Category: General

PJSTA Resolution in Opposition to Receivership

Yesterday, thePJSTA Executive Board unanimously passed the following resolution…

Resolution in Opposition to Receivership

WHEREAS: New York law establishes Receivership for schools that have been or will be categorized as persistently failing and struggling and that these schools are identified as the schools in the lowest 5% state-wide on NY Common Core assessments will mean there will always be failing schools and schools in Receivership, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership uses developmentally inappropriate and unreliable Common Core aligned test and punish and evaluation regimes to categorize failing schools, and;

WHEREAS: The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association has taken a strong position against the Common Core Standards, and encourages members to refuse the Common Core Tests used to place schools in Receivership, and;

WHEREAS:  144 public schools serving mostly low income students from Buffalo to Albany, Utica to New York City, Yonkers to Rochester have fallen into Receivership, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership law states that the Receiver “may abolish the positions of all teachers and pedagogical support staff, administrators and pupil personnel service providers”  of any or all Receivership schools and can do so without cause, and require them to reapply if they choose, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership requires a “Staffing Committee” to determine whether senior former staff at Receivership schools are qualified to return to the school and those who are not rehired from their school are denied “bumping/seniority rights” and must be placed on a preferred eligibility list regardless of their teaching experience, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership further undermines collective bargaining by granting a Receiver broad power over budget, curriculum and programs, discipline, testing, class size, teaching conditions, length of the school day and year for each individual Receivership school, and;

WHEREAS:  Receivership erodes local control of schools by allowing a superintendent or independent Receiver to supersede decisions and policies established by an elected Board of Education, and;

WHEREAS: The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association has previously stated both its opposition to Receivership and its support of local control of Public Schools, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership denies due process and other forms of fair employment practices for educators and administrators by allowing the law and commissioner’s regulations to set up a timeframe and process for different agreements with each Receivership school that ensures these “agreements” give expression to the will of the commissioner without ever having to prove how imposed agreements will improve the quality of education, and;
WHEREAS: Receivership law requires “failing/struggling” schools to improve in two years but provides ZERO/NO additional resources or funding to those schools, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership does not address the great inequality in funding for urban schools, as the Tax Cap and GEA have helped to defund New York State’s Public Schools since 2010, but rather Receivership doubles down on those districts by defunding them year after year, labeling them failures and giving them one or two years to “improve” without additional resources in most cases.
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THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED IN UNITY: That The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association vigorously oppose Receivership and encourage our regional and statewide NYSUT affiliates to pass similar resolutions demonstrating solidarity against New York Receivership law, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:  that NYSUT exhaust all legal means to change and to challenge in court any attacks on due process, collective bargaining and other fair labor practices that are a consequence of Receivership, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that NYSUT develop a plan/outline to advise members on how they should respond to the demands of Receivership and that NYSUT plan meetings to educate and activate members about said plan – especially those in Receivership schools who develop a SIP plan, sit on a Staffing Committee, or are assigned to CET, SBMT and/or any other member interested in the impacts of Receivership, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association will submit a Resolution in Opposition to Receivership at the April 2016 NYSUT RA in Rochester NY, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that a copy of this resolution be sent to all NYSUT Members and all local NYSUT Presidents and the entire New York delegation in the State Legislature.

On the NEA Clinton Endorsement

Over at Mike Antonucci’s EIA blog, he has the break down of the NEA voting regarding the early Clinton endorsement.  Pretty interesting to look at.

Via eiaonline.com…

NEA PAC Council Vote by State – Abstentions Critical

WRITTEN BY: MIKE ANTONUCCI – OCT• 04•15

The vote on Thursday by the NEA PAC Council to endorse Hillary Clinton required a simple majority, and was reported to be 82% in favor. But now we have the roll call vote by state and caucus, and things aren’t so simple.

Each state’s votes are weighted by the amount they contribute to the PAC, plus each major NEA caucus gets a single vote, as well as the Executive Committee members and two members of the Board of Directors. There are 4,028 votes in total. You may have to zoom in to see the tally, but there are a few curious results.

First, one executive committee member, Kevin Gilbert of Mississippi, abstained. That’s already unusual, since the Executive Committee generally votes in lockstep on important issues.

The caucuses that voted no were the Retired Caucus, the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus and the GLBT Caucus.

The states voting no were Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The big mystery is why five states abstained, including the two largest, California and New Jersey (the others were Delaware, Louisiana and Nevada). New Jersey was especially vocal about not supporting an early Hillary endorsement.

If all the abstentions had been “no” votes, the simple majority would still have been reached, but the margin would have been reduced to 58.17%.

You saw the uproar that occurred on Friday and Saturday. Imagine the pressure on the board of directors – which required a 58% majority to endorse – if NEA’s Sanders supporters felt they were that close to defeating it.

It was close even if you just look at state affiliates plus the Federal Education Association – 34 in favor, 17 against or abstained. That’s still close enough to prompt internal lobbying and at worst reduce Clinton’s margin of victory to the low 60s, which would have greatly diminished the triumphant tones we heard yesterday.

What’s next? NEA conducted its orchestra with skill and got what it wanted: the authorization to spend dues and PAC money promoting Hillary’s candidacy. Whether that will turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory is entirely up to what the dissidents do next. An NBI ain’t gonna cut it.

A few things to note…

  • All of the NYSUT reps (all of whom are Unity Caucus members) votes in favor of the Clinton endorsement.
  • As Antonucci mentioned, the big issue with this endorsement is not so much the endorsement as it is the dues money and PAC money that comes attached to it.  This endorsement was top down unionism at it’s most basic level, with only the NEA PAC council having a say in the endorsement and the direction that our dues money flows.  Just as with the AFT’s endorsement of Clinton, there is no input from rank and file members and there are likely few actual classroom teachers among those who voted.    Yet it is their money that is being spent.  For me, the issue has less to do with who was endorsed (though I am not going to vote for her) and more to do with the top down endorsement process that shuts out the voice of the rank and file teacher and leaves them feeling as though they are not represented.  This, of course, is not solely an NEA problem.  It’s equally bad within the AFT and NYSUT and it is ultimately the largest reason that the Friedrichs case is such a threat to them.

Some Links to Check Out

Some reading to keep you busy…

With the AFT having already issued an early endorsement of Hillary Clinton and the NEA supposedly set to do the same, Curmudgucation looks at Hillary’s stance of public education.

Samantha Winslow discusses the SEA settlement that came from their strike to start the school year.

Check out the new Students Not Scores blog.

Certainly you have seen this by now, but they are thinking of renaming the Common Core in New York State.  I guess the idea is that if you name a bag of crap something different it will no longer be a bag of crap?

PJSTA Passes Reso in Support of SEA; Launches Solidarity Campaign

At today’s Representative Council meeting the PJSTA’s governing body passed a resolution in support of the Seattle Education Association who are currently on strike in Seattle as they fight for the schools Seattle’s students deserve.  Additionally the PJSTA pledged to launch a solidarity campaign in our schools and asked NYSUT to similarly support the SEA while encouraging it’s locals to issue their own resolutions in support of the SEA.  Details on the solidarity campaign will hit the buildings tomorrow.

Here is the text of the resolution…

Whereas the Seattle Education Association is locked in a contract battle that has important consequences for educators everywhere; and

Whereas Seattle teachers have worked diligently to build coalitions within their communities and have won the support of parents, and mobilized for a contract that includes not only fair compensation and secure working conditions, but a decrease in high stakes testing, and increased services for their students; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association is seeking to install site based teams in each school to address structural inequities and institutional racism that plague their school district; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association is seeking caseload caps for school psychologists and counselors to better meet the needs of the students that they serve; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association has not had a cost of living adjustment in 6 years and the district has $50 million in reserves and has recently received $40 million in new monies from Washington State; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association went on a one day strike last spring in protest of the current reform movement that is damaging public education and, therefore stood tall for all public school teachers across the country facing similar reforms, including members of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association is a fellow affiliate of the National Education Association; and

Whereas a victory for Seattle teachers would greatly encourage teachers everywhere, including members of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association and the New York State United Teachers, to continue in our increasingly stronger efforts to combat damaging and abusive public education reforms in our own communities; and

Whereas a victory for the Seattle Education Association would be a victory for public-sector employees across the country who continue to oppose the privatization of public resources and the plundering of public assets; and

Whereas the Seattle Education Association membership has voted unanimously to authorize the strike; therefore be it

Resolved that the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association supports the Seattle Education Association in its fight to negotiate a contract that meets the needs of its members, their students, and their communities; and be it further

Resolved that the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association will launch a solidarity campaign, to be shared via social media, in its schools and encourage all of its members to participate in the campaign as a show of support and solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Seattle; and be it further
Resolved that the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association urges NYSUT and its affiliates to adopt a similar resolution.

SEA on strike.

Seattle Teachers On Strike!

*UPDATE* 5:36 AM

After negotiations fell apart last night, Seattle teachers will be on strike to begin their school year today.  We send out thoughts of support and solidarity to our sisters and brothers in the SEA!

Seattle teachers unanimously vote to authorize a strike.
The Seattle Education Association is ready to strike tomorrow, on the first day of school in their district, if negotiations tonight do not reach an agreement.  In a situation reminiscent of the Chicago Teachers Union’s 2012 strike, the teachers in Seattle are ready to strike for more than just typical “bread and butter” union issues.  While things such as salary increases and length of work day are part of negotiations, the negotiating team in Seattle has also made demands to reduce high stakes testing, address structural inequities, and increase recess time for students who have continually had recess time dwindle all while they have been besieged by increasing amounts of test prep.

SEA member Jesse Hagopian, who helped lead the historic high stakes testing boycott in 2013, discusses the pending strike below…

This summer I had the pleasure of spending some time with SEA member Dan Troccoli, a member of the SEE Caucus in Seattle, who is a wonderful example of what it means to be a union activist.  Here is his take on the pending strike, originally published on socialistworker.org…

MY NAME is Dan, and I have been teaching in some form or another for 15 years. My union, the Seattle Education Association (SEA), is currently in negotiations with Seattle Public Schools and recently voted unanimously to authorize a strike for the first day of school if we cannot reach an agreement with the school district.

The mood in our union is angry and defiant. Educators have been pushed around for a long time, and many have just had enough. Our strike is about respect. It’s about fairness. But more than anything, it’s about redefining the narrative around public education and reasserting the voice of educators in how public education is shaped going forward.

During the discussion on the strike question, many members began supportive remarks with a disclaimer along the lines of “I don’t want to strike, but…” I understand the sentiment behind that phrase. Teachers are a dedicated bunch. We sacrifice our time (in the form of many unpaid hours) and invest a huge amount of emotional energy worrying about our students. It’s a fact so many people are aware of that it easily belies the corporate education reform game of shaming teachers.

Yet I have to say that I want to go on strike. Just walking an info picket line the other day, I saw many students and rejoiced seeing them after being apart for the summer. And yet, I think of how the Washington state legislature consciously ignored the mandates of the state Constitution and a state Supreme Court decision to fully fund education for years. I think of how supports for struggling students, such as counselors and even summer school, have been cut. I think of the massive ranks of amazing educators I’ve known over the years who have either left the profession or been forced out by cold, draconian administrators.

The SEA hasn’t been on strike in 30 years. The problem with that is that people forget. We forget about the power we have to change these things. And our employers forget, too.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

WHEN I think of going on strike, I think of some of my struggling students whose parents lost their job and had to move just as I was getting through to them. I think about some whose parents were unexpectedly deported and were suddenly homeless. And I think of many of my students who live with the daily realities of oppression, whether it be from racial profiling or homophobic teasing.

I think of what it will take to change these much larger issues, and my resolve is bolstered a thousandfold. This is because of a fundamental reality: that collective struggle is the most powerful means of making change–not simply because it marshals and coordinates the main power that ordinary, working people have, but because it requires people to work together and depend on each other with such urgency that they begin to overcome divisions among themselves and can for the first time really envision the possibilities of much larger change.

Ignoring this important lesson has proven disastrous for the labor movement. It is no coincidence that unions are experiencing their lowest membership numbers in 70 years now, at the same time that the number of strikes is at an all-time low. The last time that the SEA negotiated, the union wasn’t prepared for a strike, and we ended up with a contract that included the same inequitable and inaccurate growth ratings based on student test scores in our evaluations–exactly what we are currently trying to remove.

During our strike vote, many people talked about having trust in the negotiating team and the elected leadership. Indeed, those groups have shown more resolve recently than in previous bargaining. But to me, the strength in the union isn’t trust in anyone having elected me, but trust in all the members of that union having the courage to stand together. Because, again, that’s the most powerful way we can change things for the better.

This is so important, particularly now when our politicians are so out of touch and misrepresent us so badly that many people seem desperate to find among any of the candidates who would deliver some change. They miss the important reality that the ones we can look to are all around us–that we don’t need politicians to represent us when we have the power, if it is organized and mobilized.

So I want to strike. For my students, for our future and for a change.

Dan Troccoli
SEA Board of Directors, Social Equality Educators

Rahm Emanuel Shut Down by Teacher Activist

This was passed along to me, so I figured I would share here.  Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama chief of staff, and current   Mayor of Chicago, has done everything in his power to destroy public education in Chicago.  On Monday night, at a public hearing on the city’s 2016 budget, Emanuel made a rare public appearance.  While he worked the crowd, shaking hands, he was promptly shut down by Isaac Krantz-Perlman, a special education classroom assistant in Chicago.  Check out the gif below…

Micah Uetricht of In These Times has a full write up of the story here.

To read more about the hunger strike in Chicago, organized to save Dyett High School, check out Michelle Gunderson’s piece on Living in Dialogue.