Thursday, October 11, 2012

NYC Educator: Full-Time UFT, Part-Time Voice

NYC Educator: Full-Time UFT, Part-Time Voice:


Full-Time UFT, Part-Time Voice

It's tough getting doors slammed in your face. Yet if you're a UFT activist, it's hard to imagine how to avoid it. You could sign up and join Unity, if, unlike the overwhelming majority of teachers,  you get yourself invited. Yet, if you do that, you have to agree never to speak up against Unity positions. So, as an activist, you'd sign up to support, for one example, mayoral control, which has brought nothing but misery to working teachers.

You also sign up to support VAM, or value-added evaluation for teachers. UFT played a role in the state law that now requires a portion of our evaluation is determined by the all-important junk science without which Washington will withhold federal funds. That's part and parcel of Race to the Top, the brainchild of Arne Duncan,