Alert: $1,000 Signing Bonuses and Delays in Teacher Taste-Testing of Rotten Common-Core Pie
I received two e-mails from UFT President Mulgrew yesterday. I'm sure he's pretty much trying to allay our fears that we're "totally screwed" before we leave for summer break. First, in an early morning e-mail sent on behalf of President Mulgrew and Chancellor Farina, I learned that the $1,000 signing
I know for many, money goes a long way towards buying loyalty. In my mind, it doesn't come close to making up for the second-class due-process rights of ATRs or the inclusion of merit pay to divide membership. But, then, call me #151. After many years of waiting, I wouldn't have minded waiting for something more worthwhile. I voted, "No." So, morally, I may not be entitled to that money: It's "not that I loved the Idea of Working Under a New Contract less, but that I loved True Union Solidarity more."
I received a second Mulgrew e-mail later in the day. Here's an excerpt:
Dear Arwen,
Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature heard our concerns and have agreed to a two-year pause in attaching high-stakes consequences for teachers to student performance on Common Core-aligned state tests. Everyone recognizes that the Common Core, while the right direction for education, had a terrible rollout. Students aren’t being judged on the Common Core tests and state lawmakers made the smart decision not to judge teachers on those tests either.
Off hand, the news is good. I was horrified to read Mulgrew's implicit assumption, however. "Everyone recognizes that the Common Core" is "the right direction for education." How can he make this claim? I guess everything to the contrary goes in one ear and out the other. Does he not NYC Educator: Alert: $1,000 Signing Bonuses and Delays in Teacher Taste-Testing of Rotten Common-Core Pie:
