Tag: Cuomo

Common Core Panel’s Recommendations

Politico New York is claiming that Governor Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force is ready to make recommendations now that it’s statewide “We’re not listening!” tour has concluded.

Via Keshia Clukey in Politico New York…

In its draft report of recommendations to the governor, the Common Core task force is calling for an overhaul of the state’s testing system, the creation of new state standards and transparency on those standards’ rollout, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO New York.

This is quite short on details.  There is no explanation for what an “overhaul of the state’s testing system” means.  Generally speaking, I find that my version of an overhaul (throw out all the tests completely)  and the state’s version often vary quite a bit from each other.  Keep in mind it is entirely possible that they can make the tests considerably easier and even developmentally appropriate, yet they would still have the power to use the cut scores to create whatever narrative they wish to.

As for the creation of new standards, again I am skeptical that this is anything meaningful.  New York wouldn’t be the first state to make minor and meaningless alterations to the Common Core and rebrand it as something new and better.  That’s exactly what I am anticipating here.

The draft also includes a space for the task force to weigh in on the impact of student test scores on teacher evaluations, and the panel will likely use that space to recommend up to a four-year moratorium, according to a source familiar with the task force’s plans.

This is an important piece of the article.  Notice that the task force will simply call for “up to a four-year moratorium” on test based teacher evaluations.  That doesn’t mean it will be a four-year moratorium, it just won’t be any more than four years.  More importantly, this is essentially a statement by the task force that they support test based evaluations because a moratorium is completely different than getting rid of such evaluations all together.  Having a moratorium sides with the notion that it’s not the reform agenda that stinks, it was just the implementation.  Be reminded that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that test based teacher evaluations improve student learning at all.  Yet the task force is, in essence, voting in favor of them.  Junk science will still be junk science in a few (less than four!) years.

Everything that I saw suggested in the article was either suspiciously short on details or not a real fix at all.  The task force is doing exactly what it was designed to do: Put a band aid on things to fool people into thinking real changes are being in order to put a halt to the growing opt-out movement.

This strategy is bound to fail for the simple reason that people pay too much attention to it.  The deformers were too cocky and aggressive in the early going of these reforms and they awoke the masses in doing so.  People are hyper vigilant to all of this now and will continue to be that way going forward in regards to public education.  Larger numbers of parents will opt their children out of the state tests until their is a full scale retreat on the reform agenda.  Those parents will recognize this is nothing of the sort.  As a matter of fact, one of my colleagues has already had 100% of their students opt-out of the 2016 ELA.  Those parents certainly won’t be reversing their decisions based on the band aid solutions the task force is recommending.

The bottom line is that there is far too much money behind the reform agenda and far too many elected officials lining up to do their bidding for these reforms to go quietly into the night.  The simplest solution is for the opt-out movement to flex it’s muscle by demonstrating that they can affect sweeping changes at the legislative level in next November’s elections.  They can start with the senate Republicans and the “heavy hearts” Democrats in the assembly who voted for the abusive state budget this past spring.

As for our unions, I completely expect the Unity Caucus mouthpieces in the UFT, NYSUT, and the AFT to begin claiming that this is a victory so great it scrapes the skies.  After all, as our friend Arthur Goldstein often mentions, they consider everything an incredible victory!  Fortunately, you’ll know better.

 

 

 

Staggering Opt-Out Numbers Across New York

We are truly in the midst of a revolution and today is a historic day for public education in New York State.  Parents across the state have sent a clear message to Governor Cuomo that his education reform agenda is not something that they are willing to have jammed down their throats.  These are all unofficial numbers, but they are staggering to see…

*Updated 10:08 pm – 4/17*

Amityville 36%

Babylon 59%

Baldwin 37%

Bayport-Blue Point 58%

Bellmore-Merrick 62%

Bridgehampton 22%

Carle Place 45%

Center Moriches 53%

Cold Spring Harbor 18%

Comsewogue 82%

Connetquot 69%

Deer Park 36%

East Hampton 9%

East Islip 61%

East Quogue 70%

East Rockaway 60%

Farmingdale 61%

Fire Island 31%

Freeport 11%

Greenport 61%

Hampton Bays 27%

Hauppauge 64%

Hicksville 29%

Island Trees 46%

Islip 65%

Levittown 61%

Lindenhurst 58%

Longwood 40%

Massapequa 57%

Mattituck 35%

Middle Country 52%

Malverne 25%

Montauk 13%

Mount Sinai 50%

North Babylon 54%

North Bellmore 68%

North Shore 40%

Northport 55%

Oyster Ponds 18%

Patchogue-Medford 68%

Plainedge 74%

Plainview-Old Bethpage 48%

Port Jefferson 50%

Riverhead 26%

Rockville Centre 61%

Rocky Point 73%

Sachem 64%

Sag Harbor 28%

Sayville 68%

Shoreham-Wading River 75%

Smithtown 55%

South Huntington 28%

Southold 60%

Three Village 45%

Wantagh 47%

William Floyd 39%

If you have heard of any other numbers leave us a comment!

State Budget Fallout

Tuesday evening was a night that will live in infamy for public education advocates in New York State.  It was a night that saw the New York State legislature pass legislation that will certainly prove to be more damaging to our state’s public schools than any other legislation passed in our history.

The governor is certainly the chief villain in all of this, but numerous others emerged as well.  Senator Ken Lavalle, for example, is one of many legislators with blood on his hands.  Lavalle, who along with John Flanagan represents portions of the Comsewogue School District, was one of the dozens of legislators who ignored the pleas of his constituents in order to vote for the budget.  For legislators like Lavalle it was a grand betrayal.  One that is abusive to children, will ruin the careers of educators, and strips local control from our communities in order to pass it off to people who have never once stepped foot in Port Jefferson Station.  These legislators surely assume that it was early enough in their new terms to stick a knife in the back of their communities.  “The people will certainly all forget by the fall of 2016!” they are telling themselves.  This is clearly one of the many places they have gone wrong.  Because people won’t forget this.  Voters won’t forget the day their state government overstepped their bounds and forced it’s way into school districts.  Parents won’t forget the day their elected officials responded to calls for less testing by doubling down on high stakes testing.  Teachers won’t forget the day that tenure was obliterated and they were given a mandate to “teach to the test.”  Our brothers and sisters in other labor unions certainly took note as the state eroded due process rights and the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Dozens of these legislators will pay the price in November 2016.  Many of the senators and assemblymen who haven’t yet been arrested for corruption will certainly be voted out by communities.  However that won’t help us in the short run.  Now we are left to pick up the pieces and figure out what direction to go in next.  Parents in our community have already done that as the “Comsewogue Parents in Action” group has not only formed but swelled to over 100 in just two days.  Local teachers unions will begin to configure their next steps while refusing to allow their own children to take the tests.

A few more take aways from this week…

  • One point that can no longer be argued is that Mike Mulgrew is clearly either actively working against his own membership or is the most incompetent labor leader in history.  I am not sure which would be worse.  Mulgrew, who declared the budget a “victory” will be up for re-election next spring.  When he is re-elected an enormous spotlight will shine on the rigged system of “democracy” that governs the UFT, the nation’s largest teachers local.  That can only be a good thing.
  • NYSUT Executive Vice-President Andy Pallotta, whose legislative record impresses nobody, got crushed again.  His failure to prevent this atrocity seriously calls into question the votes of the NYSUT delegates who last year re-elected him, deeming him the only incumbent officer worthy of re-election.  Pallotta, whose only legislative victory this term was securing a double pension for Karen Magee, Martin Messner, and Paul Pecorale (at what was possibly an enormous price) earns a large salary and a healthy number of perks from our membership dues.  The NYSUT officers even helped themselves to a 2% raise last August.  These are things that should stick in the minds of NYSUT delegates when they vote in 2017.
  • A local hero emerged this week.  Several legislators cast their vote against the budget this week.  These are the legislators with a conscience.  The elected officials who will at least be able to sleep at night as this debacle is rolled out over the next few months.  We thank these members of the legislature for standing for their communities, our children, and our profession.  From a local standpoint, Steve Englebright was chief among the supporters.  Not only did Englebright vote against the budget deal, he bucked his party in the process.  While most Assembly Dems were busy sticking a knife in the back of their community, Englebright stood tall for ours.  It was a vote that took courage and conviction and the Comsewogue community is fortunate to have such a devoted public servant as a representative.  We will fondly remember his vote when we head to the polls in November 2016.

I will leave you with an extraordinary video created by one of our students.  Chelsea Smith is a Junior at Comsewogue High School.  As part of her video production class she created a short film called, A Common Voice- Cutting to the Core of What’s Important in Education.  It features appearances by Dr. Rella and several PJSTA members.  Share it widely.  Enjoy…

We’re Winning

In case you didn’t read it, yesterday Newsday published an OpEd by King Governor Cuomo.  The piece, titled “Ed fix clouded by the fog of protest” reeks of sheer desperation on Cuomo’s part.  Cuomo’s education agenda, highlighted by the teacher evaluation scheme and the doubling down on high stakes testing, has been shredded in every corner of the state for about six weeks now.  It has incited protests from Western New York to Eastern Long Island and many places in between.  Nowhere, as Jeanette Deutermann pointed out at Saturday’s Students Not Scores forum, have these protests been louder and larger than on Long Island.  So it’s no surprise that Cuomo picked Newsday to try to push back in.

For Cuomo to have to publish an OpEd in Newsday indicates just how desperate he is getting.  He is losing his war on public schools.  This is a desperate attempt to try to somehow turn around what has become a runaway train.

Unfortunately for Cuomo he’s got nothing new to use.  No new talking points.  No evidence to support his positions.  The OpEd is filled with the same tired talking points that have been debunked time and time again.  If he’s got nothing better than that then he’s already lost.  He even indicates in the piece that the SED is only seeking 40% of a teacher’s evaluation to be based on flawed test scores.  The fact that he throws that out there tells you he is already looking to back off of his 50%.  Don’t get me wrong, 40% is horrific and unacceptable.  However the fact that Cuomo is already looking to compromise illustrates the weakened position he is in.

Tell your legislators not to accept any part of Cuomo’s education agenda.  Tell them you will be holding them accountable if they allow our children to continue to be harmed.  Keep up the fight Long Island.  We’re winning.

Comsewogue Hero Ali Gordon: We will starve the testing machine

Over the course of the fourteen years that I have spent in the Comsewogue School District, I have met countless people who I have come to admire greatly.  I often refer to these people as “my heroes.”  One of the biggest heroes of mine has been Alexandra Gordon.  I first knew Ali as a parent and then later as a classroom aide when I transferred to Terryville.  I watched as she gave up her job to run for a position on Comsewogue’s school board and serve her community in ways that few are selfless enough to do.  Ali has been the very definition of the word activist in her never ending quest to provide the students of Comsewogue with the top flight education that they deserve.  It was with tremendous admiration that I read the words that she posted on Facebook tonight.  I have posted her message below.  Emphasis is mine.

A Different Perspective

This is my fourth year serving as an elected trustee of the Comsewogue School District Board of Education.  Trustees are elected by their community. The position is voluntary- there is no pay. There are no hidden perks, no allowances. It is time-consuming, with multiple meetings and events monthly, dozens of documents to review in preparation for the meetings, as well as correspondence between trustees and administration and of course with the community. In order to fulfill these responsibilities, I miss out on time at home with my husband and four children. It is stressful- particularly as we work to develop an annual budget. No matter what decisions we make as a board, there will always be someone disappointed. But I love every minute of it because I love my community- and I take very seriously the responsibility entrusted to me by the community.

I’ve been talking about the issues facing public education for a long time, but it’s not enough to talk. I am suggesting practical solutions could be implemented now. At this point, I want to make clear that the opinions I express here are mine alone- I do not speak for the Comsewogue School District, or the rest of the Board of Education.  I can’t stay quiet for fear of retribution from NYSED anymore. I have been warned that a Trustee who speaks out could be removed by the State Education Commissioner. But this is too important: our schools, our children, OUR FUTURE depends on those of us who were elected to represent the best interests of our communities doing exactly that.

This is a particularly difficult time for public education, especially in New York. Governor Cuomo and the Board of Regents are pushing ahead with education policy in which the ends do not justify the means. There has been tremendous criticism of Governor Cuomo, and his recent decision to withhold state aid runs and extort the Legislature to pass his education reforms. Our legislators are stuck between agreeing to terrible reforms, and getting more funding for their local schools, or refusing the Governor, which would lead to a late budget and a potential loss of millions of dollars for those schools.

The reforms Cuomo is pushing on public schools are disingenuous, dangerous, and wrong. He is working out of the privatization handbook- attempting to dismantle unions, turn the public against educators, and make us believe our schools are absolutely awful. He uses inflammatory statistics to support his claims. In the process, our students are the ones suffering. The obsession with standardized testing has taken on a life of its’ own. It seems the federal and state government cannot think of any other way to move forward in education.

But they are not the ones who were elected to determine what happens within your school district. Governor Cuomo was not on the ballot last May when you voted for your local district budget and elected your Board of Education Trustees. Each of Cuomo’s education policies reflects a desire to remove local control from schools.The reason for local control is simple- those who have familiarity with a community are better situated to determine its’ strengths and weaknesses, and to know what works. The needs of an urban school in a high poverty area will differ from that of a rural school upstate. Even on Long Island, schools not far from one another have very different needs. Governor Cuomo and the Board of Regents are searching for a one size fits all answer to a million different issues. They will never work for every community. In the meantime, an entire generation of students is being sacrificed for testing data.

Case in point, Gov. Cuomo is now insisting on an investigation into the evaluation procedures (APPR) of Long Island districts because he thinks the system is skewed to favor teachers. He is demanding NYSED look into these evaluations because he cannot believe so many teachers were rated effective, or highly effective. Those APPR plans were negotiated (as per labor law) and submitted for approval to NYSED. So the very entity which approved the plans is now asked to investigate them. Here is the point Cuomo cannot fathom: teachers on Long Island were rated highly effective or effective in large numbers because they are effective. If Long Island was a state, we would rank #1 in the nation for high school graduation rates, with 90.8% of our students receiving their diploma. In addition, Long Island would rank #1 in Intel Semifinalists and #2 in the nation in Siemens Semifinalists, behind California. Cuomo prefers to ignore these statistics because they do not fit his narrative.

So what is the answer? It’s not enough to complain. Name calling isn’t helping. We must propose an alternative vision for our public schools. There are several things that can and should happen now in order to stop the destruction of public schools with misguided education policy.

First, Governor Cuomo must separate his education reforms from his Executive Budget Proposal. If he believes strongly enough in these reforms he should be willing to let them stand alone as legislation and allow a healthy debate in the process. The Legislature would then be tasked with evaluating these reforms based on their merit, through committee hearings and public input. Our democracy has three branches of government in order to prevent one person from having too much power. Cuomo should not be allowed to circumvent the separation of powers established by our Constitution.

The Legislature should ensure that new appointees to the Board of Regents have knowledge of and experience in public education. There are four Regents whose terms are expiring, and interviews are being held now, with Legislators expected to vote in early March. The Board of Regents establishes education policies for the state, and it is imperative that they understand public education in order to fulfill these responsibilities.

Parents must educate themselves as to what is happening in their schools. They should ask questions, attend Board of Education meetings, local education forums, and contact their representatives. Every parent must make an educated decision regarding state testing in grades 3-8. This will be the 3rd year my children have refused to take the state exams. I believe this is the strongest weapon parents have in the fight to save public education. As the number of test refusals grows, the reforms dependent upon those numbers will falter. We will starve the testing machine.

School districts must respect a parent’s right to refuse testing on behalf of their child, and Boards of Education must adopt a policy to outline what accommodations will be made for students who are not taking the tests. A sit and stare policy is cruel and unacceptable.

Every one of us has a vested interest in public education. It’s not just cliche to say that these students are our future- it is reality. We must work together in order to move forward and find solutions to elevate public education without destroying things that are already working.  I can’t sit by quietly anymore and hope that someone else will make it happen. I have a sworn duty to represent the interests of my community, and that includes speaking out against policies and people who endanger the well being of our students and faculty.

If you want to hear Ali speak, and really who wouldn’t want to, then you should jump at the chance to see her at the Students Not Scores forum on March 7th!  I know I wouldn’t miss it for the world!  Be sure to RSVP for the forum by emailing our friends at Students Not Scores at studentsnotscores@gmail.com.

Governor Cuomo Wants to Fire You

Via Newsday…

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Sunday called for a state review of all Long Island school districts because many use a union-provided evaluation he said is skewed to favor teachers.

A Newsday analysis of teacher evaluation systems in Long Island public schools found that in many the portion that local districts control is weighted toward ensuring teachers score an overall “effective” rating.

Principals’ judgment of teacher performance in classroom observations and other subjective criteria accounted for 60 percent of a teacher’s overall 100-point evaluation, according to the Newsday analysis. The other 40 points are determined by student test performance.

“Recent news reports found that most Long Island school districts have used their local discretion in teacher evaluation systems to skew the overall scoring to ensure that their teachers are rated only ‘effective’ and ‘highly effective,’ ” said Jim Malatras, the state director of operations, in a statement on behalf of Cuomo. “Most districts adopted the scoring procedures specifically drafted by the teachers unions.”

Seventy of Long Island’s 124 school districts use scoring ranges promoted by New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teachers union, for the classroom-observations component of job ratings, according to Newsday’s analysis.

State law says the state education commissioner must ensure the local evaluations are rigorous and accurate. Cuomo’s statement Sunday asked the acting commissioner if she found any concerns in reviewing the local evaluations and, if so, what action the state Education Department took.

The teachers union said the evaluations are accurate and Cuomo wants to give more weight to students’ grades, which they argue are statistically questionable in evaluating teachers. Spokesmen for the New York State United Teachers union and the state Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

In other words, Long Island districts are not firing enough teachers, so the state should strip local control of teacher evaluations from those districts and force Cuomo’s junk science evaluations onto those districts.  Cuomo’s war on teachers continues and today he has turned his focus specifically on Long Island’s teachers.  The time to fight back is upon us.

PJSTA’s McMullan’s Letter to Cuomo

So very proud of our own Melissa McMullan whose letter to Governor Cuomo was published on Diane Ravitch’s blog yesterday.

Via Ravitch…

Melissa McMullan, a teacher in Long Island, explains in this comment how deeply insulting Governor Cuomo’s plan for teacher evaluation is. Will he listen to reason? Will he insist on crushing the morale of every teacher in the state? Why?

McMullan writes:

“I have been a teacher for thirteen years. I graduated with highest honors from Rutgers University, earned my masters degree from Queens College, graduating with honors and begun work on my PhD to help me become a better teacher. The teacher I am today is not the teacher I was yesterday, nor is she the teacher I will be tomorrow. I learn every day from students, families, colleagues, professional development, research and my own mistakes. In thirteen years, former students of mine have become writers, teachers, philanthropists, doctors, nurses, mechanics, beauticians, small business owners, etc…

“My employment as their teacher has been carved from a relationship I have built with the district that employs me. The district I graciously serve. I am a public servant. I do not take this assignment lightly.

“Governor Cuomo is holding state aid to public schools hostage. His ransom? Using eleven hours of tests, that the state scores, and converts to teacher ratings, assigning a great many teachers, including myself, ineffective. One score. Six days of testing to remove a teacher who works 12 hours a day, gives her students her cell phone number so she can help them with homework at home and invites Spanish-speaking parents in to the classroom to explain, in Spanish, the value of reading and writing. A teacher who will stop at NOTHING to push her students forward. Passing rates on the state test vary year to year from 72% to 83 % depending upon how the state wants teachers to be perceived from year to year.

“Governor Cuomo and the New York State Board of Regents want to use test scores it assigns to my students, against me, their teacher. This is not the role of assessment. Assessment has a single purpose – to inform instruction. Its responsibility is to let students, teachers and families what students know, and what they do not know. Under the Governor’s proposed plan, these scores would warrant my removal from the classroom, violating the agreement that my school district and its community have established with me, by using children as its weapon of choice.

“We get no feedback from these scores. No view into what our students know or don’t know or what we as teachers have taught well nor what we have not. But it costs millions of dollars to implement each year.

“As a mother, I will not permit my own four children to be used as pawns against their teachers. The only way we can stop this abuse of power is to refuse to permit our children to be used as pawns.

“The cornerstone of public education in the United States is the local community school district. Allowing scores the state assigns our children after six days of testing to be used to remove teachers we have placed in their classroom is an unacceptable, egregious overstepping of power. We have power as parents to protect our children from harm, and we have an overwhelming responsibility to keep the over-reaching powers of the state from reaching into our children’s classrooms.”

NYSUT’s Favorite Local President

Earlier we covered the “secret meetings” between Karen Magee, Mike Mulgrew, and aides for Governor Cuomo.  I mentioned my belief that the NYSUT and UFT ads would not not be pulled from the air any time soon.  As I mentioned, it is important that they at least make it appear as though they are putting up a fight before ultimately capitulating to the governor and sticking us with a worse APPR scheme than we have now.

Still there is one thing that continues to stick in my craw about the entire situation.  It certainly doesn’t surprise me to see him involved, but the presence of Michael Mulgrew at these meetings can’t possibly make any teacher in the state comfortable.  Last spring, in the lead up to the NYSUT elections, Revive NYSUT went out of their way to claim that the UFT held no extra sway over NYSUT’s leadership and that the UFT were simply one of NYSUT’s hundreds of locals.  They scoffed at the notion that the installation of new leaders (other than the UFT/Unity Caucus’ own Andy Pallotta, of course) was a power grab by the UFT leadership.

Yet yesterday we read about Mulgrew being involved in these secret meetings.  Again, this isn’t suprising.  Anyone with even a passing interest in NYSUT understands that the head of the UFT calls the shots in both the UFT and NYSUT.   Mulgrew’s presence in the Cuomo meeting only furthers that notion.  It’s why they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with claiming that he is simply just another local president.  If that were the case there are hundreds of other local presidents they could have called on.  Virtually all of them would have had more classroom experience, and therefore be more in touch with our membership, than Mulgrew.  As a matter of fact, I am sure our very own Beth Dimino, who was busy teaching science last week, would have cleared her schedule to send the governor a message.  Dimino, after all, has some skin in the game, as they say.  She will be evaluated, just as her members will be, by whatever APPR scheme New York’s teachers end up with.  That doesn’t apply to union elites like Mulgrew or Magee.  After all it’s doubtful they have been inside many more classrooms than Cuomo has this year.

Cuomo and Union Elites Meet Secretly- Now What?

These meetings apparently aren’t as secret as the ones that secured double pensions for NYSUT officers, however the NY Daily News reported yesterday that NYSUT’s Karen Magee and the UFT’s Michael “Take my Common Core and I’ll punch you in the face!” Mulgrew have quietly met with aides for Governor Cuomo recently.

Via the Daily News…

Shortly after unveiling ads last week attacking Gov. Cuomo’s education plans, the heads of the city and state teacher unions met with aides to the governor, the Daily News has learned.

City teachers union President Michael Mulgrew and New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee attended the meeting on Friday at the state Capitol.

Sources say the unions during the meeting may have agreed to temporarily pull their attack ads, leaving some insiders to question whether the sides are trying to hammer out some type of agreement on how to move forward.

 

Today the New York Post reported that the unions are not, in fact, pulling the ads…

The union leaders said the talks were not unusual and insisted they were not pulling back on their TV ads and social-media outreach attacking the governor’s proposals to strengthen teacher evaluations, streamline disciplinary hearings and expand charter schools.

“We talk to elected officials all the time,” said UFT spokeswoman Alison Gendar. “We . . . are engaged in the largest grass-roots campaign in recent memory to empower teachers and to protect our students.”

NYSUT rep Carl Korn added its campaign is “accelerating.”

Over at the Perdido Street School blog, Reality-Based Educator has several good posts up already on this topic.  Be sure to head on over and check them out.

Norm Scott of Ed Notes Online warns that a sellout is coming…

Sources say the unions during the meeting may have agreed to temporarily pull their attack ads…
This goes into the category of Mulgrew “threatening” to go to court to enforce the CFE lawsuit over state funding that was “won” 10 years ago. Threatening. Why not wait another 10 years to go to court?
Cuomo puts outrageous demands on the table and the unions put nothing on the table. So they negotiate from where Cuomo started and even if they split the baby — 4 year tenure instead of 5? 35% based on eval instead of 50%? It is  – as Fearless Forecaster often says — a LOSS.

There is a lot to process here.  One publication says the ads may be pulled as part of a deal.  Another publication quotes a NYSUT spokesperson saying that the campaign against Cuomo is being accelerated.  I don’t honestly believe that the ad campaign is being pulled.  I think that even NYSUT and UFT officials know they can’t do that.  They have to at least continue to give the appearance that they are fighting for their members.  Pulling the ads now would be virtually impossible for them to do.  Particularly since it is certain that doing so would only ramp up the anti-Cuomo actions that are being planned and carried out around the state by the rank and file NYSUT members.  Nothing would make NYSUT leadership look as out of touch with the rank and file as calling off a fight while it’s dues paying members ratchet up the intensity of theirs.  Cuomo surely knows this too.

What I think will ultimately happen is that NYSUT will continue to run it’s ads and use it’s #InviteCuomo and #AllKidsNeed hashtags while behind closed doors our surrender is negotiated.  We will end up with an APPR agreement that continues to erode tenure and is worse than what we currently have.  Because it will be somewhat less damaging than the one Cuomo proposed in his budget NYSUT and the UFT will claim “victory!”  Of course a “victory” in which every teacher, student, and community in the state loses out on will ring as the hollowest of “victories.”

This all may very well end up as what  Arthur Goldstein heard a few weeks back.  That an APPR deal was likely done and that it would either raise test scores to 40% of teacher evaluations or give the entire state the awful deal that the city teachers have dealt with for the past couple of years.  Arthur also outlined the likely spin coming from NYSUT and the UFT, that by holding Cuomo off of 50% this is some how a “victory” for our teachers. Via NYC Educator…

I don’t have a lot of time right now, but several sources I trust tell me there is already a deal in place for a new APPR plan. They think it will either be a 40% junk science plan, or that it may be a statewide model based on the NYC plan. The NYC plan, while we in NYC don’t much like it, is a better one than those in a few upstate cities that were poorly negotiated. It is not nearly as good as those many small locals came up with.

…

An agreement could actually still be made to make an NYC-style evaluation statewide, which Mulgrew alluded to at the last DA, or 40% statewide junk science. In either of these scenarios, UFT/ NYSUT could argue that Cuomo wanted 50% and we kept it down to 40.

All of this makes one thing crystal clear.  The one and only weapon left to fight back corporate education deform in New York State is the refusal movement.  Here in Comsewogue last year, where we had in excess of 60% of our students who refused to take the grades 3-8 assessments, very few teachers received growth scores from the state because not enough of their students took the exams.  The message is simple.  If you deprive the APPR machine of the data it needs, the entire evaluation scheme breaks.  It is the last remaining weapon at our disposal and it is the one thing that every New York State teacher should be picking up.

Heroic Superintendent William Cala

This story, which has made the rounds, tells of a heroic superintendent, William Cala, from Fairport, New York (Western New York) who wrote a letter to his staff in response to Cuomo’s education reform agenda, one that Cala terms an “assault on public education.”  Be sure to read the entire story.  More importantly, read the full text of Cala’s letter below…

Dr. Bill Cala
Superintendent, Fairport Central School District
Good Morning!

This week’s State of the State address by Governor Cuomo was what most of us expected. It was an all-out assault on public education, teachers, children, families and local control. It appears that breaking teachers is his solution to poverty, income inequality and inadequate school funding.

As we have experienced on a first-hand basis over the past few years, the APPR system is indeed a fatally flawed proxy for genuine evaluation done at the local level. The governor’s solution is to up the ante by increasing the tenure period to 5 years and making state test scores 50% of a teacher’s evaluation. Given the already bogus cut score setting process for the state exams, we are assured of a whole new wave of unreliable ratings designed to crush teachers, close schools and open the door to his other “reforms,” such as lifting the cap on charter schools and creating a tax credit for private schools and charters and increasing the amount the state gives charters per pupil. This last item of increasing charter aid is especially interesting as there are no strings attached. The regular public schools will only get an increase in aid if the legislature approves all of his draconian measures mentioned above. Two major studies have demonstrated with great clarity that charters perform worse than public schools and only 17% of charters perform equal or better to publics (CREDO 2013). Apparently, that’s fine….they get increases in spite of their failing performance.

Let’s be clear that the governor’s agenda has nothing to do with what is good for kids. Far from it. It is what is good for his financial supporters: the corporations who are making billions of dollars on the tests, the texts, the technology, the corporate professional development and the data collection, retrieval and distribution. 

As this country gets poorer and poorer and the few get richer and richer the pride of our nation, its public schools, are being disassembled while Bill Gates, The Walton’s, The Koch Brothers, Eli Broad and other scavengers are feasting at the table of greed. 

While the situation may seem hopeless, I believe parents are able to bring this tyranny to a screeching halt. Assessments should be used only for the benefit of students…..nothing else. Last year over 60,000 parents in New York refused the 3-8 tests. This year it is expect that number will triple. The refusal movement will indeed collapse the evaluation system and the governor’s plan to dismantle public education.

Parents will play a critical role. What role will we play? How will we speak out? This is our profession. These are our children. This is our responsibility.

Action and activism takes courage. Last week I spoke of my hero Rosa Parks. Let her courage and actions inspire us. I will close with the wisdom and inspiration of Frederick Douglass.

Where justice is denied; where poverty is enforced; where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress,; rob and degrade them; neither persons nor property will be safe.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

Time to start plowing.

Peace,
Bill

If that doesn’t inspire you to take action then you might not have a pulse.