ALL EYES ARE WATCHING CHICAGO

The Chicago Teachers Union, led by the upstart Caucus of Rank and File Teachers, gave their legally required ten days notice before they can call a strike.  Read all about it here and you also might want to look at some interesting analysis here and of course at Education Notes.

I had the privilege of attending a forum where two of CORE's people from Chicago spoke to some activists in New York last Thursday.  What the Core led CTU is doing is inspiring.  They are combining old fashion militant trade unionism with strong outreach to the community.  Hopefully, it is a winning combination.

What happens in Chicago will definitely not stay in Chicago so please support the CTU cause in every possible way.  Their possible strike has national as well as international implications for teachers and the labor movement as a whole.

TEACHER ACTIVIST LISA NORTH SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CHARTER SCHOOLS

Lisa North presented the case against charter schools, and for fully funding public education, at a hearing in Brooklyn on Tuesday.  The public was commenting on two new charter school proposals.  Here is her report.

I went to the "public hearing" on two proposed charter schools in District (13).   Only 2 people showed up that were not charter school people.....myself and a representative from City Councilwoman Letitia James' office.  I started off saying that having these public hearings at this time of the summer cannot be "public" hearings, as the public did not show up.  Also the place of the hearing is NOT even in District 13! (Ms James rep also spoke to these issues).  The DOE rep said that it was the state's regulations that forced them to be held now and that the D13 CEC offices were under construction (new school being placed there). 

I spoke to fact that the two charter school proposals sounded great and the people working to bring them to District 13 seemed genuinely  interested in helping the students in District 13.  The problem is that many of the public schools in District 13 are in great need of resources, not competition from other schools.   If these schools are approved to share a neighborhood public school, it will only HURT the many students already in that school.  Those students will have to share the gym, lunchroom, library, etc. Also taking students to fill up the charter schools means that the neighborhood school lose the funding.  Then that school has less money for arts, music, and partnerships with community groups.  The money to set-up these charter schools should be used to give our public schools more resources.  I told them that they should be confronting/pushing the DOE to allow groups of people to start regular public schools, not charter schools.

I also spoke about the fact that when you control for ELL, special education (especially those that need more services), free lunch (not just reduced lunch), and the students that are pushed out, charter schools do NO better than our public schools. Why not put the resources and your ideas to work in our District 13 schools?  

I also asked (during the question period) about how they were both going to fund a longer school day and about the fact that most charter schools only keep teachers for a few years.  There was a discussion about this also.

Unity Preparatory Charter School of Brooklyn, is being started mostly by former teachers (some from Brandeis HS).  Many live in Ft Greene (District 13).  They are young and want to make a difference.  They wanted to talk afterwards and we discussed the issue of charter schools being used to privatize ALL education here in the US.  I told them by participating in this charter school they have to know that they are basically part of the problem.  I said you have to see the BIG picture, not just wanting to start a great school for students and teachers.  They didn't want to look at that, and then I said.....people wanted to have blinders on about global warming.......and now many cannot deny that it is happening.  You must see the implications of your current actions.

Letitia James' rep said that I had said most of what she wanted to say, then she also discussed some of the issues.   Everyone thanked me for coming!!.....A rep from the NYC Charter School Center came up after and asked why NO UFT reps EVER come to these meetings!  As I was walking away I realized it was because they can't talk against charters as they SUPPORT them!

 I think it is time for the UFT to have a different position on charter schools.  They could  say that they have run their own charter schools.  From that experience they have learned that there is NO silver bullet to improve student learning.  It takes resources to help struggling students like smaller class sizes, programs for parents, social supports for students and families, in school intervention programs, and high quality after school and summer programs, to name just a few.  The UFT could call for a stop to all new charters and instead for the resources to be used for our struggling public schools.  No one is blaming the current charter school teachers who mostly want to help students, it is just that the charter school experiment has NOT worked.

ISAAC ASIMOV PREDICTED THE RESULTS OF CORPORATE SCHOOL REFORM IN 1951

A little summer reading for you thanks to my colleague Marc Epstein.  Marc had his students read "The Fun They Had" by Issac Asimov this past spring. He gave me a copy too.

This wonderful short story, written in 1951, involves kids in the year 2157.  They look with envy at their forefathers who actually went to a school building and read real books.  Enjoy it but realize this future shock may be upon us long before 2157 if the Joel Klein's and Michael Bloomberg's of the world have their way.

An excerpt for you:

Margie went into her schoolroom.  It was right next door to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her.  It was always on at the same time every day except for Saturday and Sunday, because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.
The screen was lit up and it said: Today's arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper fractions.
Please insert yesterday's homework in the proper slot.
Margie did so with a sigh.  She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather's grandfather was a boy.  All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together at the end of the day...
And the teachers were people.

SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH CHICAGO TEACHERS

ICEUFT blog is certainly supporting the Chicago teachers.

Solidarity with Chicago teachers!

Chicago teachers authorize strike! Come build solidarity & learn about the struggle

A discussion featuring a presentation by a Chicago Teachers Union member

Thursday, August 23rd

6:30 p.m. 

at The Murphy Institute

25 West 43^rd Street, between 5^th and 6^th avenues

18th Floor, Room C/D

Public schools, teachers and their unions are under attack throughout the country.  The drive to privatize our public schools and strip away teacher protections is only accelerating.   In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel canceled a promised 4% pay raise to Chicago teachers and proposed lengthening the school day by 20% with only a 2% raise.  In addition, Emanuel proposes implementing a merit pay system for teachers--a similar system in Baltimore has led to 60% of teachers receiving unsatisfactory ratings.  In response, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has refused to back down and has shown the power of solidarity, holding large rallies and forging alliances with community members.  The CTU is demanding smaller class sizes, fair pay and a diverse and fulfilling curriculum for Chicago students.  This spring, 90% of all CTU members voted to authorize a strike.  98% of those voting authorized a strike.   

The CTU's campaign has met with some initial success.  Emanuel recently agreed to hire almost 500 teachers, mostly arts, PE and enrichment teachers.  These teachers will be hired from a pool of laid-off, experienced teachers.  The result is that a longer school day will not force teachers to work longer and harder with no compensation.

While this victory is inspiring, the CTU's strike preparations continue, as there has been no agreement on teacher pay, class sizes, merit pay and other important issues.  It is urgent that teachers, parents and community members show our solidarity with CTU.  We also have a lot to learn from CTU's struggle.

Come hear a presentation by a CTU member and help organize solidarity for the Chicago teachers here in NYC!

Stand with CTU! 

Sponsored by (list in formation):  Movement of Rank and File Educators, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence, Coalition for Public Education, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), Labor Notes, New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), New York City Labor Against the War, OWS Labor Outreach Committee

Contact nycctusolidarity@gmail.com to help organize the event or to co-sponsor

NY SED ISSUES REPORT SHOWING HOW JAMAICA HS KIDS ARE DEPRIVED OF RESOURCES

Jamaica High School staff and Senator Tony Avella complained last year to the State about how our students are being denied resources as we phase out. A report has been released by the State Education Department that confirms what we all know: our students are being denied the resources they were assured they would get from the city.

Here is the key portion of the report on resources:

The following findings are based on information ascertained from various 

stakeholders including parents, teachers, students, administrators as well

as school and district documents:

•  No honors or advance placement classes are offered to students 
•  The school no longer offers calculus, chemistry or physics 
•  Only three electives are offered to students: Law, Accounting and Latin American Literature. Prior  to the implementation of the phase out model, elective courses offered to students were: African American Literature, Film, Geography, Forensics, Sociology, Psychology, Computer  classes (Word, Excel, visual basic, PowerPoint) and Creative Writing
• Off­track  classes, which were offered to students not meeting Regents requirements, are no longer available
•  Students are not able to complete specialty programs: Business, Computer  Science, Engineering and Finance Institutes, or  Art Institutes  Students are not offered SAT prep courses
•  Two teachers, who are not certified in special education, are teaching students with disabilities.

What will the state do about this? We can hope the answer is not the usual nothing.

You can read the entire report for yourself.

For the NY1 story, click here.

UPDATE: Queens Chronicle article

Jamaica Times article

PS Thanks to Norm Scott for his coverage of the AFT Convention.

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION POSSIBLE STRIKE HAS WORLDWIDE IMPLICATIONS FOR WORKING PEOPLE

There is a fantastic piece in the UK's Guardian about the labor dispute between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union.  This article should be read by every teacher, particularly those who believe we can't change the union.  Here is an excerpt:

The basis of this dispute (in Chicago) is what is innocuously termed "school reform". This is a process of privatisation and union-busting. Since the 1990s, Chicago has been a laboratory for such reforms, which have been rolled out across the country. The programme enjoys the support of the Democratic leadership as well as leading pro-Obama liberals such as Davis Guggenheim, whose film Waiting for Superman was a lengthy attack on teaching unions and a tribute to private schools.


Chicago intends to open 60 new privatised, non-union "charter" schools in the next five years. Public schools are being closed to make way for this change and capital spending has been slashed. The CTU's new leadership has been driving a campaign to tackle chronic underfunding in Chicago schools, and broaden the curriculum. They describe the system as one of "educational apartheid", and demand an elected school board which reflects the needs of the city's population.

But the final provocation was when the "reformers" increased teachers' working hours by 20%, while cutting a promised 4% pay rise in half. They falsely imagined that the CTU would be a pushover, having recently elected a bunch of "rookie" candidates to the leadership.

In fact, the victory of these "rookies", from the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE), demonstrated two things. First, it showed the unwillingness of members to be as compliant as the leadership has been in the past. Second, it proved the new leadership's ability as grassroots organisers. They showed the same skill in building support among teachers for strike action in a series of mock ballots and mass public meetings.

We are fully behind the Chicago Teachers Union and their president Karen Lewis.

ARBITRATION DECISION TO KEEP UFT AND CSA MEMBERS IN TURNAROUND SCHOOLS IS HUGE WIN

For a union that claims victory even when it loses, the UFT, along with the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, can today boast about a true win as an arbitrator has ruled that the Department of Education violated our union contracts when they excessed entire schools and forced people to reapply for their jobs but only had to hire half back. The phony closing of 24 turnaround schools has been stopped and our members will get their jobs back in their schools if they want them.  This is a tremendous day for teachers, administrators, other educators and students. For the mayor it is a stinging defeat.

To all of the UFT and CSA members in the 24 impacted schools, I say congratulations but look out because the mayor does not normally take kindly to losing.  We will need to be a really strong union in the months ahead.  Make no mistake about it.

Hopefully, this is the day in history where it will be shown that we turned the situation around and stopped the school closing madness.  However, we won twice back in 2010 when the courts stopped the mayor from closing 19 schools. The mayor responded by coming back a few months later to close most of the schools again. My school (Jamaica High School) was one of those schools and we are still in court with the 2011 lawsuit to stop that round of school closings.

 I am all in favor of a legal and political strategy to go against this mayor's insane education policies.  However, without a full mobilization of the members of this union, that strategy ultimately could easily fail. Let's not see 2010 happen again. Stay active from day 1 turnaround school people.

TEACHER RATING LAW LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER EMPTY UFT VICTORY

UFT President Michael Mulgrew is claiming a major win in Albany as a bill has been passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor that will limit release of Teacher Performance Ratings to parents of a student's actual teacher.  As usual in any agreement, the devil is in the details and some analysis has already been done showing that this appears to be another Unity Caucus (ruling party of the UFT) gain that can be easily turned against us. 


The Daily News calls it a step in their direction.  That should worry everyone as their ultimate goal is to end the profession essentially. The News wanted every teacher's rating to be published with their name so they could shame us. Research and experience show that teachers count for only a very small percentage of student performance but the new teacher rating system when negotiated between the city and DOE will make 40% of our annual rating based on growth of student achievement so the new rating system will be a flawed way to judge teachers. The News and NY Post couldn't care less nor could Mayor Bloomberg.


The UFT is claiming a win because the new law doesn't go as far as the News, the Post and Bloomberg wanted.  Since the legislation will only allow a parent to find out how his/her own child's teacher was rated and the public will receive the data with names redacted, this is a big gain according to the UFT.  My friend Jeff Andrusain did a little analysis and sent this to ICE Mail:

No protection at all. Another "victory" for Unity.

Board of Ed puts out "redacted info", parents add their "confidential" info to this and within a short time all is public. All you need is one parent from one class or maybe two classes to figure out the rest. Not too hard for a zealous reporter or a "concerned" parent or PTA.

Mulgrew and company tell us this is a victory. 

We all believe him.

I love my union.

What more can I say?

For further analysis, check out the Accountable Talk blog.

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE'RE GOING TO FACT FINDING AGAIN?

At the June 13 Delegate Assembly, UFT President Michael Mulgrew announced publicly for the first time that the UFT is taking our contract dispute with the city to "non-binding" fact finding arbitration.  While the process is not supposed to be binding on either side, in the past each time we have gone to fact finding it has become the basis for our contract so this is really a major step in the contract fight that has gone almost completely unnoticed.  I believe it is a step in the wrong direction as history shows us that fact finding will result in losses for the UFT.

The issue was raised at the DA in a very innocuous way as a Delegate asked a question about our contract. Mulgrew casually mentioned fact finding in his president's report and then answered the Delegate's question by saying that we are going to fact finding but that the city under Bloomberg would probably reject the fact finding report.

Bloomberg may oppose whatever the fact finders come up with but based on the past, we can be sure that the report will not be favorable however it will eventually become the basis for a contract.

Fact finding is part of the New York State Taylor Law.  It is the final stage in the process to try to settle an impasse between the UFT and City.  A three person panel  is formed and they write a report that becomes the blueprint for a new contract.  One arbitrator is picked by the UFT, one is chosen by the city and these two pick the third arbitrator to lead the panel.  Both sides can accept or reject what the arbitrators say but in the past these reports have always led to contracts.

Arbitrators are basically trained to give each side something so it is very rare for one of the parties to get all that they ask for.  Arbitrators are also moved by pattern bargaining.  Once a city union settles on a contract, it sets a pattern and then other unions basically receive the same settlement.  The pattern in the last round of collective bargaining that most other unions have already received is raises of 4% and 4% over two years with no givebacks.  It is a decent pattern.  We have been over two years without a contract so the entire contract will be retroactive.  One would think it would be easy for the UFT to receive the same raise that every other union in the city was given but Bloomberg has said no specifically to educators.  Hence, the call for arbitration.

The irony is that when we went to arbitration in 1993, 2002 and 2005, we were trying break from the pattern because we were attempting to catch up with the salaries that teachers in the suburbs earn.  We never really broke the pattern in arbitration but instead had to have time for money swaps in 2002 and 2005.  We work extra hours in exchange for more money. Management has been allowed to use that extra time in most schools for a small group instruction period.  We are earning the added salary by doing more work so that is not what I would consider a raise.

Beyond salary the city made huge gains in the 2005 fact finding report as the fact finders agreed with the city to take away teacher SBO and seniority transfers.  This set up the so called open market system where all hiring is left up to principals. Patronage now runs rampant in the schools.  The 2005 fact finding panel also created the Absent Teacher Reserve situation.  Prior to this time, the DOE could only use school closing as a last resort because they knew they had to place all of the teachers from closing schools in one of six schools that individual teachers chose on a wish list.  2005 gave principals a veto on any placement so teachers with many years of experience now have to hustle for a position when schools close or go from school to school as substitutes.  The city doesn't do this when firehouses are closed.  The firefighters from the closed house are picked up by other houses.  Massive school closings would not have been possible unless the UFT agreed with the fact finders to let this system spin out of control.

The fact finders also decided to put us back on cafeteria and hall patrol in 2005 and in both 2002 and 2005 the 3020A process to discipline tenured teachers was modified to make it harder for teachers to defend ourselves.

The fact finders will more than likely not give us the retroactive 4% + 4% with no givebacks that the other city unions received and we should demand.  Instead, precedent tells us there will be some kind of new givebacks. (We can pick our poison from the list of givebacks Bloomberg wants that Gotham Schools published.) The city will not leave the table empty-handed.  Whatever he gets will probably not be enough to satisfy Bloomberg, who wants to destroy the UFT, but it will be more than any other union gave. When the next mayor takes office in 2014, the fact finding report will be there to take away more of our rights.

Why would we agree to go through this process again?

Our negotiating position should be that the other city unions received 4% and 4% without givebacks and we deserve nothing less.  Case closed. Are educators any less valuable than all of the other city employees? Fact finding is part of the Taylor Law that ends our impasse process but there is no need to go there when we have nothing to gain and a great deal to lose.

On the UFT Executive Board in 2004, Jeff Kaufman and I pleaded with Randi Weingarten not to go near fact finding but she brushed us aside.  We have not had the chance to make our case in public this time to Delegates and Chapter Leaders at the Delegate Assembly because President Mulgrew is not even bothering to get  rubber stamp approval to go to fact finding from this body that his Unity Caucus dominates.

OTHER DELEGATE ASSEMBLY NEWS

The UFT at last Wednesday's June Delegate Assembly passed a resolution reconvening the mayoral control committee that last worked in 2009.  After its work was finished in 2009, the UFT basically supported continuing mayoral control of the schools.  That has not worked very well for us to say the least.

The Independent Community of Educators produced a minority UFT committee report opposing mayoral control in 2009.  This is another area where ICE was right and the UFT leadership from Unity Caucus was wrong. Now they want a do over.  Meanwhile, those of us who work in the schools continue to have to survive under horrible conditions created by the mayoral dictatorship over the schools that my colleague Marc Epstein has again written about at the Huffington Post.

Mulgrew in his Presidents Report spoke about how we have zero tolerance for sexual misconduct as this has been in the news recently.  He then stated that the UFT was successful in getting parents onto Article 18D hiring committees.  He also told us that there can't be a building-wide policy to deny tenure.  If this is occurring, people should contact Michael Mendel.  

He then said that we should work the phone banks for the June 26th primary elections for Congress and that we will have to toil very diligently in the fall in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio to reelect President Obama.

Mulgrew then talked about the budget process in the City Council where we are lobbying for the return of Teacher's Choice and we have a very difficult struggle to stop Bloomberg from privatizing the Day Care Workers.  He added that he does not have much optimism for next year.  He noted that we have a good school system because of our members but that Bloomberg wants to privatize services and attack unions and unions are taking heavy losses but the UFT is fighting back.  He thanked the Delegates for this year as we have been able to convince much of the press and the parents to understand our position.

He then declared that the UFT is standing strong waiting for January 1, 2014 when the mayor leaves office. 

Staff Director Leroy Barr reported that phone banks are open as we prepare for the June 26 Congressional primary.  He then told everyone to come to the silent protest march against the mayor's stop and frisk policy that will be taking place on Sunday, June 17 at 2:00 p.m.  He added that the UFT contingent will meet between 5th Avenue and Lennox Avenue on 110th Street.

The question period followed.  A Delegate asked about the implications of Governor Scott Walker fending off a recall challenge in Wisconsin.  Mulgrew responded that the Democrats were outspent 7 to 1 and exit polls suggested that people were not happy that he was being recalled on policy grounds instead of illegal activity.

A question was asked about the revised student discipline code and the President replied that we have a responsibility to document what is going on with children who act out and misbehave so we can diagnose what is going on with the child.  The contract question was next (see above).  Mulgrew talked about Chicago's difficult struggle.  He said he often speaks with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and they showed solidarity as 90% of teachers voted to authorize a strike but public employee strikes are illegal in New York. He also said Massachusetts passed a law doing away with teacher seniority rights so things don't look great.

The Delegates opposed one new motion and then a resolution was passed to reaffirm UFT support for Chapter Leaders and Delegates and a contingency resolution was passed empowering the Executive Board to make political endorsements over the summer.  Next came the mayoral control committee and then it was time to leave.  

I am currently very busy on personal stuff but I will do my best to keep blogging when major news occurs.

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.