Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Gov. Cuomo to NYC Unions: Drop Dead

*Negotiating like it's 1975 *Parallels with Bloomberg *An appeal for unified bargaining

New York governor Andrew Cuomo made headlines in The Chief this week (December 5 edition) headline implies that the New York City unions are in dreamland, "Cuomo's Advice That City Unions 'Get Real' on Contracts Greeted Skeptically.

In response to unions' widely held expectation of retroactive pay for the new contracts that Bloomberg denied them for four years, Cuomo said that unions need "a reality adjustment."

Municipal Labor Committee Chairman Harry Napoli challenged the comparison: "You can't compare it: we were going bankrupt in 1975, and [today] we have a balanced budget."

Reformy Andrew's talk really echoes out-going New York City mayor Bloomberg's stance on revenues and city worker pay. Just as Cuomo seems to think unions are delusional with their expectations, Bloomberg said as much in The Chief's reporting (November 29) on Bloomberg and the coming contracts.

Foreshadowing Cuomo, last week's Chief had United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew pointing out Bloomberg's bogus claims and mean strategy: "He lowballs revenue projections, overestimates expense, and then claims poverty." "When the numbers come in, with more revenue and fewer expenses than he claimed he was expecting, he takes credit for the magical appearance of a surplus."

But isn't it interesting: you would find any critical words against Cuomo from Mulgrew. No, the Unity crowd shills for the establishment Albany pols when it begs for you to cough up COPE donations from your paycheck. Yep, the Unity leadership of the UFT supports Cuomo, who supports Common Core, APPR, inBloom (the student data tracking system) --all of the forementioned comes from Obama/Duncan's Race to the Top, Merryl Tisch and John King. However, lately, Cuomo has begun to sense that he's not with the in crowd or the in policies and he's begun to act like he has little to do with the state's education policies. But as Perdido Street School blog notes, a guest contributor to the Times-Union set the record straight on the real Cuomo record on recent changes in New York State education policy.
Incredible, isn't it, how some unions are still backing Cuomo when he has been in battle with them for three years already? See this headline from 2010: "Cuomo on a Collision Course With Unions," from 2011: "Union Reversal on Givebacks Averts 3,500 Layoffs by State."

The lead letter in the November 29 edition makes the case for a unified bargaining approach from the various city unions. Fitz Reid, President of Local 768, District Council 37, pointed to an agenda for undoing the damage of the Bloomberg legacy:

"undoing the Bloomberg administration's attacks on civil-service and public institutions such as Health Department clinics, HHC and NYCHA; and obtaining wage increase and pay equity to match the cost of living and increased productivity over the years. The opportunity arises out of the crisis --for the first time in, all New York City unions, including DC 37, the teachers, police and MTA unions are without contracts. This is a historic change for a unified approach to collective bargaining, not the short-term divisive tactic of every-union -for-itself."

The letter closes with:

Let us as unions and employees recognize our common interests as members of the working class and that "we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Jay Gould famously said, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." Let's not let it happen again. Lets' seize this historic opportunity. Solidarity forever!

Other very important content: on the November 29 editorial page is a column on how the lump sum approach to compensation for our long lost increases (since 2009) would not be advantageous. For starters, lump sum payments are not pensionable. UFT members and other city workers, beware of sell-out contracts with that feature.

Don't miss out on picking up The Chief.

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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.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Gov. Cuomo to NYC Unions: Drop Dead

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