher and UFT chapter leader at the Bronx High School of Science.  The decision is a small step in restoring some of the damage done to the careers of numerous teachers at the prestigious Bronx school, where a deteriorating relationship between Principal Valerie Reidy and faculty has dramatically increased staff turnover accompanied by a decline in the school's national ranking (New York Magazine, December 12, 2011, New York Times, September 15, 2011, Daily News, March 29, 2011, attached).   

The decision rejects the Department of Education's attempt to ignore scrutiny of Principal Reidy's administrative actions. The DOE disregarded a fact finding ruling by an independent arbitrator last April upholding claims of harassment by 20 math teachers at the school, including Lamphere (New York Times, April 28, 2010). Even after Valerie Reidy abandoned the 2009 Unsatisfactory rating by refusing to contest Lamphere's administrative appeal, the DOE arbitrarily upheld the rating. 

"This is an alert to the Department of Education that they need to examine more closely what's happening at Bronx Science," was Lamphere's first response to the news.  "It's outrageous that they have chosen to look the other way while the school adminstration at Bronx Science has undermined the learning environment at what should be one of the crown jewels of the city's educational system."

Lynne Winderbaum, former UFT High School District Representative, commented: "It is a shame that teachers have to use the court system to get fairness. But justice will be done whenever the abusive tactics of principals such as Valerie Reidy are exposed to an unbiased hearing.

Mark Kagan, who voluntary transferred from Bronx Science as part of the exodus of 40% of the Social Studies faculty this year, added, "It was understood at Bronx Science that Valerie Reidy used U-ratings and denials of tenure for non-pedagogical reasons. I'm glad to see that the court saw this clearly. But it's too bad for the students that Peter and other good teachers were forced out of Bronx Science."

Former Bronx Science teacher Mark Sadok said, "I am delighted to hear the news, as it not only vindicates Lamphere, but also paves the way for a return to teaching for those of us whose dismissals were based on observations that violated the UFT-DOE contract." 

Megan Behrent, of the activist group Teachers' Unite, pointed out how this case "exposes the way teacher evaluations are used for political rather than professional reasons and how the 'the bad teacher' narrative provides cover for retaliation against activists. It also shows why tenure is so important. Without tenure, this victory would never have happened as Lamphere would have been dismissed without any due process at all."

Brian Jones, activist with the Grassroots Education Movement, stated that "Peter Lamphere is a dedicated and highly intelligent educator; and yes, he's also a union activist. Unfortunately the national campaign to scapegoat and punish teachers has meant that the former fact mattered less than the latter. I'm glad to see that Peter received some small measure of justice. Let's hope that this reversal reverberates through the halls of power and gives our highest officials reason for pause.

Jonathan Halabi, chapter leader of neighboring High School for American Studies, commented that "This unjustified U-rating should have been overturned much earlier.  Today's decision shows that the DOE's current internal hearings and appeals are unfair and rigged against the employee. New Action/UFT remains deeply concerned by the problem of abusive administrators.  A victory, especially by a chapter leader who had been targeted for abuse, is a victory for all of us. "

Another arbitrary U-rating for Lamphere, from 2008, remains the subject of another case before Judge Paul Wooten, with a decision expected soon. But, regardless of the outcome of this individual case, the recommendations of the independent arbitrator's 2010 fact-finding report will still not have been implemented, and the struggle to replace the current administration at Bronx Science with one that can work together with Bronx Science teachers to rebuild a positive environment and a commitment to educational excellence has a long way to go.

Additional Contacts: 

Mark Sadok - msadok@verizon.net

Lynne Winderbaum – lynwindy@hotmail.com

Megan Behrent - ebehrent@gmail.com

LOCAL QUEENS PAPERS SUPPORT JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The local press coverage went beyond what even I was hoping when we set up a press conference for Monday to tell of the plight of Jamaica High School's students and staff. We have two editorials supporting us and four articles in the local Queens papers.

Senator Tony Avella and our students were willing to tell it like it is and the community weeklies picked up on it.  DOE's answer that we were given a $50,000 technology grant is puzzling since we haven't seen any new technology in years.

The Queens Chronicle said it best in their passionate editorial: "What's going on at Jamaica High School is simply a travesty.  These children are being denied the state constitution's guarantee of a quality education.  They're being denied equal protection under the law. Since the majority are minorities, the city's neglect even carries the appearance of racial discrimination." 

Please spread the word far and wide about what a phasing out school has to endure as it downsizes.


http://www.qchron.com/news/queenswide/city-turned-its-back-on-jamaica-hs-students/article_137e6568-5b0f-5fce-9519-acc0d4b39c1c.html

http://www.qchron.com/opinion/editorial/city-crushes-hope-at-jamaica-hs/article_93562f4c-2bec-59c6-bafe-dbd6aaf1fa59.html

http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2011/49/jthighpresser_jt_2011_12_08_q.html

http://www.queenstribune.com/deadline/Deadline_120811_StudentsStruggleWithPhaseOut.html

http://www.queenstribune.com/inour/Our%20Opinion_120811.html

http://queenscourier.com/2011/parents-and-officials-say-doe-has-turned-back-on-jamaica-high-school/






Update: I just saw the list of schools slated for closure this year.  Please contact us if you are from any of those schools and want help.  We support you fully.

FULL LENGTH VIDEO OF JAMAICA HS PRESS CONFERENCE ONLINE

Thanks to Gustavo Medina, we now have the entire Jamaica HS press conference online.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBo-1K9LDOM&feature=email

TWO HOURS OF HOLIDAY HAPPY TALK AND TWO MINUTES OF REALITY AT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY

I returned to the UFT Delegate Assembly today and I felt once again as if I was in an alternate universe.  UFT President Michael Mulgrew's marathon report featuring all of the latest Union triumphs was too much for a non kool aid drinker to handle.  Mulgrew spoke forever about how our activism and Occupy Wall Street has turned things around in Albany and now there is an agreement to raise taxes on multimillionaires while cutting taxes for most of the rest of us.  This will help pay for a $350,000,000 increase in state aid to New York City Schools. The first increase from Albany in four years.

Mulgrew then thanked the delegates for activating people for three rallies within a two month period which he said was unprecedented.  The third rally will come on Saturday as we meet in Manhattan on Madison Avenue and 61st Street at 11:00 am to march for voting rights.

Only after all of this happy talk did the President mention what all of us who work in the New York City schools know: the school system is falling apart and the public could soon lose confidence in the schools.  He also noted that the Mayor will more than likely still claim there is a tremendous budget gap in the city and call for more cuts but we should be able to stop him.  Mulgrew also talked about excessive paperwork and he closed by saying we are continuing to negotiate for a contract but that we will need to blow up on the craziness that is happening in the system by telling the public about the educational neglect that is being foisted upon our schools by DOE mismanagement.

Later the President also told us about the ongoing school closing lawsuit.  He said schools are set up to fail and the DOE has known this for years.

Leroy Barr reported on the rallies and promoted Saturday's rally.

Question period was next.  One question concerned the Absent Teacher Reserves and Mulgrew said the ATR pool was down to under 1,000 for the first time in six years. He said that ATRS should be filling vacancies and covering for leaves and long term absences but the UFT is aware that this is not happening in many schools.  He added that Chapter Leaders need to blow the whistle on F status people (part time teachers) and any uncovered position as they are depriving ATRS of full time classroom positions.  (My sources tell me there are openings in about 3/4 of the schools they go to.)

A Delegate asked about mandated online work.  Mulgrew answered that some schools want to communicate online which is great but it should not be mandatory. There was another question about having our pension fund used to build a bridge.  Mulgrew said that as long as it stays within the fiduciary boundaries, that our three elected members of the TRS Board would consider using our fund responsibly to help create union jobs to update infrastructure.  The next question was on CESIS and the President and Secretary Michael Mendel stated that members need to keep a detailed log of when they are working beyond the school day. The final question was about teachers being pressured to videotape their lessons.  Mulgrew answered that it should be voluntary and the teacher who is being taped owns the tape.

The motion period was kind of interesting for a minute as our friend Kit Wainer introduced a motion that the UFT should initiate a joint mobilization campaign with the Transit Workers Union whose contract will expire in January. Ours expired over two years ago.  I thought this was a brilliant idea that I enthusiastically voted for but it was not surprising that the Unity faithful voted it down.  There was another resolution on reviving Glass Steigel that did not carry and then the regular resolutions were dealt with.

The resolution on ATRS that we posted yesterday was first.  Secretary Mendel apologized for his outburst last month and then motivated the substitute resolution for the one raised last month.  The new resolution carried unanimously.  It is a move in the right direction as we are calling for free re-certification classes for those in obscure license areas, no new hiring until all ATRS in a license are placed and also the conditional placement of all ATRS for positions that open up after September 15.  I still am skeptical about how we intend to get this resolution to become DOE policy without a mobilization but since the makers of last month's resolution didn't complain, I voted for it like everyone else. I do hope we get these improvements for ATRS but the DOE does not appear to be in a giving mood on much of anything these days and needs to be forced into everything.

Three more noncontroversial resolutions also carried unanimously including support for the December 10 Stand for Freedom March, a resolution on child care providers and mandatory membership in the Teachers' Retirement System for paras.

All in all, a holiday love fest of a DA that will soon be forgotten as nothing of substance was even discussed.  Kit's resolution for the UFT to work with TWU was for this month so according to DA rules it could only be read and not debated.  It required a 2/3 vote in favor just to get on the agenda.  Needless to say, the idea of any real militancy, which working with TWU would require, was something our union leadership would probably never want to discuss. I expected it to be defeated but it did get some votes in favor.

I missed the beginning of the meeting as signal problems slowed the subway so if anyone knows what happened in the first few minutes, just fill us in.

SENATOR TONY AVELLA SUPPORTS JAMAICA HS STUDENTS AS THEY TELL PRESS ABOUT PHASE OUT CONDITIONS

Yesterday we were at it again at the phasing out Jamaica High School.  We don't know the meaning of the word quit.  Thanks to help from Senator Tony Avella and activist Jackie Forrestal, we were able to hold a press conference that was covered by Fox 5, NY 1 and some local papers.  See for yourself how articulate our kids are.

I think junior Kymberly Walcott summed it up best for all of us in New York City when she made this statement about having five schools in one building: "The other schools, metaphorically speaking, are given meals; we are given crumbs."  That's school reform in brief folks.  Jamaica's situation plays out in school buildings all over this country.

ATR RESOLUTION FOR WEDNESDAY'S DA

I will try to be as objective as possible and just post the proposed UFT Delegate Assembly resolution scheduled to be voted on tomorrow.

Does the resolution below go far enough for you?  Does it need some teeth such as a mobilization in support of these goals?  At least the Absent Teacher Reserve issue is alive and many members are pushing the union into action. Should we be satisfied that the issue is on the union's agenda? Please tell us what you think.

Resolution on Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) placements

WHEREAS the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) crisis is a clear and direct result of New York City Department of Education (DOE) policies and mismanagement; and

WHEREAS even though efforts to resolve the crisis have been partially successful, the DOE still has not kept its promises nor met its moral and professional obligations to ATRs and has thereby wasted valuable human and economic resources; and

WHEREAS maintaining fairness and increasing productivity in the city’s teaching force require that the talents of all educators be utilized in service to students, parents and school communities; and

WHEREAS solutions to the ATR crisis need to be proposed and implemented without delay in order to maximize productivity, teaching and learning in New York City public schools; therefore be it

RESOLVED that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) call upon the DOE to create a recertification program for ATRs for designated shortage areas and allow participating ATRs to take the requisite course work at the City University of New York (CUNY) free of charge or be reimbursed for the related costs of attending a private college or university at the CUNY rate per credit; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to require that all ATRs be given an opportunity for permanent placement in vacancies in their license areas in their district or high school superintendency before the DOE approves any new hire in a license area where an ATR has not been given an opportunity for permanent placement; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to place all ATRs into vacancies in their district or high school superintendency after September 15 of any given year on a provisional basis; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to allow principals and ATRs at the end of the school year to either mutually agree to have ATRs as permanent staff members or allow them to return to the ATR pool.

                                                                                                                             

LOOK OUT ATRS

Thanks to Norm (Ed Notes) for providing the email below on ATR supervision in Brooklyn.  This is not encouraging.  The question I have is how much money is the DOE spending to run this nonsensical program?

From: Atrassignment <Atrassignment@schools.nyc.gov> 
Subject: Important Update on Supervision 
To: 
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:37 AM 

Dear Teacher, 

The Department of Education is piloting a new model for supervision of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).  This pilot will be implemented for most ATRs assigned to community school districts in Brooklyn as well as the Brooklyn High School superintendency, District 73; you are receiving this email because you will likely be included in the pilot.  Under this initiative, you will be supervised by a licensed administrator, called a Field Supervisor, who will periodically observe your practice and provide you with feedback to support your professional development.  The Field Supervisors are aware that as an ATR you do not have a regular program and that you rotate school assignments and they will take this context into account in their work with you. 

At some point in the next two months, you should expect your Field Supervisor to visit your assignment site to meet with you in person.  At this initial meeting, the Field Supervisor will work with you to develop a plan to support your professional growth and job search process.  The Field Supervisor will make an effort to contact you via your DOE email in advance of the initial meeting to give you a sense of when you can expect him or her; however, he or she may not always be able to provide advance notification. 

Sincerely, 

NYC Department of Education 

  

TRANSIT WORKERS UNION WINS JUDGMENT FROM UN AGENCY SAYING TAYLOR LAW VIOLATES FREE ASSOCIATION RIGHTS OF WORKERS

The Committee on Freedom of Association that is part of the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the United Nations found last week that New York State’s Taylor Law, which fines public sector workers two days pay for every day of a strike and jails leaders who call for strikes, violates an international treaty that the United States signed.

The ILO said the Taylor Law ban on public sector strikes violates the Freedom of Association protected under ILO Conventions 87 and 98. While the United States never ratified those conventions, the US is an original founding member of the ILO and agreed to the ILO Constitution so the United States is bound by the principles of these conventions through the original treaty according to this decision. The Daily News noted that the US stands with a handful of nations such as China and the Sudan in not ratifying the Conventions. That says a great deal about where this country stands.

The complaint was filed by the Transit Workers Union in 2009 because of what happened in 2005 when the TWU staged a three day strike which led to a judge imposing the harsh Taylor Law penalties on the union. As a result then union president Roger Toussaint went to jail, strikers were fined two days pay for each day of the strike and the union almost went broke after it lost automatic dues check-off for eighteen months.

Subsequently, the next TWU contract was decided by arbitration but the employer, New York City Transit, would not implement that judgment even after a court sided with the union.

The ILO decision is only symbolic at this time but when a UN agency decides that the law in New York State is violating fundamental worker rights, public sector unions need to go on the offensive to push for a change. Without the right to strike, our hand is severely weakened in any labor dispute.

Perhaps this decision by the UN agency that is made up of representatives from governments, employers and unions will spearhead a change in union outlook toward demanding that the oppressive penalties of the Taylor Law should be abolished. The UFT should take the lead in this movement as we now have the weight of a United Nations’ agency upholding our right to peacefully strike.

As of today, I still have not seen any reaction to the ILO judgment from the UFT. It should be noted that TWU’s current contract expires in January.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. You can read the entire decision from ILO here.

PS- Since our last post, my wife Camille, our friend Stuart from Springfield and I had the pleasure of attending Barbara Kaplan-Halper's retirement party. UFT was represented by District Representative James Vasquez.

Barbara served with me on the UFT Executive Board for three years. She was the Chapter Leader at Forest Hills High School for many years. We wish her many, many happy and healthy years in retirement.

DA REPORT THANKS TO AN ANONYMOUS CORRESPONDENT

A good friend took notes for me as I was watching my two year old daughter.

President Mulgrew's report: People who hate us learned a lesson in Ohio with the voters overwhelmingly voting to repeal a law that was passed that took away collective bargaining rights from public sector workers. The UFT made 50,000 phone calls and there were 25 people on the ground helping out. The vote was almost two to one in favor of repealing the law that would take away collective bargaining rights. Mulgrew said there seems to be a mood shift in the country in our favor.

Turning back to New York, Mulgrew told us that there are all kinds of rallies going on and we have to be selective on which ones we support. There are three that were mentioned. One is for November 17 sponsored by SEIU. The next one is for December 1 where there is a permit to close Broadway between Herald Square and Union Square. The third will be on December 10 which will be against voter suppression laws.

Mulgrew then talked about the budget. He told the delegates that the schools cannot afford a fourth straight year of budget cuts. He said that over 950 schools returned surveys on the cuts we are currently facing and that was the strongest response ever from one of these surveys.

Mulgew thanked Staten Island people for helping to get Daniel Donovan elected as DA.

On the recent city pension changes, Mulgrew stated that there will be fewer people on the pension board. The UFT would support the new process but would adjust our thinking if things aren't working out.

Next up was the evaluation system where Mulgrew reported that the DOE realizes there may be a problem. The UFT was moving to have chapter leaders and principals train together at 52 Broadway on the Danielson evaluation system. He said that in Tennessee there were issues with Danielson because of meaningless paperwork that we don't want to replicate here. He also told delegates that they need to inform principals that teachers need not write new core curriculum standards.

NAEP (national test) results showed that New York was one of only two states to have a decrease in scores, probably because of New York City. Since the national test measures learning and test prep doesn't work, Mulgrew said that it demonstrated, as the UFT has been saying for years, that DOE needs to change direction. He then stated that we need to publicize the good work that is going on in many schools so that the public does not lose confidence in the schools.

The next topic was the arbitration on SESIS (special ed). Mulgrew said that we need to document problems for the first hearing on December 8.

On Absent Teacher Reserves, Mulgrew told us there are 1,140 ATRs presently but that there were more last year. Chapter leaders need a procedure to meet and greet ATR's.

Muglrew closed by going back to the budget and said that the biggest issue is how the schools cannot afford a fourth straight year of budget cuts. The UFT has already given up sabbaticals for a year and has the ATR agreement to save the city money. He said it can't just be us alone. He added that the government in DC is dysfunctional and he is not optimistic about the super-committee helping education.

Leroy Barr gave the staff directors' report saying that over 1,000 showed up for teacher union day. He also celebrated the November 7, 1960 strike, which was the first one the UFT called. He saluted people who were there.

Next up was the question period. A question was asked about ATRs in District 75 being sent all over the city as it is a citywide district. The answer from Mulgrew was that people should contact the UFT if there are abuses.

Then there was a question about excessive paperwork. The answer was that the DOE knows there is a problem.

The next question was about placing ATRs. The answer was that 212 have been placed.

A question from Marjorie Stamberg was about ATRs voting. The answer was that all members have a right to vote and that the Election Committee was examining the issue. (I didn't even know the Election Committee was active.)

The next question was about principals sending out emails on weekends. The answer was that the DOE can't compel us to read emails on the weekends; they can only request it during the work week.

Next up was the motion period. Megan Beherent from TJC raised a resolution for next month that the UFT mobilize its members to rally for:
1-no new hiring until all ATRs in a license are placed;
2-re-certifying people without loss of tenure in arcane licences
3-auditing DOE hiring for age and race discrimination
4-restoring contractual right to closest vacancy.

There was some discussion about what rights excessed teachers previously had but Secretary Michael Mendel spoke against this motion saying that the makers of the motion misinterpreted what is going on. He stated that in the past people were placed anywhere in the city and that is no longer the case; he also argued that to re-certify people without going through the legal process would be unprecedented. After his strong plea the resolution failed to get on next month's agenda.

Four resolutions on the regular agenda then passed and the meeting ended.

From this report I can tell you for sure that watching my daughter Kara was clearly the better way to spend the afternoon.

MARC EPSTEIN WRITES THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN THE BLOOMBERG DECADE

The decay of public education in New York City over the past decade has been documented in great detail by ATR Marc Epstein, who is a former colleague. It wasn't published in any New York paper or the NY Teacher but by Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post. This story of the dramatic failure of school reform needs to be read by everyone.

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.