ABOUT HALF OF THE STUDENTS MADE IT TO SCHOOL FRIDAY

Many of our students have more sense than me as NY 1 reported that only 53% of the NYC public school students attended school on Friday.

The Eterno family took a vote late Thursday and split 2-2 on whether to go in on Friday (we take democracy seriously in my house). My daughter is a very dedicated student and my wife is a devoted teacher. They both wanted to go to school. My son and I voted to stay home. I went along with the ladies and went to school but our littlest one spent the day sleeping at his grandmother's. Clearly, he was the smartest in the family at three years of age. That day at pre-school that he missed will more than likely not hinder his development.

My daughter went to school at PS 191Q but her teacher and much of her class were absent. My wife had a difficult journey on the icy subway platforms, stairs and streets but made it to her job at the Academy of American Studies at Lehman College in the Bronx where administration was happy to see her and most of her students in that specialized high school were actually present. I trudged on over across Queens to Middle College and had a fairly easy day.

In case you are interested in the thinking that goes on at City Hall on whether or not to close schools, check out this story from NY 1. The "beautiful day" line from Carmen Farina back in 2014 was something we should all remember maybe as something positive as the public heat the Mayor and Chancellor took after that rather thoughtless remark seems to have had the effect of changing de Blasio's thinking on closing schools during snowstorms.

In the past, we probably would not have had Thursday off. If we had Friday off too, it would have really been a remarkable change from City Hall.

NOT MUCH MENTION OF K-12 EDUCATION IN CUOMO'S STATE OF THE STATE

Three years ago, going after public schools and teachers was a big state government priority for Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State address. There were many lines about how making the lives of teachers worse, which was accomplished back in 2015, would improve the state. It did not. Now, public schools and teachers are barely mentioned and we are certainly not emphasized in Cuomo's 2018 State of the State speech.

You can watch it here if you are really bored. You can find out about it here from this CBS NY report. Or, as an alternative, you can read the Village Voice interpretation which is what I did and enjoyed. Their piece is entitled: We Watched Cuomo's State of the State So You Don't Have To. It's kind of a Comedy Central type approach.

Here are some of the best bits for those who don't want to read the whole article.
AG is Aaron Gordon and DC is David Colon.

DC (quoting Cuomo): “Upstate New York is no longer treated as the forgotten stepchild of Albany.”

We now rig bids for upstate just like we do downstate.

AG: Now he’s railing against the federal government, which is always a crowd-pleaser.

DC: A whole lotta rolling back from the federal government.

AG: He said “rolling back” more often than a mid-2000s Walmart commercial.

DC: “Like Fat Joe, the federal government wants to lean back while New York is sent down the tubes.”

AG: 1:55 p.m. review: Cuomo has said absolutely nothing of substance so far.

DC: Ah, more Latin, “carpe diem” this time.

AG: And just like that, he says something of substance! He proposes no public funds be used to settle sexual harassment claims.

DC: Here’s your baby, Aaron, congestion pricing.

OH MY GOD IT’S A MOTHERFUCKING REPORT

AG: Hell yeah, the panel is creating a report with options for the legislature to consider.

DC: I’m mad. I can’t believe we waited for months for a congestion pricing plan and we’re gonna get a report to consider.

AG: Well, that was a whole lot of nothing.

DC: I am apoplectic.

AG: Cuomo says they will challenge the federal tax bill in court as unconstitutional. As the old reporter adage says, wait to report on the lawsuit until it is filed.

DC: “State’s rights” are back, baby, and they’re good again. ::Wolf howl::

AG: So is “repeal and replace”…

Huh, Cuomo says they’re exploring the feasibility of switching from reliance on income to payroll tax. I feel like this is the type of thing you can’t really assess until you actually know what the plan is.

DC: “It’s complicated and it is difficult.”

Well, I can’t remember the last time anything described like that survived Albany.

AG: He keeps saying things like “we have no choice” about systemic issues that have existed for decades that he himself has done nothing to remedy.

DC: No, see, that’s WHY we have no choice. We had choices, we waited around for a few decades, and then, voilà!

AG: This speech has done wonders for making me feel even worse about the future.

I can't argue with that.

Now back to the speech. This is all I could find on the schools from the Village Voice duo:

DC: “We have to expand pre-K to three-year-olds. This was my idea, no one fact-check this.”

Ah, an extension of the “free” college program. “We must pass the DREAM Act,” check off another IDC calamity bingo box.

On the Janus Supreme Court case where union dues for public sector employees will almost definitely become optional in a few months:

AG: A brief bit about standing in solidarity with public sector unions given federal challenges to their legality, which definitely fills me with optimism he will stand up for meaningful MTA cost reforms.

I don't quite know what that stands in solidarity line means but you folks looking to withhold your union dues from what are essentially company unions should not count your chickens before they hatch as the company is standing in solidarity with us.

To sum up the entire speech, we finally have something optimistic from our reporters from the Village Voice.

AG: OK, David, what did you learn?

DC: That Andrew Cuomo will never be president.

DOE BACK TO NORMAL; SCHOOL OPEN FRIDAY

NYC schools will be open Friday. It is extremely cold, snowy and icy. Please be careful getting to and from school.

I was asked in the comments if we had snow days to spare this school year. The answer is we should. NYC teachers are reporting for work 185 days for the 2017-18 school year. 4 conference days are permitted within the state required minimum 180 school days. We should have enough snow days available this year.

Our neighbor to the north, Yonkers, will be closed on Friday. My guess is many other districts will close too. NYC schools are open while surrounding districts are closed or have delayed openings. Now it feels normal. One day of sanity was quite enough, thank you.

My back is aching a bit after shoveling the car out earlier. Thanks to my neighbor for using his snow blower to help me out. I will probably get plowed in again overnight. Regardless, NYC teachers, parents and students will do our best tomorrow. Please be safe. I hope the streets are clear and the buses and trains run on time.

SNOW DAY THURSDAY; NICE TO BE WRONG ON THIS ONE

Updated: It's nice to be wrong predicting school would be open on Thursday. Earlier we wrote that the odds were against a snow day (see below) based on the forecasts we were seeing at the end of the school day.

Surprise, surprise, schools are closed in NYC for Thursday, January 4, 2018. I called it wrong earlier and am happy to admit it. You never know how these storms will move. Good job de Blasio. You get credit for this one.

I just checked AccuWeather again and they are saying that the chances that NYC gets 3 inches of snow or less are 18% and the chances for more than 6 inches are 17% while there is a 65% chance that NYC gets 3-6 inches. Yes I am pleasantly surprised that they closed schools so early with an 83% probability of 6 inches or less of snow for the city.

Maybe the way the city thinks about when to close schools during snowstorms is really changing for good. Last year they closed schools twice and now once in January this year. That's positive news unless we have to start giving up days in spring break or midwinter recess because schools are closed during minor storms. We'll see.

Below is our original post from 3:18 pm this afternoon:
The talk of the teachers today is about snow.

What are the chances of us getting a snow day for Thursday?

Judging by the forecast I just looked at, I would say the odds are against it.

This looks like the worst kind of storm for teachers and students: bad enough for it to be dangerous for us to travel but not so treacherous that it is totally impossible to get through. I expect NYC schools will be open while many of the suburbs will shut down or have delayed openings.

Maybe Carmen Farina will declare it a beautiful day.

STATE COMPTROLLER DiNAPOLI'S DECEMBER REPORT GIVES INSIGHT INTO CITY'S 2018 MUNICIPAL LABOR CONTRACT BARGAINING STRATEGY

As we start 2018, the questions about our contract are heard over and over. The current UFT Contract expires at the end of November. Speculation on our next contract is all around. DC 37 is in negotiations with the city and will probably set a pattern for raises for unionized city workers for our next contracts within a few months. All of the other municipal unions will be stuck with whatever DC 37 agrees to because of pattern bargaining. One union sets a pattern for raises for city workers and then all of the other city unions get basically the same settlement. Pattern bargaining has been upheld by arbitration panels for decades.

We have more information on what the pattern is likely to be by examining State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's December 20, 2017 report on NYC finances.

Right there on page 17 is an explanation of the city's projections on municipal labor settlements for the next round of collective bargaining from its own budget plan:

The November Plan includes resources to fund annual wage increases of 1 percent after the expiration of the current round of collective bargaining. The actual cost of the next round of collective bargaining will be determined through negotiation or arbitration, and could be higher than assumed in the November Plan. Wage increases at the projected inflation rate, for example, would increase costs by $84 million in FY 2018, $276 million in FY 2019, $686 million in FY 2020 and nearly $1.2 billion in FY 2021.

And on page 18:

The City is expected to seek additional health insurance savings with the assistance of the municipal unions to help fund wage increases in the next round of bargaining. 

Figure about 1% from us and 1% from the city and presto: instant labor contracts.

Trump's budget and the federal tax cuts will be used as the excuse to keep raises low.

Does anyone have a different contractual outlook?

Welcome back to school everyone. I hope you had an enjoyable vacation.

HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS

School starts tomorrow so we wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year while we still have some time to think about something other than school or family.

For 2017 we posted over 300 times for the first time ever. I doubt if we will be able to keep that pace up in what should be a very eventful 2018 for NYC teachers and our union.

Rest up today, the next few months are going to be quite interesting.

HELP BRONX FIRE SURVIVORS

Mike Schirtzer reached out last night hoping that the UFT would join in helping the clothing drive in the Bronx for the survivors of Thursday's deadly fire. No need to wait for a UFT answer, we are asking people to do what they can for these people. If you are in the Bronx or can get there today, please donate a coat or some clothing.

Location:
Church of Saint Martin of Tours
2239 Crotona Avenue (E. 182nd St/Garden Street)
Bronx

Date:
Sunday 12/31, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Mike's email to UFT officials:

Hello friends,

I know you all are as saddened and disturbed as we are by the tragic fire in the Bronx. Would it be possible for UFT to send out a message via text and email to our members about this clothing drive in The Bronx which is being sponsored by the Mayor's office, FDNY, NYPD and several other city agencies? 

http://abc7ny.com/how-to-help-those-affected-by-the-fatal-bronx-fire/2839527/

I know it is late notice and other drives may come, but this seems like something that is urgent.

If there is anything you all would suggest we can do on our end please let us know.

Thank you folks and sorry to have to reach out under these circumstances

Mike Schirtzer

ICEBLOG ACKNOWLEDGED ON END OF THE YEAR LIST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BERNIE SANDERS TO SWEAR IN DE BLASIO

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will swear in Mayor Bill de Blasio for the Mayor's second term on Monday, January 1, 2018. Former President Bill Clinton swore the mayor in for his first term back in 2014.

I'm not quite sure if Bernie coming to town for de Blasio is good news or bad news. Sanders being seen with Governor Andrew Cuomo as he introduced "free" college tuition for public colleges in NYS and coming back on Monday for the Mayor's second inauguration shows that Bernie is really serious about courting mainstream Democrats for his likely 2020 run for the presidency.

Cuomo and de Blasio want to be seen with the progressive Saint Bernie to show their authentic left wing credentials if either of these two decide to run for the oval office. The thought of either the Governor or Mayor as POTUS is I guess a bit less nauseating than the current occupant of the White House getting another four years.

No matter how we slice this, it's kind of creepy Bernie playing to the Democratic establishment or de Blasio and Cuomo playing to the left wing base of the Democratic Party. Cuomo has been anti-public schools and anti-labor from the start and de Blasio has only been slightly better.

I've kind of liked Sanders but always felt he should be a much stronger supporter of K-12 public education so I do not count myself as an enthusiastic Bernie fan but my wife and I did vote for him in the primary in 2016.

IBO SAYS CITY FINANCIAL OUTLOOK IS STABLE

No real surprises in the city's Independent Budget Office report in December. The report paintsy a stable financial picture for NYC but notes there could be trouble ahead because of the Trump tax cuts and budget. Thanks to Harris Lirtzman for sending me the report.

On the city surplus:

Based on IBO’s analysis of tax revenues and spending as presented under the Mayor’s plan, along with our own updated economic forecast, we estimate the city will have $1.2 billion in additional city-generated revenue offset by some additional spending, enough to end the current fiscal year with a surplus of $1.0 billion.

Further along we are told: 

IBO’s 2018 surplus estimate does not include the $1.45 billion currently allocated for two reserves within the fiscal year 2018 budget—these reserves are currently counted as expenditures but do not support any specific spending needs. 

Translation, the city is expected to end the year with about $2.5 billion that they are not speding.

We also learn from the IBO report that the NYC economy is growing but not at a torrid pace. Wall Street is doing just fine. IBO does see storm clouds ahead mainly because of the federal budget and the tax changes.

The IBO says this about municipal labor contracts:

Perhaps the most immediate threat to balancing the city’s budget is the impending cost of settling contracts with the city’s municipal labor unions. Currently, over 100,000 full-time city employees, approximately 33 percent of the city’s full-time workforce, are working under the terms of expired contracts, including the city’s largest union, District Council 37. By the end of calendar year 2018 contracts covering nearly 90 percent of the city’s full-time workforce will have expired, including the contract for the United Federation of Teachers. 

The de Blasio Administration has set aside $631 million in the current fiscal year increasing to $2.4 billion by 2021 to cover the costs of potential labor settlements. IBO estimates that for each 1 percent increase in annual wages the city would spend an additional $121 million in the current fiscal year and slightly over $1.1 billion in 2021. 

The de Blasio Administration has taken the position that it is willing to be flexible on the extent of future wage increases only if the unions are willing to pay for them with givebacks that would reduce city expenditures. After giving back over $1.4 billion in concessions over the last four years for health care savings through increases in co-pays, higher premiums, and eligibility audits, in order to secure wage increases during the previous round of contract negotiations, the city’s labor unions may be galvanized in their efforts to seek greater wage increases with fewer givebacks in the coming negotiations. The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, representing some 23,000 fulltime police officers, has already rejected the city’s contract offers and requested that all negotiations be handled through binding arbitration.

Fear not IBO, DC 37 or the UFT are usually willing to settle for less and one of the two unions will most likely set a low pattern that other city workers, including the PBA, will be stuck with. We predicted it last month as did the Chief and we expect a pattern will be established at some point in 2018, probably sooner rather than later.

IBEW STRIKE CONTINUES

1,800 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been on strike against Charter Spectrum since March. The strike is still going on.

Here is the latest from the NYC Cable Truth blog.

LOCAL UNION #3 IBEW AND CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS NEGOTIATION UPDATE

LOCAL UNION #3 IBEW SUBMITTED A NEW PROPOSAL TO THE MEDIATOR TO PRESENT TO CHARTER/SPECTRUM IN A CONTINUED ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE THE STRIKE. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE UPDATES ACCORDINGLY.

99.5% of Local 3 members also voted to extend benefits checks to the striking workers. The strike has gone on so long that their unemployment benefits are running out.

Labor solidarity is not dead.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A QUICK LOOK AHEAD TO 2018

The ICEBLOG wishes all of you a Merry Christmas and for those who don't celebrate a great holiday season. I am waiting for my kids to wake up and for the chaos to begin as they open their gifts.

Christmas morning is truly one of the joyful moments of parenthood. Since my kids are eight and three, this is one of the best mornings of the year.

I'm having a difficult time this morning thinking about the school wars and the uncertain times ahead with the Janus Supreme Court decision coming in 2018. The Court in all likelihood will make the public sector a place where union dues are optional throughout the United States based on free speech grounds.

We now know that oral arguments in Janus will be held on February 26, 2018. The unions should lose the case within a few months after that.

The question now is how will the public sector unions survive after the decision? Judging from comments here, many UFT members would say bye, bye UFT if, or should I say when, given the opportunity.

We need a union folks, as much now as ever. I understand that people despise our union's leaders but for a look at what life in the United States is like without unions, please read this piece in the Washington Post which basically describes the present and future of our country without pensions.

The unions in New York State came together and preserved our pensions this year in November by convincing a huge majority of voters to reject by a huge margin a constitutional convention that could have put our pensions at risk. If we can harness that energy in 2018, maybe we can actually revitalize the union movement.

That's enough for today as the kids are about to wake up so enjoy the day.

DON'T EXPECT MUCH TO CHANGE WITH A NEW CHANCELLOR

If you can stand one more story on Chancellor Carmen Farina's retirement, here goes. Some of you are hopeful that the streak of of anti-teacher Chancellors might finally be ending when Farina leaves. Here is a comment from Mayor Bill de Blasio's press conference, where Farina officially announced she was leaving, that should give all cause for concern:

"I'm thrilled with what Carmen's achieved and I want to just deepen what she has started, de Blasio said on Thursday. "Am I looking for something we don't have? No."

Could this mayor possibly be more out of touch with the school system he controls?

It looks like it will be more of the same so I'm not optimistic about the next Chancellor. Are you?

MULGREW-REALITY BASED EDUCATOR RESPOND TO FARINA LEAVING

On Tuesday we wrote about Carmen Farina's imminent departure as NYC Schools Chancellor.In response, Reality Based Educator, a famous now very part time blogger, commented. UFT President Michael Mulgrew also put out a statement. Read them both and see whether a teacher in the schools or the UFT President has it right.

From Mulgrew:
UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued the following statement:

Carmen has a lot to be proud of during her tenure. Her decades of experience in the system gave her a deep understanding of how our schools work. She managed the historic introduction of universal pre-K and oversaw significant gains in student achievement from test scores to high school graduation rates. We wish her well.

From Reality Based Educator:

Carmen Farina said she wanted to bring "joy" back to the classroom.

Has there been any time that schools have been more stressful environments than they are now?

We are under constant Danielson driveby threats. Lesson plan and special education mandates have teachers spending hours a night getting ready for those possible Danielson drivebys. When the drive-bys occur, teachers are getting slammed for not hitting the unreasonable and/or impossible benchmarks on the Danielson rubric. The pressure teachers are under has been passed on to the students. Everything is about "rigor" and lo and behold any teacher who isn't teaching a "rigorous" lesson when the drive-by comes. And yet, students are suffering emotionally under all this stress, resulting in increased depression, bullying and self-harm incidents. The guidance counselors, understaffed as always, can't deal with the increased emotional and psychological problems students are experiencing because all of their time is spent on the ever-increasing academic mandates and tracking measures they have to engage in to make sure those are met. More and more pressure is being put on teachers to not only teach "rigorous" lessons, but also address the social and emotional needs of students - and yet, with the ever-increasing mandates, the time spent on lesson planning, the exhaustion teachers are experiencing from all the added pressure and stress, there is simply no ability to do this.

Carmen Farina is to blame for much the horror that is the NYC school system. De Blasio deserves more blame, however, because he hired her and supported her through her reign of terror/error. Like you, James, I have little hope that de Blasio will pick somebody who makes the system better. Instead we will get some Broadie who will continue to reign with a Blame Teachers First mentality.

In the end, at least Farina is gone. I do have one parting thought about Farina: I hope she experiences the same "joy" in her retirement that she brought to NYC schools during her chancellorship.

She deserves no less than that.

As usual, the ICEBlog leaves it to our readers to make an informed decision on who is correct.

FARINA LEAVING; WAS SHE THE WORST CHANCELLOR?

The disastrous four year reign of Carmen Farina as Chancellor of the New York City schools will soon be ending.

From NBC News NY:

The head of the nation's largest school district is stepping down, city government sources tell News 4 New York.

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña plans to announce her departure from the city Department of Education after four years on the job on Thursday, according to the sources.

Fariña, 74, will leave the post after four years overseeing the school system that educates more than 1 million students a year and implementing several of Mayor de Blasio's educational policies and campaign promises, including universal pre-K for city kids.

Her departure is not a surprise to City Hall: Fariña had planned on retiring to Florida in 2013 but was coaxed into taking on the role by the then-newly elected mayor. City government sources said the mayor's office is already conducting a nationwide search for Fariña's replacement.

I have no confidence that the search will lead to a decent Chancellor who would need to expose the mess New York City schools are.

The last decent Chancellor was Rudy Crew who left back in 1999. Since then we have had viscous/incompetent Chancellors. I thought it might be fun if we rank the 1999-2017 Chancellors from bad to worse, to worst.

Here are my rankings:
Fifth From the Bottom: Cathy Black-At least we had some laughs during her incompetent 95 days.

Fourth Worst: Harold O Levy-Clueless Harold started the management knows all model at the Board of Education in settling the 2002 UFT contract. I can't think of much positive he did.

Third Worst: DennisWalcott-A lightweight lackey of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Really adept at closing schools and now runs away when someone from Jamaica High School asked him why he closed a perfectly viable school.

Runner-up Worst Chancellor: Carmen Farina-The only one of the five who was an educator and should have known better but she proved to be just another teacher bashing hack for city hall now under Bill de Blasio.

And the winner of the ICEBLOG Worst Chancellor of all time: Of course it's Joel Klein. Klein favored charter schools over the public schools he was in charge of. He had no idea how to run what was a partially functional public school system he inherited. By leaving alone schools that were getting good scores, he basically brought us academic apartheid as the middle class schools were free to do as they like but schools in poorer areas either were closed or most were forced to inflate grades and statistics to survive.

Klein was the architect along with Randi Weingarten of the disastrous 2005 contract that led to school closing mania. Klein is also responsible for the anti-seniority fair student funding system. He truly left a legacy of grade inflation, closing schools and generally hating teachers that still is the culture at what is now the Department of Education.

UFT SILENT IN PUBLIC AS MAYOR'S ANTI-UNION POLICIES CONTINUE WHILE PBA IS AT LEAST PROTESTING MAYOR

The City/Department of Education continues to treat teachers and the schools with nothing but contempt. We learned on Monday night at the UFT Executive Board that the city is still trying to make all of us pay more money for a paid parental leave benefit than they will grant in benefits.

We also found out that the city is going to close multiple schools rather than giving them the proper supports they need such as lower class sizes. UFT Secretary Howie Schoor actually admitted to the Executive Board that we disagree with some of the closings. That is as close as we have gotten to an objection from our union's leaders.

 On the same day, however, another public employee union in the city, The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, announced they were sending members out to Iowa to remind the public who Mayor Bill de Blasio really is. They are protesting his speech to progressives telling them that de Blasio is not pro-labor.

From the NY Post:
“Our members are making this trip to tell progressives in Iowa and across the country about the real Bill de Blasio. He says he’s a friend of working people, but when it comes to his own employees, he is anti-worker and anti-union,” said Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch.

“If he is going to stand up before Iowa voters and union members and promise he’s a friend to labor, then he needs to earn it.”

  Wake up UFT: Bill de Blasio is not our friend.

DECEMBER 18 EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

MORE'S Mike Schirtzer sent this out as Arthur Goldstein couldn't make it but Arthur did put up his own spoof of a meeting which was not too far off. The real report is right here.

Open Mike

No speakers-everyone is bitterly disappointed says (UFT Secretary Howie) Schoor.

Ex bd and adcom Minutes approved.

President will not be here

Staff director Leroy Barr is

Barr-upcoming Wednesday 6-8pm emergency tax protest sponsored by Manhattan borough president and Scott Stringer- at John Jay college

Asking people to come out

Final vote by Congress on tax package may be this week.

Rewards the rich takes away from middle class

Contract committee is meeting 1/10 all members of ex bd are on.

Must sign confidentiality agreement.

Will hear foundation and where we are going.

Next ex bd is 1/8.

Mike- Ctle/PD hours can hours we do in school count? Will the doe train our people in the schools?- UFT is licensed we don’t know  Doe plan, they can bring in UFT, but they do not have any formalized plan yet

Class size violations- How many oversized classes are there?- Need report- DOE sent us numbers-next ex bd we will report back.

Maternity/parental leave- demonstration possible, no progress, we will not take a bad deal. Every formula they show up with benefits city, hurts us, we need numbers that are fair and work for us. If we don’t get something soon we’ll take action.

Kj- consolidation, staff will go by excess rules.

One school may be working well, another isn’t- we are in agreement with doe- small schools made during Bloomberg admin, 2 JHS in same building, better to combine and cut down on administration. We will propose combining excess lists. Get full list.

We had people in those schools this morning that are being closed or consolidated to speak with our members.

Some of those we agree with doe, some we do not.

Jonathan- Janella and I formed a committee on specialized schools, Janella testified in front of city council on integration- can we consider task force on high school admission process which sets up schools and children to be winner or losers.

Janella answers – I participated on diversity task force set up by mayor- it will be up and running for next year on diversity, access, and equity. We will cover admissions process, there will be DoE offcials and students along with me on this committee. We need to figure out pathway and what admissions will look like.

District report

Howie Schoor:

We now represent people who work in borough offices for DOE, over 90% yes vote.

City managers-lost on parental leave, that’s why they came with us. They got 2 and 2 percent raises, they lost holidays, so we got them a lot of things back. Happy about approval contract. Over half of chapter came in person at borough offices and they really appreciated UFT. If we weren’t here DOE would do same things to our members and take stuff from us too. Thanks everyone who helped. They are great people and smart. They will have a chapter leader. DOE is not very happy, this is their managers.

Mel –treasurer-something nice in tax law, part of the proposed tax bill was tax profits of pensions, which would have taken money from us and our pensions. We fought and kept that provision out, that bill passed, but pensions will be safe.

Paul Egan-legislative report- Paul mentions how Eagles beat Giants.

We want a speaker of the city council that we can work with,. Before Christmas we will know who it is. Looks like someone from Queens or Bronx. That will be in place before we come back.

Ex bd vacancies

Dwayne Clark nominates  Sung lee CL of community school, very active-comes to every event, rallies, great asset to UFT- he is young and engergetic –young dad wants to stay active. Great asset to elementary division.

Hereby elected since no other nominees.

Leroy Barr nominates Elizabeth Perez. She started as bilingual teacher at PS 160, worked tirelessly at UFT, served as special rep and political action coordinator and now is leader of Brooklyn office. She is taking on tyranny of administrators and modified many of their behaviors.

Hereby elected since no other nominees.

Jonathan New Action nominates Kate Martin Bridge.

She is a math teacher and chapter leader, was a NYS auditor before that, has been active as a delegate, has been helpful in those that have been excessed. Stepped in as CL for small school. Previously served as HS ex bd member.

Hereby elected since no other nominees.

WHAT IS THE FIRST WORD THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF MICHAEL MULGREW?

Pollsters are not normally known for their senses of humor but Quinipiac University did a poll where they asked voters this question:

What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of President Trump? (Numbers are not percentages. Figures show the number of times each response was given. This table reports only words that were mentioned at least five times.)

             Tot
 
idiot        53
liar         44
incompetent  36
leader       35
strong       35
asshole      26
great        21
moron        19
arrogant     18
disgusting   17
unqualified  16
crazy        15
bold         14
buffoon      12
dangerous    12
ignorant     12
corrupt      11
dishonest    11
honest       11
racist       11
businessman  10
different    10
stupid       10
business      9
change        9
egotistical   9
fraud         9
good          9
narcissist    9
president     9
American      8
jerk          8
trying        8
unstable      8
awesome       7
bombastic     7
disaster      7
pig           7
childish      6
dumb          6
evil          6
joke          6
powerful      6
courageous    5
disgrace      5
fantastic     5
hard-worker   5
insane        5

Some of the answers are quite funny. I notice that intelligent did not make the list. Maybe Americans are seeing things kind of clearly these days.

The same poll shows that Trump is 20 points underwater with a 37% approval rating as opposed to 57% disapproval. No surprise there.

I thought instead of doing this as just another Trump bashing piece (too easy), that it would be interesting to ask the readers of this blog the same question on the first word that comes to mind on one of Donald Trump's most notable critics, Michael Mulgrew.

It's your turn readers. Say whatever you want. Don't be restricted by the words that describe Trump.

I will pass right now as I don't want to influence anyone one way or another.

Please comment. We are looking for a strong, if unscientific, sample.


What is the first word that comes to your mind when you think of President Mulgrew?

SUCCESSFUL HS FORMULA?

I was thinking while writing about consortium schools twice this past week about what makes a successful high school. Having worked in a traditional high school for 28 years and now three in a consortium school, I believe I kind of know what works.

What do all high schools need? Figuring out the answer isn't rocket science. I can break it down to three main concepts that would make the difference:

1- A collaborative, respectful teaching and learning environment.

Administration, teachers, other staff and students must value each other as working together for a common goal.

Mutual respect works so much better than fear as a motivator.

Eductator experience has to be seen as an asset instead of a liability.

2-Lower class sizes and reasonable guidance caseloads.

25 maximum in a class (like the law says should be the average) so we actually have ample time to get to know the students as people, give them real individual attention and meticulously read rough drafts and revisions of those lengthy term papers we want done that will prepare kids for college.

Guidance caseloads of no more than 200 per counselor so counselors can do actual counseling and not mostly paperwork and emergencies.

3- An enforceable discipline code.

Students do need to know there are real consequences for their actions.


These very reasonable goals could actually be achieved. Instead of rewarding principals for results that are invariably made up in too many schools under current rules, give administration incentives for establishing a work environment where the above conditions are present. You then might witness more of those top scores being achieved for real.

SHOULD PROJECT BASED LEARNING DE-EMPHASIZING STANDARDIZED TESTS BE SCALED UP?

Yesterday while reading Ed Notes, I was intrigued by part of Andrea Gabor's AlterNet article that went into great detail to criticize Elizabeth Green's puff piece praising Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy.

While Moskowitz uses harsh, rigid discipline to motivate her scholars (students) and then councils out those who can't cope with such rigid methods, another group of public schools is doing quite well by taking the completely opposite approach.

Here is part of Gabor's piece:

Charter advocates ignore public-school success stories hiding in plain sight
Forty years ago, it was the successful reforms initiated by Tony Alvarado, best known for his superintendency of New York City’s District 2 and 4, and the founding of the small-, progressive-schools movement by Debbie Meier, the first educator to win a MacArthur genius grant, that grabbed education-reform headlines. It was that movement Sy Fliegel wrote about in his book A Miracle in Harlem.

That experiment lives on in the New York Performance Standards Consortium, a group of schools that has won exemptions from standardized tests, but that has racked up far higher graduation rates and college matriculation rates than traditional public schools. Among students who started a consortium high school in 2010, 77 percent graduated in four years, versus 68 percent for all New York City students. (The vast majority of consortium schools are in New York City.) Among those who became high school freshmen in 2008, 82 percent graduated by 2014, compared with 73 percent citywide.

Green’s Chalkbeat published this about the consortium schools: “The graduation rates are especially high for students with disabilities and English language learners. Nearly 70 percent of ELLs in consortium schools graduate on time, according to the report, compared to about 40 percent across the city. And half of students with disabilities in the consortium schools graduate on time, compared with fewer than a quarter citywide.”

Today there are close to 40 consortium high schools, the vast majority in New York City. In addition, there are numerous elementary- and middle-schools that emulate the consortium schools—comprising an informal network that is far larger, and of longer duration, than Success Academy.

My question for Elizabeth Green: Why does she rate Success Academy above the consortium high schools, and their like-minded elementary and middle schools, especially given that they have survived, indeed thrived, despite the very bureaucracy that Green, rightly, decries?

The consortium and like-minded schools are noteworthy in other respects: Whereas urban charter networks like Success Academy traditionally have been highly segregated, consortium schools aimed to integrate their classrooms from the beginning, and were successful. Nor do consortium schools engage in creaming.

What makes these schools successful is not only their progressive pedagogy, but also they’re collaborative approach to school improvement—one that gives voice to both teachers and students.

I can back up Gabor 100% after spending three years at Middle College High School. We have a collaborative atmosphere between staff and administration. Our kids generally do well at LaGuardia Community College where they take classes throughout their high school years. We don't "cream" either as many of our students have IEP's.

I'm not sure if the consortium model could be scaled up but I would definitely like to see it expanded, including into some larger high schools. Consortium schools do have a working formula. It is a reasonable alternative to the charters.