Missing: NYSUT Leadership

NYSUT's missing leaders: Martin Messner, Catalina Fortino, Karen Magee, Andy Pallotta
NYSUT’s missing leaders: Martin Messner, Catalina Fortino, Karen Magee, Andy Pallotta

I would like to begin by sending kudos out to NYSUT Vice-President Paul Pecorale.  Pecorale, originally from the Patchogue-Medford Congress of Teachers, was exactly where he should have been on April 28th- at the #NoMoCuomo Rally in Holbrook.  On May 17th Pecorale was once again where he should have been- at the Taking Back Our Schools Rally in Manhattan.  On May 21st Pecorale was one more time where he should have been, at the second #NoMoCuomo Rally in Melville.  Once again, kudos to Pecorale for being exactly where he should have been.

Unfortunately, and unfathomably, that is essentially where NYSUT’s support for these events ended.  None of the other officers managed to attend any of these three rallies and little, if anything, was done to promote membership participation in them.  This is particularly astounding given the bold claims that the Revive NYSUT slate made as they rode Michael Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus to victory in April’s NYSUT election.  I would link to those claims however they pulled down their site immediately after the election, linking it instead to NYSUT’s homepage.  Fortunately for us James Eterno managed to save the claims that they made.  Eterno wisely knew that their claims might not match their actions once they took office.  Especially interesting are the claims that they were against Cuomo given their lack of support for the rallies against the governor.

Karen Magee must have been too busy writing “We’re a member-driven union on the march” to actually march herself down here and join with the rank and file as they demonstrated in support of public education and against Governor Cuomo.  Of course maybe the demonstrations against Cuomo were why she didn’t make it down here.  As we now know, NYSUT is refusing to publish anything that goes against Cuomo.  Even at the Picket in the Pines Rally, none of Magee or Randi Weingarten’s remarks were directed at Cuomo.  Weingarten has been selling out teachers for years now, so it doesn’t surprise me that she tiptoed around Cuomo.  But Magee and her Revive NYSUT friends came riding in to save NYSUT, telling us all about how tough they were.  How they’d demand that the governor hears our voice.  They scoffed at the rumors that they were in the pocket of Mike Mulgrew and Andy Cuomo.  But now Magee has twice been a no show at an anti-Cuomo rally in addition to her failure to appear at a public education rally in Manhattan.  At this point you have to start to judge Magee on her actions (or lack thereof) and not on her empty rhetoric.

That brings us to Executive-Vice President Andy Pallotta.  Pallotta, after presiding over the tax cap and Tiers V and VI, thought he was the only NYSUT officer who didn’t deserve to be replaced.  Of course when you have Mike Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus at your back you don’t have to concern yourself with things like fighting for your dues paying members.  You will also remember Pallotta as the guy who gave “Cuomo 2014” $10,000.  Or the guy who ducked the question of whether or not NYSUT would issue an endorsement for Cuomo in November.  Maybe I am starting to see why Pallotta shied away from the anti-Cuomo rallies.  There is probably a better chance we would find Pallotta palling around with ed deform cronies than rallying against them.  I bet if Arthur Goldstein, who opposed Pallotta in the election, had won he would have been at the rallies.  Oh wait, he was at all three.

Magee, Pallotta, Messner, and Fortino all failed to attend rallies against this guy.

Perhaps secretary-treasurer Martin Messner could have stopped by one of the rallies?  His major contribution to the election campaign was his insistence that Revive NYSUT was not a UFT take over.   Outside of congratulating the UFT on their new contract that successfully erodes tenure rights for portions of the UFT membership and introduces merit pay to New York, we haven’t heard much from him…

The current officers, who came in promising “grassroots, bottom up, member driven unionism” have delivered anything but.  What we have seen instead is a statewide union that is desperately failing it’s membership (all while raising dues that help to support their more than comfortable compensation packages) at what is quite possibly the most critical time in most of our careers.  Last June NYSUT got nearly 20,000 people to Albany for the One Voice United Rally.  Clearly they have the resources to mobilize membership when necessary.  That they couldn’t bother to help get more than a few hundred to a rally in Manhattan on a beautiful, sunny day in May is a failure of epic proportions.

Over the next little while NYSUT members from around the state should be watching this leadership carefully and with skepticism.  Ask questions and demand that they serve your needs and not theirs.  Demand that they earn their very hefty compensation.  In her opening letter sent to members Magee wrote, “We will be traveling to every corner of the state to meet with you, our members, and every NYSUT constituency so that our collective wisdom and experience can shape the future of NYSUT. Above all, we are committed to serving every member, leader and local.”  I know that the PJSTA membership eagerly awaits Magee traveling to our corner of the state to meet with our membership.  She has a lot to answer to.  Although something tells me this is just one more empty Karen Magee promise.

Budget Results and Today’s Rally

Comsewogue’s school budget passed last night in a landslide, 1,012 votes to 325.  In addition all three PJSTA endorsed candidates won.  Incumbents Ali Gordon (908 votes) and James Sanchez (754 votes) will serve three year terms and newcomer Rick Rennard (736 votes) will serve the remaining one year of Lance Brown’s term.  Brown vacated the position last summer when he moved out of the district.  The PJSTA offers it’s enthusiastic congratulations to each of the winners.  All three have proven to be tremendous advocates for public education and we look forward to working with them throughout their term as we continue to make Comsewogue the best school district around!

Of course the fight for public education continues today with a rally outside of the New York State Democratic Convention in Melville.  This is perhaps the biggest and most important rally in many of our careers.  Every PJSTA member should make an enormous effort to be there.  We need to send the governor and the legislature one more message before the end of the school year: We will remember in November!

See the flyer below for details…

 

News, Notes, and Links

A big week coming up PJSTA!

First, we will need volunteers to put up “Vote YES” signs tomorrow, as well as volunteers who can head to the phone banks after school at the NYSUT Regional Office in Hauppauge.

On Tuesday every member of the PJSTA needs to get to the polls in their home school districts and VOTE YES for their school budgets.  If you need to know who are the candidates being endorsed by your district’s teachers union local contact Beth Dimino or myself at wogteacher@gmail.com and we will happily provide you with that.

If you live in Comsewogue the PJSTA encourages you to vote for incumbents Alexandra Gordon and James Sanchez along with newcomer (though a gentleman who has been incredibly active in our school community for years) Rick Rennard.  Gordon and Sanchez have worked tirelessly to defend public education in the Comsewogue School District and have shown a willingness to work cooperatively with the PJSTA as we fight passionately together for the students that we serve.  Mr. Rennard is no stranger to anybody who regularly attends school board meetings or rallies in support of public education!  They represent the voices that Comsewogue needs to continue advocating for our community!

On Wednesday is the latest and greatest rally and opportunity to show Governor Cuomo and the rest of the state’s Democratic elected officials that we will “Remember in November!”  If you go to one event per year, this is the one to be at!  If you go to every other event throughout the year, you don’t want to miss this one!  The importance of this event cannot be overstated.  Bring your kids, your spouses, and who ever else you need to.  Quite possibly it is the most important event of many of our careers.

Finally we want to thank Beth Dimino, Maurizio Milana, Sue Niver, Rob Pearl, and Brian St. Pierre for attending Saturday’s “Take Back Our Schools” rally in Manhattan, which the PJSTA helped organize.  Organizers estimated a crowd of 750+ people who turned out to stand up for public education.  Groups from Long Island, New York City, New Jersey, and other parts of New York State joined together for the event.  Enjoy the pictures below…

PJSTA Approves Resolution to Oppose Common Core

At today’s regularly scheduled meeting the PJSTA’s Representative. Council unanimously voted to approve the following resolution to oppose the Common Core State Standards. The resolution will be submitted to the AFT and NYSUT for consideration from those parent unions.

Resolution to Oppose the Common Core State Standards

WHEREAS, the purpose of education is to educate a populace of critical
thinkers who are capable of shaping a just and equitable society in
order to lead good and purpose-filled lives, not solely preparation
for college and career; and

WHEREAS, instructional and curricular decisions should be in the hands
of classroom professionals who understand the context and interests of
their students; and

WHEREAS, the education of children should be grounded in
developmentally appropriate practice; and

WHEREAS, high quality education requires adequate resources to provide
a rich and varied course of instruction, individual and small group
attention, and wrap-around services for students; and

WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards were developed by
non-practitioners, such as test and curriculum publishers, as well as
education reform foundations, such as the Gates and Broad Foundations,
and as a result the CCSS better reflect the interests and priorities
of corporate education reformers than the best interests and
priorities of teachers and students; and

WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards were piloted incorrectly,
have been implemented too quickly, and as a result have produced
numerous developmentally inappropriate expectations that do not
reflect the learning needs of many students; and

WHEREAS, imposition of the Common Core State Standards adversely
impacts students of highest need, including students of color,
impoverished students, English language learners, and students with
disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards emphasize pedagogical
techniques, such as close reading, out of proportion to the actual
value of these methods – and as a result distort instruction and
remove instructional materials from their social context; and

WHEREAS, despite the efforts of our union to provide support to
teachers, the significant time, effort, and expense associated with
modifying curricula to the Common Core State Standards interferes and
takes resources away from work developing appropriate and engaging
courses of study; and

WHEREAS, the assessments that accompany the Common Core State
Standards (PARCC and Smarter Balance) are not transparent in that
–teachers and parents are not allowed to view the tests and item
analysis will likely not be made available given the nature of
computer adaptive tests; and

WHEREAS, Common Core assessments disrupt student learning, consuming
tremendous amounts of time and resources for test preparation and
administration; and

WHEREAS, the assessment practices that accompany Common Core State
Standards – including the political manipulation of test scores – are
used as justification to label and close schools, fail students, and
evaluate educators; therefore be it

RESOLVED that the PJSTA opposes the Common Core State Standards (and
the aligned tests) as a framework for teaching and learning; and be it
further

RESOLVED, the PJSTA advocates for an engaged and socially relevant
curriculum that is student-based and supported by research and be it
further

RESOLVED, the PJSTA will embark on internal discussions to educate and
seek feedback from members regarding the Common Core and its impact on
our students; and be it further

RESOLVED, the PJSTA will lobby the NYS Board of Education to eliminate
the use of the Common Core State Standards for teaching and
assessment; and be it further

RESOLVED, the PJSTA will organize other members and affiliates to
increase opposition to the Common Core State Standards; and be it
further

RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the NY State Board
of Education, the Governor of NYS, and all members of the NYS
legislative branch; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that should this resolution be passed by the PJSTA
Representative Council, an appropriate version will be submitted to
the American Federation of Teachers for consideration at the 2014
Convention and to NYSUT for consideration at the 2015 RA.

The Governor Will Hear Us Roar!

Yesterday we asked you to join us this Saturday in Manhattan as we rally, along with 40+ other organizations, for public education.  Today we want to make you aware of another important date in the coming week.  On Wednesday, May 21st we will join thousands of other Long Island teachers as we demonstrate and picket outside of the Huntington Hilton in Melville at 4:00 pm.  The Hilton is the site of the 2014 New York State Democratic Party Convention.  You will remember that this is the rally the governor asked Beth Dimino and other local leaders to cancel.  We assured you the rally would still go on and it will!  Let’s let the governor and the other elected officials in attendance know how we feel about Common Core, high stakes testing, junk science evaluations, the tax cap, and the rest of their ed deform agenda!

cuomo rally image
Rob Pearl will be there… will you?

One Last Time… Join us on Saturday!!!!

All PJSTA members headed out to the rally in Manhattan on Saturday will receive a free doughnut, cup of coffee, and train ticket compliments of the PJSTA.  Meet at the Ronkonkoma Train Station at 11:20 AM in time for the 11:40 train into Penn Station.  The rally will be held downtown at City Hall Park.  Dr. Rella will be one of the featured speakers…

SOS May 2014 Revised 1

Why I am Voting Green Party for Governor

As we roll through the spring towards next November’s elections we are starting to hear a lot from the gubernatorial candidates when it comes to public education.  Let’s look a little bit closer at our options now.

We are all familiar with Governor Cuomo’s litany of attacks on public schools, the children who they serve, the teachers who work in them, and the labor unions who represent those teachers.  It would take course correction that is unprecedented in modern politics for Cuomo to earn my vote in November.  The man who brought us the tax cap and who foisted school deform upon New York at an alarming rate has been quite possibly the worst education governor that we have ever had in the Empire State.  Don’t forget this is the man who is on the take from Wall Street, DFER, and charter school operators.  He is also the man who declared that schools who perform poorly on standardized tests should receive the death penalty.  While NYSUT may not want to publish anything against Cuomo and may secretly hope that he gets the AFL-CIO endorsement, the PJSTA is happy to report that we will, under no circumstances, be encouraging our members to vote for him.

That brings us to Rob Astorino.  Mr. Astorino achieved some well deserved praise when he opted his children out of the state tests this year.  Kudos to him.  Of course that’s not the only issue that matters in public education.  When speaking of charter schools Mr. Astorino has said, “And for you charter school parents whose classrooms are being shut down, I’ll have your back. We need more charter schools in New York, not fewer.”  In other words, like Cuomo, he will continue to support our tax dollars being siphoned off to be used to fund what amount to exclusive private schools.  The last thing our schools need is a continued loss of funds as politicians kowtow to the powerful charter school operators.   No thanks Mr. Astorino.  I won’t make the mistake of giving him my vote either.

That brings us to the increasingly popular third party options.  Last week we learned that Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, a Teamster, named Brian Jones of the MORE Caucus as his running mate.  Perhaps you remember when we previously posted this video of Jones…

Below is the Green Party’s education platform.  It has certainly earned my vote…

Education

Introduction: The purpose of education is to produce critically thinking, civically engaged responsible adults committed to building and maintaining a just sustainable, democracy. All children in New York State deserve a quality public education preK-? (grade 16, beyond) that fosters critical thought and creativity. Learning is a lifelong and life-affirming process and all people, regardless of age, should have equal access to education.

The Green Party of New York State supports the following policies:

Equity for All Students

  • All schools should receive the same amount of services and resources regardless of the socio-economic class of the community.

  • Public schools should not be funded by outside sources such as corporations.

  • Every school shall be fully staffed with a nurse, a social worker, and services available to parents.

  • Every school shall have afterschool and weekend programs.

  • Each child, regardless of economic status, must be offered free breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Improve Our Students’ Learning Conditions

  • Funding must be made available for Creative Arts (Music, Art, Drama, Digital Arts), Physical Education, Technology, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Science, Math, and electives.

  • Every school shall be equipped with working computers, interactive boards, internet, heat, air conditioning, and have a fully-staffed library and media center.

  • Class size limits should be reduced by at least 10%, with no exceptions.

Fair Student Assessment

  • Standardized tests should be only one tool used for assessing student learning and growth. Portfolios, written assignments, verbal presentations, digital presentations, and projects shall all be available options.

Academic Freedom and Support

  • Educators shall be responsible for decisions regarding the methods and materials used for the instruction of their students.

  • When any new, significant education policy is agreed upon for implementation in the classrooms, it shall be:

    • Limited to one per academic year.

    • Administered with a minimum of two years professional development.

    • Continuously reviewed by a jointly agreed upon panel of experts for effectiveness.

Special Educators

  • Professional educators working with special education students should be assigned reasonable caseloads that will allow for all mandated services and paperwork, to be completed during the work day.

  • Educators working with special education students shall be able to safely report any inconsistencies between the mandated services included in a student IEP and the services that the student is actually receiving.

Paraprofessionals, Physical Therapists, and Occupational Therapists

  • Salaries for all paraprofessionals, physical therapists and occupational therapists should be increased to levels closer to teachers.

  • All paraprofessionals, physical therapists, and occupational therapists shall be offered the same job protections as teachers.

Guidance Counselors

  • There should be one guidance counselor in every school.

  • The state recommended ratio of 250 students to one counselor should be lowered to 200:1.

Fairness and Due Process in Evaluating Educators

  • Eliminate the use of test scores for teacher evaluations and reduce the amount of evaluation paperwork.

  • Observations of teachers should not be conducted by principals, but by fellow teachers, department chairs, and experts in the field of the teacher being observed.

  • All employees shall have the right to respond to accusations and demonstrate that they are inaccurate or unfair.

  • Restore the principle of innocent until proven guilty in all investigations. An independent arbitrator, jointly selected and paid for by the school district and union local, shall judge all grievances and removals.

  • There shall be a clear and explicit path to tenure, stating what is expected from new teachers in order to receive it. All denials must include a written explanation and be eligible for appeal before an independent arbitrator.

Administrator Conduct

  • Any administrator that is found to be routinely violating the contract at their school shall be automatically removed and face charges for permanent removal.

Governance of New York City Schools

  • End centralized mayoral control of New York City public schools.

  • School board members should be publicly elected, not appointed.

  • High schools teachers must have the right to elect the chairs of their own departments.

  • Prohibit the sale of public school land and buildings to private real estate developers.

Charter Schools

  • End public subsidies and tax breaks for charter schools.

  • Ban the co-location of charter schools in public school buildings.

School Funding

  • Stop the testing of students and evaluation of teachers for the purpose of funding schools or closing schools.

  • Federal and state funding of schools should be based solely on need.

Military Recruitment

  • Prohibit military recruitment and access to student records in public schools and public colleges.

Higher Education

  • Allow City University faculty to continue to elect their own department chairs.

  • Restore free tuition at CUNY and SUNY, for all low-income students who graduate from public schools.

  • Provide tuition-free education at SUNY, CUNY, and community colleges for students who perform 250 hours of community service per year, or 125 hours per year for students in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics); and who stay in New York for at least five years after graduation.

  • Establish a Debt Jubilee for indebted students.

  •  

NYSUT & Cuomo, UFT Contract, Cavanagh, etc.

We have some must read links for you to peruse…

A lot was made in the lead up to the NYSUT election in April about the Revive NYSUT slate’s apparent fondness for Governor Cuomo.  This parent’s account of events at NYSUT’s “Picket in the Pines” earlier this month would seem to back that up…

At NYSUT’s rally at Lake Placid, it became painfully obvious that NYSUT was not there to challenge Cuomo — all the rhetoric was directed at DFER and the Walton Foundation. None of the rally speakers said anything about Cuomo (or even Gates!). The most obvious giveaway that NYSUT had completely sold out came when the NYSUT photographer wanted to take a picture of a child who was wearing a sign that said, I “heart” public school, but he wouldn’t take a picture of the child’s brother whose sign said, No Mo Cuomo. The photographer explicitly stated that NYSUT wouldn’t publish anything against Cuomo! 
If all this is true, union leadership is even more effed up than I thought….

Reality-Based Educator discusses the significance of Governor Cuomo’s meeting with the Stronger Together group last week.

Barbara Madeloni won an election to become the President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, an NEA affiliate.  Congrats to her.  Like Chicago’s CORE Caucus, NYSUT’s STronger Together, and the UFT’s dissident MORE Caucus, Madeloni represents a more aggressive, progressive, and militant form of unionism.

We have a few links on the UFT’s controversial contract agreement.  Our friends from MORE are urging a NO vote…

Arthur Goldstein requests a moderated discussion with the UFT leadership prior to the vote and eagerly awaits a response.

James Eterno tells of Mike Mulgrew mangling democracy.

MORE’s Mike Schirtzer is quoted here, wondering about what ineffective way “master teachers” will be identified.

Julie Cavanagh explains why the contract should be rejected.

Finally, I will leave you with this video of MORE’s Cavanagh…

 

 

Stronger Together’s Meeting with Governor Cuomo

As momentum built toward’s the April 28th rally at Villa Lombardi’s to protest Governor Cuomo, one of the governor’s top aides, Joseph Percoco, reached out, through an intermediary, to the President of the Connetquot Teachers Association Tony Felicio.  Percoco offered Felicio, one of the rally’s organizers, a meeting with the governor to air his grievances in exchange for canceling the rally.  Felicio rejected the governor’s offer, telling him that the rally would go on and that if the governor wanted to meet they could do so after the rally.

You will recall the rally did in fact go on.  Despite the fact that it was not supported by NYSUT, an estimated crowd of 2,500 gathered outside Villa Lombardi’s to protest Cuomo’s education reform agenda.  The rally clearly sent a very powerful message to the governor that the parents and teachers of New York State will “remember in November” the havoc that his policies have wreaked on the children of our communities.  Unless he displays a startling and dramatic change of course regarding his education policies in the very near future he can count on no support in November’s election from the people in New York State who value public education, whether NYSUT endorses him or not.

Following the rally, Percoco once again reached out to Felicio to request a meeting with the governor.  Cuomo’s re-election campaign clearly is rattled by the tidal wave of support for public education that stands in clear opposition to the reform agenda he has helped to force upon our community schools throughout his term in office.  Felicio agreed to the meeting and arranged to bring a few trusted friends in the fight for public education.  Yesterday five Stronger Together local presidents, including Felicio, Tim Southerton (President of the Sayville Teachers Association), Laura Spencer (President of the Smithtown Teachers Association), Kevin Coyne (Brentwood Teachers Association), and our very own Beth Dimino were joined by Brad Lindell (Vice-President of the Connetquot Teachers Association)  at a meeting with the governor.

At the meeting the team raised concerns about high stakes testing, APPR’s, the tax cap, charter schools, Pearson, and RttT, among other things.  Dimino told the governor that given his actions up to this point she could only assume that he didn’t know the truth about the harmful agenda he had been pushing.  After the group gave him the perspective of real classroom teachers they suggested potential solutions to the disastrous situation his policies have created.   Dimino then warned him that he now knew the truth and that there is no excuse for the continuation of such policies.  She stated that there would be a price to pay if swift action is not taken to undo much of what has been done up to this point.  Dimino explained to the Governor that there were two things he could do immediately to mitigate the devastating impact his agenda has had on NYS students, first decouple the testing from teacher evaluations and then decouple all of the unfunded mandates from the tax cap, either by funding those mandates or by making them exclusionary under the cap.

Cuomo, who was polite, respectful, and attentive during the meeting that lasted nearly two hours, responded with a lot of “I didn’t know” or “It’s not my fault” types of answers.  He also told them, “I thought everybody loved charter schools?!”  Additionally he warned that we may want to cancel the rally scheduled for the New York Democratic Convention on May 22nd in Melville so that we don’t upset other Democratic politicians.  Let me be very clear here: The rally will go on!  As Felicio warned on April 28th, the Lombardi’s rally was just a warm up for a bigger, louder, more intense one on May 21st.

Finally Cuomo pledged to create a task force of classroom teachers to more deeply investigate the issues discussed.  He said he would be in touch with NYSUT President Karen Magee to create that task force.  Unfortunately Magee is no fan of the PJSTA, so don’t expect Dimino or many other NYSUT members critical of the Mulgrew/Pallotta/Revive NYSUT coup to make the cut for the task force.  Of course we have been down the task force road with Cuomo before.  Typically what happens is that any voices of truth who speak for teachers and students are ignored so that Cuomo can stock his war chest with big money from Wall Street, Pearson, and Eva Moskowitz.  In the end the losers are usually public schools and the communities they serve.  Color me skeptical when it comes to any meaningful changes being made.  Still, for a change, it was nice to know that our message was sent to the governor yesterday, loud and clear.

Dimino at the April 28th rally.