7-12-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: 

Ed Notes Online

#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

by ed notes online / 46min 

#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

by ed notes online / 13min 

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

by ed notes online / 6min 

AFT Convention Update: Chicago CC Reso Goes Down Overwhelmingly in Committee

Voters supporting CTU CC reso stand in support - est 25-30%.Since we were not allowed in, we were watching the Education Issues Committee debate from outside the glass doors. With long lines at the mic, it was clear that Chicago TU people did not have the muscle to win the room over to its anti- common core resolution to counter the Weingarten pro common core - with conditions. Stephen Sawchuk @

by ed notes online / 13h 

Breaking - AFT Rumor - Reso on Duncan Coming? Randi Crit Duncan in Keynote - But Doesn't Go Deep

Just heard rumor that special order of business will be proposed for a reso either calling for resignation or censoring of Arne Duncan is coming from California Teachers Association - NEA crew who have some people here.Keynote still on:Randi just mentioned NYSUT call for State Ed Comm John King resignation - and mentions NEA Duncan reso -- now attacking Duncan but not calling for resignation.Let's

by ed notes online / 18h 

AFT Convention Roundup: Travel Day Part 2 - Common Core, Mulgrew Joins Caputo-Pearl and Lewis on Social Justice Unionism Panel -

See Part 1: LA Confidential: AFT Travel Day, Part 1 See - RBE at Perdido: Is Randi Weingarten REALLY Getting The Message?NYC Educator touches on the AFT Convention: The Myth of the Myth of the Blogger Beast.OK - lots to report in this part 2 of yesterday's activities - I'm writing this up Friday around 10AM while sitting at the press table listening to opening speeches so I will flip back and fort

by ed notes online / 18h 

LA Confidential: AFT Convention Day 1, Part 1

Friday, July 11, 5AM, LA timeDon't expect deep analysis or insights from these reports. Not much time for that. I'm doing them sort of stream of consciousness, diary-like in rough chronological order as the day went. I had lots of conversations with lots of people through the day and want to get them down before they're gone. Luckily my time clock is totally screwed up and I woke up at 3AM - after

2 by ed notes online / 1d 

JUL 09

Must Read: Democracy and Politics in the UFT, 1976 Ed

In preparation for next week's MORE summer series on the history of caucuses and what we can learn, thanks to Vera Pavone, we have created an online version of the pamphlet we produced almost 40 years ago (minus the graphics). I will have some hard copies with me next week but I urge you to download it and read the 25 page pamphlet to see just how much has remained the same.Some of our suggested c

by ed notes online / 3d 

JUL 08

Child Abuse: NYC Parents Union Plaintifs' Use Their Own Kids for Naked Self-Interest

Did Mona serve the best interests of her own daughter by keeping her in a lousy charter school so she could further her political aims? When Moaning Mona and Sam use their kids for their own political advantage and put them in the public eye in this way can that be termed child abuse? Doing worse to your own kids than any tenured bad teacher could do. Why isn't the press looking at the real story

by ed notes online / 3d 

JUL 07

SI Supt to Kathleen Grimm: Sam (Pirozzolo) is a Fool

.... and this was before Pirozzolo hooked up with Moaning Mona Davids in their rediculous copycat Vergara tenure law suit.A Jan. 2013 email between District 31 (Staten Island) Supt. and Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, over Francesco Portelos' appearance at a Dist. 31 CEC meeting shows just how high up concerns over his actions had reached and explains the willingness of Tweed to spend upwards of

5 by ed notes online / 5d 

JUL 06

Happy 2nd Birthday to Jack Cavanagh

The funniest point of the day was when Lisa Donlan and her husband JC, very big soccer fans (their son is a top level player) handed Jack his present. The minute he unwrapped it and saw a soccer ball, he forgot all about the other presents and went running off with the ball. I think we have a star for the 2034 World Cup.I was in Prospect Park attending the 2nd birthday party of Jack Cavanagh, son

by ed notes online / 5d 

UFT/Unity Caucus Early History

I'm publishing this chapter on the founding of the UFT and how Shanker consolidated power from the book "City Unions" as prep for the July 16 MORE summer series event on the history of caucuses in the UFT. There is a lot of insight into how Unity has controlled the UFT since its inception. Read it here or download it.CItyUnionsch8yannoUFT by morecaucusnyc

by ed notes online / 5d 

Moaning Mona Davids and Ally Sam Pirozzolo Want Francesco Portelos Fired?

I'm not surprised that CEC 31 (Staten Island) Sam Pirozzolo is in on this as he ignored years of pleas to help students of troubled schools. No doubt he will use this to make another run for office. http://samforassembly.com.... Francesco PortelosMona Sam Pirozzolo should be sued for child neglect-- Ed Notes  How ironic. Moaning Mona henchman Sam Pirozzolo has joined her in the Vergara copycat sui

by ed notes online / 5d 

Susan on Sunday

Good reading for a lazy Sunday afternoon from Ohanian. Don't miss the "Famous writers describe their affection for the Common Core" piece.This cartoon offers an overview of today's assaults.Sent from the Q Train in New York Cityhttp://susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=949I just bought the ingredients for lunch for 70 at the Senior Center. Cooking is fun. Shopping is not.Speaking of f

by ed notes online / 5d 

JUL 05

Karen Lewis vs Rahm Emanuel for Mayor?

Lewis, who is African-American, would have powerful appeal to black voters who overwhelmingly disapprove of Emanuel (only 8 percent of them would support him against a challenger)... Daily Beast How much fun would this be? Though I'd rather see Karen run against Randi at the AFT convention next week.Not mentioned is that Karen Lewis is also Jewish, as is Emanuel, and might attract the Jewish vote

by ed notes online / 6d 

Moaning Mona Vergara Copycat Suit Is Also An Attack on Parents and Students Facing Bully Principals

Parent activists are rightfully outraged at Mona Davids' claims that  "the NYCPU, is the leading independent voice of New York City public school students and their parents."In fact the very idea of an attack on tenure is an attack on parents and students as much, if not more, than on teachers.Bully, abusive principals, of which there are many, not only abuse teachers but parents and stu

by ed notes online / 7d 

7-12-14 Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: 

Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Ten minute drawing. Randi speaks.

by Fred Klonsky / 24min 

Reports from AFT in LA.

Representing Chicago’s teachers and communities in LA: CTU President Karen Lewis, Asean Johnson and Jitu Brown. Two reliable sources for following what is going on in LA at the AFT convention are from my friends Norm Scott and Jonathan Halabi. Although they are not always in political agreement, who is? I posted Norm’s report from the committee on Common Core yesterday. Here is Jonathan’s notes f

3 by Fred Klonsky / 45min 

Reverend Dr. William Barber at the AFT convention. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and listen to a sermon you will not forget.

5 by Fred Klonsky / 38min 

Paving roads with our pension funds. Government sponsored pension theft.

For decades the state of Illinois has underfunded the public employee pension funds to protect politicians from having to raise taxes. And they were certainly not going to raise taxes on their sponsors in the Civic Committee. “You’ve stolen from our pension funds for years,” a teacher yelled at State Representative Elaine Nekritz at a pension forum I spoke at with her in Aurora. “We didn’t steal

by Fred Klonsky / 9min 

AFT. Common Core will get debated on Sunday.

CTU President Karen Lewis pushed for the debate. - Mercedes Schneider blogs at deutch29 A very good thing will happen on Sunday, July 13, 2014, at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention in Los Angeles: The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will be debated on the floor. No behind-closed-doors killing of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) resolution opposing CCSS. As Politico states: W

by Fred Klonsky / 50min 

Keeping retirement weird. Come back Maggie. We need you.

Where is Maggie Kuhn when we need her? For those of you who don’t remember the founder of the Gray Panthers, let me remind you. Maggie was a life-long activist who had worked 25 years for the United Presbyterian Church in New York, commuting daily from her home in Philadelphia. In 1970 Maggie reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 and was forced to leave her job. “They gave me a sewing machin

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Norm Scott from AFT in LA. “Midwesterners are too nice.”

Photo: Norm Scott. Voters supporting CTU CC reso stand in support – est 25-30%. - Norm Scott is a blogger and retired NY school teacher. Since we were not allowed in, we were watching the Education Issues Committee debate from outside the glass doors. With long lines at the mic, it was clear that Chicago TU people did not have the muscle to win the room over to its anti- common core resolution to

11 by Fred Klonsky / 13h 

Ten minute drawing. Security concerns.

3 by Fred Klonsky / 15h 

Old and invisible in the NEA.

Lillian Rubin died last month at the age of 90. The psychologist Lillian Rubin died last month at the age of 90. Rubin wrote about women, the relationships between mothers and daughters and, more recently, about ageism. I don’t know about you, but the chirpy tales that dominate the public discussion about aging — you know, the ones that tell us that age is just a state of mind, that “60 is the ne

25 by Fred Klonsky / 18h 

I left Denver very pleased with the results.

The American Federation of Teachers is meeting in LA this weekend. As I write this they are debating a resolution on the Common Core that was drafted by my friends in the Chicago Teachers Union and adopted by their House of Delegates. Randi Weingarten has already said that if the delegates choose to follow the lead of the National Education Association – which met in Denver last week- and vote fo

15 by Fred Klonsky / 19h 

JUL 10

Home from the NEA RA. Listening to the mountains, the veterans and the voices in my head.

Our friend Jean shared the secret of hiking up the two-mile path to Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. And the two miles back down. We needed to get there early before the crowds. We needed to hike without hearing people’s voices. We needed to listen to the Park. That way we would also hear the voices in our own heads My head almost exploded with thoughts and ideas. I had no trouble he

14 by Fred Klonsky / 1d 

Brant Rosen. Tragedy in Gaza: Reckoning with Root Causes

- Rabbi Brant Rosen is a congregational rabbi in Evanston and the co-founder/co-chair of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. It’s happening again. As of this writing, Israel has dropped 800 tons of explosives on Gaza, a strip of land roughly the size of Detroit. The official death toll currently stands at 81, the majority of whom are civilians and half of whom are women and children. Y

2 by Fred Klonsky / 1d 

JUL 09

Greg Hinz. Rauner and Quinn and Stroger and Madigan.

- Greg Hinz If you put together a list of Illinois politicians whom Bruce Rauner would be least likely to funnel campaign cash to, Chicago’s Stroger clan and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan would be right at the top. The late John Stroger and son Todd Stroger pretty much left Cook County government a financial wasteland after their respective terms as president of the county board. Mr. Mad

10 by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

JUL 08

NY Magazine. Teachers unions turn against Democrats.

Newly elected NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia “talking a more Ravitch-esque public line.” New York Magazine: The results of the NEA convention reflected Ravitch’s militance. Not only did the union officially call for Duncan’s resignation — a measure that was introduced, but failed to pass, in each of the last four years — its new president Lily Eskelsen García, is taking a more Ravitch-esque p

100+ by Fred Klonsky / 3d 

Bob Scharba’s cartoons.

The Evil Leprechaun. Re-fixed. Fred: I’ve featured your suggested “stars” of Illinois pension theft in the cartoon I mentioned to you the other day to you. I wasn’t even aware of what some of these people looked like till I researched this……what a gruesome bunch. Biss is sort of like a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and Lurch. I am loathe to say it to an art teacher, but I’m a much better

by Fred Klonsky / 4d 

John Dillon. Justice Burke’s pension dissent.

- John Dillon is a retired teacher, a pension activist and pension blogger. In the recent Kanerva v. Weems decision, at issue was the appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court by members of three State Employees Retirement Systems that health benefits were protected by the Contracts Clause of the Illinois Constitution as well as safeguarded by the Pension Protection Clause. Other arguments by the Reti

by Fred Klonsky / 4d 

JUL 07

Diane Ravitch’s blog. A Mass teacher’s hopes for Lily.

Newly elected NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia and this blogger. - Diane Ravitch. This just in from a member of NEA from Massachusetts who is at the Denver convention. She hopes that Lily Eskelsen, the new president, will be a champion and fighter for kids, teachers, and public schools. Is she THE ONE? Will she stand up to the phony “reformers”? Will she fight for democratic control of the scho

by Fred Klonsky / 4d hide  //  save

JUL 06

NEA RA. Dennis Van Roekel says goodbye and so do I. But I will be back in a few days.

by Fred Klonsky / 5d