Ed Notes Online
The Ravitch Wars - Lois Weiner Reveals Fault Lines in Ravitch Position
About 10 years ago the UFT gave Diane Ravitch the John Dewey Award. When I posted about it there was outrage from the anti-testing community which viewed Dewey as turning over in his grave in outrage at Standardista Ravitch getting this awar - Jerry Bracey was ready to fly in from Seattle if we held a protest rally. My fellow ICE founder John Lawhead had loads of stuff exposing Diane's roll in ini
I Defend Tenure in the Indypendent
Thanks to John Tarleton for a great editing job. Making me look literate ain't easy.Teacher Bashing Knows No Summer Vacation By Norm ScottJuly 16, 2014Issue # 198 In a closely watched case, a California judge ruled on June 10 that the state’s teacher tenure laws infringed on the civil rights of students in schools in poor communities to a proper education guaranteed under the state constitution.
Gypsy Opens Tonight at Rockaway Theatre Company in Fort Tilden
Last night was the final dress rehearsal and I put on my suit for my 5 minute stint as Mr. Goldstone where I end up standing on a chair. Don't tell me to break a leg - because I probably will. Tonight begins the first of 10 performances. Tickets are selling out, so come on down to the theater at the very hot Fort Tilden. And there are scads of NYC teachers in the show. Maybe we can start a MORE ch
JUL 17
Primi Akhtar’s Valedictory Address, Queens Metropolitan High School, June 2014
I dare anyone to meet 18-year old Primi and not have enormous hope for the future. Primi is a founding member of NYC Student Union (and my adopted granddaughter) and she just graduated and will be going to Columbia. Does this age her out of the high school based Student Union? She will still be involved, though I imagine she will be raising some hell in college.Jeff Kaufman sent this in. His wife
Teacher Diversity Committee Launches Petition at Harlem Book Fair
Sean Ahern, a long time friend, and one of the original founders of the idea of creating ICE (in a bar), has focused his attention for a decade on the teacher diversity issue. And that work is bearing fruit. Check out the numbers on the drop in hiring of black teachers posted in the petition. And the TDC has noticed that the number of white teachers has dropped too because many of the new "id
Right WingNuts - AFT Commies, Include GEM Truth About Charters in Attack
Thanks to Jeff Kaufman for this gem about the GEM pamphlet being part of the Maoist AFT. Among the literature cited was a GEM pamphlet. See front page story second document. https://americarisingllc.app.box.com/s/nhc8m8cn227vrwcb19ht/1/2203186595/19026564373/1American Federation of CommunistsPro-communist literature handed out at AFT conferenceShareTweetEmail Chinese protestors touting picture
JUL 16
Speculating on Karen Lewis Challenge to Rahm: Who Will Get the Jewish Vote
Two Jewish candidates to square off in Chicago. (If you don't believe me ask Karen to show you her CHI.Someone emailed me when I was in LA, cocerned that Karen and Chicago crew weren't challenging Randi enough - that was before the Common Core shootout (AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle B....).We pretty much got word from Chicago that Karen Lewis will be off and running for Mayor aga
Defense of Tenure - It Ain't Only About the Teachers
At the MORE UFT history event, a teacher who I first met about 6 weeks ago and is new to MORE asked why we don't see campaigns defending teachers and tenure. The UFT spends millions on ads but tenure is not mentioned. Interesting that at the AFT on Monday just before the convention ended, AFT press people came over and asked some of us to attend a press conference upstairs on this very issue.The e
JUL 15
Ex-NYSUT Pres Tom Hobart, Spills the Beans c. 1974
it’s in our interest to maintain a number of poor, and to make sure that we don’t have open admission policies like the City University of New York has..... If we assume that we take the major goals, both the NEA and the AFT, which is to improve the educational qualities for every child in the school, and we succeed at that, I suggest to you that we’ll destroy the world economy. Because if we bett
Aft report: My Last Red-Eye - It's 2 AM and I'm Still Not EX-LAX
The AFT convention has reached its high point. It's the middle of the night and I'm surrounded by hordes of Unity Caucus delegates stranded from 2 fucked up Delta red-eyes. It's like an endless nightmare. I call the question but they are still here. On checking into security with my priority check-in - let's see - at 7PM - a few Unity guys were in front of me and they had to take off their shoes.
JUL 14
Former Ctc Attorney Kathleen Carroll Lays Out Unholy Alliance Between Teacher Unions And Public Education Privatizers
OMG - This explains everything..... NYC tenured eacher who fought off attacks by bully principal while UFT did nothing (and often showed favoritism for said bully principal)Well, not everything but maybe some things....http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.htmlhttp://www.upwa.info/documents/7-11-14-Carro
Parents, education advocates plan to defend teacher tenure against lawsuit filed by parents' reform group
Good for lawyer Arthur Schwartz, another apparently stabbed in the back by Moaning Mona Davids, who at this point has a rare no comment. Arthur has done many good legal deeds for Moaning Mona -- and many others. When she filed the suit I knew Arthur wasn't involved but good to see him take a stand.What I would like to see is a bill sent to Moaning Mona and Sorryful Sam for wasting the time of th
Join Me Wedseday, July 16, at MORE UFT/Caucus History Event
Come on down - and watch me fall asleep while presenting. I even told UFT co-founder George Altomare to come to this when I ran into him in the men's room at the AFT convention - there was a brief look of panic on his face - --- I had zippered up so it wasn't THAT. New post on Movement of Rank and File Educators Who Runs The UFT? Why Are There Alternatives?by morecaucusnyc On Wedne
#AFT14 Video - LATU Caputo-Pearl Lays Out Vision of SJ Unionism - And it Includes the S and D Words
Unity Loyalty Oath Precludes use of S and D wordsTaboo words in the UFT: Strike and Democracy Newly Elected Los Angeles Teachers Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl lays out a vision for a social justice movement based union at AFT forum on Social Justice unionism as part of a panel with union presidents from NYC, Chicago, St. Paul, Houston and Philadelphia.And holy crap - he actually utters the wor
#AFT14 - Randi says - AFT and NEA to Forge New Relationship - Short-Lived for Sure
Randi - we will forge a new relationship with NEA - introducing new President of NEA Lily Eskelsen Garcia.Let's see - Lily has term limits and will be out of office in 2 years.Randi, who just won re-election with 97% of the vote of 2783 delegates, is in office for life - or as long as she wants it.(For the record - Al Shanker died in office and his designated successor, Sandra Feldman, resigned sh
JUL 13
Mike Schirtzer Update: #AFT14, MORE Summer Series om UFT History
Mike makes me feel sorry for Unity Caucus. Here they figured it wouldn't be long before they are rid of me and Mike shows up to offer a few decades more of tsouris. Mike will be sitting in my place at the 2034 convention tweeting and blogging.But do come out on Weds for the history series.https://www.facebook.com/events/1504328419780748/We don't know everything and you all can fill in. I even aske
#AFT Convention - I apologize to non-slugs in Unity Caucus - You Know Who You Are
Norman - let me ask you something about your writing. I know we can disagree on things, but why do you have to get nasty and refer to people as "the Unity slugs?" ... high level UFT official (who I respect and like.)------ Anthony Cody @AnthonyCody 3mHearing disturbing reports of pushing and shoving of dissident voices at #AFT14 @rweingarten please addressSusan DuFresne1 @GetUpStandUp2
#AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle Between Chicago/CORE and UFT/Unity
The great Sarah Chambers nails them to the wall opposing Common Core ..... Watch it live: bit.ly/1wbeSZGGloria in visitor's section just texted - Unity are positioning themselves now near mikes.... Common Core debate begins [Common Core] will die no matter what the AFT does because, frankly, it doesn’t matter.... RavitchUFT throw heavy hitters Mulgrew, Barr - while CORE uses their rank and file -
#AFT14 Report - Tidbits
Sunday, July 13, 2014Randi just said that there is some jockeying at the mics and she wants to make sure there is at least a 15 minute debate on the common core before someone calls the question -- watch the Unity crowd jockey at the mics at 14 minutes and 30 seconds... common core debate begins at 11:15AM.But first ---What better way to spend the day? I'm missing my brother-in-law's b-day celebra
#AFT14 Report: When Will the UFT/AFT Reclaim the Promise of a Democratic Union?
....independence of thought is a liability in Unity. The democracy is a sham and I pledge to challenge it as I also pledge to challenge misguided corporate reforms... Arthur Goldstein AFT President Randi Weingarten kicked off the AFT national convention.... by outline a bold plan to both fight back and fight forward to reclaim the promise of America and create economic and educational opportunit
JUL 12
#AFT14 Updated - Former Chicago TU Pres Debbie Lynch Calls for Arne Duncan Resignation
Lynch, who was CTU president from 2001-04 and ran and lost in '07 and '10 and is now a delegate from a college, made a special resolution calling for Duncan resignation. This came as a surprise to Randi and pretty much everyone in the house it seems since there was already a planned similar reso, as pointed out by Randi, that she knew about in advance. She suggested they be combined. They are fini
#AFT14 Report - Recaps and Trends
CTU is the outlier in this convention, battle-scarred and ready to fight. The NYC delegation has the numbers to vote them down. ... Diane Ravitch, On AFT Convention..the UFT delegation votes in lockstep, regardless of how the individual members think, and thus the result is foregone... In the Bronx, we know that Gates money broke up our schools, created a mess, and then disappeared. We live the a
AFT Convention 2014 Video: Randi Laugh Riot - on Proposed Anti-Duncan Reso - Let the Members Decide
Saturday, July 12, 2014 I have a stitch in my side from laughing after watching this video. OK. We can stop laughing now and watch the short segment I am putting up on the Duncan censure issue that I taped at Randi's press conference yesterday. (I have more video to post on the common core issue, also with her "let the members decide" - and I taped this moments before the Unity machine s