A Day at the Rages UPDATED - Did Moskowitz Back Down or Did the DOE Do a Deal Behind the Scenes?

UPDATED: DNAInfo- Lower East Side Success Academy Delayed for 2 Years, Officials Say

Chalkbeat: http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2015/01/08/success-academy-cancels-its-plans-to-open-new-schools-in-2015/#.VK_gxydZhOd

Deferred Success

The Success Academy charter school network has abandoned plans to open four schools in the upcoming school year, following negotiations with the city last month in which Success secured public space for 10 schools in 2016.

• Chalkbeat,
• DNAinfo

Even after news got out that Success Academy was scraping its plans for next school year, Lower East Side parents and elected officials went ahead with a hearing to oppose a new Success charter school in District 1.

• Chalkbeat

 

Megan Moskop comment at Chalkbeat • 

I'm really glad Chalkbeat covered this event. Thank you! As someone present at the event though, I think use of the word "makeshift" is an unfairly derogatory choice to describe the well-organized and persistent activism of LES parents. This article neglects to mention that though many went home early, perhaps due to family responsibilities, the auditorium was initially full of community members. Yes, the posters were home-made, and the speakers wore sweaters, not suits, but that's what real activism (not the well-funded Success Academy kind) looks like. It was inspiring to hear from the parents, teachers, and students who made it out last night to demand quality public schools for all the students in their district, not just their own children, and their efforts should be lauded, or, at least reported using more objective terms.

Raging Horse Blog report:

Insulted at such cavalier treatment, CEC 1’s fearless President Lisa Donlon decided to hold a public forum in its stead in which members of the Lower East Side community could speak their mind about Moskowitz and her ever expanding charter empire.
This they did. Fervently. Angrily. Passionately.... Speaker after speaker told horror stories about dealing with Success Academy and while there was a sense of relief at the DOE’s announcement, there was no misunderstanding the fact that Moskowitz and her hedge fund backers would be back when they sensed the time was right.....The crowd of about 200 people included parents, principals, and teachers, including a contingent from MORE. It was refreshing to witness such a display of rebellious intelligence and community.

MOREistas in the house - I counted about 10-a dozen all told

The coldest day turned into the busiest day. First up was Peter Zucker's (South Bronx School) 3020a hearing. I thought today the principal would be cross-examined but it turned into another half day of listening to her drone on. I have dozed off at every one of her appearances. Can we bottle tapes of her to replace sleeping pills? We went to lunch and when we came back we were waiting around for some documents to be turned over.

Done for the day and I headed over to the Lower East Side for the event being held to replace the cancelled Success Academy hearing by Community Education Council plus politicians and other community leaders, led by City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and CEC1's Lisa Donlan. After a stop at Patrick Walsh's apartment for some coffee, we headed over to PS 20, where I taped over 2 hours of testimony and comments. Success had to drag a parent down from Washington Heights to try to make some case - only one other person spoke favorably for charters. Funny, but a UFT rep got up and while opposing Eva said she was not against charters -- toeing to the line for the UFT.

Here is Raging Horse's take: Moskowitz Backs Down (For the time Being)
and some photos -- video tomorrow or Saturday.

Rosie Mendez, one of the leaders of the band

Lisa Donlan and Rosie Mendez

MORE's Alexandra Alves comments

And Jia Lee too

DOE Suddenly Cancels Success Academy Hearing Tonight - Community to Hold Own Forum

Like McDonalds, SACS simply assumes that they can open their franchise and sling their burgers anywhere... Liz Rosenberg

...at 6:38 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7th, the Department of Education sent an e-mail stating: “In light of the fact that the DOE is not planning to site a school in District 1 tomorrow’s hearing has been cancelled.”  To date, Success Academy has not rescinded its request to change its application to School District 1. If elected officials do not receive said written notice before the scheduled press conference, community leaders will hold a forum to allow parents and community residents an opportunity to provide their comments.

Nothing surprises us when it comes to the machinations going on around Eva and Success Academy. Was it too itty bitty cold tonight? I'm going to be there and I'm old and cold.

Since SACS [Success Academy Charter Schools] switched locations virtually overnight, it had no language in its proposal specific to District 1; it failed to make the case that District 1 has “limited options” or had a “compelling need” for it. Like McDonalds, SACS simply assumes that they can open their franchise and sling their burgers anywhere. But of all the districts in the city, District 1 is even more sure than most that they do not want or need a Success Academy. ...comment at NYCpublic.org

Below the announcement I've included a great article called: District 1 Deserves A School That Matches Their Vision (Not Success Academy) by Liz Rosenberg

***MEDIA ADVISORY*** WITH LESS THAN 24 HOURS NOTICE, DOE CANCELS SACS PUBLIC HEARING

January 8, 2015 mendezrosie

Advisory_ SACS_ 1 8 15

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                                   January 7, 2015

Contact: John Blasco [Councilwoman Rosie Mendez] 212-677-1077, jblasco@council.nyc.gov
Lisa Donlan [President, CEC1] 212-353-2946, lisabdonlan@hotmail.com

WITH LESS THAN 24 HOURS NOTICE, THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CANCELS PUBLIC HEARING ON SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL’S APPLICATION FOR A “NON-MATERIAL” CHANGE

With Little To No Notice to Community Residents and Elected Officials, Department of Education Cancels Long Awaited Hearing.Community To Move Forward With Its Own Forum

WHAT:          Press Conference immediately before the scheduled and now cancelled public hearing on Success Academy Charter Schools’ application for a “non-material” change to move its charter application from School District 2 to School District 1.
WHEN:          Thursday, January 8^th, 5pm
WHERE:       In front of P.S. 20, the Anna Silver School (166 Essex Street between East Houston & Stanton Streets)
WHY: Success Academy Charter School was previously approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees’ Charter School Committee for a new charter in School District 2, but has since applied for a “non-material” change to move their charter to School District 1. Under current SUNY policies, there is no public hearing required before this “non-material” change, since it takes place within the same borough. However, following advocacy by Council Members Chin and Mendez, SUNY has now agreed to take public comments from the School District 1 community before deciding whether or not to approve Success Academy’s “non-material” change.
However, at 6:38 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7th, the Department of Education sent an e-mail stating: “In light of the fact that the DOE is not planning to site a school in District 1 tomorrow’s hearing has been cancelled.”  To date, Success Academy has not rescinded its request to change its application to School District 1.
If elected officials do not receive said written notice before the scheduled press conference, community leaders will hold a forum to allow parents and community residents an opportunity to provide their comments.

####

http://www.nycpublic.org/impactory-2/successcomments/my-two-cents-on-sacs-in-district-1/

District 1 Deserves A School That Matches Their Vision (Not Success Academy)

On January 8th the New York City Department of Education will hold a hearing regarding the Success Academy Charter School slated for District 1 in Lower Manhattan. The school was approved despite clear community opposition and despite an eleventh-hour application change that many see as a violation of the charter proposal process. I will be delivering the following testimony at that hearing.
It is not news that Success Academy Charter Schools (SACS) is slated to open 14 new schools in NYC over the next two years, but it is news that one of those schools will be in New York City’s District 1. At the last minute, SACS asked the State University of New York (SUNY), one of two New York state charter authorizers, to change the location of the school it had originally stipulated for District 2. This might not sound like a big deal, but in New York charter applications specify that the applicant demonstrate that “the proposed school is located in a community with limited options” and that the proposal shows “a compelling need for the school.”^[1] Since SACS switched locations virtually overnight, it had no language in its proposal specific to District 1; it failed to make the case that District 1 has “limited options” or had a “compelling need” for it. Like McDonalds, SACS simply assumes that they can open their franchise and sling their burgers anywhere. But of all the districts in the city, District 1 is even more sure than most that they do not want or need a Success Academy.
With anger directed toward the Success network coming from many places across the city, how can I make such a strong statement about District 1? Because, unusually, Community Education Council 1 has invested much time and energy in understanding what type of school program their community would like to see.
Last January, District 1’s Community Education Council partnered with my organization, NYCpublic, to hold a “Community Engagement Lab.” (You can see the lab in action here.) Participants in the Lab, whose stated purpose was to determine what the community might want in a new school, came from progressive and traditional schools, from the co-ops and from the public housing developments and middle-income Mitchell Lama buildings nearby. They included representatives from central NYCDOE, local teachers and administrators–and, of course, parents.
By the end of the one-day lab, which consisted of guest-speaker-hosted “learning sessions” and highly structured brainstorming exercises, participants had come to consensus around and developed a set of “building blocks” that should be inherent in any future district school. These “building blocks” addressed:

• Configuration – Lab consensus was for a pre-K-8th grade Spanish-English dual language school, with tracks for both general education and dual language. There would be options for middle school (6th grade) entry also.

• Community Integration – Lab participants wanted a school that would be integrated with the community, providing the community with a sense of ownership. The school would act as a community hub, sharing its gym (in a neighborhood with precious few), parent center, and health clinic. It would engage local community-based organizations for after-school programming and other supports and partner with local organizations, museums, and institutions to offer programs in school and via field trips.

• Leadership – The selection of the first instructional school leader would happen early in the process of planning, designing, and building the new school to ensure that the building, instructional curriculum, teachers, and school community reflect community values. District 1 residents and parents would be part of selecting the school leader in a participatory and authentic process.

• Curriculum – Lab participants asked for a curriculum that would create opportunities throughout the year, at all grades, for multidisciplinary, integrated instruction; would develop forward-thinking skills, such as STEM/STEAM; would prominently feature social-emotional learning; would prioritize play at all grade levels; and would provide students with a real opportunity to influence what and how they learn.

• Teaching Staff – Participants were eager for a school which would support and cultivate master teachers and give those teachers some say in the allocation of budget items.

• Student Assessment – Lab attendees looked forward to a school that would allow students to demonstrate their mastery of content through non-traditional evaluation (exhibits, portfolios, discussions, presentations, etc.), in the process bolstering confidence and independence.

Most of these “building blocks” are the polar opposite of Success Academy’s school design. Via the Community Engagement Lab, District 1 has created a model for a school that will support all of students in the district, including a dual language program and social emotional curriculum. Success Academy, on the other hand, has a well-documented history of not meeting charter school enrollment requirements for English Language Learners and special education students. They are known to counsel out poor testers, or students who struggle to meet their rigid code of conduct. They do not refill their seats once those students have left. (This is one of the reasons that SACS is now being audited by the comptroller.)
Success Academy Charter Schools are cookie-cutter versions of the same school, each with the same pedagogical model. They are not responsive to the community-based organizations and cultural institutions in their midst, something that District 1 residents clearly prize. Test prep is a huge part of the curriculum at Success Academy–yet this community is asking for a school that focuses on alternative methods of assessment and a deep rich curriculum that may or may not align with standardized tests. Further, the school that District 1 envisions supports teachers and makes sure that they feel empowered as essential leaders in their school. Success Academy has a famously high turnover rate and a reputation for a dictatorial leadership style.
The list of incompatibilities could go on and on, but there is one more reason why Success Academy is wrong for District 1. This reason goes far beyond this one network of schools. We tax-paying New York City residents deserve to have a say in what public schools come into our communities. SUNY’s rubric for approving charter schools allots one point out of 64 total points to community engagement. Given that Success’ District 1 proposal was written for District 2, there is no way that they should get even that one point on this topic.
Though some District 1 parents might welcome a Success Academy, those same parents might also welcome the school envisioned by their fellow community members. This week our fight is to assert one District’s right to determine what types of schools are planted in its community.
Let this week’s hearing continue NYC public school parents’ fight to control which schools get planted in our communities. The broken process for approving charters, one that would completely discount a community process like the one described here, must be stopped.
The District 1 community wants much more for their kids. Sign their petition now. You can also go to this page to write to charter approver SUNY about why you do not want to see a Success Academy in District 1. Even better, you can share what you would rather see grow in your community instead.

Liz Rosenberg
^[1] From the SUNY Preference Scoring Rubric in their January 2014 RFP

PS 147: My Old School, Now So Cool

PS 147’s Japanese DLP featured in DNAinfo!
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141117/upper-west-side/what-you-need-know-before-sending-your-child-dual-language-program#

ニューヨークDOEの奨学金授与が決定しました！　PS 147’s Japanese DLP is Awarded the DOE Grant!

After nearly a year’s efforts in bringing the first-ever Japanese DLP to the NYC DOE, we are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the dual-language grant by the Office of ELLs! We are one of the 40 DLPs approved to open this fall as an initiative to promote biculturalism and bilingualism amongst NYC public school students. We will be getting more information about enrollment procedures this week and will provide updates as we get them. Thank you for your support in our vision to bring this program to fruition!
Please see Chancellor Carmen Farina’s efforts in opening DLPs in the city:
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2014/52/chancellor_tl_2014_12_26_2014_q.html

The Grimm Reaper of Closing Schools Leaving the DOE (Finally)

Ding dong, the Grimm Reaper of closing schools is gone.
It was a close call between her and John White - but she blinked every so often.

Why was someone who did so many horrible things allowed to stay on for a year in the new administration? unless they didn't think she'd done horrible things? ... Comment on NYCParent listserve

I got sick watching sycophantic Grimm still at the DOE, sitting on the stage a year after Bloomberg left, after years of watching her bloodlessly staring blankly at children, parents and teachers pleading to save their schools. She committed educational war

Grimm with her uberfuhrer

crimes and never had to pay for them -- there should have been a Nuhrenberg like trial for these people where they could have bleated - I vus just following orders.

I have so much video of her grimmly reading the death of their schools to the audience. At what I thought would be her last meeting of the Bloomberg era I called her The Grimm Reaper of Closing Schools.

Here is Carmen's - ugh- letter of praise.

From: Chancellor Carmen Fariña
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 2:32 PM
To: Chancellor Carmen Fariña
Subject: Announcement

Dear Colleagues,

It is with deep personal regret that I announce a leave pending retirement of Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, an esteemed colleague who has worked tirelessly to create safe, nurturing environments in which all of our students can learn and thrive.

Those of us who have had the privilege of working with Deputy Chancellor Grimm over her more than 12 years at the DOE know her as highly committed and ethical; one of her most outstanding qualities is her loyalty. No matter the task, she works collaboratively to build bridges to all of our constituencies, from the custodians’ union to the School Construction Authority to food service operators, and beyond.

Most importantly, she embraces new challenges; upon my arrival as Chancellor she willingly took on new departments, folding them seamlessly into her already substantial portfolio. As a senior member of my leadership team, Deputy Chancellor Grimm has provided a strong foundation for our most critical initiatives, including Pre-K for All, Community Schools, and our expanded school support and safety services. I know that principals, parents, and of course students have benefitted from her meticulous attention to detail and her responsiveness to their needs.

Please join me in thanking Kathleen Grimm for her indelible career and uncompromising devotion to the students of New York City, and in supporting Elizabeth Rose in her role as interim-acting Deputy Chancellor while we undertake a formal search process.

It is comforting to know Kathleen is just a phone call away.

If you would like to contact Kathleen directly, please email her at: DeputyChancellorKathleenGrimm@schools.nyc.govDeputyChancellorKathleenGrimm@schools.nyc.gov>.

Warmly,

Carmen

Fight Back Against Cuomo: This Friday! Brooklyn Meeting with Change the Stakes

I know to some this is far out but if parents didn't let their kids take the tests, that denies the deformers the data they need to create their mayhem. Thus helping the opt-out movement grow should be on every teacher's agenda. Change the Stakes is helping lead that movement here in the city.

We hope you will join us for this important meeting of Brooklyn based parents and teachers, concerned members of the community and anyone opposed to the over testing that is harming our children and our schools.

Please share this with your local community! Working together is what will change the current system that is failing our children.

BROOKLYN GENERAL MEETING

Governor Cuomo has promised to go after public school teachers, continue to emphasize test and punish policies and replace our community schools with privately run and operated charter schools.

 
SAVE THE DATE:  
Friday, January 9, 2015, 6-8 pm

Location: Panera Bread, upper level,

345 Adam Street, Downtown Brooklyn

Trains: 2,3,4,5 to Court Street/ A,C,F,R to Jay St-Brooklyn Tech

Buses: 25, 26, 38, 41, 52, 57, 61, 65, 67, 103

Join us to discuss strategies for

organizing in our schools and communities.

All are welcome!

http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/events-calendar/

for resources and other events.

Join CEC 1 and MORE to Say “No” to Success Academy This Thursday!

Yesterday I said The Fat Lady Has Sung -- WHAT CHARTER GROUPS WANT IN 2015 but that doesn't mean we give up fighting the charter slug invasion.

When we were still GEM from 2009-2012 we were engaged in the battle against charters while we heard barely a peep from the UFT. We joined with Lisa Donlan and others on the Lower East Side to fight Girls Prep, which is funded and managed by some of the very same people involved with Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy. They pull every trick in the book - this hearing is about their bait and switch tactics - getting approval for one district and switching to another. With de Blasio being trumped and backed into a corner by the charter lobby and Cuomo and with the UFT defanged, in part due to its own charter occupying space in a co-located public school, it is left for people in groups like MORE to take action in support of the Community Education Councils, in this case CEC 1. It will be cold out there (and I will be coming from the Peter Zucker 3020a hearing) so we have to make our own heat.

Read Mindy Rosier's great piece on her own experience in Harlem fighting the Eva expansion in her own school building: The “Evil” MORE Must Fight.   Mindy has an extended version of this at: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/12/evil-we-must-fight-0
It was due to Eva that MORE has found a great organizer and activist in Mindy.

PUBLIC HEARING ON SUCCESS ACADEMY’S SWITCH TO D1 IS THIS THURSDAY (1/8) at PS 20 ANNA SILVER!

We have almost 2300 signatures on our petition with more coming in.

Now we need to stand strong and turn out for the hearing to let SACS, SUNY, and the DoE know that District One is strong, District One is united, and District One says NO THANKS!

Public speaker sign in starts at 5:30. Hearing begins at 6pm. 

• If you are interested in childcare, please RSVP by Wednesday at 5pm so that we can make sure we have enough staff

• Sign making is scheduled for this afternoon from 3:30 – 5pm at PS 20 in the District Office & Thursday at 5pm before the hearing at PS 20. All are invited to join!

• We are asking people to submit quotes for the press release and to come speak at the press conference at 5pm on Thursday. Please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested.

See you on Thursday!

Community Education Council for District 1 (CEC1)

2013-2015 Members:

Lisa Donlan/Arnette Scott/Daniel Becker

Moses Seuram/Marco Battistella/Latesha Moore

Olivia Rychter/Fatima Baba/Luke Henry

Stephanie Thompson

PS 20 Anna Silver School

166 Essex Street

New York, NY 10002

Cec1@schools.nyc.gov

(212)353-2946 (p)

(212)353-2945 (f)

http://cecd1.org/

Join MORE to Say “No” to Success Academy This Thursday!

January 5, 2015 — 1 Comment

This Thursday, January 8th, there will be a Public Hearing on Success Academy in District 1 at P.S.20 Anna Silver School, located a 166 Essex Street in lower Manhattan. 
We need to let our voices be heard!
Join us in telling Success Academy CEOs and decision-makers that It is not acceptable for our public schools to be invaded by an entity that…
-does not educate “all” as they claim
-steals resources, and
-misinforms the media and the general public. 
If space is not found within a school, we, as tax payers. should not have to fund their rent and we certainly should not have to fund their renovations. 
This needs to stop, and we need you to be part of it! 
Here’s what you can do…
Please RSVP on this invite and sign up for public comment at 5:30 on Thursday night at the hearing.
Print out and hand out our pamphlet on The Truth About Charters.
Also, take a moment to sign and share this petition on there being no need for Success Academy in D1.
MORE will see you there!
See our fliers here- please print and distribute
BROCHURE 1
BROCHURE 2

The Fat Lady Has Sung -- WHAT CHARTER GROUPS WANT IN 2015

....those leaders are beginning to craft their legislative priorities, which will include eliminating the state’s cap on charter schools, increasing funding for established charters, and establishing more accountability measures for district schools and teachers. .. Capital Education, http://bit.ly/1xIwy5b

Well, here you have it. I think the fat lady has sung. Accountability for DISTRICT SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS BUT NOT FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. I spoke to an elementary school teacher yesterday who said the teachers in her school don't see the charters as a threat - yet - because it is an area they have not invaded - yet. It is in places like Central Brooklyn where public schools have been emptying as the more upwardly mobile parents, who used to have the safety valve of the top tracked classes which have been eliminated under BloomKlein through heterogeneous mixing and now get a retracked system through charters.

Pretty soon every area of the city will have charters creeping up their asses and teachers will find colleagues disappearing as their schools get cut and co-located. And for those senior teachers who think they are safe - the attack on tenure and the use of VAM will finish off the higher salaried people. Oh, da doom and gloom for the New Year.

But it’s still too soon to assume they’ll have the cooperation they need from the Legislature to get their agenda items passed...the unions’ allies in the Assembly could deliver on what the charter groups are seeking in exchange for action on some of their own education priorities.

Do you think the current attack on Shelly Silver is unrelated to this point? Not that I consider him a great defender of our rights but possibly somewhat of an obstacle to the charter lobby plans.

The de Blasio camp will not even put up much of a fight, seeing their pre-k initiative as higher priority and also realizing they won't win the charter battle. The UFT/NYSUT is basically toothless at this point.

Here is a summary of a very good piece at Capital, which you should read in full at http://bit.ly/1xIwy5b

WHAT CHARTER GROUPS WANT IN 2015—Jessica Bakeman and Eliza Shapiro for Capital magazine: New York’s charter school advocates have poured millions of dollars into electing a State Senate hospitable to their agenda items for the upcoming legislative session. Now, those leaders are beginning to craft their legislative priorities, which will include eliminating the state’s cap on charter schools, increasing funding for established charters, and establishing more accountability measures for district schools and teachers. After a hugely successful session in 2014—at the political expense of teachers’ unions and their highest-profile champion, Bill de Blasio—pro-charter groups say they expect the Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo once again to come through for them. 

In the last session, back before Cuomo’s humbling re-election campaign spoiled his aura of invincibility, the governor put the full force of his power at the disposal of the charter cause, rebuking the teachers and de Blasio and, along with the Senate, delivering sweeping charter protections that now require New York City to accommodate or pay for new schools approved by the state. It wasn’t a close fight: substantively and politically, the fight ended in a knockout. Before Election Day, Cuomo promised to fight the public school “monopoly” in New York.

Perhaps more important than Cuomo’s priorities is his willingness to take on the state’s powerful teachers’ unions. … Leading pro-charter and anti-status quo groups have plenty of resources, even after their considerable (and highly effective) spending in the last election. But it’s still too soon to assume they’ll have the cooperation they need from the Legislature to get their agenda items passed. http://bit.ly/1xIwy5b

Change the Stakes' Rosalie Friend Dismantles VAM

Rosalie Friend from our partner org Change the Stakes takes on VAM head on. These comments appear at the CTS site: CTS Comments on Proposed Federal Regs for Teacher Education Programs.

CTS will be leading the opt-out battle here in NYC this coming testing season. Teachers should realize that with the Cuomo anti-teacher pro-charter assault, one of their few methods of defense is by supporting the opt-out movement -- no data, no ineffective ratings. While opt-out might not work at the secondary school level, for elementary school teachers providing parents with opt-out info can have a long-term effect. See the video at CTS: NYC Parents Talk about Why They’re Refusing the Tests and download 12 Reasons to Opt Out (pdf) to share with parents.

Diane Ravitch featured Rosalie's comments.

This is an excellent letter to the U.S. Department of Education, which patiently explains the harm caused by value-added modeling (VAM). It was submitted by a Néw York group called "Change the Stakes," which opposes high-stakes testing. The letter was written by psychologist Dr. Rosalie Friend, a member of Change the Stakes. It is a good source for parents and educators who want to explain why testing is being overused and misused.

January 5, 2015 - Leonie Haimson Exposes How NY Post Hides Sharpton/Joel Klein Relationship

...the money for Sharpton was ostensibly for “equity” and funneled through Education Reform Now, the non-profit arm of Joe William’s pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform. The larger context is that ERN was merely a pass-through, and the money was directed to Sharpton through the Education Equity Project, founded by then-Chancellor Joel Klein, in exchange for Sharpton agreeing  to co-chair the group and adopt Klein’s aggressive anti-teacher, pro-charter stance.  ... Leonie Haimson

Great work by Leonie. Reporters on the NY Post article were Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein. 

Perhaps the Post reporter's omissions are understandable, given that Klein now works for the Post’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, who is also a member of the Billionaire’s Boys Club, pushing for more charters along with his old friend and ally Bloomberg.  But the story should have been told nonetheless.

We know editorial controls content at the Post but I still feel reporters have to be held accountable for stuff they put their names to.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-ny-post-left-out-how-sharpton-was.html

What the NY Post left out: how Sharpton was persuaded to ally himself with Joel Klein & stay mum on term limits

Today, the NY Post ran a story about how Al Sharpton accepts money from corporations in exchange for shielding them of accusations of racism.  It contained nothing very new to report, except for Sharpton having met with Amy Pascal of Sony after the company's embarrassing email breach – though the article offered no evidence Sony has paid him a dime.  

Presumably the Post is targeting Sharpton because of his association with the Mayor: “Sharpton, who now boasts a close relationship with Obama and Mayor de Blasio, is in a stronger negotiating position than ever.”  Yet the main example cited in the article happened years ago, during the Bloomberg administration:

In 2008, Plainfield Asset Management, a Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund, made a $500,000 contribution to New York nonprofit Education Reform Now. That money was immediately funneled to the National Action Network [Sharpton’s organization].

The donation raised eyebrows. Although the money was ostensibly to support NAN’s efforts to bring “educational equality,” it also came at a time that Plainfield was trying to get a lucrative gambling deal in New York.

Plainfield had a $250 million stake in Capital Play, a group trying to secure a license to run the coming racino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Capital Play employed a lobbyist named Charlie King, who also was the acting executive director of NAN.

Left out of this account is the most interesting part of the story.  It's not just that the money for Sharpton was ostensibly for “equity” and funneled through Education Reform Now, the non-profit arm of Joe William’s pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform. The larger context is that ERN was merely a pass-through, and the money was directed to Sharpton through the Education Equity Project, founded by then-Chancellor Joel Klein, in exchange for Sharpton agreeing  to co-chair the group and adopt Klein’s aggressive anti-teacher, pro-charter stance.  Juan Gonzalez extensively reported the tangled story of how these funds went to benefit Sharpton in 2009, and how they helped him stay out of jail when he owed millions in taxes to the IRS.  

Also left out of the Post article is how Bloomberg, the Gates and Broad Foundations also put big money into EEP to Sharpton's benefit, though the DOE flack, David Cantor denied any involvement of either Bloomberg or Gates in emails he sent to our NYC Ed list serv, when I speculated about the involvement of both.  Perhaps he was lied to as well.  See my timeline of events here. In fact, Sharpton’s organization directly received a big portion of the $250,000 donation Mayor Bloomberg gave EEP, the day Bloomberg announced he would try to overturn term limits.  As a result, Sharpton never said a word against Bloomberg’s successful coup. 

Despite big infusions of cash and the coupling of Klein and Sharpton, EEP didn’t last long.  It held a  rally in DC on MLK day in January of 2009, at which Sharpton spoke.  After joining forces with Newt Gingrich, he and Klein met with President Obama.  The organization folded in 2011 when it merged with the similar corporate reform group, Stand For Children.  Sharpton had already left EEP by then, replaced by two Gates grantees, United Negro College Fund President Michael Lomax, and Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza. 

Perhaps the Post reporter's omissions are understandable, given that Klein now works for the Post’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, who is also a member of the Billionaire’s Boys Club, pushing for more charters along with his old friend and ally Bloomberg.  But the story should have been told nonetheless. In his new memoir, I highly doubt  Klein explains the full circumstances surrounding his cynical and mutually exploitative partnership with Sharpton.  I certainly didn't read this mentioned in any of the reviews.

Norm in The Wave - Teachers And Police: The Unions

Taken from the front of my house looking towards Manhattan

Published Jan. 2, 2015

Teachers And Police: The Unions

By Norm Scott

“Mommy, are they going to shoot you too?” I overheard this heartbreaking comment as two female NYPD moms, one current and one former, were discussing events. They have five children between them. Not enough attention is given to the impact on NYPD families, especially when mothers are involved.
It’s hard to find good feelings surrounding the recent tragedy, but one way was seeing every tree on my block festooned with large blue ribbons on the day of slain policeman Rafael Ramos’ funeral. By all accounts, he was a remarkable man. He had been a school safety officer for many years before becoming a cop and probably had a sense of the similarities and differences that exist in the school environment in the roles played by teachers and cops.

 

I began exploring these relationships in my last column. The political backdrop of recent weeks requires a bit of a detour. But where to begin? I’ll start with the unions, the PBA and the UFT, and their leaders, Patrick Lynch and Michael Mulgrew.
While teachers are evaluated based on student performance, teaching as a profession and teachers unions have been under assault from all directions. The public, politicians and the press vilify teachers while bowing at the feet of police. I would be laughed at if I were to suggest that cops in the relatively low-crime west end of Rockaway were clearly better than those in the higher crime east end. Or that the public in high crime areas should have a choice of police forces by setting up privatized charter police forces to compete. Yet that is exactly the way teachers are being portrayed.

When the news broke recently that over 95 percent of the teachers in the city were highly rated, the response from slug politicians like Cuomo, who declared public schools were a monopoly he was going to break, was “teachers couldn’t be that good, given the low performance of the students.” And the public seems to buy that the major problem facing education is bad teachers.

Lynch’s absolute, no questioning support for cops and their actions on the job has led some teachers to jump on a bandwagon of comparing him to Mulgrew. A teacher admiring Lynch wrote, “NYPD union leader Pat Lynch is doing what my union leader has never done, speaking up and defending his rank and file…. compare this to our union. The mayor and governor stick an evaluation down our throats, we say thank you. In fact we ask for more. We demand 22 components and test based evaluations, even when our parents don't want it. Common core standards, created without one actual teacher, and the UFT president says he'll punch anyone who tries to take it away from us, even though teacher after teacher hates it….they close down schools and the profiteers come in to take up space - our Union leader says no problem. He even decides that we're going to get in the business of running charters. Contracts canceled in Philadelphia, unions destroyed in Wisconsin, schools closed en masse in Chicago, no one in the UFT cares.”

A 52-year-old Brooklyn high school teacher under assault by her administration died recently of a heart attack. She had serious physical issues, even having to use a walker at times. Because they wanted to be rid of her and her high salary, the school administrators gave her difficult assignments in multiple classrooms while constantly harassing her. Some of her colleagues attributed her sudden death as being brought on by the enormous stress the admins put her under. Was this a case of there really being blood on someone’s hands? Should Michael Mulgrew have made such a declaration, even blaming the mayor who is in charge of the school system?

A teacher blogger commented, “The UFT has been systematically attacked and disenfranchised. Cops are seen as heroes, while teachers are seen as incompetent bunglers who probably aren't qualified to be in the classroom.”

I do not admire Lynch’s absolutist approach, which in the long run will result in a public backlash. The mayor has taken a big hit for giving counsel to his son where he most likely told him to be respectful in any encounter with police because not doing so could lead to unfortunate escalations. It may have not been the smartest idea to say this publicly but he had the kind of conversation with his child that parents should be having.

New York Times columnist and regular teacher union basher David Brooks recently set his sights on police unions in his Dec. 22, 2014 column:

“GETTING RID OF BAD COPS - A small percentage of cops commits most of the abuses. A study by WNYC News in New York found that, since 2009, 40 percent of the “resisting arrest” charges were filed by just five percent of New York Police Department officers. … Most officers rarely get in a confrontation that leads to that charge, but a few officers often get in violent confrontations. But it’s very hard to remove the bad apples from the force. Trying to protect their members, unions have weakened accountability. The investigation process is softer on police than it would be on anyone else.”

In future columns I’ll delve further into the intersection of teaching and policing with some commentary on why police turning their backs to make a political statement during the funeral was the wrong thing to do.

Norm Scott is a retired educator. He lives in Rockaway, and blogs at ednotesonline.org.
 

A Tale of Two Cuomos at The Doenuts Blog

I was a poor twelve year old boy who had been left behind by Reaganomics when Mario Cuomospoke at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. I didn't realize this before the speech. But I never forgot it after....The Doenuts Blog

A remarkable read despite the fact I was not a fan of either Cuomo.

The Doenuts Blog

A Tale of Two Cuomos

UFT Opposition Caucus Historical Reference -- UFT Election Results - 1977, 79, 81

Some of us are going to be meeting  to talk about the past history of opposition groups in the UFT. For those few interested in UFT historical trends over time, we have been looking back in order to move forward. If the opposition in the UFT over time has made little progress in denting the Unity machine then what exactly is the point of continuing the traditional route of running in elections every 3 (until 2004 it was every 2) years?

It is worth examining the entire concept of "opposition" caucuses.

I was one of 2 votes in ICE about a year before the 2010 election urging ICE not to run. I felt it was a fruitless endeavor, especially given the state ICE was in at the time and knowing I would have to do a lot of work. But the decision was to go ahead, and being a political junky I threw myself into the details of petitioning and other minutia of UFT elections - in fact I became an expert UFT election petionologist.

I was one of the few people as MORE was forming in 2012 urging MORE not to run in 2013. I went along with the majority even though it was pretty clear how things would end. I was following John Lawhead's "Uncaucus" proposal which is still intriguing (I will publish more about that idea soon.) "First build it from the bottom before running," I urged, feeling the mistakes of the past where caucuses focused on election cycles, were being relived.
There was so much enthusiasm at the time, I felt I had to support them and put my petionologist skills at their service. I

We uncovered this chart the other day in the files Vera had in her home. Lots of other good stuff too. All the caucuses in the late 70s put out 4 page tabloid editions of their newspapers - an incredible amount of production for those times.

Note the higher number of people voting and also how in 1981 the opposition got almost 2200 elementary school votes with 22,500 ballots sent out. Compare that to the 2013 election where 36000 elem ballots were sent out and MORE got about 1100 (New Action got around 400) and Unity got around the same number of votes as they did in 1981.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/251369305/UFT-Elections-77-81-

UFT Elections 1977-79-81

Caucus notes: (my memory may be short so correct me if I am off).

In the 1977 election our group - the Coalition of School Workers ran a joint slate with Teachers Action Caucus under the banner of United Action. Another caucus - New Directions ran separately -- the totals have been combined.

In 1979 I believe CSW didn't run with TAC - so it was TAC and New Directions on separate slates. Merry Tucker reminds me that Chalk Dust was also part of the coalitions either in 79 or 81.

In 1981 for the first time all opposition groups ran under one banner - New Action Coalition -- NAC - note the jump in numbers voting.

In 1985  NAC for the first time won the High school VP seat and HS Ex Bd seats but Unity contested the election and forced a new won for HS VP which NAC won again.

In 1990 Bruce Markens won the District Rep election for Manhattan High Schools - elected by the chapter leaders -- this was cataclysmic for Unity which spent the next decade trying to vote him out but couldn't until he retired around 2000. In 2002 Randi eliminated District Rep elections. I consider this as more grassroots than anything related to the elections. [Some of us are meeting with Bruce this week to get more historical background.]

In 1991 NAC won 13 seats on the Ex Bd. High school and middle schools.

In 1993 the opposition won no seats. At that point Unity changed the constitution to remove the VP positions from the divisions and make them at-large positions where everyone voted, thus making sure that there the opposition could never again repeat the 1985 election.

In 1995/6 TAC and New Directions merged into New Action which won HS Ex Bd seats in the 95, 97, 99, 01 elections.

Fearing they would lose in the 2004 elections (the UFT changed from 2 to 3 years terms) NA made the deal with Unity and at that point the new caucus - ICE and TJC ran and won the HS seats - (Unity did not run for those seats).

In 2007, 10 and 13 NA and Unity ran a joint slate for the HS seats and won them by combining the votes.

In 2013 - MORE got 1440 HS votes while Unity got 1580 and New Action around 400+. Over 19000 ballots were sent out
In 1981 12,000 HS ballots were sent out. (NAC got 2544) and Unity 3077.

So interesting how there has been a loss of interest in the UFT over time.

More historical results:

 UFT Election Results 1999-2013
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8qnFCTQLOqoQkRmVmpMR0dIR0U/preview?pli=1

Recent posts on this subject:

• Retro UFT History Lesson: How Unity Killed Divisio...
• Peter Goodman Paves the Way for Union Cave-in to C...
• An ‘Uncaucus’ Proposal to Boycott UFT Officer Elec...

Retro UFT History Lesson: How Unity Killed Divisional Vice President Elections

Most teachers don't know that Unity changed the UFT constitution to preclude high school teachers from selecting their own academic VP. This is because Mike Shulman committed the unpardonable sin of winning with New Action one year. That was back when New Action was a real opposition, before Randi bought Mike and the rest of them off with patronage jobs....

NYC Educator, Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Dues Deduction Without Representation is Tyranny

Prepping for today's meeting with Bruce Markens, Ira Goldfine and Vera Pavone for some insights into the past and how that affects the present and future, Mike Schirtzer found this old Ed Notes post from Dec. 2006. It looked to be well-written so I assumed it was from NYC Educator. But no, it was actually me. What a pleasant surprise. We'll get into more details on the history of New Action and the impact of its sellout to Unity in 2003/4 in future posts.

By the way, Mike Shulman collected $12,500 for his UFT patronage job as reported in the most recent LM-2 (2013) report. There is some fiction going around that New Action people only make around $1200 a year and that is too little to make them sell out. Most do but not at the top.

One note -- the 1995 contract battle where the membership voted it down the first time was led by NAC (or New Action -- not clear it the merger of TAC and New Directions had taken place yet) and also by Bruce from his position as District Rep.

Here is the Ed Notes post from Dec. 28, 2006:

Unity Spins and Grins: A History Lesson

NYC Educator has posted a proposal for a petition calling for divisions to elect their own VP's instead of at-large. Here is an explanation of the history of the change.

There is a debate going on at the NYC Educator blog in UFT democracy, or lack thereof. Since 1994 Unity caucus amended the constitution to eliminate the direct election of divisional vice-presidents -- e.g. Academic HS, Vocational H.S., Middle Schools, Elementary Schools--by constituents of each division and instead had these Vice Presidents elected on an at-large basis by the entire membership, including retirees.

A Unity spinner on the blogs actually claimed this is a good thing, ("The notion that the executive branch should be elected together, in order to provide a minimal unity for governing, is hardly an anti-democratic one.") even trying to compare this to having the US President and VP come from the same party. Naturally he distorted the facts of what really happened to make his case, which NYC Educator trashed in his response.

I asked former Manhattan HS district rep Bruce Markens what occurred while his memory is still intact. (Bruce's long tenure as the lone non-Unity Dist. Rep. despite constant attempts by Unity to defeat him was one of Weingarten's motivations in ending the election of DR's.)

In the mid-80's the opposition was still a coalition called NAC (New Action Coalition, a combo of 3 caucuses with a piece of the name from each one -- some of the founders of ICE were with the Coalition of NYC School Workers).

Mike Shulman won the 1985 election for HS VP by 94 votes over the Unity incumbent George Altomare, one of the founders of the UFT. This sent shock waves throughout Unity and they got Alomare to challenge the election claiming improprieties, a joke since the Unity machine ran the elections.

Naturally, the election committee upheld the protest and they refused to seat Shulman. They finally agreed on an arbitrator and his report called for a new election. This time, without a slate headed by Shanker at the top, Shulman got 62% of the vote. He was not allowed to take his place on the AdCom until Jan/Feb 2006.

With the next election coming in 1987, Unity dumped Altomare and recruited John Soldini from SI (where they could get the large HS vote out for him) to run against Shulman and Unity geared up all forces for the ‘87 election. Schulman almost won again, losing to Soldini by only 21 votes.

He lost again in '89 and by 110 votes in '91 election. But in that election, NAC also won the junior high ex bd seats, giving them 13, the most they ever had. Their JHS VP candidate also lost by about 150 votes. With the opposition seemingly getting stronger, Unity clearly had to do something to keep the wolves at bay.

Their opportunity came after the '93 election when inexplicably, New Action lost the high schools and junior high schools, giving the opposition no voice on the ex bd.

Unity formed a task force to "improve" the election process. It had no specific mandate to deal with the issue of changing the divisional vps to be elected on an at large basis.

At an ex bd meeting in early Jan. '94 they sprung the " improvement" - taking all divisional elections of VP's out of the divisional and making them at-large. A few days after, they sprung it at the Jan. DA, (historically one of the least attended of the year). There also just happened to be a snowstorm that day (Did Unity rig the weather?) guaranteeing an even lower attendance of non-Unity people.

But Unity assured a quorum would be there to make the act legal by threatening Unity Caucus members with the loss of their part-time union jobs and banishment from the slate, which assured a free trip to the AFT and NYSUT conventions. Thus, Unity was able to steamroller through the "improvement" in the election process.

In our so-called democratic union the Unity way, you can change the constitution without having to get membership approval.

But even if they had gone that route, the Unity machine would have spun this “improvement” to the members in some fashion. Without an effective opposition to oppose it (the inability of New Action even at that time to put up a semblance of a fight is indicative of some level of ineffectiveness) the members are helpless against the machinations of Unity. One more argument for the building of an effective opposition to Unity as opposed to the phony bogus opposition New Action has become with all their leaders on the UFT/Unity payroll.

Carol Burris - Tisch calls for an APPR system designed to fire more teachers -

Sheri Lederman, is a gifted and beloved fourth-grade teacher in Great Neck, New York. Her principal adores her and relies on her to help mentor her colleagues. Over twice as many of her students have met the state standard than the average percentage for the rest of the state. Sheri is also a scholar. She received the 2012 H. Alan Robinson Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation award for her research on how 10-year-olds learn science. Yet her growth score based on the results of student Common Core standardized tests found her to be an “ineffective” teacher... Carol Burris,  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/01/teacher-evaluation-going-from-bad-to-worse/

Tisch, Cuomo et al want to screw Sheri Lederman and many other teachers.

First a sincere Happy New Years. Very quietly this week, and without input from the rest of the Board of Regents, Tisch answered Cuomo's letter by proposing an APPR plan that doubles the weight of test scores for evaluation.  Here is my blog on it, seen through the perspective of a wonderful teacher who got an ineffective this year on that part of the score that Tisch says should now make her Ineffective overall.

Read, and then please share.  The implications for students, teachers, and principals  if this comes to pass would be enormous.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/01/teacher-evaluation-going-from-bad-to-worse/

Peter Goodman Paves the Way for Union Cave-in to Cuomo - UPDATED

Here are links to other bloggers on the Goodman piece:

PERDIDO ST: UFT/NYSUT Signal They Will Cave To Cuomo On Teacher Evaluations/Charter Cap

NYC Educator: No One Pushes UFT Unity, and UFT Unity Falls Down Anyway

 I left this comment:

The UFT/NYSUT people will make their high salaries as long as the union exists. That is why they want that little stool at the Democratic table no matter how much crow they have to eat -- the Dems are different than the Republicans in that they want to keep the union structure so they can use it to control the members from militancy which they do very well - ala the Goodman post. Thus calls to get rid of agency shop would so harm Unity and the UFT that I would bet Cuomo would fight to keep that because he knows in the long run they will always come around.

Mindy Rosier at anti-Cuomo rally

We'd extracted a promise that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo would delay Common Core-related junk science while rating teachers, and he simply broke it. Screw teachers, screw NYSUT, and screw Randi Weingarten, says Governor Andy... NYC Educator

Now NYSUT is coming out against Cuomo.  Really! It was never Cuomo's intention to support this bill.  The proposition was only made to get an endorsement or to prevent a Teachout endorsement.  And NYSUT/UFT/AFT leadership fell for the trick.  Instead of whining now about this bill that we all knew he would veto, how about working to block a statewide APPR?...Beth Domino, Stronger Together - NYSUT PROTESTS OUTSIDE GOVERNOR'S MANSION BUT AN OPPOSITION NYSUT LEADER WANTS A STRONGER FIGHT.., ICEUFT Blog


As a history teacher I’m reminded of “Going to Canossa (“Canossa” refers to an act of penance or submission), Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, dressed in “sackcloth and ashes, humbled himself in the snow outside of the castle of Pope Gregory seeking absolution from the threat of excommunication. Henry retained his throne.... Charter school quotas and the teacher the evaluation system are negotiable, and, the core issues are the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the property tax cap, the union has to seek absolution from Pope Andrew and move on to resolve the core issues..... Peter Goodman, https://mets2006.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/education-politics-is-a-blood-sport-chancellor-tisch-responds-to-the-threatening-cuomo-letter/

Michael Mulgrew as Henry IV, wearing sackcloth and ashes kneeling in the smow at Cuomo's mansion would make a perfect meme for the union. Any photoshoppers out there?

Goodman is like an advanced scout for UFT/Unity leadership thought process. How are they going to get out of THIS mess?


Goodman criticizes even the tepid union response to Cuomo thugism:

I mentioned to a teacher activist to expect “consequences” if the local endorsed Teachout. He thought Cuomo “would understand.” Politics is a blood sport. When your guy/gal wins you expect them to support your issues and when your guy/gal loses you can expect the winner to seek retribution. A deeply embedded political aphorism: screw with me and I screw with you. Maybe you didn’t learn this in your civics class and maybe you’re willing to take the heat and continue to battle and maybe you’re simply an idealist.

Funny how the UFT didn't endorse de Blasio in the primaries and he didn't seek retribution. But he's a mensh compared to the slimebag. Goodman represents the general thinking in the UFT for the past 50 years - no spine. But Goodman's job is to diss the idea of militancy, the kind that Beth Domino and Stronger Together espouse (OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR TISCH).

How about this message to Cuomo: WILL WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO KEEP YOU FROM EVER EVEN SNIFFING A RUN AT PRESIDENT.

An ‘Uncaucus’ Proposal to Boycott UFT Officer Elections

The boycott would be a protest aimed at making the union more democratic through specific, substantial reforms. It would be attempting to break the stranglehold of unity caucus not in favor of this or that organized grouping but on behalf of the membership in general. ... Our system of union leadership is corrupt. The membership can't control it until it's been made to work democratically. ... John Lawhead, "An Uncaucus Proposal"

From the winter of 2012 as MORE was forming, John Lawhead made this intriguing proposal, which I raised in early pre-MORE meetings. Back in 2009 when ICE was deciding whether to run in the 2010 UFT elections some of us also called for a boycott - let Mulgrew look like Putin and get 100% of the vote - expose the UFT election process for the sham it is.

John was very prescient and pointed out the impact of the predicted low turnout - but lower than even we expected - 52% of the voters were retirees - an embarrassment to the Unity Caucus leadership.

An ‘Uncaucus’ Proposal (c. March 2012)
By John Lawhead.

There must be a fuller discussion of any decision to launch a new caucus. Another possibility I find more appealing would be to form an "uncaucus" -- a movement aimed at undoing caucus perogatives and making the union itself more democratic. Why not make it clear from the get-go we have no interest in the spoils?

Our strategy might be to boycott the election for union officers unless specific reforms are implemented. This would not be a passive boycott but a loud campaign based on a demand for substantial democratic reforms. The leadership could risk ignoring it, run against New Action and maybe TJC as usual, and then let us trumpet any low turnout as a "victory." They might try to outdo us by revving up their PR machinery to promote the vote in a big way but in that case they'd be putting a trust in the membership that goes against all instincts. 

We could still concentrate on rebuilding school chapters and running for school reps on local issues. Indeed there'd be more time and energy available to be put there rather than tied up with things like discussing a general political platform encompassing enough and amenable to the various tendencies in the opposition. I personally think building collective power in the schools is more important than electing school representation to the delegate assembly. There's currently no way for DA resolutions to be enforced. Our system of union leadership is corrupt. The membership can't control it until it's been made to work democratically. 

I want to clarify also that this would not be some stunt that's really meant to promote any "shadow list of candidates" or some alternative political platform. 

The boycott would be a protest aimed at making the union more democratic through specific, substantial reforms. It would be attempting to break the stranglehold of unity caucus not in favor of this or that organized grouping but on behalf of the membership in general. 

It should be obvious that an effort concerned with reforming election procedures, access to union media and union facilities on behalf of everybody is going to have very different priorities than an effort that's aimed at putting together a "winning" political platform and building support for it.