Showing posts with label Arthur Goldstein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arthur Goldstein. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2014

As the NYSUT World Turns: Some NYC Unity Caucus Delegates May Bolt and Vote Stronger Together

Leroy Barr Offer to Unity RA Delegates
Reports are surfacing that a small faction of Unity may just vote their conscience and damn the consequences at the April 5 NYSUT Representative Assembly.

Unity Caucus held a meeting at 52 Broadway (UFT HQ) after last Wednesday's (March 19) Delegate Assembly - with dinner served (were they using our dues money - did they pay rent? Can MORE hold caucus meetings there too?).

Leroy Barr strongly reminded the 800 Unityites who were elected as delegates to state and national conventions in the March 2013 elections that they were expected to vote as a block for the Mulgrew/Weingarten instigated Revive slate in the April 5 NYSUT election and they would be watched due to the open ballot.

There are early signs that Barr's message did not go over very well with at least a few of the Unity faithful, soon to be classified as traitors and drummed out of the Caucus if they should dare cast their vote for Stronger Together on April 5.

Barr also admonished them that they should not miss sessions to traipse around the city, as usual, using their meal money to eat at local restaurants. "Bring your own food and snacks into the convention hall" - paraphrasing Barr's comment from someone who was present. I'll bring them a bag of peanuts when I stop by late Saturday afternoon on April 5th after I work the FIRST LEGO League robotics tournament at the Javits Center.

Too bad I'll miss Arthur Goldstein's early morning speech that day. Arthur us running a piece this morning (On Timeliness and Learning) chronicling  his travels around the state speaking and making new friends as he goes head to head for NYSUT VP against former UFT District Rep Andy Pallotta, who by the way makes around $350,000 a year. I gotta hit Arthur for a loan when he wins - and by the way, if he does I bet we see Arthur make a move to reduce those crazy salaries of our union leaders, just as Karen Lewis did in Chicago.

Arthur has a funny piece running this morning on
The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters with cartoons yet.




That Barr had to make this point so strongly as a reminder to the Unity faithful (and those soon to be not so faithful) is a sign there is some unhappiness inside Unity Caucus (in the UFT) with the way the NYSUT split was fomented.

In some of my personal contacts when the subject comes up there is a rolling of the eyes. Sometimes a shrug. Clearly, little enthusiasm for the initiative to dump the current NYSUT leadership minus Andy Pallotta, a leadership that has one of their popular former members - Maria Neira - being dumped too. Maria still has a lot of supporters in Unity. Her integrity is well-known and counts for something when she sticks with Dick Iannuzzi when she probably could have deserted him for what could have been a guaranteed win if she ran on the Revise slate.

We always know that there are some decent Unity Caucus people with a conscience, but a conscience that will be put on hold when it comes to supporting dictums from the top. (I remember on the bus to the airport in Seattle after the 2010 Bill Gates AFT convention, some Unity people approached me and said they agreed with Ed Notes on many positions and trashed Randi and the Gates appearance. That didn't stop them from booing the people who walked out on Gates.)

There are some Unity people planning on leaving the caucus on their own and this vote will be their form of resigning. If they are thrown out of the caucus before the AFT July convention in LA, do they still get to go, given they were elected? In 2010, a Unity delegate and chapter leader who had invited my pal Angel Gonzalez to her soon to be closed school was tossed from the convention trip because she hadn't paid her Unity dues on time. She sent me off to Seattle with a scathing criticism of Randi/Mulgrew and Unity and joined GEM (the pre-cursor to MORE and Change the Stakes).

How interesting if even a sliver of Unity actually joins Stronger Together, the first even minor break in Unity here in the city since the mid-to late 60s. (We saw in the 2013 elections a large rank and file desertion of Unity - votes that MORE was not able to pick up.)

There is so much going on behind the scenes that I can't talk about yet - if I did I would have to kill you. But you will read it here first.

Stay tuned to "As the NYSUT World Turns."

Monday, February 10, 2014

Breaking: Arthur Goldstein Runs for NYSUT VP Against Unity's Andy Pallotta

This, ladies and gentleman, is an example of true grassroots unionism.  A rank and file teacher, who has been in his classroom teaching today, finding an avenue to make his voice heard.  Bottom up, member driven unionism at it’s finest. 
Posted on the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association blog. I've been telling reporters calling about our coverage of this story that there are surprises coming. Maybe a few more to come.  When is the last time Andy Pallotta was in a classroom as a full-time teacher? (and please let's not count the one period a day when he was District 10 (Bronx) rep.)

Arthur Goldstein Shakes Up the NYSUT Election Scene

Arthur Goldstein

We have learned this afternoon that Arthur Goldstein, who has been referred to by none other than Diane Ravitch as “NYC’s best teacher-blogger” is throwing his hat into the NYSUT election ring with the intention of running against incumbent Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta. 

Pallotta, who curiously thought all NYSUT officers but himself needed to be changed, recently cobbled together the “Revive NYSUT” slate to challenge the other incumbent officers.  Coincidentally, I am sure, he made sure to leave himself in a position he believed would be uncontested.  Now, however, he will have a contested election on his hands against a very qualified candidate.

Goldstein will be familiar to readers of this blog as the author of the blog NYC Educator where he has been blogging about education since 2005.  It is a blog we frequently have referenced on this site.  Additionally he has written articles about education for the Huffington Post (see here) and the Daily News, among other publications.  Goldstein works as an ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens where he is also a UFT chapter leader. 

Those of you on Twitter may very well be familiar with him as he is a frequent participant in education related topics under the handle @TeacherArthurG.  Be sure to give him a follow if you don’t already.  While a member of the UFT, Goldstein has been outspoken in his criticism of the Unity Caucus leadership of his local.

Via his guest post on our blog, “Reviving Unionism”…
It’s funny to hear people in NYSUT complaining about democracy. I’m chapter leader of one of the largest schools in NYC, and neither I nor anyone in my school gets to vote or participate at all in NYSUT or AFT. Though I’ve been elected twice, that means nothing. The only way a city teacher gets to be part of NYSUT is to be part of Unity, an invitation-only caucus that has run the union for over 50 years. I’ve never been invited.
The reason for that, I suppose, is my public point of view. I’ve been published in the Daily News, at Huffington Post, at Gotham Schools, on Schoolbook, on multiple blogs, and in local Queens newspapers taking positions contrary to those of UFT leadership. For example, I wrote a column labeling mayoral control mayoral dictatorship. Though giving Michael Bloomberg absolute power was a bad idea, the UFT supported it. After he used it to close schools all over the city, aiding no one but privatizers, we supported it again.
I also oppose value-added ratings for teachers, since they have no basis in science, and since great teachers have lost jobs as a result.  I can’t support Common Core, no matter how many millions of dollars Bill Gates pours into it, as I don’t believe it helps the students we serve when we fail most of them and use said failure to label working teachers as defective. Brilliant education historian Diane Ravitch shares my positions, and it’s ironic to be excluded from not only UFT, but also NYSUT and AFT for the crime of sharing her opinions.
It appears as though Goldstein will now circumvent the lack of a Unity Caucus invitation as he attempts to have his voice heard in his state union.

This, ladies and gentleman, is an example of true grassroots unionism.  A rank and file teacher, who has been in his classroom teaching today, finding an avenue to make his voice heard.  Bottom up, member driven unionism at it’s finest.
Goldstein will now give NYSUT delegates a very appealing alternative to Andrew Pallotta, who has seen Tiers 5 and 6, along with the tax cap on his watch. 

Goldstein’s frequent and harsh criticism of Andy Cuomo also stands in stark contrast to Pallotta who used $10,000 in VOTE COPE funds to secure a table for his Revive NYSUT cronies at Cuomo’s birthday party.

We will have more on this situation as it unfolds and as we move closer to April’s NYSUT election.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Arthur Goldstein: False stats are nonsense and indefensible. Your strategy has decimated city neighborhoods

I mentored teachers in the Chancellor's District in 2002. If that is a model the UFT is holding up as a solution I have a bridge to sell you. --- Ed Notes
 

Arthur Goldstein takes on Howard Wolfson


Never forget: Wolfson was a consultant for the UFT. Search Ed Notes for his name for more details.


Today's Daily News says Bloomberg school closings have failed. But for ten years you've been pretending they worked.
sorry, no. New schools far superior to the schools they replaced. Our strategy has been a huge success.
Sorry, no, false stats are nonsense and indefensible. Your strategy has decimated city neighborhoods.
 I have a lot to say about the Weingarten/Mulgrew editorial on closing schools but heading into the city today to go to the World Trade Center memorial and then on to the Tenement Museum. So hopefully, later.

=============
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

DEPARTMENT OF ED STARVES JAMAICA AND THEN SENDS REVIEWERS TO CRITICIZE US FOR BEING MALNOURISHED: Eterno Slams Klein and DOE Over Jamaica HS

I compare our plight to being in a prison where the warden cuts our food ration by 30% and then complains that we are too skinny. - James Eterno


NOTE: COME TO THE Panel for Educational Policy AT BROOKLYN TECH ON TUESDAY, NOV. 16 to tell Joel Klein to his face what you think of his closing schools policies
 - JOIN THE REAL REFORMERS AT 5:30- (Rehearsal at 4:30) - LOOK FOR MORE DETAILS AT ED NOTES AND GEM BLOGS.

James hits the bullseye in this excerpt from his chapter newsletter posted on the ICE blog.
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/

TAKE THE JAMAICA CHALLENGE

by James Eterno, Jamaica HS chapter leader

This post is extracted from Jamaica's weekly Chapter Newsletter and it is strictly my opinion. The story concerns Jamaica but is applicable to any school that is struggling and is reviewed by the DOE and State in the process.

DEPARTMENT OF ED STARVES JAMAICA AND THEN SENDS REVIEWERS TO CRITICIZE US FOR BEING MALNOURISHED
 
Jamaica High School has been denied resources by the Department of Education over the last few years since we started downsizing but that does not stop DOE officials from coming to our school to tell us how we need to improve.
 
I ask any school in the world to take the Jamaica challenge: Cut 30% of the teaching staff (student enrollment drop is less than half of that) and take away roughly half of the school’s space, raise class sizes beyond what the union contract calls for in scores of classes, replace an excellent Programmer and Guidance Coordinator with assistant principals who are untrained in these areas and must still also do their previous jobs, while continuing to permit unlicensed non-secretaries to perform secretarial duties. 
 
Then, place new schools in the corners of the building and equip those schools with up to date technology and provide their teachers with lower class sizes and a beautiful makeover for their parts of the building while students and staff of the old school that includes many at risk pupils are shoved into the middle of the building in obsolete rooms. Do all of this to the old school and then ask it to raise the graduation rate and promotion rate. Even set up the lunch schedule to favor the new schools. Their kids eat lunch during normal lunch hours between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. while the old school’s kids are eating lunch starting at 10:00 a.m. or after 1:00 p.m.

We at Jamaica challenge any school to thrive under these teaching and learning conditions. A Quality Review or Joint Intervention Team visit under these circumstances is a setup for failure. Separate and unequal schools are unfair and it is time for the DOE to be held accountable for mismanaging the education of our kids.

Last week Jamaica had a Quality Review-Joint Intervention Team (city-state) visit and it was a farce on a major scale. (I do not know the score we received on the QR.) I will say that the state people were quite professional in their review. From all reports they were very personable and listened to what we had to say. They did not call in the Chapter Leader for a formal discussion but we did exchange some pleasantries. It was the two quality reviewers from the city that interviewed me in one of the most bizarre interactions I have ever experienced.

I was trying to explain to these officials what we do in the Advanced Placement United States History class and how we have revived the program in the last three years and now have pupils scoring the top grades of 5 and 4 on the rigorous examination. We built up the program without the supports other schools have. The male quality reviewer cut me off in mid sentence and told me how we have an English Advanced Placement class that has 34 students in it and this is educationally unsound. He seemed to be criticizing me for this situation. I told him that I couldn’t agree more that it was unwise to have 34 in a college level class in a high school but that in actuality the class had 37 and as Chapter Leader I grieved it and 82 other oversize classes at Jamaica this fall. He would not even admit that we have oversize classes. I said the principal and DOE lawyer used the half class exception to justify them. 
 
At this point, the two reviewers looked at me like I was from Mars and would not talk about the half class size exception.

What stunned me was that they seemed to be trying to put me on the spot for the oversize classes. Were they kidding? We were truly coming from two different worlds. I mentioned the Quality Review from two years back that said we need new technology but we have lost so much funding that we can barely afford a piece of chalk in this school while the new schools in the building have modern equipment and lower class sizes. I said the education in this building is separate and unequal and our kids deserve an equal education.

I compare our plight to being in a prison where the warden cuts our food ration by 30% and then complains that we are too skinny.

THE DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD FOR JAMAICA

There is no way around the conclusion that we believe strong forces from outside would like to destroy Jamaica High School. We clearly are being set up to fail by the Department of Education and our union’s response has not exactly been tough.

I read yesterday’s NY Post article about Jamaica High School giving away credits very closely. Even by adding over 1,000 credits to student transcripts, we still couldn’t get enough points on the DOE Progress Report for this year to get a C grade. That is hard to believe. Of course when administration took those credits away our grade became a lower D but I am still forced to conclude that they would have found a way to give us a D even if all of our students graduated in a week. 
 
Isn’t it strange how Jamaica for at least two years in a row didn’t receive any credit on our progress report in a category called Additional Points even though our internal review shows that we have moved along English Language Learners who are obtaining Regents Diplomas? Where are our points? If DOE reviewed us fairly, they would have to admit we are performing miracles on a daily basis even with all of the obstacles they have placed in our way.
 
It looks like the DOE also undercounted our graduation rate just like they did last year. Therefore, it’s déjà vu or Ground Hog Day as we repeat the same scenario as last year. We must admit that many of us are tired of fighting with an employer that in my opinion does not play fair. However, we learned from last year’s experience and now is the time to wage another battle to keep going by exposing the truth. Hopefully, this blog piece will get the ball rolling.
 
As for the extra credit probe of jamaica High School for adding questionable credits to student transcripts that the NY Post is reporting on, I agree with Leonie Haimson that principals are cutting corners all over because of pressure to boost promotion and graduation rates.
 
High stakes decisions based on student progress are ridiculous when the school plays only a small part in determing student performance. Outside factors are far more important according to scholarly research and common sense. Hopefully, there will be a time when sanity returns to our schools.

-------------------------------

Another Queens chapter leader with another brilliant piece.

(How come all these smart people have been opposed to the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership? Please show me anything comparable to these posts by the geniuses who run our union.)

Arthur Goldstein at HufPo: No Leeches Left Behind
If I were a doctor, and Bill Gates suggested the use of bloodletting to improve medicine, I'd be skeptical. Still, Gates has all that money, so he must know something. He gives it away freely, and asks only that everyone follow the programs he starts (and pay to sustain them in perpetuity once his seed money runs out). Oh, and that institutions that don't meet his expectations be closed and replaced by others that more closely follow his methods.
Bloodletting is of no medical value, so it's understandably unpopular with modern medical practitioners. On the other hand, "value-added" evaluations, or judging teachers by scores of their students, is also highly questionable. Day by day, it appears as dubious as bloodletting.

MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-goldstein/no-leeches-left-behind_b_780026.html

Friday, October 15, 2010

Do Teacher Unions Have the Cooties? - Julie Cavanagh at the Huffington Post

A Real Reformer has a few things to say

If not for NYC teachers like Julie Cavanagh I would most likely be out grazing in the pasture of early bird specials and daytime bus trips to Atlantic City.

Having met Julie only 15 months ago through her work with Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) in Red Hook, I have to say that I have been more than impressed - impressed at the idea that a teacher just a shade over 30 with a decade of experience is out there with a whole bunch of other same gen Real Reformers doing what so many older teachers who I hear putting down the younger gen of colleagues do not believe is possible – mounting a defense of teacher unions from the perspective of a teacher in the trenches. And with a social justice twist.

One thing I have come to know. My usual habits of meandering around issues at tasks and at meetings and losing focus is not something to be tolerated. The constant refrains: "Is that the most productive use of your time?" and "Stop interrupting people." Nice to be lectured to by someone over half your age. But I am definitely more productive – when prodded. Fear does work.

Julie has helped CAPE organize a wonderful crew of teachers aligned with parents in the Red Hook community to fight off the invasions of the PAVE charter school clones. CAPE's work has impressed the activist education community throughout NYC with its passionate defense and pride in their public school. Many consider their school and community one of the most successful examples of a truly organized teacher/parent advocacy group. The 50 page "Advocacy Toolkit" that emerged from their own experience was produced to assist other schools facing charter co-locations had people dropping their jaws in awe. Check out the index:
1. Educating and Advertising…
· Create a press release
· Create a blog
· Contact the media
· Create a newsletter
· Advocacy Resources
2. Organizing…
· Create an advocacy group
· Community Organizing
3. Mobilizing...
· Create a petition
· Create a form letter
· Contact Policymakers
· Community Mobilizing
4. Information to share
(I can send you a copy if interested.)
 
Julie and some other CAPEers have jumped into the work of GEM. In a relatively short time, Julie has emerged as a prominent voice for the classroom teacher in the NYC ed real reform community: a major force behind the rally at Bloomberg's house in January (she co-signed the court papers along with Seung Ok) and the film we are working on to respond to WfS (http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org). An organizer for the rally in front of the movie theater on Sept. 24, she even wrote the words for the song "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up!" A passionate advocate for many of the push button issues so many of us care about, she provides real leadership, which has so often been absent. Julie's appearance on Fox and Friends on Sept. 26 gave her an opportunity to defend teachers and tenure in the very brief time she had ("Without tenure I wouldn't be sitting here....tenure allows teachers to advocate with parents for children.")

My proudest moment: introducing Julie to Leonie Haimson.
This dynamic duo should make the ed deformers very scared indeed.

When we add some of the great people in the NY Collection of Radical Educators (NYCORE), Teachers Unite and other activists in Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), there is some hope for a movement to emerge from the new generation of teachers (please, please so I can be put out to pasture).

The common theme: Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up!

Going national
Recently, Julie began a column at the Huffington Post. Look for it weekly.

Her first post: Do Teacher Unions Have the Cooties?

Excerpts:
Each week it is my hope to bring to you a teacher's perspective, highlighting the latest issues in educational policy with anecdotes from the everyday classroom. Please join me, in the comments section, by sharing your personal stories that bring to life the unintended, or perhaps intended, consequences of education policy and reform.

-------
We all remember "the cooties", and we expect this kind of behavior and name calling from young children. Millions of parents and teachers hide their laughter (at least I do) when the subject is perennially breached. As we engaged in a brief discussion of "the cooties" and treating each other nicely, I couldn't help but think of the national dialogue about teachers and their unions right now, and the very clear message that teacher unions "have the cooties". The assault on teacher unions has reached a fever pitch. The conversation surrounding education policy, and millions in taxpayer dollars in the form of Race to the Top, is focused not only on attacking our unions, but weakening them, if not dismantling them altogether.
--------

I am interested in reform. However, I seek real reform. Attacking teachers and their unions will not result in real reform. Let's turn our sights not on those "wealthy middle class teachers, with their cushy jobs, who retire on pensions that are a fraction of their salary," instead, we should focus on our policy makers and the corporate interests that drive their decision making. Let's stop playing schoolyard games with teachers and their unions and get real. Teachers and their unions do not have 'the cooties', we simply have and want to keep what all workers in this country should have: fair wages, health care, protections from arbitrary firing, safe working conditions, and a reasonable pension so we can live and retire at a fair wage and age.

Our children deserve real reform right now! Write to your policy makers and demand:
- Smaller class sizes
- Public Schools that are Community Centers and Serve ALL Children
- More Teaching -- Less Testing
- Parent and Teacher Empowerment and Leadership
- Equitable funding for ALL schools
- Anti-Racist Education Policies
- Culturally Relevant Curriculum
- Expanded Pre Kindergarten and Early Intervention Programs
Read the full piece at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-cavanagh/post_955_b_742752.html

Arthur Goldstein too
Speaking of Huffington, another great teacher activist leader - but a bit closer to my generation - is Arthur Goldstein, chapter leader at Francis Lewis HS, also has his first post up and running - a love letter to Bill Gates at the Huffington Post and a letter in the Daily News today (scroll down to see it).

Here's an excerpt from: Garrulous Mr. Gates
It's been a busy year for Bill Gates. He's been spreading his gospel far and wide. He spent 2 million dollars promoting Waiting for Superman, yet its alleged villainess, AFT President Randi Weingarten and company chose Gates to address her convention, an unlikely choice, to say the least. I'm not an education expert like Gates, so I'll comment only on a TED talk he gave last year. My experience is limited to teaching 25 years in New York City.  Still, even a layperson such as myself has to wonder where the influential Gates gets his information:
After burn
Check out the post below this for upcoming Teacher Unite events this week, starting with Lois Weiner tomorrow.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Ravitch on Goldstein and More on UFT Elections

"Arthur, Thank you for a brilliant review of my book! It means a lot to me that a teacher in the trenches likes it and thought I hit a bulls eye." -Diane Ravitch

The comment from Diane Ravitch posted last Sunday at Gotham Schools in a thread following Arthur Goldstein's review of her new book is worth highlighting for the multiple bases it touches.

Now I must point out once again that Arthur is running with ICE-TJC for High School Executive Board in the current UFT elections. These 6 positions look to be winnable since ICE-TJC took 36% of the vote against the Unity/New Action combo in 2007. If we win those seats it would put Lawhead, Fiorillo, Kit Wainer, Marian Swerdlow and Peter Lamphere in addition to Arthur on the board. Compare any Unity/New Action people you can think of to these 6 and you come up empty.

Only high school teachers will see their names on the ballot, so it is especially imperative to get out the vote in the high schools. Since only around 4,000 out of 20,000 high school teachers voted in the last election, it will take constant reminders to get people to return their ballots with the ICE-TJC box checked off. If you want these voices on the UFT Exec Bd start reminding people Monday and do so for the next two weeks.

The rough numbers in 2007 were Unity: 2250, New Action: 550, ICE-TJC: 1550. (New Action ended up with 3 HS EB seats with a thousand less votes than ICE-TJC.) Thus if ICE-TJC and double the vote they would win handily. So go get em.

In this comment, Diane covers a lot of ground that touch on UFT policies.

Unions in charters
"You have read my book so you know my overall conclusion is that they range from excellent to awful but on average, they do not produce better results than regular public schools. Second, the charter movement is dominated by anti-union ideologues; charter schools succeed by hiring young, single teachers and having them work 50-60 or more hours a week. Of the 5,000 or so charter schools in the nation currently, I would guess that 95% of them are non-union. That is no accident."

This blows up the AFT/UFT strategy of organizing charters as a "solution". Where have they been up to now? They will continue to blow up every little victory while 95 charters open for every 5 they organize. The charters have incredible turnover and teachers often jump from charter to charter, so organizing is a moving target.

Even if they do organize charters - let's say every one in NYC, you end up with individual contracts for each school and the power of the UFT as an organization capable of shutting down a school system is dissipated. But the top level of the UFT would continue to flourish as dues keeps flowing in. They know this and will try to keep the lid on the cap not to protect public schools but to keep the dues rolling in.

On Green Dot charters, which the UFT has made a big deal of
"Green Dot took over Locke High School in Los Angeles to much fanfare. They cleaned up the school, established order, provided good maintenance. But after a year of publicity about the Locke miracle, the scores came out and they had not changed by even 1 percent. Of course, scores are not all that matter, and they are not always a good indicator of school quality. But the fanfare got a little quieter when it became a matter of record that the students had not turned overnight into college-ready scholars simply because private managers took over."

Leo Casey claimed at last week's forum that the UFT/Green Dot contract was better than ours.

Unity/UFT less than subtle attempts to stifle discussion
"I am shocked that anyone would suggest you might be disciplined by the NYC Department of Education for your free expression of opinion, including criticism of your bosses."

This was a response to UFT/Unity Caucus ideologue Peter Goodman's comments, with lots of others jumping in. I suggest you read through the thread to get the full gist.

Here is Goldstein's message to the staff of Francis Lewis HS:

Dear colleagues,

I’m running with ICE/TJC for the UFT High School Executive Board, and I’m asking for your vote. Given events of the last few years, like the disastrous 2005 contract, the union’s support of mayoral control, the erosion of seniority rights, the advent of perpetual lunch duty and hall patrol, and the inability to grieve letters in a file simply for their being incorrect, I’ve determined there’s a need for a new voice in the UFT.

I’d like to be that voice.

Unity is an invitation-only caucus that’s controlled the UFT since its inception. When people join, they agree not to vary from Unity positions in public. Whatever Unity tells them to say, they say. Essentially, it’s a loyalty oath. In recent times, many of Unity’s decisions, like those listed above, have not benefitted working teachers.

There is another caucus called New Action. It supports the top of the Unity ticket, pretty much guaranteeing more of the same. It was once an opposition party, but in 2003 Randi Weingarten bought them off with patronage jobs and a few seats on the UFT Executive Board. With your help ICE/ TJC can claim those seats and bring real independent voices and thoughts to our union leadership.

If elected, I will be your voice not only here, but also on the UFT. I will not support measures that hurt working teachers, or any UFT members. I will vigorously oppose measures that appease Bloomberg and Klein with vague promises of benefits to come. Such measures have not served us well.

I will fight for a fair contract, for professional treatment, the retention of tenure, and the concept that a raise means more pay for doing the same job—not for extra time, extra duties, and fewer benefits and privileges.

Please check ICE/TJC on your ballot. Vote for a change in the UFT.

After 50 years, it’s time.

Best regards,

Arthur Goldstein, UFT Chapter Leader




Robotics
Well, it's off for a weekend of robotics at the Javits center, where Klein is supposed to make an appearance at 9AM this morning. I'll be doing my hair, but will get there later. I will be there all day Sunday handling registration for the 80 NYC teams taking part in the FIRST LEGO League tournament. Come on down. And you can also check out the over 60 high school teams from around the nation doing the big robots - they are there today too.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A Good Week for the Ravitches? - Updated

Updated: Mar. 3, 4pm

With rave reviews coming in for Diane Ravitch's new book and the news that Governor Patterson may be leaving the field for Diane's ex-husband, Lt. Governer Richard Ravitch, this is turning into quite a week for them.

(running for HS Exec Bd on the ICE-TJC slate) was lucky enough to get a hold of a review copy of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” - a further sign that Arthur has become one of the most respected commentators on education not only in the city, but nationally. His review is a rave:

It is, frankly, a revelation, and anyone interested in education, particularly New York City education, needs to read it right now.

For anyone who’s wondered where on earth Joel Klein dreamed up his “reforms,” look no further. A substantial source of inspiration appears to be a three-stage process — a New York City experiment that gave a false impression of success, a San Diego experiment that eluded success altogether, and a stubborn determination to replicate both in overdrive.


As both Bloomberg and Klein were business experts using business models, they used a “corporate model of tightly centralized, hierarchal, top-down control, with all decisions made at Tweed and strict supervision of every classroom to make sure the orders flowing from headquarters were precisely implemented,” Ravitch writes. It appears they didn’t squander their valuable time on troublesome input from teachers, parents, or any contradictory voices whatsoever. In fact, Ravitch points out that though the mayor had promised increased parental involvement, it was actually reduced. Parent coordinators were hired, but in fact, they actually “worked for the principal, not for parents.”


Read Arthur's full review at Gotham Schools Ravitch Reveals All


I just hope Richard R reads his ex-wife's book, takes heed, and swats the co-conspirator NY State Ed Department before it causes more damage. But I'm not holding my breath.


Sam Dillon the NY Times today has a BIG STORY on Diane's turn around from a leading conservative to a major voice battling the Ed Deformers.

Leading Scholar’s U-Turn on School Reform Shakes Up Debate - NYTimes.com

I can remember years of disparaging remarks toward Diane from the Resistance to the Ed Deformers I have been associated with for almost a decade. When she received the UFT's John Dewey Award, I received an email from Jerry Bracey, one of her severest critics, asking if we were throwing up a picket line.

So when Leonie Haimson introduced me to Diane at the famous St. Vartus church Feb. 28, 2007 rally, I was a bit surprised. Diane joined Leonie's list serve and published some critiques on the brand new at the time NYC Parent blog. As I began to post her work on ICE mail I came under attack from some people on the list, who went after Diane. Over the past few years, she has won over more and more critics (some praise from Ohanian and Lawhead).

When I went to a Manhattan Institute luncheon honoring Chester Finn (who is mentioned on the Times piece) hosted by Diane, a close friend of his, I felt like a total outcast. Until Diane came by my table and whispered in my ear: Go Get 'Em.

I still line up more with Deb Meier on standards and the other issues she and Diane blog about (both are on Leonie's influential listserve and we get some special treats from their back and forth) but I have become a Diane Ravitch fan as much for qualities as a person as for her ideas.

Here is a link to a new radio interview:

http://radio.nationalreview.com/betweenthecovers/post/?q=ZWNkOGNjNTEyMzA2ZmI1ZTMzN2EyZjY1MmU2ZDM5Zjk

For a somewhat dissenting view from Jim Horm (thanks to Sharon Higgins) see:

Diane Ravitch and What's Underneath the Policy Makeover

Horn picks at the national standards issue that Diane supports and without going deep on my part, I tend to agree that if we end up where Diane wants us to, one day we will see a part 2 of her book.


Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Attention Drawn to Overcrowding at Francis Lewis a Tribute to Chapter Leader, REVISED


Updated, Sept. 30, 10AM
Since my column was due today for Friday's edition of The Wave, the Rockaway community newspaper, I rewrote this piece with that audience in mind. It should be easier to follow.



The NY Times Continues to Tilt Toward BloomKlein on Education

When Arthur Goldstein, an ESL teacher with almost a quarter century experience, took the giant step of running for chapter leader at Francis Lewis HS in Queens, one of the largest and most overcrowded schools in the city with 4600 students and 300 union members, he promised to focus his attention on the severe overcrowding at the school.

Goldstein has had first hand experience, having to teach in a dilapidated trailer for years. He has drawn attention to the shameful record of Tweed (for new readers, the headquarters, full of dungeons and dragons, of the NYC Department of Education) and the Bloomberg administration in short changing schools with good reputations like Francis Lewis through editorials at the Gotham Schools blog and the Daily News. Tuesday’s front page article in the NY Times focused on the situation at Francis Lewis. But as usual, the Times only told half the story. Or less.

Goldstein, in a recent Daily News editorial (My school is bursting with students, and Tweed is to blame), clearly places the blame where it is due.

His article closes with: ….the experts at Tweed are like doctors who diagnose a disease, then inject the patient with more toxins just to make certain they're right. No one can criticize their diagnostic skills. But if anyone's due a malpractice suit, it's the Department of Education.


The usual NY Times tilt towards the BloomKlein administration on education made no mention of the trailers or any of the dilapidated conditions of the school. Nor did it tie in with the Bloomberg claims to educational excellence and the ridiculous attacks on Bill Thompson over the conditions in the schools when Thompson held the almost powerless position as head of the old Board of Education in the 90’s. (If they want to play that game, speaking of conditions, I bet Francis Lewis was not nearly as overcrowded when Bill Thompson headed the Board of Education).

The Times' article had nary a mention of the conditions Goldstein describes, nor does it mention Goldstein who has used his bully pulpit as UFT chapter leader so effectively. My goodness, the union rep fighting as much for the safety of kids as for teachers? And to the usual charge that the union is only concerned with jobs, doesn’t Goldstein’s campaign to reduce the overcrowding mean less staff? Would reporting that the actions of the union teachers at Francis Lewis in standing up to BloomKlein on a situation that is dangerous for kids counter the anti-teacher and anti-teacher union propaganda that is so rampant? The Times doesn’t want to go there as it executes the Times Tilt toward BloomKlein.


I once challenged the Times reporter who wrote the article at a symposium that the rank and file teacher point of view is rarely presented (union bureaucrats don’t count). Her response was that teachers are afraid to talk, which I found pretty funny. There is not one quote from a teacher in her article, only from students, the principal and a school secretary. Yet there are over 200 teachers at the school, more than a few I have encountered who have no fear. Certainly Arthur Goldstein is one.

Before I go on, I want to mention my favorite whipping crew at the UFT, which only got involved when Goldstein, who ran with the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) in the last UFT election and will be running with them again in this year’s election, started agitating. (Full disclosure: I am also a member of ICE.) Francis Lewis has been under the control of Unity Caucus, which has ruled the UFT for 45 years, for decades and some of the Unity supporters did what they could to stop Goldstein from getting elected as chapter leader.


Getting back to the Times as whipping boy, the article made no mention of the insane conditions teachers must work under, focusing only on student travails. TILT

Goldstein has written that Francis Lewis was built to hold 1800 students instead of the Times’ figure of 2400, allowing Tweed to claim, "You see, the school is not even at 200% capacity." TILT

The Times’ article bias toward the DOE line is further revealed here:


Not far from Francis Lewis, two schools with lesser reputations, Jamaica and John Bowne High Schools, are below capacity. But education officials, wary of alienating middle-class parents, have been reluctant to shift students to even out the load.


The Times did not ask the DOE why these schools have lesser reputations and are underutilized. In fact, John Bowne is at capacity, but the DOE plays games with the numbers.


Jamaica HS is a different story altogether. Chapter leader James Eterno, who is running for UFT president on the ICE/TJC slate against Unity Caucus' Michael Mulgrew, has written repeatedly about the intentional policies of Tweed in trying to force Jamaica's closing so it could be prime meat for future charter schools, even steering kids who want to attend away. James Eterno wrote a powerful letter to the State Education Commissioner pointing to the educational apartheid BloomKlein were perpetuating at Jamaica HS. (Read James' letter at the ICE blog: Letter to State Ed Commissioner: Stop Academic Apartheid)


The Times didn’t do any digging at all, just accepting the DOE line, as evidenced here:


Education officials say they are creating more schools that could eventually absorb some of the demand. Elizabeth Sciabarra, the director of the Department of Education’s office of enrollment, said that Francis Lewis had done a "pretty terrific job" of dealing with the overcrowding but that she could not say how many more students it could handle. "You have people who deliberately choose that school and live in the neighborhood because of that," she said, adding that the city had never capped enrollment at a high school. "Once you start to put a cap on, then where do you send those kids? I don’t see how we would be able to do that in a way that would be fair."


The Times neglected to ask Sciabarra why Tweed doesn't pour enough resources into Jamaica and Bowne to make them attractive enough so kids will want to go there. (For those who think that wouldn't work, look up the 1970's case of Mark Twain MS in Coney Island which went from worst to best in a blink, with pretty much the same teaching staff.)


The Times also neglected to read Arthur Goldstein's powerful piece at Gotham Schools, A Tale of Two Queens High Schools, where he compared the Jamaica and Francis Lewis situation and points to the Tweed complicity in turning people away from Jamaica. This is an important piece and example of real journalistic excellence.


For the times to make no connection to the Eterno and Goldstein pieces amounts to journalistic malpractice that rivals Tweed's educational malpractice. But then again, the Times and BloomKlein are on the same side.

TILT

Related
The Arthur Goldstein article at Gotham

A Tale of Two Queens High Schools


Imagine there are two high schools in the same borough. One school can’t enroll enough kids to stay open, and the other is filled to 250% of capacity. What would you do? It might seem logical to even out the population of both schools, but that is not how New York City operates.

I’m in one of the most overcrowded schools in the city, Francis Lewis High School. Our building is designed for 1,800 kids, and last year we were up to 4,450. This year we hit 4,700, and the sky’s the limit. Where the extra kids will go I have no idea. I teach in a trailer out back, and you wouldn’t use it to house your dog if you had a choice.

In the trailers, you never can tell if there will be heat on cold days or AC on hot ones (and don’t buy a used car from anyone who tells you tin keeps you cool). The bathrooms are an abomination. Though school trailers are all the rage in New York City, you never see them on the news. If I didn’t visit one every working day of my life, I probably wouldn’t believe they existed.

On the other hand, James Eterno, chapter leader at Jamaica High School, has a completely different problem. Not enough kids are enrolling in his school. Could we help one another? That way, if, God forbid, there were ever a fire or something, perhaps more of us could make it out alive. How did things get to this point?

It’s complicated. Longtime teachers know that a lot of incidents routinely go unreported. The Bloomberg administration, early on, declared all incidents would be reported, and some administrators took those words to heart — as did those at Jamaica. The consequences are highly unlikely to encourage other administrators to do the same.

The city labeled Jamaica a “priority” school, and then an “impact” school. Ultimately, the state labeled the school “persistently dangerous.” Under NCLB, this triggered a letter home to all Jamaica parents, offering them an opportunity to transfer their kids to another school. Understandably, the school population dropped precipitously. Was Jamaica persistently dangerous, or was it just reporting more incidents than its neighbors?

Administration then began to move in the opposite direction. This resulted in the disastrous policy (by no means unique to Jamaica) of not allowing staff to call 911 without administrative approval. This was widely covered in the media, and likely resulted in even lower enrollment at Jamaica.

The DoE’s position was that Jamaica needed surveillance cameras, police, and metal detectors to improve. Eterno felt it would’ve benefited more from additional counselors, teachers, and social workers. But that was not to be the case. In fact, in 2008 Jamaica had over a dozen teachers, excessed due to declining enrollment, sitting in the school day after day, sometimes working as subs.

Why couldn’t these teachers have been used to decrease class sizes, and consequently give more attention to kids at Jamaica? The answer may be that the DoE had other plans for the space created by the exodus of local kids.

In 2008, Queens Collegiate, a school co-sponsored by the College Board, was placed in what used to be the social studies wing of Jamaica High. Jamaica’s social studies department was banished to an office in which they shared a single electrical outlet. Meanwhile, according to Eterno, Queens Collegiate rooms got paint, computers, smartboards, and everything else private-public ventures are entitled to in Mayor Bloomberg’s New York.

Additional schools create additional levels of administration and eat up classroom space, worsening overcrowding. Eterno asks, “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to fix a place like Jamaica?” At overcrowded Francis Lewis High School, I wonder the same thing. Why couldn’t the free space in Jamaica be used to help us, rather than a privately-sponsored school? Why doesn’t the city invest in technology, magnet programs, and better conditions to draw kids to Jamaica?

In fact, why don’t they offer prospective Jamaica students lower class sizes (which parents declared their number one priority on a DoE-sponsored survey)? Hasn’t Mayor Bloomberg accepted hundreds of millions of CFE lawsuit funds for that very purpose? Isn’t fixing schools for our kids, whether or not they win charter lotteries, whether or not they’re accepted into elite schools, worth a try?

Eterno says of the DoE, “If they perceive you as troubled, they don’t throw you a lifeline. They seem to say, ‘Good, you’re drowning. We hope you go under.’” But is that attitude unique to Jamaica? It doesn’t appear so. Our school is just a variation on a theme. They perceive us as successful, and seem to want to overcrowd us until we reach a breaking point — which is nothing short of inevitable.

It’s sort of a Catch 22 — struggle and you’re in danger of closing, but excel and you’re packed to the rafters and beyond. Why not give Lewis kids a real incentive to attend Jamaica, or any nearby school for that matter? Any time it felt like it, this administration could wake up and help me and James Eterno.

More importantly, it could help the thousands of kids we serve.