SPECIAL DELEGATE ASSEMBLY: UFT ENDORSEMENTS & MULGREW RESPONDS TO LAWSUIT

The UFT held a special Delegate Assembly meeting on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at UFT HQ in Manhattan. The only agenda item was endorsements for the June 26 Democratic Primary Election for Congress. Most of the picks were not controversial.

For New York’s 6th District in Queens, where Jamaica High School is located, I was very pleased to see the UFT endorse Grace Meng over Rory Lancman. Lancman is the local Assemblyman for the Jamaica High School area and he waffled back and forth before ultimately opposing closing the school in 2010. However, in the next round of school closings, Lancman came to our auditorium and said spinning off the Gateway program (one of Jamaica High Schools educational options), into a new school would be a good idea. Other politicians such as Tony Avella, Leroy Comrie, Mark Weprin and David Weprin have been unwavering supporters of Jamaica High School and other closing schools. I will gladly work to help Grace Meng.

In the hotly contested 8th CD race, the UFT took no position as to whether or not to endorse Councilman Charles Barron who has supported us on keeping schools open and many other issues but has made very controversial remarks on race. His opponent is Hakeem Jeffries who has backing from the charter school crowd.

Here are the endorsements:

·        CD 3-Steve Israel – Some dissent at DA because of his free speech positions.

·        CD 5-Gregory Meeks

·        CD 6-Grace Meng

·        CD 7- Nydia Velasquez

·        CD 8-No endorsement at this time

·        CD 9-Yvette Clark

·        CD 10-Jerrold Nadler

·        CD 11-No endorsement at this time

·        CD 12-Carolyn Moloney

·        CD 13-Charles Rangel

·        CD 14-Joseph Crowley

·        CD 15-Joe Serrano

·        CD 16-Eliot Engel

President Mulgrew touched briefly on the lawsuit that the NY Post reported on where our UFT President allegedly had an affair in school with a coworker before he was president.  After the affair was discovered, Mulgrew and then President Randi Weingarten allegedly colluded with the city to take away our rights in the 2005 contract so the city would cover up that Mulgrew was caught.  A friend told me that Mulgrew said that he would be happy to address the issues in court. (I arrived too late to hear this.) He also told the Delegates that it is sad that even when the mayor is named together with Mulgrew on the same suit, he still will not work with us.

My personal opinion is that the charges against Mulgrew are ridiculous. The Unity (political party) majority that runs the UFT agreed to go to a fact-finding arbitration panel in 2004. This panel produced the horrible fact-finding report that led to the giveback laden 2005 contract. Were the fact finders in on this conspiracy too? Come on now. We told then President Weingarten back in 2004 not to go near fact-finding arbitration but she did not listen. That was before this alleged affair took place.

As for granting union jobs in return for favors, if that is true then obviously it’s a problem but it is next to impossible to prove. The person named in the suit works in special education and not directly for Mulgrew. Hence, proof that there was a quid pro quo would be virtually impossible to find.  We should move onto something else and not concern ourselves with gossip.

However, if someone wants to investigate how the UFT doles out union jobs, it would be interesting. My position is that UFT after school jobs should be posted in schools and given to the senior qualified person who applies. UFT District Representatives should be elected by chapter leaders in a district as they once were. Divisional Vice Presidents should be elected by the members of their division.  For example, elementary school members should elect the elementary School VP. Now they are elected at large so the retirees and non Department of Education UFT members vote for who will represent active elementary school teachers. Democracy is a wonderful system. The accountability is to people below instead of above. A union should be as democratic as possible if it wants an active membership. We should at least be held to the same hiring standards that we would like principals to follow when giving out a compensatory time job.

UNITY DOMINATED DELEGATE ASSEMBLY DECLINES TO SUPPORT STATE BILLS THAT WOULD END MAYORAL DICTATORSHIP OVER SCHOOLS

Yesterday, the UFT Delegate Assembly would not allow an up or down vote on whether we should endorse state legislation to support one of two bills to end the mayor’s majority control over the Board of Education. The Board of Education is the legal name of what is now called the Panel for Educational Policy.  The PEP is dominated by the eight mayoral appointees who do whatever the mayor wants. When it is necessary, they always outvote the five borough president’s representatives.

Instead of supporting legislation (Senate Bill 6915) which would change the makeup of the Board of Education so that the majority would be appointed by the Borough Presidents and City Council, the Unity Caucus (Michael Mulgrew's political party) dominated Delegate Assembly referred this resolution, which I raised in April, to the UFT Executive Board.  Unity had a chance to make a statement that they opposed mayoral control and refused to do it.  As my friend Norm Scott says repeatedly, “Watch what UFT leaders do and not what they say.”  Every UFT member should memorize those words and say them whenever one of the Unity party faithful tells us the UFT opposes mayoral control or high stakes testing or that Danielson is our friend.

After last month’s surprise DA affirmative vote to place a resolution on the DA agenda to support either the Senate bill or a similar Assembly bill that would immensely improve the way schools are governed, people told me to watch out that the other shoe would soon drop and the UFT wouldn’t support legislation to end mayoral dictatorship.  I said let’s wait and see.  Maybe there is a real change in the thinking of UFT leadership.  I should have known better. 

This is especially troubling because Senator Bill Perkins, who is a staunch defender of public education, was the senator who introduced the bill in Albany. During the floor debate at Wednesday's DA, Unity people said that they examined the Senate bill and they oppose it in part because there wasn’t any place for parent representation on the new Board of Education.  (Are they serious? We can aim for a perfect school governance system down the road but now we need to take power out of the mayor’s hands as best as we can.)

In moving the resolution to support the end of mayoral dictatorship over the schools, I referred to Mulgrew’s earlier report where he told us that by a 7 to 1 margin, a new poll shows the public wants to end mayoral control of the schools.  I said that by the UFT endorsing either of the two bills introduced in the State Legislature, it was a way to start this discussion as the bills were similar and we need to come out boldly and forcefully as early as possible against mayoral dictatorship over the schools. 

I added that the current school governance law sunsets in 2015.  Why wait three years? We need to start pushing way before then and we made a mistake last time by doing committee work for years and then in 2009 accepting mayoral dictatorship version 2 which made no substantive changes to the 2002 law that put the mayor in charge.  Since the public is clearly on our side, I told the DA that we need to take this fight right to the heart of the chamber that is blocking change: the New York State Senate.  Majority Leader Dean Skellos is from Long Island so we should be having a rally in front of his office which is near the train station in Rockville Centre.  We can make it a big deal that we want our bills voted on.  I closed by saying my way of negotiating is to ask for the world (the end of mayoral majority on the Board of Ed now) and maybe we won’t get it today but we would have a much better chance of taking the mayor’s power to close or co-locate schools away from him or getting other legislation we want passed. 

Another delegate supported me but then someone from the fifth floor room said she opposed the Perkins bill and then another followed.  President Mulgrew then called on Middle School Vice President Richard Farkas, who moved that the resolution be referred to the Executive Board and now that they had their marching orders, the Unity faithful quickly thereafter ended debate and voted to refer the resolution to the Executive Board. 

I was not surprised but a little disappointed as our union has no strategy other than to repeat what did not work in 2009. UFT official policy continues from 2001.  That is when the UFT originally voted to support the mayor having majority control of the Board of Education.  I have opposed this policy all along and voted no on it back in 2001 and again in 2009. Will they ever learn?

 To all of my delegate friends who don’t come to the DA, all I can say is I could have certainly used your help Wednesday.  The absence of so many non Unity delegates makes it easy for the UFT leadership to almost always get what they want from the DA.

THE REST OF THE DA

In the President’s Report, Michael Mulgrew told us there will be a special Delegate Assembly on congressional endorsements since the Democratic Primary has been moved up to June 26.  The special DA will take place next Wednesday at 4:15.  Mulgrew then boasted about the Spring Conference and how the new workshops, particularly the Danielson one, were successful.  He said that Charlotte Danielson herself was there and appreciated it. 

Mulgrew reported on mayoral control.  He said it was a big issue.  He said the UFT supports a bill that would compel the Community Education Councils (district school boards under the old system) to approve any new school co-location.  He also stated that we support a bill that would put a moratorium on school closings.  He continued by saying we could get these pieces of legislation by the Assembly but they would die in the Republican controlled State Senate.  (Well then why not picket their leadership?)

He continued by pointing out that mayoral control sunsets in 2015 but that we are hoping to make changes before that time.  He added that we have to be careful here but that we are hopeful of getting a workable State Senate next year. He said that parent groups and politicians are coming to us hoping to get our support on how the schools should be governed.  (I don’t think we can afford to wait for the perfect bill and must demand real change now.)  Mulgrew talked about the need for checks and balances.  (I have a poster  from 2009 in the UFT office at school that says the following: “MAYORAL CONTROL NEEDS CHECKS & BALANCES.”  I say today to beware of UFT Presidents calling for checks and balances because we got none in the 2009 law.)  Mulgrew closed by saying that it is too early to say what we will and won’t support. 

On the city budget Mulgrew reported that there would be 1,000 to 2,000 more teachers next year as the City Council held tough in budget negotiations.  He then said there are still major problems with the budget because the Day Care Providers who helped us fight layoffs last year now need our help as they are being threatened.  He told us that 16,000 daycare slots were on the chopping block.  He pointed out that the Mayor’s Early Learn program was really an attempt to privatize day care and we must oppose it.  He closed the budget part of his report by saying we are trying to get back teachers’ choice funding.

Mulgrew then gave his monthly speech on how disastrous special education reform is going and how many parents believe this is the mayor’s last ditch effort to destroy the school system.

Mulgrew then reported on the court case with the Turnaround schools that were closed.  He said that we would be back in court tomorrow because we have been doing the contractual article 18D hiring process for almost twenty years and now the DOE wants to make the committees work by majority vote instead of consensus.  He said that he is not looking to stop the 18D process but he wants it to work according to the contract.  He added that there would be no final decisions on hiring until after there is an arbitration.  (I thought we were suing to stop the schools from closing.  Can anyone help me on this?)

Next Mulgrew talked about a principal in the Bronx who had been removed from the job and made an assistant principal who now had new allegations against him.  Mulgrew quoted Chancellor Dennis Walcott who said: "Just because an allegation is made, it doesn’t mean the person is guilty.”  The UFT President then turned back to the lawsuit on closing the turnaround schools to say that we are working with the Council of Supervisors and Administrators on this case.  He talked about planning committees in the turnaround schools and stated that many schools didn’t have planning committees. 

The President then told us about a silent march on Father’s Day (June 17) opposing the Police Department’s Stop and Frisk policy which targets the minority community unfairly.  He then reported that using Monday and Tuesday June 25 and 26 for staff development was a DOE idea and not a UFT proposal and that we can do it if we like but we should inform the parents that this was not a UFT idea.  UFT staffer Amy Arundel then reviewed the School Based Option process.  Staff Director Leroy Barr went over some dates for events and then it was time for the question period.

The first question concerned absences. A delegate asked if more than ten absences in a year would automatically lead to charges against a teacher based on Education Law 3020A (process to discipline teachers). Mulgrew responded that it did not lead to automatic charges but that members should avoid being absent more than ten days at all costs.

A delegate asked about the principal interfering in UFT Chapter Elections.  Mulgrew answered that if there is documentation, we would slap a Public Employees Relations Board case on that principal in a second as it is an improper practice.

Marjorie Stamberg asked the next question.  She said that having Absent Teacher Reserves vote for chapter leader in a school they are passing through for a week and know nothing about was ridiculous.  The Unity faithful accused her of making a speech and not asking a question but Marjorie then turned it into a question by asking how this process makes any sense.  Mulgrew kind of answered it but mostly tried to avoid the issue she raised.  He talked about how the DOE is violating the agreement from last year and that if they placed all of the ATRS in positions where members were on leave or long term absence, then all would be placed.  Since DOE is not living up to their end of the agreement on this and not having an oversight committee meet as per last year's agreement, we are grieving and taking it to arbitration.  Mulgrew then stated that allowing ATRS to vote in a school they are at is the best thing we could do for them.  (I would not agree.)

Someone then asked about strengthening collaboration with CSA but Mulgrew said that this was hard when many CSA people are after our members but he pointed out that we would work with the CSA when possible.  Someone asked about community schools in Cincinnati and Mulgrew replied that we are piloting this with the City Council in NYC.

The new motion period was next and Megan Behrant introduced a motion for the UFT to support a rally for the Turnaround Schools at Tweed (52 Chambers Street) on June 12 at 5:00 p.m.  There is no debate allowed when there is a motion for this month’s agenda and it needs a 2/3 vote to carry.  The first vote  looked like it received the 2/3 vote needed to pass but Mulgrew said he wanted a second vote and then said it didn’t carry.  This caused anger as people saw many in support of the rally.  Mulgrew then reprimanded people who were calling out asking for a count of the vote saying that the rules don’t allow debate.  Someone raised a point of order to say that we were not calling for debate but were calling for a count.  Mulgrew then asked for people to stand who supported the rally and by this time the Unity faithful knew they better stay seated so Unity easily turned down the rally.

David Pecararo from Beach Channel told a horror story about his own reassignment and asked that the UFT reaffirm its support for Chapter Leaders.  Surprisingly, someone spoke against it saying it doesn’t need to be reaffirmed but the motion passed easily.

The regular motion period was next where there was a resolution to support an increase in the state minimum wage followed by a motion to support the silent march on June 17th to oppose stop and frisk.  Then came the mayoral control debacle.

All in all, The DA was another waste of time but this one was at least interesting as it took quite a bit of maneuvering by the leadership to hold their people in line.  I still wish everyone who complained about how the DAs are run would show up so we could change it. 

SWERDLOW ELECTED CHAPTER LEADER at FDR

Recently saved FDR High School in Brooklyn last week elected activist Marian Swerdlow as their chapter leader.  Congratulations!

We also heard that Brooklyn Tech voted to go in a different direction in their chapter election by electing a new chapter leader by a healthy margin.

Anyone thinking about running for chapter leader this May and June should know it is a difficult job but that we need good people to step up and do it for the right reasons.  Building a strong union requires good people to take leadership positions at the chapter level.  Chapter leaders will need to be stronger than ever if we are to have any chance of prevailing in these difficult times.

If anyone else has election news, please pass it along.

UFT & CSA SUE OVER SCHOOL CLOSINGS

The Council of Supervisors and Administrators has joined the UFT in the third annual closing schools lawsuit.  Nice to have the CSA on board with us this year. I fully support the lawsuit and hope the UFT wins.  However, in the case of my school (Jamaica High School) going to court just delayed the closing and we never received any support from the Department of Education even after we won in 2010. I doubt the results will be any different this year. These schools will be abandoned by the DOE if the UFT wins in court.

UFT is arguing this year that the turnaround schools are not really closing so DOE is trying to circumvent the contract by saying they are closing them and then forcing teachers and administrators to apply for their jobs again under the contractual Article 18D process in what are essentially the same schools.  It is an interesting legal strategy.

Sadly, we have to do more than just sue these people.  The 1968 UFT strike is still a very controversial historical event as it split the left wing activists in this city.  Put aside the issue of community control for just a second and take the UFT at its word.  The reason the UFT gave for the lengthy 1968 strike was that around 20 teachers were being forced to transfer out of a school district against their wills.

Fast forward a little over four decades and we now have thousands of teachers annually who are thrown out of their schools involuntarily because of closures and we have no way to stop it other than to file lawsuits and hope for the best.  I am not suggesting that we stop suing the DOE (I am certainly still hoping that last year's case is won so Jamaica can remain open,) or that we go on strike now but I am recommending a more comprehensive strategy as what we are doing is obviously not a success story.

ATRS VOTE IN SCHOOL THEY ARE AT FOR THE WEEK

I have been reading through my election guide for this spring's UFT Chapter Elections.

This is what the Chapter Election Guide says about Absent Teacher Reserves voting in Chapter Elections:

"Member ATRs on weekly assignment to the school should be allowed to vote for chapter leader, not for delegate."  Whose idea was this?

I would like to pose two questions to anyone willing to tackle them:

-How did the UFT decide that Absent Teacher Reserves can vote for Chapter Leader in the school they are in for a week?

 -Why can't Absent Teacher Reserves vote for UFT Teacher Delegate?

This election guide makes no sense to me.  ATRS should be able to vote for sure.  They should have their own Chapter to ensure they have proper representation at the UFT Delegate Assembly and so their interests are protected by representatives of their own choosing.

Short of that, ATRS should be able to vote and run for office in the school that is their payroll school just like anyone else.

Something in the Air Upstate as Teachers Rebel Against Teacher Evaluation System Based on Student Test Scores

The Buffalo teachers' union and the school district still cannot reach an agreement on the new evaluation system.  Instead of caving in, the teachers plan to walk out when State Education Commissioner John King addresses the New York State United Teachers next week in Buffalo.   I wonder if New York City teachers will be asked to support them in solidarity? Buffalo is risking Race To The Top funds because they don't have a new evaluation agreement in place.

It looks as though some of our upstate colleagues refuse to submit willingly to value added assessments that are really an excuse to weaken tenure and make it easier to fire teachers.

This particular quote from Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore concerning the State Education Commissioner says a great deal: "[King and his team]They are so far removed from the realities of the classroom and what is really important about measuring student growth and teacher performance that they are just blundering and muddying the waters and issuing edicts that have no connection to reality as to what will really help teachers teach and students learn." 


Rumore continued: "They have no concept as to what the problems teachers are facing, whether student absenteeism, or the 40 different languages spoken by students in our district, or the special-education students. People are so far removed from the classroom," Rumore said of the state education department.


Now that's a union leader!

In a related topic, I was in attendance on Tuesday night at an anti high stakes testing forum where Rockville Centre Central High School Principal Carol Burris was on a panel opposing using student tests to evaluate teachers along with Class Size Matters Leonie Haimson and two teachers.  They talked about writing a teacher letter opposing the new evaluation system.  One pretty good letter from our friends upstate already exists.


Here is the link.  http://signon.org/sign/educators-for-fair-evaluatio?source=s.tw&r_by=3842702


Please consider signing it.

DA VOTES TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO END OF MAYORAL CONTROL

Two bills have been introduced in the State Legislature to end the mayor’s majority control over the New York City Board of Education.  One is Senate Bill S-6915-2011 and the other is Assembly BILL 9723-2011. The Senate Bill would decrease the mayor’s power by limiting him to 4 representatives on a 13 person Board of Education.  The Assembly bill would limit the mayor to 2 votes on an 8 person Board of Education.  Either one is acceptable to me as they would end mayoral dictatorship over our schools and put in some necessary checks and balances.

In his report to the Delegates, an observer informed me (I arrived late) that UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the bills were basically dead on arrival as Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skellos would not bring the bill to the floor so it would never be voted on.  While I essentially agree that the chances of passing these bills are very slim, it doesn’t hurt to try to push for the end of the mayor’s majority control over the Board of Education.  It is the best hope for saving the public schools of New York City before they are completely ruined by Bloomberg and the corporate school deformers. You can't win if you don't try.

Here is the simple wording of my resolution:

Whereas, Mayoral control of the New York City Schools has been an unmitigated disaster; be it therefore

Resolved, that the UFT support State Senate Bill 6915/Assembly Bill 9723 that would take away the mayor’s majority control of the Board of Education.

I was able to obtain the floor during the new motion period at Wednesday’s DA as nobody else had a new motion at the time so they President had to call on me.  As per the rules, I just read the resolution.  I then stated that even if this bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, we should be on record supporting it.  To get an item on the agenda, no debate is allowed and the motion needs a 2/3 vote to get added to the current DA agenda.

It seems to me this resolution is a no-brainer but you never know at the DA.  It made me happy to see that there was overwhelming support for it among the delegates so it was added to the agenda.  However, it is not yet UFT policy because time ran out before the resolution could be debated and voted on. Someone said afterwards that they should have extended for this simple resolution but at least it is on the union's agenda. Hopefully, it will be near the top of the agenda next month. (I also believe that there are ways that we can push this bill forward that we should discuss soon.)

Surprisingly, a different motion to support a rally at DOE Central (Tweed) in support of the 26 schools slated for closure was rejected by the Delegates.  I see no harm in the UFT endorsing such a rally even if it was for the next day. Since it was time sensitive, this motion was for the current DA so there was no debate and it didn't get on the agenda as it was defeated rather handily. 

In the part of the president's report that I caught or was informed about (I missed the start of the meeting so please fill us in on what I missed), Mulgrew said that the Union would do what it can for the 26 turnaround schools that are slated to be closed.  He also talked about the CESIS arbitration and said that he was confident.  (Later Secretary Michael Mendel told us it was important for members to do the CESIS surveys.)  Mulgrew said that the person in charge of special education reform at the DOE, Laura Rodriguez, was retiring and the new person in charge of special education reform resigned.  As there are many changes coming next school year, the union is expecting many lawsuits from parents and advocacy groups.

Mulgrew also reported on Students’ First New York.  He told us we are looking forward to battling Joel Klein again.  He said that the mayor was now desperate with his school approval ratings hovering around 18% so he was indirectly funding Klein, Rhee, Moscowitz and hedge fund guys.  He said they would try to use parents to stop the teacher’s union.  Mulgrew stated that this is where our work with the communities for the last 2.5 years would pay off.  He mentioned the clergy breakfast for ministers and how there are 125 scheduled to meet him.   

He then told us May 8 was National Educators Day.  He said that at this year’s Spring Conference we would be honoring Robert Jackson with the Dewey Award.  Jackson was an important part of the CFE lawsuit and he also has been the Chair of the City/Council Education Committee.  Mulgrew also told us that the workshops would be great at this year’s conference as they have been redesigned.  One of them would include Ipad training and another would be run by none other than Charlotte Danielson who he stated really only wants her evaluation system to be used to improve teaching.

He then stated that we are working on building community schools.  Even though we have 20 months of fighting with Bloomberg remaining, he believed we have to move ahead with what we want.  Community schools would include wraparound services and technology to enhance teaching.  

Staff Director Leroy Barr next gave a report about cutting day care slots and he said that there would be a rally on April 24 at 2116 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd to oppose these childcare cuts. Secretary Michael Mendel talked about the importance of doing the DOE CESIS surveys and then there were questions.

One question concerned probation extensions.  Mulgrew answered that if someone has more than two extension of probations, they need to contact UFT lawyer Adam Ross.

Another question concerned the continuation of the ATR agreement which Mulgrew answered by saying it would carry on.

There was a question on CESIS and Mulgrew said we would go to Albany after the arbitration.

My colleague Jeff A who hangs out on the same side of the DA as me asked about the validators in the new evaluation agreement.  He wanted to know how we could be sure that the non DOE people who were sent to validate ineffective ratings wouldn’t just be more retired city principals.  Mulgrew answered that the UFT was on the committee to hire the validators so it should not be a concern.  There was a question on false OSI investigations that was answered by saying we should call OSI if there is a false allegation made by an adult. 

This was followed by the motion period (see above) and the regular agenda items followed.  None of them were very controversial.  We endorsed a City Council resolution on celebrating educators; we voted to recognize Administrative Professionals/Secretaries Day; we also voted to support the May Day for the 99% March and Rally; we are also endorsing the Stand4Change Day against bullying as well as the anti-bullying conference sponsored by the UFT and the Council for Unity.  We also passed a resolution calling for full services and instruction for English Language Learners and we passed one looking for justice for Trayvon Martin.

No time, however, to demand an end to Mayoral control but hey the next meeting is just a few weeks away.

ALL-STAR PANEL TUESDAY AT BERGTRAUM

If you are anywhere near Murry Bergtraaum High School on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., you must stop by to see this truly distinguished panel of educators and a parent activist.

• Carol Burris- Southside HS Rockville Centre, NY; coauthor of the principal's letter against the new evaluation system
• Leonie Haimson- Executive Director of Class Size Matters and Parents Across America- Top parent activist who has defended teachers in so many forums
• Arthur Goldstein- ESL teacher and Chapter Leader from Francis Lewis High School in Queens; Arthur has been published many times in the Daily News, Gotham Schools.org, the NY Times, etc...
• Gary Rubenstein- Stuyvesant High School Teacher; Gary is also a famous blogger who crunches numbers with the best of them.

The moderator will be the star of the Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman teacher Julie Cavanaugh.

Murry Bergtraum is at 411 Pearl Street in Manhattan.  Take the 4, 5 or 6 to City Hall or the A,C,2 or 3 to Fulton Street or the R or N to City Hall

Read Carol's latest piece in the Washington Post: 

Tests are getting longer because they are now about teachers! 

WALCOTT & PRESS CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF CHAZ PROVES WHY WE NEED INDEPENDENT ARBITRATORS

I can't believe that Chancellor Dennis Walcott and the press are using the case of Eric Chasanoff to try to make the case that the Chancellor, not independent arbitrators, should have the final say in who gets fired.  Chaz, as he is known, has defended himself very eloquently on his blog.  As his chapter leader for many years, including when he was removed from Jamaica, I feel I must add a few points on this matter to show just how ridiculous the Chancellor and the press are in trying to make Chaz the poster child for abusive teachers who get away with everything.  The press and chancellor are guilty of what  R.E.M. called "Exhuming McCarthy."

For those who do not know the story, Chaz was removed from Jamaica High School for making an awkward remark to a student and touching her on the shoulder to calm her down. The DOE tried to turn it into a sexual case so they could suspend Eric without pay after a probable cause hearing where the standard of proof is very low for the DOE.  In a probable cause hearing, a Special Commissioner of Investigations report is usually sufficient evidence to suspend someone but Chaz won his hearing.

The press quotes the Special Commissioner of Investigations report in this case as if it were the gospel but in the probable cause hearing the arbitrator found that the report was flawed as the investigator was not credible and Eric was not taken off payroll.  Chaz is one of the few people to win one of these hearings.  There was no reason for the DOE to continue at that point but they moved forward and filed 3020A charges to try to dismiss him.  In the 3020A case, once again a different arbitrator found the SCI report flawed.  Eric was fined a minimal amount for making an awkward statement to a student, which he admitted was not the wisest thing to say. Now here comes the press to dredge up the case and try to make Eric into a monster.  The record should reflect some more facts that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Eric is a very popular teacher as students would practically beg guidance counselors to be able to get into one of his earth science classes. The Daily News and NY Times never interviewed my outspoken colleague Marc Epstein or myself or they may have discovered this information.  They may also have found out that earth science grades took a nosedive after Chaz was removed from Jamaica.  He is thought of as a very good teacher.  Another teacher and I both testified to this fact at his 3020A hearing.

I also haven't seen this anywhere in the press or on Chaz's blog but it has to be noted somewhere that when the principal called Eric and me down to his office to talk about the incident that led to the 3020a case, he said specifically that this was not sexual. 


Speaking of the principal, he did not see eye to eye with Eric  This particular principal and I generally worked out issues however when it came to the Office of Special Investigations or the Commissioner of Special Investigations, he had a very quick trigger finger and would often call in a report on incidents that were purely trivial.  We used to argue about this all the time. We often would joke that the principal had OSI on speed dial and he actually had an assistant principal who had as one of his duties that he was in charge of the many OSI investigations that were kicked back to the school.

In terms of Chaz, I believe the principal was not happy because a few years earlier he called in a rather insignificant incident against Eric to OSI and it was founded but the only punishment was for Eric to receive a letter in his file.  However, Eric grieved it (those were the days when we could grieve letters that were unfair or inaccurate) and Chaz won at arbitration.  The arbitrator saw that the letter was erroneous and removed it. I remember the principal being a little perturbed when the DOE lost the arbitration.

Subsequently, he seemed to be looking for anything against Eric.  This situation worsened after the DOE was dragged to the Public Employees Relations Board by the UFT over Chaz.  The Principal also had to deal with the fact that Eric was elected multiple times to be a representative for the teachers on the School Leadership Team.  Does the press think we were all that stupid to vote him in?  After the incident that led to the unfounded probable cause hearing,  the school had the SCI investigator come back over and over again to talk to kids and seek evidence which he really never found.  This is why his report was easily picked apart by Eric's representatives.

In the end we have three separate independent arbitrators assigned to hear the two cases involving Chaz and all three figured out that there was basically nothing going on with him.  Are they all in the pocket of the UFT?  I don't think so as they are selected by and paid for equally by UFT and DOE and either side can throw an arbitrator off the panel at the end of the year.  The reality is the principal had a quick trigger finger when it came to calling the Office of Special Investigations and the Commissioner of Special Investigations on all employees and not just Eric.  The arbitrators knew there was not much there as  would any decent reporter if they bothered to do their job and investigate multiple sources and not rely on a flawed SCI report.

I don't think the Daily News will be reading this piece to try to get another take on this story but when the DOE keeps losing over and over again with independent arbitrators that they agreed to, concerning the same teacher, maybe they should admit there is nothing wrong with the process but something wrong with DOE officials and SCI investigators going on fishing expeditions to try to fire people who have done nothing to warrant their dismissal.  The arbitration process needs to be strengthened, not weakened, so we can grieve file letters again.  Due process worked for Chaz. Thankfully, we still have a semblance of it. Taking him through the mud again reminds me of the McCarthy hearings.  To Walcott, the NY Times and the Daily News I paraphrase from that time: Haven't you done enough to try to assassinate this man's character?  Have you no sense of decency?

DOE OFFICIALS DEAF AS USUAL AT BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL JOINT PUBLIC HEARING

The other night three of us from Jamaica High School traveled over to Bryant High School in Western Queens for their Joint Public Hearing.  The city wants to close this great school, and twenty-five others, including seven more large high schools in Queens.  The city would shut the schools on June 30 and reopen them the following day with a new name and around half of the staff would be new.

Teachers would have to reapply for their jobs to stay at their old schools. This so called turnaround model is being used by the city because they couldn't reach an agreement with the UFT on teacher evaluation. I strongly believe the city wants to be able to fire as many teachers as possible because, in spite of scholarly research to the contrary, it is their contention that it is the teachers who are solely to blame if students don't graduate.

The Bryant experience was painful for me because it is somewhat similar to what happened at Jamaica High school the last two years where DOE officials came to our school for Joint Public Hearings.  DOE officials at the hearings ignored everything parents, students, alumni, teachers and community activists had to say about how we had a good, viable school that should be kept open.  We were phased out by the Panel for Educational Policy in 2010 and remained open thanks to a lawsuit but the DOE closed us again in 2011 and still another lawsuit is pending on that closure. Many of us remain at Jamaica as the school phases out and we are saddened on a daily basis as our students are shortchanged in their educational experience.

Listening to our friends at Bryant, they made so many good arguments about how their fine school is a big part of the community, how there are many English Language Learners and Special Education students who needed extra time to graduate, how the alumni wanted to see their school continue and how there was so much history there, how Bryant's SAT scores beat the city average, how the kids were afraid of losing some excellent teachers and more.  DOE officials looked bored sitting on the stage and they trotted out their usual cherry-picked data to show that Bryant High School is having problems while not pointing to any statistic that makes the school look good.

UFT Treasurer Mel Aaronson spoke against the closure for the Union as did District Representative James Vasquez and LIC High School Chapter Leader Ken Achiron.  Sam Lazarus, Bryant's Chapter Leader, made an excellent presentation as did other members of the Bryant School Leadership Team and the local Community Education Council.  All speakers wanted to see Bryant remain open.  My turn came a little later as someone generously handed me their speaking ticket. (I had a very high number).

I told the nearly full auditorium how the DOE will promise resources but they will never end up in the classroom. As an example I talked about how Jamaica's building previously had advanced placement classes in history, English, math, science and second language and now the whole building (new schools included) only has one remaining AP class.  I also spoke about the great programs we had that are now gone.  I told the gathering that DOE officials are only at Bryant because the law says they have to be there to hold this meeting.  The mayor's eight appointees on the Panel for Educational Policy can outvote the five borough President appointees on every issue and the mayor's people do what DOE wants. However, I don't think this fight to keep schools open is futile.

I closed my remarks by saying that even though the situation does not look good for any of us, we can win this battle but we must take it to the state.  It was the State Legislature and Governor that gave the mayor control of the schools and the power to close schools.  The state can take that power away from the mayor today.  It's time for us to push for an end the mayoral dictatorship and an end to the mayor's right to close schools.  We need to hold the State Legislature responsible for the incalculable damage that Mayor Bloomberg is doing to the schools.  We should start this campaign immediately before more lives are ruined by this awful school governance system that is antithetical to democracy.

I truly hope that we can regain some semblance of a school system before it is too late.

BUFFALO TEACHERS HANG TOUGH

It appears the teachers in Buffalo, who have been without a contract for eight years, are hanging tough on opposing the new evaluation system.  Buffalo's teachers would not give much ground on the absurdity of rating teachers based on students who don't show up.  The union came to an agreement with the district where school wide student absenteeism had to be figured into the rating system for teachers.

When they reached this agreement with the district on evaluations, the union according to what I read then sent it to the membership.  This is right from the Buffalo News: "Teachers in every school in the district cast ballots on the proposed agreement earlier in the day; the delegates' vote was to be the final deciding factor by the union."  They emailed the agreement to members.  Why doesn't that happen in NYC on these important changes to our working conditions?

In the end State Education Commissioner John King rejected the Buffalo deal and they will lose some funding.  The point here, however, is that there are unions in New York State that are willing to stand up for their members and take risks.

We will be pulling for the Buffalo teachers if and when they fight King's move in court .

TIER 6 A HUGE DEFEAT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

No spin from NYSUT or Leo Casey or President Mulgrew on the legislation to stick anyone hired in April or thereafter with a Tier VI pension.  (Tell any paras that haven't joined the TRS to do so immediately.)  This is another crushing defeat for working people that will yield no savings today as current employees and retirees are not impacted.

For those yet to be hired, the legislature and governor wiped away virtually all of the pension gains we made over the last thirty years.  A new teacher or new state employee will have to work until they are sixty three to receive a full pension which will only be 55% of final average salary according to what I read.  Final average salary has been increased from the average of the last five years of employment instead of three.

I remember when I started working and all of the people who were on Tier I told those of us who were on Tier IV how horrible our pension was.  Now we will have to face the Tier VI people and tell them they are in it for the real long haul if they want to make teaching a career. It is the same for other civil servants across New York State.

Think about a twenty-two year old new college graduate who wants to become a teacher.  That person will have to work forty-one years to qualify for a full pension. This is not a very pleasant prospect.

With the attack on teachers and other public employees continuing unabated, could anyone encourage a young person to get into this line of work?

What about those COPE contributions?  We don't seem to have much influence with the legislature these days.

BUFFALO TEACHERS SAY DON'T BLAME US FOR NO SHOW KIDS AND JAMAICA COLLEAGUES WRITE FOR NATIONAL BLOGS

Should teachers be held accountable for student test score gains even if the students don't show up for class?  Yes says the NYC DOE and the State Education Department but the teachers in Buffalo are putting up a resistance to the absurd notion that teachers have to drag kids out of bed and into class.

Teachers already worry about our evaluations because one never knows how kids will act when we are observed.  We don't control many of the variables that are involved in rating us. It will be much worse under the new system and there will be weakened due process.

We salute the teachers in Buffalo, and their supporters in the press, for fighting back against the ridiculous new proposed system and of course we are following closely what the Long Island principals are doing to oppose basing our rating in part on student test scores too.  It should be the UFT leading this fight.

In other news, Jamaica High School teachers and former teachers can certainly write.

Marc Epstein's latest piece on Bloomberg's legacy packs a mean punch.  You can read it at Huffington. By the way, Marc is no longer a ronin teacher as we grieved his excessing and won.  He is back at Jamaica at least for this semester.

Also, former colleague Brett Rosenthal wrote a fine piece for the Washington Post.  Brett currently is an assistant principal working for Carol Burris.  She is the woman who is leading the fight against the new evaluation system.

DA REPORT: MULGREW SPINS OBLITERATION OF TENURE AS WE KNOW IT AS A GAIN

The March Delegate Assembly was totally uneventful. In the usual marathon President's Report, Michael Mulgrew was in full spin cycle.  He said that the Teacher Data Reports in the future may or may not be open to Freedom of Information Act requests when 20% of some teachers' annual review is based on student gains in standardized test scores.

Mulgrew spent a great deal of his time then defending the appeal system that he agreed to for the new evaluation system.  The President first emphasized that the new evaluation system has not gone into effect but that there is an agreement on the appeals.  He also was emphatic that 20% of the new evaluation system will be based on student growth in test scores but that another 20% that is based on student growth and the other 60% that is based on observations and peer review and maybe other factors must be negotiated by the City and the UFT.

Then Mulgrew went into details on the appeals process.  He said that currently 99.6% of teachers lose their Unsatisfactory rating appeals in the Bloomberg era but that in pre-Bloomberg times 10-15% of teachers had their U ratings overturned in a given year.  He added that this is why the UFT agreed to allow up to 13% of those who receive ineffective ratings in the new system, when it is implemented, to appeal to an independent three person panel.  He said that these would not be reviews based on performance but rather would be reserved for teachers who receive ineffective ratings based upon being harassed by Principals because they are Chapter Leaders, other union activists or whistle blowers.

He then told us that the other 87% of those who are stuck with an ineffective rating would be observed by independent validators who are not current employees of the DOE or UFT but would have to visit the ineffective teacher three times to validate the ineffective rating.  He felt this would be a good protection for teachers.

We believe otherwise as the program looks remarkably like Peer Intervention Plus Program where outside people not employed by UFT or DOE rubber stamp the Principal's findings most of the time.  Mulgrew mentioned that if the validator concludes that the teacher is not ineffective then if the DOE wants to dismiss that teacher, then they still would carry the burden of proof in a termination hearing.

(Those teachers who have their ineffective ratings  validated will then have to prove they are not ineffective [virtually impossible to do] in the new 3020A process to keep their jobs.  We predict many people will be rated ineffective twice and validators will validate most of them and then there will be a huge backlog of people waiting to have their termination hearings.  The only thing that might save people is that there might not be enough lawyers or arbitrators available to fire so many people.)

UFT spin is that the new system is an improvement.  In reality, it fundamentally weakens tenure to the point where in the future we are all vulnerable if this ever goes into effect.  Our hope is people will collectively rise to oppose it.

Mulgrew went on to say that the Mayor is not happy with the evaluation system so he will just continue to close as many schools as he can in his last 21 months in office as he tries to become a national figure.  Mulgrew told us about the polls that have the mayor's approval rating on the schools at around 21% and the UFT's approval rating around 60%.  He said the mayor knows he can't fire teachers en masse but that his stand plays well nationally.

Mulgew then said that there is legislation in Albany that is being sponsored by Assemblyman Keith Wright, that the UFT has a resolution supporting, that would make the Community Education Council have to approve any new co-location of a school in a current school building. (I wanted to ask why the UFT has no resolution on another bill in Albany to put major checks on school closings but as usual I wasn't recognized.  It is a question worth pursuing.)

The President then told us that the City is not getting Medicaid reimbursements to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.  He then segued into talking about SESIS, reporting that assistant principals were testifying on behalf of the UFT in the SESIS grievance, although the DOE says the major issues have been fixed.

He then read a letter from a CEC member in support of teachers. Mulgrew concluded his report by talking about how he addressed a Council of Supervisors and Administrators lunch event over the weekend.

Leroy Barr then gave the Staff Director's Report where he talked about an upcoming Para event and a March 15 Day of solidarity.  Mulgrew came back to tell everyone to call Albany at (877) 255-9417 to oppose a Tier 6 pension.  He said that we have paid for every benefit we have.

He then reported on how Joel Klein was served with a subpoena to testify in a suit filed last May opposed to school closings from 2011.  A judge denied the UFT an injunction to stop the closings of many schools (including my school) last July but that he did let the case go forward.  Mulgrew said the lawyers were lining up to try to question Klein.

Questions concerned the independent validators.  Mulgrew said that possibly retirees could do the job.  He talked about counter attacking on closing schools but that we need the law changed in Albany to stop the mayor.

I again need to point out that he didn't say why the UFT had no resolution to support a change in the state law on school closings.  The other resolutions were all non controversial and all passed unanimously.

Finally, a Chapter Leader that I respect told me he reads my monthly DA reports so he knows the DA is a waste of time. While I agree with him essentially, I don't agree with non Unity people not showing up. If every Chapter Leader and Delegate who are not part of Unity Caucus would attend meetings, it probably would be a totally different union. People need to be active.

JULIE CAVANAGH, ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN AND WILLIAM JOHNSON SUCCESSFULLY TAKE ON EVALUATION SYSTEM

The NY Times and Daily News have great pieces on the folly of rating teachers by student test scores. They are written by teachers.  Julie Cavanagh is a teacher who received a highly effective teacher data report but she showed how rating teachers based on growth in student test scores is ridiculous because of a number of factors.  She calls for lower class sizes.  Julie is someone who I know well from being a fellow honoree at Leonie Haimson's Skinny Awards last year.  Julie is also one of the stars of the GEM movie "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman.

The Times published an opinion column the other day, critical of the new evaluation system, written by fellow chapter leader Arthur Goldstein and today there is an excellent piece penned by teacher Willam Johnson called Confessions of a Bad Teacher. Johnson takes on the current unsatisfactory rating system and argues that teachers become poorer instructors when administration is on their backs.  I couldn't agree more. He calls for equitable funding and claims we cannot even talk about basing our evaluations on student achievement until we distribute education money fairly.

These are three opinion articles well worth reading.  I'm almost surprised they were published considering the anti-teacher climate that has taken over the political discourse these days.  Enjoy them everyone.

UNION DOES RIGHT BY TEACHERS WHO RECEIVED LOW TDR SCORES

We criticized Leo Casey last week when we felt he was trying to sell us a lousy evaluation agreement as a professional gain.  If the UFT reaches a final agreement with Bloomberg on a new evaluation system, then tenure will be weakened considerably.  However, we also are not shy about complementing Leo and the UFT leadership when they do right by members.

Certainly Leo and the UFT leadership's defense of teachers in the aftermath  of Teacher Data Report release  is exactly what the UFT should be doing in response to publication of what is unscientific junk.  Rating teachers on how much value they add to their students based on invalid tests is wrong in so many ways. Leo's advocacy for a teacher the NY Post tried to shame because she had a low score on student growth in her TDR was terrific.  The NY Post hit a new low when they sent reporters to basically stalk this fine teacher, Pascale Mauclair, who received low ratings.

Maybe now people will understand that these TDR's with huge margins of error are a completely useless way to rate teachers. Hopefully, the thought of having an annual release of how students in a particular teacher's class do on standardized tests or other assessments will energize teachers to stand up and collectively oppose any new evaluation system that links student test scores to teacher job performance.

In other news, the Educational Impact Statements for the PLA schools the DOE wants to close on June 30 are in the process of being released and these statements are more absurd than ever.  Basically, they blame teachers for everything. Does anyone really believe that replacing at least half of the staff in these schools will lead to better education? April 26 is when the PEP will be voting to close these schools and reopening them the following day. We should all be there to say to stop this madness

We need to fight to end mayoral destruction of the public school system now before there is nothing left.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH LEO CASEY DEFENDS INDEFENSIBLE EVALUATION AGREEMENT

UFT and NYSUT leaders (basically the same people) are obviously alarmed that their deal on evaluations for teachers is not going over that well with their members or education activists.  Besides Long Island Principal Carol Burris, who co-wrote the principal's letter objecting to the new evaluation system, and notable educational historian Diane Ravitch, who also has major concerns about teachers being rated ineffective because of student test scores, and the amazing parent activist Leonie Haimson who is out there defending teachers, we now have a NYSUT local president upstate questioning the deal and wondering why his members have to pay NYSUT dues.  The UFT leadership answers this by trotting out Leo Casey, to assuage fears and reassure everyone that all is well because the new evaluation system is actually a major step forward for the state's teachers. In New York City we have seen this movie before and it does not end well for teachers.

I read Leo's post over at EdWize and I encourage people to do the same.  He basically attacks  the work of Carol Burris, a principal who is fighting to defend teachers, particularly New York City teachers, who stand to lose the most if the new evaluation system is implemented.

Casey's main thesis seems to be that state standardized tests will only be used for 20% of the rating for many teachers but that for everything else there is nothing to be alarmed about because the entire system must be negotiated locally by each school district and their union local (NYC is one city district according to state law and the UFT is our local).

Assailed Teacher gets into the data weeds with Casey and dissects his argument in a very detailed way.  He concludes, and I agree, that Casey was not able to refute one of Carol Burris' main arguments which is that if a teacher is rated ineffective on the student growth portions (translation high stakes tests or some other nonsense evaluation that the State Education Commissioner must approve), then that teacher will be    rated ineffective overall.  I have to admit that my head is spinning trying to understand all of the minutia used by Casey, Burris, and other people as they crunch the numbers but I have concluded that it will be easier to rate teachers ineffective under the new system and that it will be much simpler to fire us as two ineffective ratings leads to a presumption of incompetence.  Many competent professionals will be terminated unless this is stopped.

In some districts throughout the state, where they have collaborative working relationships between labor and management, they might be able to come to an arrangement so that teachers won't be teaching in a climate of fear.  However, in New York City where there is a mayor who is on record saying if he had his way he would fire half of the teachers, there is basically no chance of anything being negotiated that will be fair for principals, teachers or students. Unless the next mayor is willing to clean house by getting rid of virtually all of Bloomberg's education department, there probably will not be much hope even after Bloomberg is gone.

My worst case scenario is for the UFT to finalize a deal with the City on the evaluations.  We need to tell the UFT that they should tell the mayor, governor and president that they can keep their Race to the Top money.  We want no part of it.  The alternative is the two sides negotiating a final evaluation agreement. History tells us that whenever the UFT goes into negotiations with Bloomberg, we lose. The evidence supporting this statement is overwhelming over the last decade.  For salary increases that have not even kept up with the cost of living, we have seen teaching and learning conditions deteriorate dramatically through collective bargaining with Bloomberg.

Look at 2002 where a contract agreement extended the school day and left the extended time up to management.  The deal was so bad it had to be renegotiated several times in subsequent years.  2002 also brought us the counseling memo, the ability of arbitrators to rewrite letters in the file and weakened due process.

Then, in 2005, the UFT agreed to a contract with a long list of givebacks such as a longer day with an extra small group instruction period, a return of lunch and hall duty for teachers, an end to grievances for unfair/inaccurate material in teacher files, further weakening of due process so teachers could be suspended without pay based on a probable cause hearing, expedited time and attendance 3020A hearings, and of course the end to seniority and School Based Option transfers, which paved the way for the perpetual Absent Teacher Reserve crisis. Last year the UFT exacerbated this problem by agreeing to allow ATRS to be moved on a weekly basis from school to school to avoid layoffs (We also gave up sabbaticals for next year).

Does anyone really believe that the Department of Education will negotiate a fair evaluation process that is teacher friendly and promotes professional growth?  As the saying goes, "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them." Reading Leo Casey defend this indefensible evaluation system gives me that eerie sense of deja vu.  In 2005, Leo attacked people like me for criticizing the 2005 giveback laden contract. History has vindicated our view but Casey is at it again.

Let us examine some of what Mr. Casey said in 2005 when he was promoting that awful contract.  He claimed: "Seniority in lay-offs is a core union principle. We could not accept a contract which did not secure the rights of senior excessed teachers to a position in another school."  Tell that to the ATRs.

I ask Leo to look at his next statement justifying the 2005 contract in a section called "What Did We Turn Back?" closely before he writes his next piece on evaluations:

"The DOE demanded an end to tenure, an end to the ‘just cause’ standard for a teacher’s dismissal, and an end to having independent arbitrators hear and decide cases for a teacher’s dismissal. The Chancellor wanted the burden of proof in dismissal cases to be shifted to the teacher, who would have to demonstrate that she was a satisfactory teacher who should not be dismissed, rather than the DOE having to show that she was unsatisfactory and should not be dismissed." (Bold added by me.)

Didn't NYSUT support the  change in law that shifts the burden of proof to teachers just as former Chancellor Joel Klein wanted back in 2005 and won't the bulk of our appeals under the new system be exactly as Klein wanted them?

Leo has flip-flopped on using student test scores to rate teachers as well.  Leo's previous position on using student test scores to rate teachers is in this piece from 2008, that I thank Phillip Nobile for finding. Leo stated: "The DoE has no contractual or legal authority to use test score data in the evaluation of teachers, and the UFT will oppose it with all the means at our disposal. This is a line in the sand for the UFT."  I guess the line shifted a bit.  

It goes on and on.  

The NY Post, the Daily News, E 4 ME (Educators for Excellence) and all of the anti teacher and anti union forces are coming out in favor of the new evaluation agreement.  People like Diane Ravitch, Aaron Pallas, Leonie Haimson, Carol Burris and other enlightened thinkers are raising the red flags all over the place.  You would think the UFT would be smart enough to know where to line up.

However, that would contradict the doctrine of Unity Caucus (UFT leadership) Infallibility so instead of doing what is right by the membership, Leo Casey is out again playing the role of Defender of the Faith, telling us why the new evaluation agreement is a victory for us.  I can't wait to see his encyclical on how  the appeal process is such a big win too.

This is in no way a personal attack on Leo Casey.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  Having to defend the indefensible as Leo has done is not an easy task but someone in Unity has to do it every time they make our working lives worse, which unfortunately is way too often. Judging by results in UFT elections, where Unity always wins big, he is doing his job very well. However after having to stand up to numerous criticisms of his latest piece on EdWize, hopefully he will go back to President Mulgrew and the NYSUT people and call for a change of direction.

LONG ISLAND PRINCIPAL CONTINUES FIGHT AGAINST NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM

Carol Corbett Burris is a principal in Rockville Centre, Long Island.  One of my former colleagues at Jamaica works for her and is very satisfied. Close to a third of the principals in New York State have signed the letter Burris co-wrote exposing the flaws in the new evaluation system.

At the Washington Post Answer Sheet education blog run by Valerie Strauss, Burris hammers home how excellent teachers will be rated ineffective by the new evaluation system.  Why isn't the UFT leading this fight?

Shifting the Burden of Proof and Proving a Negative: How the Fundamental Structure of Tenure Has Been Eviscerated

In the wake of the new agreement (not fully implemented in our school district yet) it has become apparent that we have lost a major part of one of our few remaining job protections. Back in the early part of her UFT presidency, I once asked Randi Weingarten, in a union training session, whether there was any issue that she could foresee recommending to the membership that we strike. Without hesitation she howled, “Tenure! After all,” she argued, “what is more central to our job protection?”

While the protections afforded by teacher tenure have been modified over the Weingarten negotiated contracts and we have argued vociferously against those changes, they have not fundamentally changed tenure as has these Mulgrew negotiated concessions have.

Tenure, plain and simple, is the right to a due process hearing consistent with our long history of jurisprudence before a teacher (or other tenured civil servant) can be disciplined or terminated.  A tenured teacher, after all, has demonstrated their competence by obtaining tenure (a three year process) and otherwise performing satisfactorily. The law provides that should the DOE believe the teacher is incompetent it must prove (has the burden of proof and the burden of going forward) that the teacher is incompetent. The teacher has the right not to testify and no finding can be made against the teacher for asserting this right. As in most of our legal tradition the burdens never shift or change.

While the specific language has not been published, based on Mulgrew’s own statements, the New York Times coverage of the agreement and press releases from all involved it is clear that the new agreement changes tenure in some very fundamental ways.

First the shift. Many legal scholars have commented on the absurd difficulty of proving a negative. How does one prove they are competent? Can you do this without testifying? What evidence could you show? Could you ask the arbitrator to observe your lesson?

The real problem in the shift of the burdens is the fact that when the validator (that term is part of the  “anti-tenure new-speak” explained below) determines the teacher is incompetent the onus on the teacher will strip the hearing of any sense of due process. Just where the Mayor wants it.

Hey, Randi, are you recommending strike?

Anti-tenure new speak

The new agreement has brought at least 3 terms we have not seen before. The terms are subtle but reflect how the language has changed to support this radical loss of teacher protection.

Validator- a supposed neutral person hired to observe the alleged incompetent teacher who will have an 80 to 100 teacher caseload to determine if the principal’s ineffective rating is supported. A validator validates, meaning they operated under the assumption that the charged teacher is ineffective. In New Haven, where this concept was borrowed, validators evaluated both highly effective and ineffective teachers to determine evaluative characteristics. When a principal shoves a teacher in the most difficult classes or programs a teacher in a difficult way, will this be taken into account. How about teachers who are “not team players” another one of my favorite evaluative phrases. With up to 100 cases and three observations a year per teacher the “validator” clearly will not be in a position for remediation, a current teacher right under the tenure law.

Ineffective – The current tenure law speaks of incompetence and does not mention ineffectiveness. While the shift is subtle it does expose a major shift in teacher evaluation. The measurement of ineffectiveness has already been put out there as based on test scores. Will test scores be admissible in an incompetency hearing? Currently they are not.

The 13% - While not directly relevant to tenure (I couldn’t resist commenting on this) the new agreement proposes that initial ineffective ratings be reviewed by the Union and 13% of these ratings, believed by the Union to be motivated by other than incompetency, be referred to an “independent body” who, unlike the DOE’s kangaroo court, has the power to reverse the rating. The number is based, according to published reports, on the number of reversals of unsatisfactory ratings pre-Bloomberg. While I concede that labor-management agreements often lack logical explanation this one is a beaut. The Union, under this procedure, is put in a total conflict of interest. While grievance arbitration has always been somewhat discretionary by the Union, never before has such decisions have such a strong impact on a member’s job. Under the pre-Bloomberg 13% teachers, at least, had a due process hearing to look forward. What are we looking at now?

EVALUATION AGREEMENT BAD NEWS FOR TENURED TEACHERS

The UFT and New York State United Teachers (All of the local unions in the state) gave away the store in today's agreements with the city and the State Education Department concerning teacher evaluations. This is part of a 2010 law that New York State passed to try to get Federal Race to the Top money. Details had to be negotiated with unions.  While we still don't have a final agreement on a new evaluation system in New York City, what is emerging is a system with few safeguards that has the potential to allow the Department of Education to terminate many tenured teachers starting in 2014.

At the state level, the NYSUT lawsuit on evaluations was resolved by today's agreement with the state. 40% of a teacher's annual rating will be based upon student performance on tests, with half of that 40% being standardized tests and the other half being locally developed assessments (whatever that means) that the State Education Department must approve.  The other 60% will be based on subjective measures such as principal observations and they can throw in some peer review, parent review or student review if the local district and union want to.  

The overall grade to achieve a passing rating for the year will be 65. Scores of 0-64 will result in an ineffective rating, 65-74 will mean a developing rating, 75-90 will mean an effective rating and 91-100 will translate into highly effective.  However, if a teacher is rated ineffective in the student test score portion, the teacher cannot get a passing grade.  Also, if a principal doesn't like a teacher and does hatchet jobs in observations, it appears to me that huge test score gains will not save the teacher.  There are so many ways to fail teachers here. 

People say we shouldn't worry because we have tenure but two ineffective ratings in a row shifts the burden of proof onto the teacher to prove that he/she is not incompetent.  That will not be easy. One wonders why NYSUT would agree to any of this and not just tell the State to turn down the federal money that we would lose if there was no agreement.

As for New York City, the UFT held out in negotiations with the city for a stronger appeal process for teachers rated ineffective.  The DOE walked out of negotiations during the Christmas break and proceeded to announce that they would close most of the transformation-restart schools that were supposed to be the first to use the new evaluation system.  The UFT wanted teachers rated ineffective to have a review before an independent arbitrator while the DOE held that teachers should have a review by the Chancellor like the U rating appeal process where teachers lose 99.6% of these appeals. 

The compromise that was reached today was, as usual, an almost total capitulation by the union.  13% of teachers rated ineffective can have an appeal before a three person panel. One of the panel members will be chosen by the union, one by DOE and the third person will be selected by the first two.  That is truly an independent appeal process but according to President Mulgrew's email to us, "The union can identify up to 13% of all ineffective ratings each year to challenge on grounds of harassment or other matters not related to performance."  It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prove harassment if the students didn't succeed on the tests or a teacher's performance in class was rated ineffective by the principal.  Also, it is the UFT who decides which teachers get to have their case heard by the independent panel.  There will be no favoritism there right? It gets worse.

The other 87% rated ineffective can only appeal to the chancellor just like the current U rating appeal process.  One does not need a crystal ball to predict that teachers will continue to have virtually no chance in these hearings.  However the UFT says don't worry because, "A teacher who has an ineffective rating the following year will receive an independent validator.  (The person is chosen through a joint process and will not be a UFT or DOE employee.)  The independent evaluator will observe the teacher at least three times during the school year and issue a report with his or her rating of the teacher."  

This process sounds eerily like Peer Intervention Plus to me.  In PIP+ people not employed by UFT or DOE observe U rated teachers and basically rubber stamp the U's in most cases. In the new system if the validator agrees that the teacher is not ineffective, then that evidence can be used in a 3020A hearing (tenure process) to help the teacher as the burden of proof would then fall on the DOE but if the validator validates the ineffective rating as they usually do in PIP+, then the teacher would carry the burden of proof in the tenure hearing and the chances of staying on the job will be slim and none in my opinion. 

Tenure will be significantly weakened if this evaluation system is finalized.  The local assessments and other details still have to be negotiated by the UFT and DOE.  A best case scenario is that there will never be an agreement on the local assessments and this whole new evaluation process will then collapse under the weight of its stupidity.  What are going to be the assessments for teachers in non regents subjects in the high school for example? 

The only way to stop any of this from going into effect is for us to raise our collective voices loudly and say that we're not going to voluntarily walk into the guillotine.  If today's agreement becomes our actual teacher evaluation system, then there will more than likely be massive teacher firings beginning in 2014.  

If there is anything positive to take from today's events, it's that President Mulgrew was there with the governor announcing the deal and maybe they are developing the kind of bond we can use to influence the state to pass legislation to end mayoral control now before the school system is completely destroyed.

PS-For those expecting our monthly Delegate Assembly report, I was stuck on the platform waiting for the 7 train for a long time yesterday, as a train was stuck one station ahead, so I missed most of the DA.  The resolutions that passed were not controversial and some of the Presidents' report, I am told, was about the evaluation issue so I am skipping doing a report which today is obsolete.  If anyone else wants to do it, email me at savejamaicahighschool@gmail.com and I will post it.