Please join us for a fundraiser to help support the daughter of a
Boyle Road fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Leary…
For a clearer copy of the flyer click here: Aquarium Fundraiser
If you do not work in Comsewogue but want to attend please send your payment to either Lisa DeLuca or Tara Falasco at Boyle Road Elementary School, 424 Boyle Road, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776.
To visit the Morgan Leary GoFundMe page click here.
Here is how it should look…
We have known for quite a while that the UFT/NYSUT/AFT leadership has been selling out the membership for quite some time now. But today’s deplorable news about AFT President Randi Weingarten making robo calls for Kathy Hochul goes even further than I ever thought they could go. The New York Post describes why it is important for Cuomo to get a Hochul win over Wu in the Democratic Primary tomorrow…
a Wu victory would result in a Cuomo/Wu ticket on the Democratic line in the November election but potentially disastrous Cuomo/Hochul tickets on the Working Families, Independence, and Women’s Equality lines, where no primaries are slated.
Under the state Election Law, votes for a Cuomo/Hochul ticket in November would not be added to the tally for the Cuomo/Wu ticket, potentially costing Cuomo hundreds of thousands of votes.
The UFT/NYSUT/AFT leadership can’t let their pal Cuomo get hurt so Randi is out stumping for the bank lobbyist, Hochul today.
Tomorrow morning I will cast my ballot for Tim Wu as I had always planned to. The robo calls from Cuomo shill Randi Weingarten only cements that. This move also further reinforces my decision to reduce my VOTE COPE contribution to $0.00 this year. If only I could reduce my AFT dues to the same.
Nearly four years ago Andrew Cuomo was elected governor of our state. Our profession has never been the same. He came in promising to be the lobbyist for students. Since then he has underfunded public education while providing tax cuts for corporations and New York’s wealthiest citizens. He has pushed waves upon waves of high stakes testing onto our students and teachers. He has presided over the implementation of the tax cap that has decimated school districts across the state. He has pushed for an increase in the number of charter schools, robbing even more money from public schools. He pushed for a teacher evaluation plan based upon junk science, and he even called for the “death penalty” for schools with failing scores on his high stakes tests.
To be clear, there has been no greater enemy of public education in New York State the last four years than Andrew Cuomo. In the years since Cuomo has taken office I have watched colleagues laid off. I have seen others retire and not be replaced. I have watched valuable programs and resources be slashed from our district while the number of hours dedicated to useless high stakes testing has soared. In my last year teaching before Governor Cuomo took office I had a class of 17 (!!!!) fifth graders. This year I have 27 fifth graders. While not all problems in our industry can be traced back to Cuomo, nobody has played a bigger role in the decimation of public education than he has.
We’ve known for a while that he was a crooked politician. Based on yesterday’s classless and cowardly act we know he isn’t a much better person either. So it is high time that we boot Cuomo out of the highest position in state government. Tonight I call on every public educator in New York State, every parent whose children have been exposed to the abusive education reform agenda of the last four years, and every person who attended the #NoMoCuomo rallies this past spring to dedicate the next two days to ousting Cuomo from power. A few ways you can help…
Cuomo has beaten us up for four years. It’s time to give him his Eric Cantor moment!
At yesterday’s Labor Day parade in New York City, Zephyr Teachout approached Andrew Cuomo. The same Andrew Cuomo who has refused to debate her, while outrageously claiming that debates do a disservice to democracy. Not only did Cuomo not debate her yesterday, but he didn’t shake her hand either. As a matter of fact he refused to even acknowledge her presence.
According to the Daily News Cuomo’s running mate, Kathy Hochul, also refused to acknowledge Teachout who even went as far as tapping Hochul on the shoulder.
Teachout said “hi” to Cuomo, the governor ignored her like she was the invisible woman and repeatedly asked, “Where’s Mayor Bill de Blasio?” Hizzoner waded through the crowd and gave Cuomo a kiss on the cheek.
Teachout also tapped Cuomo’s running mate, former Congresswoman Kathy Hochul, on her shoulder. Hochul was also frosty. She never turned around to face Teachout, giving her a steady view of her back.
“I just wanted to say hello as a courtesy,” Teachout said after Cuomo’s snub. “We’ve been running against each other, and it seems pretty clear by now he’s not going to debate.”
Cuomo has refused to debate the Fordham law professor.
“Someone get her out of here!” someone screamed.
…
“I know she was the parade, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her,” he (Cuomo) said.
Ah yes, Cuomo didn’t get a chance to talk to her. He makes it seem as though he frantically searched for her yet their paths never crossed. Meanwhile she stood two feet away saying “hi” to him.
Andrew Cuomo is the worst kind of politician. He is corrupt and has consistently put the needs of his Wall Street cronies ahead of the people of New York. The video below of the encounter with Teachout showed that he is not just a bad politician, but he is a classless coward as well. The same can be said for Kathy Hochul and Bill de Blasio.
The video is nauseating, compounded only by the appearance of the UFT President (and member of the NYSUT Board of Directors) Michael Mulgrew joining the Cuomo crew for the parade (see the :26 second mark of the video… the guy in the blue UFT hat is Mulgrew).
More on how you can help Teachout in the final days of her campaign before Tuesday’s primary in a little bit.
Labor Day Parade 9-6-14 ZT from John Kenny on Vimeo.
The man who once dubbed himself “the lobbyist for students,” before taking a wrecking ball to New York State’s public education system, now claims that he is refusing to debate his opponent in the Democratic primary, Zephyr Teachout, because he thinks that debates do a disservice to democracy.
“I’ve been in many debates that I think were a disservice to democracy,” he added. “So anyone who says debates are always a service to democracy hasn’t watched all the debates that I’ve been in.”
Huh?
So Cuomo thinks mayoral control of schools, which take school control away from local communities and give it to the mayors of those cities, is just swell. He supports the reform agenda pushed by John King and Merryl Tisch and loathed by virtually every parent and educator in the state. Yet debating an opponent is where Cuomo draws the line on things that do a disservice to democracy?
Regardless of what he is saying, Cuomo is scared. He can feel the surging momentum of Teachout and knows that giving her a platform to make him defend his abysmal record, which has benefitted only big banks and billionaires, could put him in really dangerous territory when it comes to the primary next week.
With Cuomo running scared it makes me harken back to what our friend Reality-Based Educator wrote about him last year, when Cuomo wasn’t in hiding but was instead attacking public schools…
If Governor Cuomo thinks it is time some schools be given the “death penalty” for struggles that are often beyond their means to fix, then it is time for teachers of all political ideologies to get together and help pull the plug on the 2014 Cuomo re-election plan and the Cuomo 2016 presidential plan.
Andrew Cuomo is a thug and a bully and a crook, that we’ve known for a while.
Now, after the “death penalty for schools” statement, he is also a war criminal against public schools.
It is time to put an end to his Reign of Terror.
We finally have a chance to pull the plug on Cuomo. As early as the Democratic primary next Tuesday. Join us tomorrow in Hauppauge as we rally in support of Zephyr Teachout. As we rally in support of public schools. As we rally to end Andrew Cuomo’s Reign of Terror.
At our conference day yesterday we heard the heartbreaking story of Morgan Leary, the daughter of PJSTA Rep Council member Emily Leary.
Via the GoFundMe page for Morgan…
Morgan Leary, 6 was suddenly and unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor on August 16, 2014. She has undergone several surgeries to remove as much of the tumor as possible and to control her brain pressure. The tumor itself is aggressive and Morgan will likely require chemotherapy and radiation to combat the rest of the tumor.
Morgan is an amazingly sweet, kind and gentle little girl, as is her twin sister, Emma. It’s no wonder these two little girls are so amazing with parents like Emily and Brian.
Morgan’s parents, are such genuine, kind, caring and selfless people. They are devastated by Morgan’s diagnosis, but are focused on getting Morgan better and taking care of Emma. Anything we can all do to support and help them financially at this horrific time will be something less for them to think about. It will enable them to keep their strength and minds focused where they need to be – on both of their beautiful little girls. Please donate and help the Leary family fight this fight!
Please visit the GoFundMe page set up for Morgan and give what you can.
The Teachout-Wu Campaign Team would like everyone to go sign up on the Amicus site and make 20 calls (at least). It is very easy – you can “phone-bank” from the privacy of your own home and computer.
Fellow NYSUT member Bianca Tanis recently wrote a great piece about NYSUT leadership titled A Respectful Revolution: Questioning Union Practice as an Act of Loyalty. Tanis hits the nail on the head in the article. This blog, along with several others, have regularly called out NYSUT leadership for what have been a series of broken promises and behavior that is in the best interests of only the top few officers in the union, not the 600,000 members they represent.
Does loyalty to one’s union require blind faith? Must one eschew raising questions and concerns to demonstrate solidarity? Over the past few weeks, I have asked myself these questions. Certainly, any organization worth protecting is worth holding up to a high standard and can withstand tough questions, even when such questions are made in the public eye. In recent months, I have found it increasingly difficult to defend, let alone maintain faith in the current state union leadership in NYS, yet I believe steadfastly that the union can and will remain a powerful force for worker protection and student advocacy.
Tanis goes on to articulate her experience with the NYSUT leadership, in particular dealing with a situation in which she questioned NYSUT over spokesman Carl Korn being quoted in a Newsday article saying, “The vast majority of questions do appear to be age- and developmentally appropriate,” when referring to the 2014 ELA and math state assessments. After trying to question NYSUT over this seemingly bizarre comment Tanis received little or no response from the leadership. I urge you to read the entire article detailing her experience.
Tanis calls into question an issue that several of us have been dealing with recently. NYSUT’s leadership simply ignores any criticism or questioning of their behavior. Emails, tweets, and phone calls go unanswered as though they are teaching dissenters a lesson. While they ignore concerns from their membership, those who support the leadership accuse anyone asking questions of being disloyal and destroying solidarity. Some even claim us to be “union busters.” They did it when leadership broke their campaign promise of being “against the Common Core.” They did it when they worked to block a Zephyr Teachout endorsement. They did it one more time when members called into question the back room, double pension deal that suspiciously sailed through state government. Last week Arthur Goldstein echoed the very same concerns that I express here.
I love NYSUT and believe that our statewide union can be a force for good in public education. But members should have their eyes open. They should ask questions. They should hold their well compensated officers accountable. It’s part of the democratic process and it makes us a stronger union.
The Official Website of the PJSTA 