Dozens of U.S. Cities, No Dec. 23 School --Only Other Open Major NE School District--Philly, Just for P.D.

     *Big cities w/o Dec. 23 school listed    *MORE petition for making Monday Dec. 23 a vacation day
UFT President for Eternity, Michael Mulgrew, uses the excuse that the curious December 23, 2019 New York City school schedule is handed down from Albany.

QUESTION: Mulgrew has such clout in Albany? Then why can he not get accomplished democratic autonomy for New York City? We have no home rule. We are a petty fief of the state. Maybe Mulgrew and the UNITY clan like it this way: a little number of players can negotiate with each other in secret, unlike locales school districts that putting the decision on whether to open December 23 up an open public discussion. This fiasco shows the failure of having mayoral control where major decisions impacting the schools are addressed behind closed doors.

It will be pretty awkward and difficult leading classes and getting work accomplished, when all the news and other media will be mentioning vacations having begun over the weekend. Students exposed to this will be mighty jealous and embittered. Of all the days school will feel like confinement, this will be it.

Other big cities, unlike New York City, closed on December 23:
Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix (break begins on Dec. 20), San Antonio, San Diego.
Philadelphia will be open on Dec. 23 --only for professional development.

Other Northeast cities with populations over 100,000, closed on Dec. 23, these districts have already released their 2019-2020 school year calendars:
Washington, DC, Boston, Baltimore,
Worcester, Providence, Springfield (Dec. 20 is a p.d. day), Rochester, Yonkers,  Stamford, Allentown, Cambridge, Lowell (Dec. 20: 'Holiday Vacation Begins at the Close of Day'), Manchester, NH (Dec. 20: early release for elementary schools), Waterbury, CT, Lakewood, NJ.

And others:
New Bedford, MA ('from the close of school on Dec. 20'), Brockton, MA, Quincy, MA 

Exceptions:
Woodbridge, NJ (4 hour day, Dec. 23)

To be determined:
Newark, Jersey City, Buffalo, Syracuse, Paterson, Edison, Elizabeth,
Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford

PLEASE CLICK TO SIGN THE PETITION TO CHANCELLOR CARRANZA TO REMOVE DECEMBER 23 FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SCHOOLS SCHEDULE, AS NEARLY EVERY OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS DONE.

Mulgrew Gives 'Blame NY State' As Its Excuse for Dec. 23 School Day --So Why Do Other Cities Take Dec. 23 Off Their Calendars?

Michael Mulgrew's [Unity Caucus leadership] has negotiated away Monday December 23, 2019 as a functioning school day --in spite of the precedence of no school sessions for four previous instances of December 23 on Mondays.
President Mulgrew gave the excuse that the calendar constraints are dictated by New York State.

Yet, the districts in New York State that have so far released their 2019-2020 school calendars have all December 23 treated as part of Holiday Break.
So, NYC Is the only school system in New York yet to schedule 12/23/19 as a school day. In descending order of population. (Cities that have not issued their calendars are not listed.)
Since all known calendars exclude Dec. 23 why does NYC have school that day?

Yonkers: December 23 is off.
Clarkstown [Spring Valley is partly in the Clarkstown district]: December 23 is off. 
Long Beach: December 23 is off.
Harrison: December 23 is off.
Lindenhurst: December 23 is off.
Glen Cove: December 23 is off.
Rockville Centre: December 23 is off.
Garden City: December 23 is off.
West Hempstead: December 23 is off.
Lynbrook: December 23 is off.
Mamaroneck: December 23 is off.
Mineola: December 23 is off.
Scarsdale: December 23 is off.
Massapequa: December 23 is off.
Blind Brook-Rye: December 23 is off.
Babylon: December 23 is off.
Patchogue-Medford: December 23 is off.
Dobbs Ferry: December 23 is off.
Great Neck: December 23 is off.
Half Hollow Hills [Dix Hills, Melville, parts of Deer Park, East Farmingdale, West Hills]: December 23 is off.
Hastings-on-Hudson: December 23 is off.
Northport &  East Northport: December 23 is off.
East Williston: December 23 is off.
Pleasantville: December 23 is off.
New Paltz: December 23 is off.
Warwick Valley: December 23 is off.
Tuckahoe: December 23 is off.
Malone: December 23 is off.
Hilton: December 23 is off.
Elmsford: December 23 is off.
Ardsley: December 23 is off.
Gouverneur: December 23 is off.

SIGN THE PETITION: ASK NYC DOE CHANCELLOR RICHARD CARRANZA TO REMOVE DEC. 23 FROM THE 2019-2020 CALENDAR:

Make Monday, December 23rd a vacation day for NYC schools!

 

Apartment prices in Brooklyn Have Risen Over 6% - So, How Does a 2% Teachers Pay Raise Cut It?

The United Federation of Teachers is rushing through with approval of a new UFT-DOE contract. It released the details Friday afternoon and the delegates voted on it that night. It contains only a two percent raise when it would start in February 14, 2019. But teachers in New York City are facing costs increases far greater than that. Younger teachers, a large proportion of the teaching workforce are facing an even greater burden.

The contract contains increases after the first 2 percent increase of 2.5 percent, and then 3 percent. However, there are several months of no increase in pay. So, over the life of the contract, until Sept. 13, 2022, the increase is actually just 1.94 percent annually.

Housing costs have been increasing at far greater rates than the 2, 2.5, 3 percent increases. Curbed in summer of last year reported that rental prices in New York City, in the bottom fifth tier of rents, had increased 4.9 percent since 2010. Overall rents increased between December 2009 and June 2017 at an annual rate of 3.9 percent.

High rent rates are forcing renters to put increasing percentages of their income into rent, squeezing out payment to other essentials needed for a sound financial future.

“As New Yorkers—particularly the lowest earners—are forced to dedicate more of their monthly income toward rent, it becomes extremely difficult to save for necessities like healthcare and education, or a down payment on a home.” --StreetEasy senior economist Grant Long.

For those teachers actually able to enter the apartment buyers' market, increases are even steeper. Apartment prices in Brooklyn rose 68.1 percent from 2006 to 2016, an annual increase of 6.81 percent, more than three times the rate of inflation, the Brick site reported in February 2017. Prices for the same period for Manhattan apartments rose 63.8 percent, for an annual average of 6.38 percent.

Greater strain on millenial teachers

Newer teachers are paying back loans on tuition rates that have grown at higher percentages than an oft cited current 2.2 percent interest rate. Of course, rates vary from teacher to teacher, by which college they attended and by what the tuition was while they attended, but it is important to contrast that 2.2 figure against overall averages.

The DOE prefers to recruit its newer teachers from the more elite schools. The tuition increase at the top 50 private institutions for the 2017 to 2018 academic year was average of 3.6 percent.  As USA Today noted, several institutions increased their tuition (forming the higher end of that average) at even higher rates. Lehigh University raised tuition by five percent in that year. Cal Tech increased its rate by 4.94 percent.

In fact, across the board, college tuition rates rise at rates higher than the general inflation rate. One former administrator noted that colleges raise rates by measuring tuitions against Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). Tom Lindsey added, "Between 1985 and 2011, average tuition nationwide increased 498 percent—more than four times the rate of general inflation (114 percent) as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)."

All in all, younger teachers are paying back college loans that are greater burdens --even adjusted for inflation-- than amounts paid by teachers entering the teaching profession ten or twenty years ago. Teachers need to demand more from the UFT and the DOE.

Does De Blasio Care More About Sustaining Ed Deform Attack on Teachers Than in Sustaining His Mayoralty?

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is seriously on the ropes. Every day, seemingly, there are scandal stories published in the city's daily tabloids. (The New York Times largely ignored his mounting scandals until this fall, when the troubles grew too large to ignore.) Just Google <de Blasio donations scandals>, and you will see innumerable stories on what looks like pay to play, with real estate developers.

So, de Blasio is in trouble. He is highly vulnerable to a challenge. You would think that he would value having support from the city's unions. Yet, de Blasio has done little to part from Mike Bloomberg's war on teachers. He did slow down Bloomberg's closing of schools, but in terms of the working conditions for teachers, the Department of Education is continuing its attack on teachers posture.

In fact, the New York Times, once reticent to acknowledge his financial impropriety (or appearance thereof) issues, suggested that city unions might consider a challenger. From "For Unions and New York City Hall, an Open-Door Relationship Turns Complex":

In the case of 1199, which represents 220,000 workers in New York City, the union figures prominently in two health care deals under investigation as well: a federal inquiry into the sale of Long Island College Hospital to developers in 2014, and the lifting of a city-imposed deed restriction on the Lower East Side nursing home, known as Rivington House, which was subsequently sold to a developer planning to build luxury condominiums.
Now, with Mr. de Blasio’s approval numbers sagging below 50 percent and the possibility of a re-election fight next year, the city’s powerful public and private unions — which apart from 1199 did not rally around him in the fractious Democratic primary last time — are beginning to consider whether to stick with an embattled mayor or risk abandoning their champion to back a challenger.

Teachers see from many examples that they know of first hand in their schools, and now on the ICE blog. The latter carries a report, "Randi Holding Fundraiser for Mayor de Blasio While AFT Members in NYC Including My Wife Suffer under Mayor," (referring to American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's sponsorship of a de Blasio fundraiser) of administrator harassment of a teacher at the Campus Magnet complex in Cambria Heights, Queens. The harassment is suspect because the teacher is a seasoned veteran. The blog says that the UFT is helping, but the DOE and its administrators get away with this; teachers see that the admins get away with this scot-free, and this all sends a chilling message to the teachers witnessing the attacks-- that there are no standards of admin decency, and further that they can get away with attacks on activists. Clearly, the admin attacks on Ms. Eterno are also an attack on teachers' workplace advocacy, as she has been a chapter leader at the school. The UFT needs to make a more serious effort against the abusive administrators. Ironically, under Weingarten the union ran a column in its paper on Administrators in Need of Improvement. The UFT under successor Mulgrew needs to end its concern for making nice with its supposed "sister" union, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA); it needs to put the welfare of its own members before its relationship with the CSA admin union.

De Blasio first ought to recognize that these attacks make for an unhealthy environment. (The Campus Magnet situation, with its principals Ateyiwa and Cruz in need of improvement, is not alone. Note these other cases in the Queens high schools alone.) But for his self-survival he ought to be concerned, very concerned. The teachers see very clearly that he has hardly been an improvement over the previous mayor. De Blasio secondly needs to be concerned that he is living in a new environment. Not only do teachers read in the blogs of the harassment that his admins get away with; but now he needs to realize that in this era of social media every Facebook user is virtually a micro-blogger --that the story of administrator venality tolerated by the mayor will snowball through "Likes" and "Shares" into wider negative publicity and will hurt his popularity.

Bill de Blasio is seriously suffering. His poll numbers are sinking. Potentially challengers are appearing. The scandal stories are so serious that even the Times is paying attention.
The imbecilic UFT leadership will support him no matter how bad things get. But other municipal union leaders see through his insincerity.

“There is a self-righteous hypocrisy about de Blasio,” said John Samuelsen, the president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents city subway and bus workers. Mr. Samuelsen criticized the mayor for, among other things, his support for bringing a Wegman’s grocery store to Brooklyn Navy Yard, even though the chain does not use union workers. (He also clashed with the mayor over the plan to restrict horse carriages to Central Park and ban pedicabs in the process.)

He needs all the friends he can get. Bill, keep tolerating Farina and her minions' attacks on teachers and you will be a one term mayor. Your affinity for sustaining the Bloomberg era attack on activist teachers and teachers approaching full pension years suggests that you are just another pro- neoliberal education reform Democrat. You need to make a decision: will you side with the reformers or do you seriously want to get reelected.

MORE/New Action Win HS Seats on UFT Executive Board; Jia Far Ahead of Francesco

BREAKING NEWS: The ICEUFT blog reported that the seven MORE/New Action candidates for the executive board exceeded the votes for all if the Unity Caucus candidates.

For the presidential race, these figures are available: Michael Mulgrew (Unity), 39,176; Jia Lee (MORE/New Action), 10,743; Francesco Portelos (Solidarity), 1,456. This was the first time that an opposition caucus presidential candidate had broken 10,000 since 2001. And Lee's vote was 7.4 times the vote for Portelos. This is testimony to the growth of a caucus that is building at the school level, district by district, and a group that mainly organizes via online projects.

The high school vote was certainly a vindication for MORE-New Action over Solidarity. Coming into the vote, Solidarity looked ready to play the spoiler. It didn't field candidates for the at large executive board seats, but it did field many candidates at the high school level, creating the potential for a three-way split, helping Unity. Yet, MORE beat Unity and Solidarity across the board at the high school level.
In terms of turnout, perennially a problem for the UFT, which occurs by mail, instead of in the school (as happens in the Chicago Teachers Union), turnout improved for all the school division levels, including the functional sections. And compared to the last election, this time the number of active teachers voting exceeded the number of retirees voting, in contrast to what happened in 2013.

How You Should Cast Your Ballot and Why You Should Vote for the MORE and New Action slate

Here are images of how you should cast your ballot. First, here's the one page view, presenting how you should cast your ballot.

Here's how the process in a few practical steps. Find the envelope indicating that it contains the official UFT ballot. Check off the ballot box that is marked for the MORE/New Action slate. Put the ballot in the envelope, and then put that envelope into the final envelope.
Still needing guidance? Here are some FAQs from the MORE Caucus UFT website.

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR THE MORE/New Action SLATE
When you vote for Michael Mulgrew and the Unity slate you are voting for the evaluations based on high stakes and Value Added Modeling, or VAM (rebuked by a judge last week in the Shari Lederman case). Furthermore, remember that Mulgrew has consistently supported Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his ill-minded policies. (Mulgrew took his support so far that in 2014 he threatened to defund the Working Families Party if it endorsed Zephyr Teachout for governor over Cuomo).
A major negative development under Mulgrew's tenure has been the change to the new evaluation system used at the city level. The evaluations have increased in number and have followed the absurd Danielson model. Mulgrew endorsed every worsening step of the evaluation Advance Evaluation system. He even asked for the DOE to evaluate teachers along more areas than even the DOE first sought in the negotiations.

And remember that Cuomo has supported the regressive education reform forces that led New York State education: John King and Merryl Tisch. And remember that Cuomo failed to listen to parents and educators that Common Core was an inherently flawed set of standards. (See this analysis of how Mulgrew endorsed Cuomo's New York State-level evaluation dictates.) Yet, Mulgrew has aggressively supported the standards, at one union function, threatening violence to anyone who dared to take them away. Mulgrew perpetuated the fiction that teachers had a role in writing the standards, when the truth is that no K through 12 educator wrote them.

Locally, Mulgrew has continued the Unity tradition of liking for a friendly mayoral candidate, and then failing to criticize the mistakes of that politician's policies once they are in office. Witness his continued support for mayor Bill DeBlasio whose chancellor Carmen Farina has proven to be no better than Bloomberg's chancellors. He has not challenged the DOE administration to part from the Bloomberg ways, and he has ignored the continuing problem of charter school encroachment on community schools and other district schools. By contrast, Jia Lee and the MORE caucus have challenged the administration on this enduring problem.

DeBlasio's Cell Phone Policy Threatens Community Business and Positive Educational Outcomes

*Bronx neighb mayhem out of control *Problems of cell phone use as a social justice issue 

Bill DeBlasio has placated parents' desire for their children to take cell phones to school. However, the new policy has several negative impacts on communities and on educational outcomes. All parties concerned with peaceful neighborhoods and positive educational outcomes should argue for the mayor and the New York City Department of Education to re-think the cellphone policy.

News outlets across the country, in the Los Angeles area ("Parents Concerned by Fist Fights Posted on Social Media"), to Georgia ("Social Media Poses Challenge for Schools as Student Fights Spread, Schools and the community dissect the troubling student fights that are gaining notoriety online, are reporting that school fights are being captured by students and are being shared on social media, such as Facebook and Instagram") are reporting youth mayhem that is fed by the wide availability of cell phones.

In the last two months, Bronx schools and neighborhoods are slipping into chaos. Unless DeBlasio steps in, these neighborhoods will slip further into a Clockwork Orange kind of disorder. First this happened in the Evander Childs campus. Yet, this is taking a worsening, escalating course in the Westchester Square area. And local authorities are seeing these fights as gang-related.

Just as the Bronx is experiencing a renaissance, cellphone-triggered chaos is jeopardizing that progress. Several news outlets are reporting that, as in other schools in the city (as had been reported to me by a school safety agent also), only weeks after DeBlasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina lifted the cellphone ban, students started to arrange fights, coordinated by using cellphones, within the school and by contacting individuals outside of the school. As reported this week and last week, city councilors in the Bronx are suspecting that students at the Lehman campus have started a routine of setting off fire alarms, then coordinating fights via cellphone. Additionally, students are documenting the fights with their cell phones, and then sending the fights viral, by social media sites.

These fights are now happening a few times a week, and students are extending the mayhem to commercial districts, such as Westchester Square. Merchants' shop windows are being broken. Stoked by the adrenaline of the disorder, students are harassing store owners with racial slurs. Some shopkeepers have said that if this continues they will be forced to close. The continuing mayhem hit the New York Post this weekend.

Will this change? Hardly likely. The major stakeholders, the mayor, the schools chancellor, the city teachers union president Michael Mulgrew are committed to a permissive cell phone policy. The absence of a popularly elected school board means that reversal of this policy will be quite slow.

The legacy of Michael Bloomberg's school policies are worsening matters. Bloomberg, cooperating the Bill Gates' small schools initiatives, broke up large high schools. Cooperating with the influence of Eli Broad, a new breed of principals, with limited school experience and little or no initial training as school assistant principals, have taken office. As the schools were broken up, the numbers of deans shrank or disappeared. Also, guidance counselor ranks shriveled up, as the DOE replaced their roles with those of classroom teachers, assigning the latter "advisory periods."

The outcome of these policies is that greater numbers of students now roam the halls, unchecked by deans conducting sweeps. The new principals lack the institutional memory of years of experience as teachers and assistant principals, years that would give them experience in the basics of managing schools. Places like Lehman campus are stuffed with schools led by neophyte principals. Leading a school is more than supervising teachers. While the Leadership Academy principals think that their role is just to supervise teachers, experience school leaders know that setting school tone is important.

The critical negative impact of cell phones and the fruits of cell phone bans

Research reported this year indicated that when schools implement cell phone bans test scores improve.  The gains are even greater in schools with lower income populations. Researchers, being out of the classroom as actual teachers are missing the terrible scale of distraction that phones and game players provide: means for taking pictures, shooting video, viewing pictures, watching videos, viewing pornography. It is disingenuous for all the parties promoting their introduction into the classroom. Only the well motivated students will commit themselves to keeping them out of site and out of use. To the distractable student, few topics can compete with messaging gossip, porno pictures or bloody games.


The United Kingdom researchers directly criticized DeBlasio and Farina's decision to lift the cell phone ban, as reported this year in the Guardian ("Schools that ban mobile phones see better academic results: Effect of ban on phones adds up to equivalent of extra week of classes over a pupil’s school year"):

However, some schools are starting to allow limited use of the devices. New York mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted a 10-year ban on phones on school premises, with the city’s chancellor of schools stating that it would reduce inequality.

This view is misguided, according to Beland and Murphy, who found that the ban produced improvements in test scores among students, with the lowest-achieving students gaining twice as much as average students. The ban had a greater positive impact on students with special education needs and those eligible for free school meals, while having no discernible effect on high achievers.

“We found that not only did student achievement improve, but also that low-achieving and low-income students gained the most. We found the impact of banning phones for these students was equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days.

“Therefore, de Blasio’s lifting of the ban on mobile phones with a stated intention of reducing inequalities may in fact lead to the opposite. Allowing phones into schools will harm the lowest-achieving and low-income students the most.”

Thus, DeBlasio's cell phone policy hurts the lower income and special education students.

So, we can safely call the situation: DeBlasio and Mulgrew vs. students, and teachers, whose positive evaluations hinge on positive test scores.

Cell phones threaten educational process and they threaten

NYS Repeats Ugly Historical Dictatorship History with Moral Character Provision in New Teacher Law

“Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”—George Santayana

And so, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State legislature take one more ugly step degrading our republic.

Along with the budget and teacher evaluation changes the legislature passed (in  S2006B/A3006B) included this insulting provision, that puts teachers into a class like that of sex offenders:

Certificate holders shall notify the department of any change of name or mailing address within thirty days of such change. Willful failure to register or provide such notice within one hundred eighty days of such change may constitute grounds for moral character review under subdivision seven of section three hundred five of this chapter.

This follows an item that the Perdido Street blogger charges is aimed at eliminating senior teachers. He wrote:

"We've already found that permanent certificate holders have lost the "permanent" status of their teaching certification since they now have to "register" every five years for their certification or risk losing their licenses."

To skeptics about this provision: yes, teachers and other professionals have had to register address changes with the state of New York, but this one newly charges teachers with a "Moral Character Review" if they fail to comply.

Where is the UFT in this attack? United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew declared the bill a victory --days before it was finished and voted on!

See reaction and analysis at this PSS blog post:
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2015/04/nysed-can-do-moral-character-review-if.html

And analysis and reaction at this Diane Ravitch piece:
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/04/perdido-street-if-you-change-your-address-without-informing-big-brother-bad-things-will-happen/comment-page-1/

Newsday Front Page: NYSUT's Magee: Parents Should Opt Out Their Children

So on the March 31, 2015 editions of Newsday we read that NYSUT's Karen Magee advised: Parents Should Opt Out Their Children.

So why not New York City's President Michael Mulgrew?

Because he has always sung the reformer-friendly refrain, that all that is needed is better tests --that the testing regime itself is not onerous, it's just the implementation that is bad.

And maybe this is also reflecting how just a year ago Mulgrew was engineering a coup de etat of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) assembly at their convention at the home base of New York City. (Hmm, when do you suppose NYSUT will have its convention in a more mutual location, such as Utica?)

The irony is that among his handpicked NYSUT teachers, the leader is taking some bold positions such as her opposition to the high stakes tests. And such talk would get people remembering that Mulgrew just a year ago had bought a thousands dollars table at a Cuomo reelection fundraiser.

What is To Be Done About Cuomo's War on Teachers; the Frankenstein from Mulgrew's WFP endorsement gambit; Unity-UFT's Anemic Mobilization vs. Cuomo's War

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? [Updated]: CTU-STYLE MOBILIZATION
Cuomo is at war with teachers; disingenuous is that Mulgrew is mobilizing versus him; their friendship lurks recent -- Once again, Weingarten looks a little better


Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared war on the Teachers of New York State.
 
This much is apparent from his statements at the opening of the 2015 political year.

And the New York Times has clearly recognized it with: "Cuomo’s Education Agenda Sets Battle Lines With Teachers’ Unions"

And to their credit the New York Times has stood up for reason for teachers in an editorial with integrity.

"The Central Crisis in New York Education"
[Postscript revision: the New York Times has challenged Cuomo's contention that the state's schools are in a particularly dire situation: "Cuomo Cites School Crisis in New York; Data Suggest Otherwise."

But Cuomo's latest salvo is only a recent chapter. For, Cuomo has long been at war with teachers. Since 2010 Cuomo has stipulated tough teacher evaluations, Annual Professional Performance Reviews (granted, it does make sense that teachers get annual professional reviews, but teacher had them previously, and the new regimen saddles cash-strapped districts with heavy costs, as this post discussed in 2013, citing this study).


Also, in 2010, and without seeing the full Common Core standards, Cuomo, with NYSED Commissioner David Steiner and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch ALONG WITH UFT PRESIDENT MICHAEL MULGREW accepted the Common Core State Standards. All of this was reported in 2013 with links at this blog in  "How Mulgrew's Responsible for Disastrous NYC Teachers' Evaluation; Gender & the Weingarten Comparisons."

MULGREW'S POSTURE TO CUOMO: COLLABORATION AND POLITICAL STEWARDSHIP
It is the height of hypocrisy for Mulgrew to protest Cuomo's chicanery when he participated with Cuomo's attacks on teachers. Furthermore, as reported here last year, Mulgrew paid a five digit sum just a year ago for a table at a Cuomo fundraiser.
Mulgrew and the United Federation of Teachers leadership, in a historically cynical move, bullied the Working Families Party last May. Mulgrew and others threatened to defund the WFP if it did not endorse Cuomo. As he pushed through the WFP endorsement of Cuomo, Mulgrew gave "progressive" sheen to Cuomo in the eyes of many impressionable voters. Well, thanks a lot, Michael! Don't tell us that you did not see this coming. Read these essential posts at Perdido Street School on May 30, and May 31, 2014 for details of this fiasco.

WEAK, DISINGENUOUS MULGREW-UNITY RESPONSE TO CUOMO BLITZKRIEG
And Mulgrew's response to this formidable attack? An anemic "emergency Delegate Assembly" this Wednesday at UFT headquarters and a stone-ages simple website.

Randi Weingarten -2005 sellout contract and all, looks more like the militant as she held a mass rally at Madison Square Garden. Just months later there was even, in many quarters of the union, talk of a strike authorization vote.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE: A CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION (CTU)-LIKE MOBILIZATION
Instead of elite level caucusing at Wednesday's emergency DA, away from the rank and file, at the UFT headquarters, there should be a thorough education campaign at the school level of:
*how poverty impacts education performance
*how Common Core distorts proper teaching
*how Danielson demeans the teaching profession
*how poverty + Cuomo's new 50% high stakes test performance hurdle + Danielson-informed APPR potentially dooms the careers of thousands of teachers
*how Cuomo failed to give New York City Schools the Campaign for Fiscal Equity $5.9 billion that they are due and he promised in his WFP endorsement deal with Mulgrew and other union leaders

This campaign should be done with school level organizing, before school hours sidewalk pitches, regular community outreach, selectively door-to-door and at houses of worship, mass rallies at public squares, thorough social media usage and threats of work to rule.

Then, and only then, could Mulgrew begin to undo the damage of his political courtship of Cuomo.

Getting to be MorelandGate as Bharara Threatens Cuomo with Investigation over Corruption Commission Tampering

*Now political summer 2014 heats up *US Prosecutor Preet Bharara warns Cuomo 
*Cuomo ad blitz right before Times piece on corruption probe
*Lotsa Dem Party cash went to pump up Cuomo --Did any of that come out of UFT/NYSUT COPE funds???  
*Green Party gubernatorial nominee calls for criminal investigation of Cuomo and Moreland
*Republican Party nominee asks, "Where is Andrew?"
2014 has been a dull summer in New York State news. By contrast, 2010 had the struggle over Race to the Top, showing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew bowing before (and caving in to) Bill Gates' Common Core State Standards. With U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's threat to investigate Cuomo over possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering, [July 31]this could tarnish Cuomo's reputation and grab increasingly negative attention. Talking Points Memo reported on the same story with this digest, "NYT: U.S. Attorney Tells Cuomo To Back Off Witnesses In Ethics Probe."

Cuomo has chugged along as Cuomo the invincible as he made parents' heads explode with his see/hear/say no evil approach to inBloom [the failed plan to siphon tons of private data on schoolkids to the state government and who knows how many corporate education companies] or Common Core, and as he gratuitously shut down the [state corruption investigating] Moreland Commission because "It's not a legal question" and because "It's my commission."  Read Daily Kos on Cuomo's power grab tone.

So now as July closes we get the big New York Times story, U.S. Department of Justice Attorney Preet Bharara. (Credit to DemocraticUnderground posters for the NYT and Cap NY links below.)

U.S. Attorney Warns Cuomo on [Moreland Commission] Ethics Case

From the Times:

In an escalation of the confrontation between the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over the governor’s cancellation of his own anticorruption commission, Mr. Bharara has threatened to investigate the Cuomo administration for possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering.
The warning, in a sharply worded letter from Mr. Bharara’s office, came after several members of the panel issued public statements defending the governor’s handling of the panel, known as the Moreland Commission, which Mr. Cuomo created last year with promises of cleaning up corruption in state politics but shut down abruptly in March.

Click here for the full Times story. And gratuitiously there was lots of Democratic Party cash going into a Cuomo campaign ad bltiz right before the Times hit last Wednesday, "Cuomo’s Office Hobbled Ethics Inquiries by Moreland Commission," as Capital New York reported:

Democrats ramped up ads as Cuomo girded for Times hit

Capital New York reported, as noted in the above link, that the New York State Democratic Campaign Committee began buying $281,655 worth of advertizing time on July 19, the day after Cuomo sent off a turgid 13 page missive [Cap NY gave a link for that letter to the Times site, but apparently the Times does not have that letter on its site at this point] to Times reporters working on the story. It is no wonder that campaignmoney.org reported July 24, "New York Newspapers 'Front Page' Gov. Cuomo Moreland Commission Scandal." The site listed 13 upstate newspapers' reactions after reporting,

The New York Times published ["Cuomo’s Office Hobbled Ethics Inquiries by Moreland Commission"] a bombshell investigation yesterday into Gov. Andrew Cuomo's meddling in the affairs of the anti-corruption Moreland Commission he created. This morning, New Yorkers across the state woke up to the story splashed across newspaper front pages with headlines like "Did Cuomo cross line?," "Specter of conflict haunting Cuomo," and "Gov. Cuomo under fire."

Like Cuomo needed the money! Take a look at this post at Diane Ravitch's blog, "Billionaires Rule! How Governor Cuomo and Hedge Fund Managers Protected Charter Schools," April 13, on Cuomo's charter school friends.

According to campaign finance records, Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from charter school supporters, including William A. Ackman, Carl C. Icahn, Bruce Kovner and Daniel Nir.
Kenneth G. Langone, a founder of Home Depot who sits on a prominent charter school board, gave $50,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s campaign last year. He said that when the governor asked him to lead a group of Republicans supporting his re-election, he agreed because of Mr. Cuomo’s support for charter schools.

That Ken Langone is the same character that made an Adolf Hitler-Barack Obama analogy, the same fellow that is a top Chris Christie donor and the same fellow that says that Pope Francis' criticisms of capitalism could cause the wealthy to scale back their donations to the Catholic Church.

They can laugh now, the corruption probes haven't finished their work.

And as ProPublica reported, Cuomo has raised millions in campaign donations through a loophole that he promised to close.

Now we get to the question, how much UFT or (now Mulgrew-controlled) NYSUT Committee on Political Education (COPE) money has gone to Cuomo in recent weeks? It is not out of the realm of possibility, for Mulgrew's proxy Andy Pallotta spent $10,000 on an entire table at Cuomo's birthday fundraiser.

Cuomo's opponents have been quick to respond. Green Party nominee for governor Howie Hawkins responded on July 27:

Criminally Investigate Cuomo & Moreland

Today's New York Times article on the Moreland Commission is a disturbing documentation of the ongoing efforts by Governor Cuomo and his staff to prevent an independent investigation into corruption at the State Capitol. Mr. Cuomo's behavior, including deceiving the public as to the workings of the Commission, falls far short of the minimum ethical standards for the highest elected official in our state.
Even the Commission's one watered down report stated that state government is “a pay-to-play political culture driven by large checks." Cuomo is the kingpin of that domain, as his $40 million plus election war chest highlights. Cuomo and his staff however ensured that key issues that would reflect badly on him were stricken from the report, especially information that investigators had learned about the powerful Real Estate Board of New York and its political donations.
While we are encouraged that the US Attorney has picked up investigations dropped by Cuomo's disbanding of the Commission, this story makes clear the urgent need for an independent criminal and ethical investigation of the activities of Mr. Cuomo, starting with the enormous amount of massive campaign contributions he has raised during his tenure. This investigation needs to examine the funds that Governor has raised - and spent - for various party and independent committees that he has controlled, as well as the potential misuse of public funds to promote his candidacy.
As I have pointed out in this and prior campaigns, it is impossible for politicians to effectively investigate themselves. That is why I have called for non lawmakers to control bodies such as JCOPE [NYS Joint Commission on Public Ethics].

More recently, Hawkins weighed in on the developing MorlandGate mess with his statement approval of U.S. Attorney Bharara's involvement. Earlier in July Hawkins noted the declining standardshttp://www.howiehawkins.org/clean_up_albany_corruption for political behavior in our times,

"While Watergate is viewed as our generation's greatest political scandal, the reality is that the morals of political officials have dramatically declined since then. Behavior considered shocking by public officials 40 years ago is now treated as routine. The great shift in wealth to the very rich over the last forty years has gone hand and hand with the perception by lawmakers that they are entitled to treat public service as a license to enrich themselves," said Hawkins.

Republican Party nominee for governor Rob Astorino released a video, "Where is Andrew?" The video ad advises viewers to "Call 1-800-Moreland."

So there you have it: Cuomo has a lot of explaining to do: why did he close the Moreland Commission? Another point: why is the now Mulgrew-controlled NYSUT or any other unions bothering to shell out thousands for such politician that is cozy with the privatizers, the hedge funders? --and a politician that we might add is possibly a bit crooked.

At the very least, regardless of how far Bharara can get with investigating Cuomo, the governor's rapacious greed for money and power look too tactless for someone with presidential ambitions. Serious donors will go to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, should he attempt to run. And both Clinton and Republican contenders will be easily able to tarnish Cuomo with the Curroptmo tag.

For a reminder of how this is a governor more concerned with catering to the one percent than in helping ''working families'' read my post this January, "DeBlasio Seeks Pre-K Help, Cuomo Pushes Millionaire Tax Cuts / Why Mulgrew-Iannuzzi NYSUT Battle Matters."

For the best on-going coverage of Cuomo and his manipulation of the Moreland Commission, regularly visit Perdido Street School blog. e.g., His latest post has the important news that "Daily News Reports That Andrew Cuomo Has 'Lawyered Up'." Cuomo has hired a top criminal defense attorney and his top aides have hired their own personal attorneys. Yes, the political summer is heating up.

Updated: Mulgrew to Teachers: Drop Dead / 5/16 Chief: NYC Unions Don't Heart Mulgrew

*UPDATE: "Uniformed Unions Can't Get Past 0 in UFT Deal."
Where do we begin with United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew's chutzpah? First, we have the matter of his arrogance at the delegate assemblies, and his patronizing, sexist treatment of alternative caucus (MORE) delegates.

Next, we have his contract, which famously got its first attention as an ATRs under the bus contract, garnering an early denunciation as such from a top activist at MORE.

Yet, the controversy over the union's abandonment of the ATRs has overshadowed other objectionable aspects of the contract.  There is the head-scratching stimulating plan to stretch out increased pay and retro over several years, so that the repayment is not settled until 2020, two years after the contract has expired. Note this MORE leaflet of the pay schedule, which sways members that initially supported the contract to a no vote. In chapter and borough-level meetings members are putting the details together and are calling this a cynical plan to improve teacher retention; rank and filers and vets alike are calling this a no interest loan to the city (and are pointing out that in past instances, 1976, 1991, of union loans to the city we got interest).

Perturbed union heads
Even more close to home for Mulgew, he is burning his bridges with other New York City labor leaders. The poor retro repayment issue has many union heads upset at Mulgrew and his apologist Unity caucus lieutenants. The Unity caucus is the dominant caucus of the union, and it is the group that actually produced this contract. You know things are bad when other labor union leaders are openly criticizing another union's contract deal. Indeed, the May 16 Chief issue is rife with stories of union heads upset with Mulgrew because of the UFT offering a weak contract. The issue carries a stinging, long editorial column, extending over the better part of two pages, "Uniformed Unions Can't Get Past 0 in UFT Deal." The column echoes Captains' Endowment Association President Roy Richter statement, "I go back to the classic 'no zeroes for heroes'" referring to Giuliani's two-year wage freeze.
The other New York City municipal union leaders fear that weak contract elements will set a precedent, making it more difficult for other union leaders in the other trades to seek acceptable contracts.

In particular, attention has been drawn to how the Transport Workers Union got a better deal on their members' retroactive payments.


Stretched out retro, ignoring the phenomenon of interest, ignoring the past precedent of interest collection from the city
The UFT's give-away will alienate the other local labor leaders from Mulgrew as they now have to negotiate with the city, which will take advantage of the UFT's weak precedent-setting contract. How can other unions get good pay terms when this disaster precedent is established?
Thus, The Chief reports, "They noted that this would likely fail to keep pace with the rise in the cost of living, and police-union leaders were at least as unhappy that an 18-month period of the UFT deal--which would potentially constitute the very start of their own contracts--features a wage freeze, although a $1,000 bonus would be paid."


Tongue-tied district reps and other contract promoters
It is rather pathetic to see the parade of cheerleaders for this contract. Way too often the reports are that the various promoters are stumped when it comes time to answer specific questions about retro, pay increases and undisclosed health premium increases. The confused reps are left having to tell the confused members that they'll have to get back to them after talking with the union's experts downtown. We should however, applaud one long time Unity chapter leader for breaking with the no-dissent tradition and opposing the contract.

You doubt this? Take a look at Urban Ed blog's latest installment where he points to how the anxious Unity gives the impression that they have to sell Yes even to their loyal flock. The Urban Ed blogger recounts anecdotes of confused Unity reps having to consult issues of NY Teacher in order to answer some questions about the contract.

A desperate rush to pass the contract
The presenting of the contract bore repeated hallmarks of a desperate leadership, unconfident of trusting even its leading cadre with contract details. The contract was announced, May 1. President Mulgrew got the Executive Board to vote May 5 to approve the contract, in spite of the fact that the Executive Board had not even read the contract's preliminary Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). The MoA was only released at the close of business May 6, 24 hours before the Delegates Assembly had their special May 7 meeting at the Hilton to vote on the contract. The final MoA was not released until the close of business May 15, and for days the initial MoA was online, instead of the new, expanded MoA. Why cannot the leadership trust the membership with reading the contract? By contrast, in Chicago, teachers were able to pour over and discuss the contract. Here, even the top representatives seem confused by the contract.
To get a sense of just how the Unity caucus -the secretive job machine that runs contract negotiations and everything else in the union-- operates read this piece from ICE. To understand why Unity minions fall into lockstep behind the decisions of the group's elite, one must understand that every member of the caucus must swear by the Unity oath to brook no public dissent. Watch this video of a speech at last month NYSUT assembly by one of MORE's Lauren Cohen, where she cites the Unity loyalty oath (and the union's insistence on winner-take-all elections) as reasons for the UFT's lack of authentic representation of the members. Note the raucous response by the Unity stalwarts, embarrassed that the truth is out.

Deceivious talking points
So we get these incredible talking points that are sounding increasingly desperate. For days the union has been trumpeting the fairy tale myth that a no vote meant going to the back of the line, behind 150 other unions. This is forgetting the fact that the city was simultaneously negotiating several contracts prior to May 1. "We don't want to bankrupt the city." But prior to release of this contract it was known that the city had an ample surplus. Yet that was before this bombshell from the Daily News, "City faces larger budget surpluses in next two years than Mayor de Blasio projects: Independent Budget Office." Then there's this laughable doozy: "The choice is between this deal and no deal. There is no second choice being offered." This opinion never heard of a renegotiated contract, such as in 1995 when the UFT members voted down the contract. Read at the MORE Caucus site, "Some Lessons of Previous Contract Struggles." Part 1 and Part 2.

Lost labor head allegiance; lost member allegiance
Mulgrew with his precedent setting delayed retro and his open door for medical give-backs (the potential for health premium increases is an issue only recently gaining attention, see this story in Capital New York) has burned his bridges with labor leaders that now must negotiate their contracts with this weak precedent. He's burned his bridges with his peers with this contract.
There may be too many bowled over members that already voted Yes for the contract. Yet, when UFT members notice that their paychecks fail to keep pace with inflation then they will realize that their union's Unity leadership sold them a terrible bill of goods. Then over the next two years this contract will be the unraveling of the Unity caucus' stranglehold on the United Federation of Teachers.

Can Cuomo Do Common Core Homework? New York: Parents Launch CCSS Math Homework At Governor – @NYGovCuomo

Originated from conservative site. But they've got a point: can NY Governor Andrew Cuomo do the homework? A panel is needed to review the Common Core. Are you kidding? Any panel of parents can tell you it is nonsense. Make sure to read this analysis at Perdido Street School blog. It turns out that Cuomo packed the panel with Common Core supporters. And, the United Federation of Teachers pres. Michael Mulgrew supports Cuomo's sop to (rightly) disgruntled parents. Teachers across NYS: is this the kind of person you want supplanting current president Dick Iannuzzi with a proxy?
Postscript: the Regents tentatively considered some changes to modify the impact of the Common Core. Common Core Gov. Cuomo went ballistic. The Regents finally reversed on their initial consideration to revise the Common Core impact. Remember, Mulgrew all through this has supported Gov. Cuomo. Read ICEUFT's analysis: Mulgrew's only complaint coming from his simple two sentence analysis is that the Common Core curriculum needs to be sharpened. NYS teachers: your local district leader will be voting in a special assembly in New York City in April. Who do you want charting the future of NYS teacher union politics?: Dick Iannuzzi or Mulgrew's puppet Karen Magee?

New York parents are launching their children’s Common Core math homework – AT Governor Cuomo. Mark Ferreris, a leader in Stop Common Core in New York State, came up with the idea of sending the children’s homework to the Governor. Tired of seeing their children “suffer each night with abusive, age-inappropriate homework that destroys both their self-esteem and their freedom to truly learn,” Ferreris and other organizers planned the campaign and created a public Facebook event page at Stop Common in New York State, set for February 28, 2014: https://www.facebook.com/events/1433445366892441/

New York parents will simply send their child’s homework via email or regular mail to Governor Cuomo. They plan to title each email or tweet: “CAN YOU DO THIS? –Because Our Children Can’t.” 

“Let him get a taste of the suffocating, mind-numbing curriculum that he’s helped shove down our children’s throats which will enslave their impressionable minds….. It’s simple, it’s quick and it’s for YOUR CHILDREN…. Flood him with emails daily or send weekly updates to him,” said organizers.

If you are in New York, here is the contact information for your governor: 

Email: Gov.Cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us

MAIL: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo – Office of the Governor – NYS State Capital Building – Albany, NY 12224 Tweet: @NYGovCuomo
 —————
 Wondering what the homework actually looks like? Here are a few samples.
 EngageNY/Common Core Math Homework
 This one is from a first grade class:


Governor Cuomo, can you do it? The next one is from a kindergarten class. (Where are the plus, minus, or equals signs? What is a “number bond”?)


This next one is for second graders. It could as well be for college students; it makes no sense.


Here’s one for third graders that avoids simplicity and clarity, deliberately:

Breaking News: MTA LIRR Union Votes to Strike in March

*MTA LIRR workers seeking increase city workers could only dream of
Well, you have the UFT which is so ossified that its 11th Commandment is Thou Shalt Not Strike.
Yet, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Long Island Railroad (LIRR) workers' union voted 500-0 tonight to go on strike. The strike could happen as early as March.

At dispute is its contract and salary increase. An Obama administration labor panel recommended a 17 percent increase, yet the MTA balked at it.

New York City unions should follow the LIRR union's stance.

Lucky LIRR workers: they are covered by federal law, not by biased, anti-labor NYS Taylor Law.
There was a time --2006-- when New York City's labor leaders --including the United Federation of Teachers' then president Randi Weingarten-- spoke out against the Taylor Law at the City Council's Committee on Civil Service and Labor. Weingarten said, "The city's ability to stall without repercussions means unions have virtually no leverage." Have we ever heard Mulgrew put it so succinctly about the Taylor Law?
The Times also wrote, 

The labor leaders said the law had repeatedly given City Hall an upper hand in labor talks, provided incentives for the city to drag out negotiations years after contracts expire, and established the framework for a system of "pattern bargaining" in which all public employees are expected to accept the same terms that are accepted by a union picked out by the city to set a bargaining precedent.

In 1994, under Andrew Cuomo's father, Mario, the workers struck for three days. They got a 8.7 percent over three years.

No concessions! Full retroactive pay! Ample salary increases to match rent and other New York City cost of living increases since 2009!

Here is the background of the Obama labor panel's recommendation in LIRR contract considerations, from Anton News of Nassau County, January 9, 2014:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) made a strategic mistake recently when it said that its planned 2015 fare hike may be reduced to four percent from 7.5 percent.

In essence, the MTA, the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) parent, was announcing it’ll forgo an estimated $200 million in fare box revenue in 2015, given the MTA’s improved financial standing. The MTA conveyed this message as the LIRR was telling an emergency presidential panel, in early December, that the LIRR could only give the bulk of its unionized employees a cumulative general wage increase (GWI) of four percent over a five-year period, dating back to 2010 and extending into 2014. Meanwhile, advocates for most of the LIRR’s unions, representing about 5,500 of the LIRR’s approximately 6,400 employees, were trying to convince this panel its members deserved a GWI of 18.5 percent over a six-year period (2010-2015).

President Obama’s three appointees sided, big-time, with the LIRR’s unions, when releasing its 51-page, non-binding report on the LIRR’s ongoing labor dispute. The panelists, two of them from Massachusetts and the other from Maryland, called for the LIRR to reach an accord that would give its unionized employees what amounts to a GWI of 14.75 percent over a six-year period. The panel’s final recommendation would have been 17 percent over six years, but even the president’s appointees agreed with LIRR management’s contention that these LIRR employees should contribute to their health insurance premiums. By 2015, the panel believes the LIRR should pay 97.75 percent of its unionized employees’ premiums. Today, the LIRR picks up a union employee’s entire health insurance tab.

The LIRR management team’s bid to get the presidential panel to endorse any of its proposed work-rule changes also went nowhere, such as those governing staffing requirements at Richmond Hill, or ones that would make it easier to reassign LIRR track workers to undertake bridge and building maintenance. To combat these findings, the LIRR ought to find a way to explain to the media how antiquated work rules drain the LIRR’s coffers and perpetuate inefficiencies. The LIRR’s labor unions are the only ones benefiting from the status quo when it comes to allocating personnel.

Update: NYSUT Vote on King: Iannuzzi - 1, Mulgrew - 0 / King/Tisch Declare War on ELA Students

Update: King and Tisch have moved the high-stakes test war on children up a notch. This makes the struggle against King/Cuomo and against Mulgrew all the more urgent. Scroll down for the analysis.

Yeah, OK, so the vote reports nowhere say this is Iannuzzi v. Mulgrew. However, inescapably, the vote represents a repudiation of what New York City teachers union United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew represents. This is a hopeful hint of shifting winds to come, in the coming battle between Mulgrew and Iannuzzi.

To remind readers, perhaps lost amidst other stories, there were reports of a major event this weekend, the NYSUT board of directors vote on president Iannuzzi's vote of no confidence against New York State Education Department Commissioner John King, as reported in EdNotes and in Valerie Strauss' Answer Sheet column at the Washington Post.

King Jeani XIV, "I am the State Education Department"

The vote set out a vote of no confidence against John King. We can recall no instance of Mulgrew point-blank criticizing King. Rather, the nearest we see is a tepid whine that teachers' Common Core problems will be solved by a beefed up curriculum.

Teachers in New York City and New York State must recognize that there are profound flaws in Michael Mulgrew that are vociferous defenses for the indefensible policies of John King. Perdido Street did some extremely important compilations of old posts that quintessentially capture the nightmarish betrayals that Mulgrew committed against the teachers of New York City. NYS teachers and their representatives would do well to study those missteps with the most exacting attention. See "Oldie But Goodie: Mulgrew "Frightened" By Opposition To Common Core," "Another Oldie But Goodie: Michael Mulgrew On Why John King Was A Great Figure To Impose A NYC Teacher Evaluation System," "And Yet Three More Oldies But Goodies: Michael Mulgrew Defends John King's APPR Teacher Evaluation System."

Update: for an excellent analysis of the behind the facades significance of this battle, see the analysis at the ICEUFT blog, MAKING SOME SENSE OF THE NYSUT LEADERSHIP SPLIT.

Why should NYS teachers and representatives care about what Michael Mulgrew or his proxy Andy Pallotta say or think? Pay close attention to what Mulgrew said for months last year: apologies for some of the worst policies that are destroying teachers' working conditions and their spirits. Reading Mulgrew's words, aren't you unsettled by what Mulgrew did in New York City? Would you for a minute risk his disastrous policies' being shoved over to the rest of New York State?

Heed the words of teachers that quit the profession or write poetry over the destruction of the teaching profession that they once loved. From this blog, last June: "Surveys: teacher morale at record lows; when the profession "no longer exists"; 2013-2014 for NYC teachers under new evaluations"

Given the pressures, is it any wonder that we are seeing plaintive "I Quit" postings on the Internet and on videos going viral? --video resignations like that of history teacher Jerry Conti of Westhill High School (see at right, and see his letter republished at Huffington Post about how testing and number crunching means that the teaching profession "no longer exists"), and the western New York state teacher that penned the "I am a teacher and I am tired" poem, published at the NYSUT blog site. Even principals are quitting over the over-emphasis on tests.

And which teachers union leader clearly has been the figure that has been committed great damage to the teaching profession in New York State? Hmm. Make no mistake, Saturday's NYSUT board vote was not just a repudiation of Comm. King but also a repudiation of Mulgrew who has not stood up to John King in his worsening of teacher working conditions.
Never forget: Mulgrew supports Cuomo. This is a major political point of political dispute between Mulgrew and Iannuzzi. Read on the political urgency to stop Cuomo: The Prime Directive: Stop Cuomo in this post.

 * * *
Postscript:
The prospect of a Michael Mulgrew takeover of NYSUT is ominous for another reason: the fundamentally undemocratic essence of his caucus, the Unity Caucus, which has dominated the UFT for the last 50 years. How can there be democracy in a union body dominated by the Unity caucus, considering the second clause of the Unity caucus' infamous loyalty oath? (Thanks to NYC Educator blog for publishing the oath.):
The Unity caucus loyal oath:

To express criticism of caucus policies within the Caucus;

To support the decisions of Caucus / Union leadership in public or Union forums;

To support in Union elections only those individuals who are endorsed by the Caucus, and to actively campaign for his / her election;

To run for Union office only with the support of the caucus;

To serve, if elected to Union office, in a manner consistent with Union / Caucus policies
and to give full and faithful service in that office; 

Imagine this caucus controlling the state union. It is bad enough already that they control the city union.
 * * *
Postscript:
You know the scene in "The Pianist" when the Germans are in Warsaw, with tanks relentlessly pounding apartment blocks? One blast right after another.

I could not help but think that this is what King and Tisch did with the ELA exam this week. I don't have time to summarize. The story is excellently discussed at NYC Educator here and at Perdido Street here and here.

The ELA Regents test was brutal --a brutal blast. The percentage of students passing will be a record low. What on earth is going on in the minds of King/Tisch? Have they no conscience? Thousands of students will not get their diploma because of this. You can envision that many will get demoralized and not bother to try try again in future ELA Regents.

Think of the state tests last spring and their results. A merciless tank blast at students. Think of the students engaging in self-injury.

Make no mistake: the Regents are declaring war on New York State's schoolchildren.
It might take a few years to replace the Regents and the Common Core. But New York teachers have a moral duty to go against this madness at every opportunity.

Mulgrew has said NOTHING directly critical of King/Tisch. By contrast, we are seeing growing discontent from Iannuzzi and his allies. The coming stand off between the two is a battle with high moral stakes. Teachers are duty-bound to support the Iannuzzi side to reverse this sick trend in education. Parents, citizens, support those teachers and teacher locals that are backing Iannuzzi and opposing Mulgrew. This time it's personal. Your children are at stake.

Additionally, the episode of this week's ELA Regents is a shining example of what is going on in high stakes testing. New York City teachers, parents, concerned citizens, there is an important forum this Saturday on the upper west side on the issue of high stakes testing, More Than a Score: Talking Back to Testing, co-sponsored by the MORE UFT caucus and Change the Stakes. (February 1, 2014 at 11:00 am – 3:00 pm Edward A. Reynolds Westside High School. 140 W 102 St., New York , New York 10025) Attend the conference, get informed, get active.

The children are at stake.

DeBlasio Seeks Pre-K Help, Cuomo Pushes Millionaire Tax Cuts / Why Mulgrew-Iannuzzi NYSUT Battle Matters

*Cuomo pushes tax cut for wealthiest in New York State
*Why is Mulgrew pushing for Cuomo's reelection? *2013: the year of Mulgrew's repeated support for Common Core
That New York Governor Mario Cuomo is dissing new New York City Bill de Blasio already is not news. Straight away he has opposed tax increases for funding universal pre-Kindergarten. Yet, he is ignoring all of the research that has demonstrated the importance of it.
By the way, remember that the MORE caucus came out for universal full day high quality pre-Kindergarten from its beginnings in 2012. So, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is really Johnny-come-latelies to plug for it on the front page of its latest New York Teacher issue.

In his rebuffing deBlasio is Cuomo breaking from tradition?
As reported in the current issue of "The Chief",

When asked about the Governor's efforts to outmaneuvre him, Mr. de Blasio was polite but firm. "There is a very clear history. The last three mayors went to Albany" and got the tax changes they asked for, he said. "We expect to see continuity."

And yet, we can see cynical maneuvering in Cuomo's attempts to appeal to certain constituencies. He mentioned pre-K in his address to the state. But he did not mention de Blasio's specific proposal and its tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers.

Cuomo pushes tax cut for wealthiest in New York State
New York State is a state with huge disparity in wealth. The wealthy have been coasting along quite easily. Rather than support de Blasio's call for a tax increase on the wealthiest in New York City, Cuomo has done the opposite. "The Chief" reports in the January 17 edition:

*Reduce corporate income taxes to 6.5 percent, the lowest rate since 1968 . . . .
*Increase the threshold for the state inheritance tax from $1 million to $5.25 million, indexed for inflation, and reduce the rate from a maximum of 16 percent to 10 percent.

As Cuomo speaks, Mulgrew beams; Iannuzzi looks stoical

Amidst Mulgrew's support for toxic Cuomo: Critical news on Mulgrew's challenge to Iannuzzi
Yet, UFT president Michael Mulgrew is re-endorsing Gov. Cuomo and is mobilizing the UFT toward that end. Why?! we must ask. Cuomo is complicit on APPR and Common Core State Standards, central causes of woes of teachers across New York State. Cuomo handed full control of New York City's teacher evaluation program to NYSED commissioner John King, all with Mulgrew's enthusiastic endorsement. (This is part of a larger story about how Mulgrew's UFT forces are maneuvering with Andy "Who?" Pallotta as Mulgrew's figure-head for VP against NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi's slate. Read "Burgeoning NYSUT Civil War" at the PJSTA website and "Looming Battle: Mulgrew vs Iannuzzi For NYSUT Leadership - Split Over Cuomo Endorsement?" at Ed Notes. Pallotta, a Bronx staffer to run against Iannuzzi, now that's transparently Mulgrew's puppet.)
Gov. Cuomo is disingenuously standing on the sidelines amidst the statewide parents' and educators' plaintive plea to remove commissioner King. Cuomo is resisting mayor de Blasio's pre-K program. Cuomo's interest in education "reform" is transparent: he is utterly on the take from education profiteers, e.g., Democrats for Education Reform ($14,000) and Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy charter school chain (four donations from Success PAC to Cuomo in 2011-2012 for his reelection bid, and $400,000 from a cadre of wealthy supporters of the Success chain). Mulgrew's proxy, Pallotta of the Bronx, and Unity-UFT's VP in NYSUT hearts Cuomo so, that he spent $10,000 in NYSUT Committee on Political Education ("COPE") funds, without Iannuzzi's knowledge, on a table at Cuomo's birthday party celebration. See the excellent reporting here at EdNotes and here at Perdido Street School.
So, why is Mulgrew supporting Gov. Cuomo? His predictable "Cuomo is better than any Republican alternative." To this point, we must point out: Common Core didn't start under Pataki, APPR didn't start under Pataki, standing by an aloof, elitist, autocratic education commissioner didn't happen under Pataki. These backward developments in New York State began under Cuomo, with his endorsement.



Centerpiece graphic from NYSUT's website, in advance of its June 8, 2013 rally.
See my earlier post, "The Two New York Teacher Unions and the Significance of Mulgrew/UFT's Ignoring of NYSUT's 6/8 Rally," on how NYSUT's newspaper was touching on a lot of the electric issues for teachers. Meanwhile, all that the UFT would do last spring would be to offer workshops on how to better "align" with the Common Core.
In that post, I highlighted the telling differences between the UFT and NYSUT, as evinced from their respective newspapers.

	NYSUT United	UFT and New York Teacher
Common Core	implicit, critical mention	apologies to the CCSS, the message: just let us get it right next time
High-stakes tests	tests causing near anguish	weaker commentary
Group's stance	as early as 2011, NYSUT challenged the new evaluation system in court	endorse VAM/ test-based evaluations, then gripe over the results
Rally	June 8, dealing with wider range of issues, reaching to the wider community; major push; literature already released, latest issue of paper has stories emphasizing issues attending to in rally promo leaflets	silence on June 8 rally, diversionary June 12 rally*, narrower, dealing with a contract-oriented focus; weaker promotion so far --watch for bland, top-heavy announcements

*It was valid to have a contract rally, but the timing was conveniently distracting from the June 8 NYSUT Albany rally.
"Which side are you on?" Education progress or deform is that essence of education politics today. Iannuzzi, while not perfect, is on the better side on many issues than Mulgrew or Karen Magee (Pres. figurehead on Unity-UFT's slate) and Mulgrew's puppet Pallotta. Iannuzzi spearheaded the massive Albany rally of thousands last June 8, at which (non-NYC) district chapter rank and filers were out in force with home-made signs telling of teachers chafing under paperwork. Iannuzzi more recently, is proposing a NYSUT vote of no confidence against commissioner King. The NYC contingent, the UFT, was next to impossible to find at that rally, and Mulgrew and "Randi" gave the lamest of speeches, weak on specifics and never frontally challenging the core destructive tenets of education "reform." With Mulgrew's non-commitment to mobilizing the UFT for the rally and not alerting the media, is it any wonder that all the media reports from the event were from Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, not the NYC area?

2013: the year of Mulgrew's repeated support for Common Core
Mulgrew is really out of touch on this one.
Apr. 28, in opinion piece in the Daily News supportive of the Common Core, Mulgrew wrote that teachers just needed a more "coherent, detailed curriculum."
Aug. 8, Mulgrew mistated the truth in a "Daily News" editorial, asserting that many teachers wrote the Common Core: "teachers — many of whom helped create the new Common Core . . . " The truth: None of the five authors of the English or Math sections are teachers. Only three teachers served on the validation committee for the Common Core. How is zero "many?"
Oct. 29, Capital New York: Mulgrew repeated his support for "the idea behind the Common Core" and said that withdrawing from the Common Core "would be a real disservice to our children."
Nov. 14, UFT site: "Mulgrew reinterated [sic!] the union's support of the Common Core."
Remember, any UFT assertions of teacher support need to be tempered with knowledge that the national parent federation, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has received over $5 million from Bill Gates, the sponsor and initiator of the national Common Core standards. Read one New York State principal, Tim Farley's astute analysis of the impact of Gates money on the AFT and teacher practices in implementing the Common Core. See also Mercedes Schneider's "Weingarten Wants Me to Want the Common Core State Standards." Scroll below for the key clincher quotes from principal Farley, regarding Gates' donations and "professional development" for the Common Core.

The bonus pay ruse for merit pay
You would think that there could be bonus combat pay for teachers working in the toughest schools. Alas, that's not what will happen. Actually, the reverse will happen. Cuomo's "bonus pay" plan is patently a merit pay plan sugar-coated for the masses. The problem this time is that with Mulgrew so compliant he'll willingly go along with whatever Andy proposes. What is refreshing is that even the media see through Cuomo to an extent and are calling his plan a merit pay plan. See the Chaz blog article on the issue to see an analysis that directly labels the plan as a merit plan. The major problem is that it is easily manipulated, with the principal assigning the toughest classes to their least favorite teachers and the easiest ones to their pets. Churn that through the value-added modeling ("VAM") sausage machine --that AFT president Randi Weingarten has finally gotten it right on-- and it will be easy to see that the class of 3s will do better than the class of 2s will do worse.

The teachers' referendum on John King
Again, teacher union members must ask Mulgrew and those outside NYC must ask their district leaders, will you join the Syracuse Teachers Association president Kevin Ahern in his supporting Iannuzzi's call for a vote of no confidence against NYSED commissioner John King?

NYSED Commissioner John King; Iannuzzi wants a recall; Cuomo and Mulgrew have yet to critique his style

View these videos, in Mineola, in Poughkeepsie -the short version, the long version, in Buffalo, in Whitesboro, just a sample, of choruses across New York State. Parents, teachers and students have no confidence in John King or the Common Core. Michael Mulgrew, you want to give the pretense of abiding by social justice, then do the right thing and oppose King. Teacher union members, pay close attention when Mulgrew fails to support Iannuzzi's move versus King.

"NYSUT responds to governor's State of the State address:"

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 8, 2014 - New York State United Teachers today said Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2014 State of the State address presented a mixed bag for public schools, colleges and health care - offering a continuation of promising programmatic ideas but raising serious questions about resources.

NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi said the governor's proposal for prekindergarten is "encouraging," but expressed deep concern about the governor's package of proposed tax cuts and the significant omission in the governor's address of the need for a course correction in the implementation of the Common Core. Regarding the governor's proposal on merit pay, Iannuzzi said research shows such programs do not impact student achievement. 

"It is troubling that the most important issue facing students, parents and teachers today - the botched implementation of the Common Core and the need for a moratorium on high-stakes consequences for students and teachers - was absent in the speech," said Iannuzzi. "With all that is on our plate now in public education, to be distracted by a failed concept like merit pay would be a serious mistake."

The NYSUT president also questioned how the state would sustain investments in pre-K, professional development, technology, and in public colleges and universities when the economy is still in recovery and the governor wants to cut $2 billion in needed tax revenue.

"It is difficult to reconcile how the education programs will be paid for, not to mention sustained, when a horrific tax proposal is on the table," Iannuzzi said.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta said the governor's education proposals present a "starting point," but the union will await details of the governor's forthcoming executive budget proposal later this month and fight to ensure that adequate funding is allocated for the state's public schools and higher education system.

"NYSUT has long been a strong proponent of universal pre-K and the union is pleased the governor considers it a priority. Now, the state must provide the resources necessary to make it a reality so all of our children are given a strong foundation for academic success," Pallotta said. "We look forward to working with the governor and Legislature to carve out a legislative agenda and budget that meets the needs of students, parents and teachers."

*Tim Farley's closing comments to his "AFT Is Wrong about the Common Core":

TRUTH: AFT polled 800 teachers. (I strongly recommend you read this: (http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2013/050313.cfm) to see all of the results that AFT left out. NEA’s poll surveyed 1200 teachers. Again, please read the full survey results to see what data was left out (http://neatoday.org/2013/09/12/nea-poll-majority-of-educators-support-the-common-core-state-standards/).

Part of the information from these two polls that AFT neglected to print was that teachers overwhelmingly support a moratorium on the student test results being tied to their effectiveness rating. The other piece that was left out was that most teachers felt that they did not receive enough “training” for the implementation of CC. The large sums of money from Gates to NEA, AFT, and NYSUT were earmarked for Teacher Professional Development. I have two questions. One, why are Teachers’ Unions receiving money to provide professional development? Isn’t that the job of the school districts? Also, since they have received so much money for this purpose, why don’t teachers feel that they haven’t had enough training?

Lastly, my question to AFT is, “Whom do you represent, Bill Gates or your teachers?” You cannot have it both ways.

Thanks,

Tim Farley

Kinderhook, NY

The AFT link reveals:

*74 percent are worried that the new assessments will begin—and students, teachers and schools will be held accountable for the results—before everyone involved understands the new standards and before instruction has been fully implemented with the standards.
*83 percent support a moratorium on consequences for students, teachers and schools until the standards and related assessments have been fully in use for one year.
*27 percent said their school district has provided them with all or most of the resources and tools they need to successfully teach the standards.
*78 percent of teachers in low-performing schools said they have been given just some, few or no resources. *53 percent said they have received either no training or inadequate training to help prepare them to teach to the standards.

Wow. Talk about Weingarten's selective reporting of statistics.

The NEA link reveals:

*65 percent have participated in a Common Core training session, but just 26 percent said the trainings were helpful.
. . .
*Educators also pinpointed other factors that would help students learn the new standards. Forty-three percent cited smaller class size, 39 percent suggested greater parental involvement, and 22 percent said students need up-to-date books and materials.