Saturday, October 8, 2016

Support the Chicago Teachers in their Upcoming Strike! -- Statements by NYC's MORE Caucus and the Chicago Teachers Union

MORE Caucus of the UFT's solidarity statement for Chicago teachers.
Read and follow through by showing your support for the Chicago Teachers. There are so many parallels between the Chicago teachers' conditions and the New York City teachers' conditions. Show your solidarity on October 14! Read details below, on the statement by NYC's MORE Caucus.

MORE Statement of Solidarity and Call to Action for the Chicago Teachers Union

On September 28th, 95.6% of Chicago teachers voted to go on strike. They have been negotiating since 2014 for a just contract on top of non-negotiable items for the public schools and students they serve.

There are some striking similarities to NYC public schools, in the kind of attacks they have faced: disastrous budget cuts that have had effects on the equitable allocation of resources and professionals for mandated services in special education, libraries and other programs, such as arts and physical education.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, under the advisory of Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist who is leading the way for the charterization of Chicago’s schools, has withheld and cut funding to the public schools.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union want something very simple- the assurance that public school educators and students have what they need in order to have thriving public schools in Chicago. If an agreement cannot be made, teachers could go out on strike as soon as October 11. In 2012, Chicago teachers led the national educational justice movement when they went on a successful strike that gathered the help of communities and parents to fight for the schools that Chicago students deserve.

Now they need support from everywhere across the country!
Here are some of the core issues for CTU:
– No more budget cuts
– Restore the jobs lost (1,000 teachers laid off without recall rights)
– Keep salary steps and lanes

To learn more details, go to the Chicago Teachers Union site

ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE:

Join the CTU Social Media THUNDERCLAP

Sign on to this Solidarity Statement

In addition to the above, to show our solidarity, organize folks to wear CTU red, make a banner in support of Chicago’s Teachers and Students, and take a photo to post on their social media pages.

Facebook

Twitter

Don’t forget MORE’s Facebook page and Twitter feed

MORE is planning continued days of action every Friday, starting October 14th until the contract is settled! Make sure your school joins in.

Come to the UFT Executive Board on Monday, October 17th, to pressure our union leadership to pass the resolution below for direct support for the CTU.

Taking these actions of solidarity is also an important opportunity to draw parallels to the $3.9 billion dollars owed to New York public schools, exposed by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. NYC is under similar influences that are set on weakening our union and underfunding our schools. This is all done through top down decision making under mayoral control, Fair Student Funding and allowing for charter co-locations. We too must fight with the same principled positions and actions as the Chicago Teachers Union.

Draft Solidarity Resolution with the Chicago Teachers Union in their Struggle for the Schools that Chicago Students Deserve

MORE is suggesting the following draft resolution for the October 17th meeting of the UFT Executive Board – we hope that entire UFT will join in supporting it
WHEREAS the Chicago Teachers Union has been negotiating since 2014 for a just contract, and
WHEREAS Chicago students, teachers and parents have faced strikingly similar attacks as we have experienced in New York, including disastrous budget cuts, sweeping closings of schools that have dislocated teachers and students, and growing charter colocations, and
WHEREAS the multimillionaire Mayor Rahm Emanuel has threatened to eliminate city pension contributions for CTU members, which would effectively cut their pay by 7 percent, and the near-billionaire venture capitalist Governor Bruce Rauner has pushed through budget cuts that hamstring Chicago’s education system, and
WHEREAS in 2012, Chicago teachers led the national educational justice movement when they went on a successful strike and mobilized communities and parents to aid their fight for the schools that Chicago students deserve, and
WHEREAS by articulating the simple demand that educators and students get what they need in order to have thriving public schools in Chicago, CTU has also provided an example of how to fight for equitable funding for all, such as the two billion dollars owed New York City school students under the CFE settlement, and
WHEREAS on September 28th, 95.6% of Chicago teachers voted to authorize a strike, in response to Emanuel’s and Rauner’s refusal to provide additional funding to the schools, and
WHEREAS, CTU has released a report, titled “A Just Chicago: Fighting for the City Our Students Deserve”, which, as the union puts it “demonstrates that challenges in housing, employment, justice and health care relate directly to education; solutions require a narrowing of the opportunity gap brought on by poverty, racism and segregation,” making CTU’s fight for a contract a touchstone for a wider struggle against austerity and for economic and racial justice, therefore be it
RESOLVED that the UFT will encourage its members to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Chicago by all available means, including social media and by making donations to the CTU strike fund, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT initiate a “Red Friday” action in our chapters where members wear CTU red in solidarity with Chicago teachers every Friday until the strike is over, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT hold solidarity meetings in New York to organize supporters of the strike and mobilize further actions, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT call upon and mobilize its retirees, who have always demonstrated great passion and energy in political campaigns in the past and present, to support CTU picket lines, and provide transportation costs for those retirees who answer the call, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT will work with AFT leaders to ensure interest free loans to CTU members to alleviate financial hardship during the strike, and be it further
RESOLVED that, if needed, the UFT will provide significant financial assistance to ensure the successful operations of our sister union.

* * *

Latest CTU blog update, yesterday :

LATEST FROM THE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION BLOG

Check your email first, then our website and social media, and listen to the news Monday evening. Unless you hear otherwise, the strike begins Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Tuesday morning, you should report to your school for picketing at 6 a.m.
After Tuesday, your school’s Strike Captain (usually the delegate) will sign up several members to set up picket lines at 6 a.m. before any employees arrive. Other members will picket from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Strikers should picket in front of their schools (unless otherwise instructed) from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. every morning.

Every member needs to picket every day in order to demonstrate our collective unity and determination. Sign in with your Strike Captain when you arrive and when you leave. Larger rallies with other supporters will happen later each day either downtown or elsewhere.

Citywide paraprofessionals: Report to picket lines at either Zenos Colman (4655 S. Dearborn) or Garfield Park (2651 W. Washington) network offices from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sign in at picket lines at these offices each day. Assignments may change during the week as needed.

Clinicians: Report to Chicago Public Schools, 42 W. Madison, and sign in at the picket line. There will be two shifts each day. Psychologists, speech and occupational therapists report to CPS from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; social workers, nurses, physical therapists and itinerants report to CPS from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Assignments may change during the week as needed. (Exception: Clinicians who work at Garfield Park should picket there from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

All CTU members and supporters are urged to visit the CTU website daily to receive updates on contract negotiations and strike solidarity.

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NYC Education Activism Calendar

Get involved with the fight to defend public education!

Oppose & resist Cuomo, DeBlasio, DeVos, Farina!

- The MORE caucus UFT's important upcoming events:
  
  Friday 1/5/18 4:30-6:30pm
  City As School
  16 Clarkson St
  Manhattan
  We will strategize about resisting DeBlasio's plans to close or merge 14 Renewal Schools.
- Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/16+Clarkson+St,+New+York,+NY+10014/@40.7291091,-74.0082884,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25992ac002507:0x68aa91fb40bff351!8m2!3d40.7291091!4d-74.0060997

Sign the Petition: Terminate Comm. John King's Employment

New York State Board of Regents: Terminate the Employment of State Education Commissioner, John King

2. Petition by
  Coalition for Justice in Education

PETITION TO TERMINATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF NYS EDUCATION COMMISSIONER, JOHN KING
(references substantiating each charge available at www.coalitionforjusticeineducation.com)

John King has served as New York State Commissioner of Education since 2011. During his tenure, the quality of education in NY has continued to decline; particularly in poor and rural districts.

1 The Commissioner’s solutions rely upon blindly accepting NCLB, RTTT and Common Core policies and implementing more high-stakes, standardized testing for evaluation of students and teachers,

2 implementation of an untested national curriculum,

3 undemocratic corporate management strategies for operating schools,

4 more privatization of schools

5 and insistence that poverty-related conditions are not an excuse for low student achievement.

6 Furthermore, Commissioner King: · Refuses to lend credibility to staff and community-voiced concerns that much of Common Core curriculum and testing is developmentally inappropriate for students, and that NYS teachers received no significant training for the implementation of Common Core,

7 Refuses to allow meaningful dialogue about Common Core tests by imposing a “gag order” on teachers and administrators, preventing them from discussing test questions among themselves or with students,

8 Supports policy to allow private corporate vendors to have access to personal student data, without parental consent, for the purpose of marketing educational services,

9 and ·Remains silent on the stress-related suffering by many students taking recent Common Core tests,

10 Promotes the reduction of the reading of fiction in favor of an increase in informational texts (50% informational texts in elementary school, and 70% for 12th grade readings by 2014)

11 with the generally predicted impact of a further reduction in the joy of reading and learning for all students especially those with learning challenges,

12 Continues to advocate more high-stakes, standardized testing, despite research concluding that it is ineffective for motivating students and increasing their learning,

13· Continues to ignore positive research results for the use of performance-based assessment, such as portfolios, performances, presentations and exhibitions, by more NYS schools,

14· Advocates for more closings and privatization of low-performing schools,

15 despite research indicating that charter schools are generally less effective than public schools,

16 and promote more racial and class-based segregation,

17 and create negative impact on community morale, motivation and development,

18· Advocates the use of poorly designed, ineffective corporate strategies, such as APPR, which de-professionalize teaching,

19 We, the undersigned, strongly believe that New York State’s education reform agenda is fundamentally flawed and must be re-directed in a humanistic, research-based manner; directly counter to the direction Commissioner King has taken. New York State children, parents and teachers need an education commissioner who passionately supports and actively works for:
· De-concentrating the impact of poverty in classrooms and schools,
· Institutionalizing performance-based assessments,
· Ending the obsessive use of high-stakes, standardized testing,
· Developing creative, alternative curriculum, assessments and schools,
· Assisting poverty-stricken, low-performing schools through collaboration with teachers, parents community members and students, rather than through closures and privatization,
· Ending corporate reform,
· Using school practitioners and constructivist-oriented consultants for developing and implementing curriculum & assessments,
· Implementing a moratorium on the Common Core Curriculum,
· Transforming the NYSED to serve as helpful consultants to schools and school districts, rather than enforcers of top-down policies that are disrespectful to teachers and harmful to students.

Therefore, we, the undersigned respectfully urge the NYS Board of Regents to terminate the employment of John King as NYS Education Commissioner, and immediately search for, and hire a candidate who strongly reflects the characteristics described above.

Cent. NY English Teacher's Lament: 'I am a teacher, and I am tired'

By Savanna Kucerak, English teacher, Homer C.S.D., as published by NYSUT:

"I am a teacher, and I am tired"

Tired of coming home every night angry, abused, and insulted.

Tired of being treated as a child, as a robot, as a stepping stone for politician$ and publi$hing companie$ to make more money.

Tired of ignorance littering the air: “the Common Core is an exciting time in education!” or “APPR is just showing off the wonderful work you already do!”

Tired of being told to “wait it out,” that the “pendulum will swing the other way eventually” while witnessing the casualties pile up — casualties with names and dreams and futures and the RIGHT to the BEST EDUCATION we can give them.

Tired of being afraid to stand up for what I know is right for our kids and our country because I am afraid of losing my job and being unable to pay my bills.

Tired of my superiors being afraid to stand up for what they know is right for our kids and our country because they, too, are afraid of losing their livelihood.

Tired of wanting to be better, volunteering to do additional work, and watching helplessly as any progress I have made is brushed aside by the newest educational reform acronym.

Tired of being told, “Ohh, sorry, but my hands are tied,” accompanied by a half smile, a shrug of the shoulders.

Tired of spending hours of my life documenting and sorting and filing instead of revising and learning and improving.

Tired of wasting taxpayer money on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink.

Tired of being a taxpayer, watching as my money is spent on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink instead of STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS.

Tired of paying my student loan bills and nostalgically remembering that I chose to be a teacher, that I wanted to teach, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead.

Tired of my two degrees and experience and individuality being ignored and devalued.

Tired of knowing what’s best for my students, but being told NOT to do it.

Tired of telling the best and brightest young people NOT to be teachers — and meaning it.

Tired of being told that if I love literature, then I’d better choose another profession.

Tired of Googling “what can I do besides teach?” only to close out of the browser every time, knowing there is nothing I’d be better at or love more than what was formerly known as “teaching.”

Tired of living in a country where my dream job no longer exists – where “teacher” is now synonymous with data-collector, test-prepper, script-reader, automaton.

Tired of grappling with the notion that I now have a job instead of a life or even a career.

Tired of disillusionment poisoning even the best of days.

Tired of telling my students that they will be heard if they support their arguments with evidence, yet knowing in my heart that that is a lie.

Tired of worrying about my own future children, who will either be numbers under this developing “educational” system – or dealing with the wreckage of a failed, expensive national tragedy in which all the best teachers have either abandoned this sinking ship or remain on board as empty shells, whispered voices, gasping for air.

I am tired, but I am still here – and there are many of me.

Join us. Say something. Do something.

Our collective future depends on it.”

S.I. parents chafing under the Common Core perversion of curriculum

The Common Core - that's that toxic result of ill-minded state and federal policy plus a tone-deaf collaborationist union leadership.

"My son made a comment to me the other day. He asked, 'Did I become stupid?'" said his father, James Hardison. "We're supposed to be inspiring students, and giving them what they need to be successful. For a 10-year-old child to feel discouraged like this, something is not right." --from SILive.com, 3/28/13, powered by the Staten Island Advance.

Culture of testing takes a toll on Staten Island pupils and their families (photos/video). [Ed.: It's not mere testing, it's testing to support the Common Core, foisted upon America by the unelected, non-educator, David Coleman.]

MORE -Our working conditions are our students' learning conditions

Check Out New Yorker's App on Inequality and the Subway

This cool app at the New Yorker's website, "Inequality and New York's Subway," takes each MTA subway/elevated line and matches stations with U.S. Census-provided household income.

The results are stark. Along the 6 train in the upper half of Manhattan, the results vary from over $150,000 to under $25,000.

New York City has a problem with income inequality. And it’s getting worse—the top of the spectrum is gaining and the bottom is losing. Along individual subway lines, earnings range from poverty to considerable wealth. The interactive infographic here charts these shifts, using data on median household income, from the U.S. Census Bureau, for census tracts with subway stations.