Tag: nysut

Tsunami of Support for Dimino

At the Common Core Task Force “We’re not listening” tour last week, PJSTA President Beth Dimino warned that there would be a tsunami of opt-outs coming to New York State this spring.  Well over the weekend there has been a tsunami of support for Dimino in the wake of reprehensible attack on her by the statewide Unity Caucus.  We will have a run down here on some of the support for her coming in from all corners of the state…

Blogs

NYC Educator- NY State’s Unity Caucus Launches a Despicable Attack Against PJSTA President Beth Dimino

Let’s be further clear that there is a movement to kill union and it is in no way supported by Beth Dimino. It is enabled, however, by our history of concession to reforminess. Look at the UFT 2005 Contract. Look at Michael Mulgrew helping to craft the APPR law. Look at him praising the Heavy Hearts legislature for making it worse. Look at Bill Gates addressing the AFT Convention. And those are just a few of the low lights.

When you cannot muster a proactive argument, logical fallacy is one way to go. What’s truly pathetic is that this is what our leadership chooses to put forth as their voice. Among teachers, there are quite a few thinkers, quite a few creative and passionate souls. Judging from what passes for argument among leadership, and how they choose to treat people who speak their minds, they haven’t got the remotest notion what a creative and passionate thinker even is.

ICEUFT Blog- ICE-UFT BLOG 100% WITH BETH DIMINO

She has a vision for what the public schools and a powerful teachers’ union should be like and she goes about achieving her aims in a way that gets you on board even when she doesn’t have a patronage mill of jobs at her disposal.  Beth is the union leader that Unity fears because she is that good at what she does.

Ed Notes Online- Stronger Together Threatens Randi/Mulgrew Power: What is Behind NYSUT Unity Attack on Beth Dimino

Chatter has been coming in to Ed Notes about just how much of a threat Stronger Together, the statewide opposition caucus to Unity in NYSUT is viewed by Randi Weingarten and her liege Michael Mulgrew.

Some Blog Comments

Harris L. from the ICEUFT Blog- I’m proud to be a member of Stronger Together and proud to be a friend of Beth Dimino.

Sean Crowley from the Ed Notes Online blog- Couldn’t be any happier. Unity and Co. and their fake union stooge movement lashing out with this errant punch at a real unionist like Beth and a real Caucus like ST can only boomerang on them. And from what I’m reading the Unity slugs are catching it square in the teeth.

Roseanne McCosh from the Ed Notes Online blog- Thanks, Unity. You saved me from myself. I will no longer fact check and I will believe every word you speak or write is the truth. I will now withdraw my support of ST and donate 100% of my pay to UFT COPE. Beth in bed with the Koch brothers, you say. How scandalous! And I will start a petition to have Beth tarred and feathered for her treacherous ways. Seriously…. who do these jackasses think they’re convincing? I never bothered to cancel my COPE contribution of a lousy $5 per month but I sure will now. Not many members in my school belong to COPE but I will actively seek them out and explain why they too should cancel. Is this the result you were looking for Unity? Unity gives money to politicians who screw us with their votes and Beth called them out on it. Unity uses that money to weild power but never uses that power to do right by the rank and file and Beth calls them out on that too. They act as if they’ve taken the high road. PULEEZE! What balls! If only they showed those big balls when it comes to fighting the real enemies—-like Randi Weingarten and her buddy Bill Gates or Hilary Clinton and her buddy Eli Broad. 

Some Tweets

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So Unity Caucus seemed to think that this would help them with the ir VOTE-COPE drive.  I wonder how that’s going?

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Receivership, #TeachStrong, and STCaucus

Some interesting news stories involving education and, by extension, teacher unions have broken recently.  After a lot of contemplation a few things regarding our unions have really come to the forefront of my thoughts.  Let’s get to the issues at hand first.

First, we recently learned that NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia was using Governor Cuomo’s new receivership law, enacted by the legislature last spring, to essentially toss aside the collective bargaining agreement between the Buffalo School District and the Buffalo Teachers Federation.  Changes to the working conditions of the teachers in the receivership schools can be drastically altered simply in the name of “improving our schools” even if there is no real evidence that such changes would improve the school.  Ultimately the receivership process can lead to a receiver being appointed by the state.  As described by Jessica Bakeman in Politico New York this past spring, such receiver could…

“replace teachers and administrators’ and ‘abolish the positions of all members of the teaching and administrative and supervisory staff assigned to the failing or persistently failing school and terminate the employment of any building principal assigned to such a school, and require such staff members to reapply for their positions in the school if they so choose.”

Naturally schools that fall into receivership are evaluated by rigged standardized test scores.  This action proves how farcical Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force is as the state is pushing forward with the destruction of public education all while pretending to listen to the concerns of citizens.

Shortly after hearing about the Buffalo receivership debacle, I began reading about #TeachStrong.  As described by Peter Greene on his Curmudgucation blog…

The Program 

Sigh. Well, let’s start with the assumption that teaching is in trouble. Teachers, apparently, need to “modernized and elevated.” And we are also fans of having an excellent teacher in each classroom. And we have nine-step program for getting it done.

(1) Recruit more diverse candidates for (2) more strenuous preparation. (3) Make it harder to get a license, but (4) pay more and (5) provide support in residency programs. (6) Keep tenure, but make it a meaningful signal of professional accomplishment (i.e. harder to get). (7) Give teachers more time and tools (so, what? a twenty-five hour day and an extra hand?) (8) Better PD (please, now you’re just making shit up). (9) Career pathways.

So, mostly the same old stuff. Make life harder for teachers in concrete ways (licensure, tenure) but try to offset it in vague ways (more time, and tools, and PD). And as always– absolutely nothing about giving teachers a strong voice in the direction of their profession.

No, the promise here is that we will ask more of you and do more to you.

And yet there are some odd features here. For instance, much of this is not exactly in tune with the TFA five-weeks, no-real-license plan. But in her WaPo piece, Lyndsey Layton reports that TFA basically has no intention of changing what they do, they just thought this seemed like a cool initiative to join. Really? Why would they sign on to this if they didn’t support the stated goals? Hmmm…

The Purpose 

So what’s really going on here? I have a thought, and I’ll go ahead and type it out now. If I’m wrong, we can all make fun of me later.

Let’s look at the clues.

The initiative is led by CAP, a thinky tank that has also served as a holding pen for Clinton staffers since Bill stepped out of the White House. Carmel Martin, who has so far been the point person on this for CAP,  has served in both Clinton and Obama administrations.

The list has many reformster groups– but not all. Who’s missing? Well, Campbell Brown, the Fordham Foundation, Jeb Bush’s FEE folks. You know– the conservative/GOP wing.

What does the group say it’s up  to? Per Layton:

Martin, of the Center for American Progress, said the campaign will include events in early presidential primary states and important swing states, as well as Twitter town halls, online events and social media outreach. The think tank expects to spend $1 million, she said.

 #TeachStrong says it wants to influence policy discussions through the primary and election season. I hereby predict that one candidate is going to be heavily influenced by this initiative and is going to stand up for this important teacher-supporting thing. I hereby predict that #TeachStrong is an organization created to help guard and support Hillary Clinton’s education flank in the run-up to 2016.

I think we’re looking at the eventual education plank of HRC’s platform.

Unsurprisingly, two of the forty organizations involved with this destruction of our profession are our national unions, the AFT and the NEA.  That’s correct, I am no longer surprised when they stick the knife in the back of their dues paying members by partnering with the reformy groups who have sought to create the narrative of a public education crisis that they can sell you the answer to.  They have a long track record of this.

So we have two major issues here, seemingly not connected, yet still rooted in a common problem, the lack of real union organizing from our parent unions.  Let’s look at the issue in Buffalo first.  A strong collective bargaining agreement,  featuring victories won by generations of members over decades of work, is the document that provides a living for professional educators, along with the working conditions members value that also enhance student learning.  To have the commissioner trample all over that agreement to instill whatever the reformists want is a blow the heart of the union and one that calls for an immediate and forceful response.  That’s certainly the type of thing unions should be good at, right?  However the Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore simply responded that the BTF might sue.  NYSUT President Karen Magee’s response was that they’d look at different options.  Tepid responses at best.

The problem with the situation in Buffalo, regarding the lack of decisive union action, is the same problem that leads to our national unions supporting #TeachStrong in partnership with those who seek to destroy us.  That problem is that the difficult and time consuming work of organizing that needs to have been done over a long period of time in order to effectively carry out such actions that will lead to victory has not been done.  It certainly hasn’t been done by NYSUT and if Rumore’s only idea is to sue, it likely hasn’t been done there either.  It has become common place in recent years for me to see teachers on social media calling for a statewide strike over the ed reform issues that have been foisted upon us.  While I appreciate the sentiment and would go along with such militant action if possible, it really isn’t feasible.  There simply has not been any organizing at the rank and file level to pull of any sort of statewide teacher movements.  It’s not just the Revive NYSUT officers who currently inhabit the statewide officer positions either.  As long as I have been a NYSUT member (14 years), through three presidents, there has been no organizing done by the statewide union.  Certainly not to the level of being able to pull off mass labor actions across the state.  Any organizing that has been done has taken place at the local union level or by parents.  The real organizing I am mentioning is tough work.  It involves lots of real back and forth conversation with members and with community members.  It involves reflective practice in how we operate as unionists, and it calls for a true democratic governance within our unions that allows the members of an informed and engaged rank and file to truly drive the agenda of the union’s leadership.  That work is never done by our parent unions.

While a failure to organize rank and file members should be a huge red flag that your union is failing you, the reason why it is likely happening within NYSUT, the AFT, and the NEA is even more galling.  In my opinion the lack of organizing is by design.  The simple fact of the matter is that an organized, informed, and engaged rank and file is a threat to our leadership. As long as membership is oblivious to the fact that leadership is collaborating with those seeking to harm us, such as the AFT and NEA’s decision to support #TeachStrong, they will never do the work that needs to be done to replace leadership.  Without a revolt from the rank and file our “leaders” can sit safely inside their offices, far removed from the trenches that is the inside of a classroom, and collect their half a million dollar compensation packages and accrue their double pensions.

In many ways the large unions are like virtually any other organizational structure where those in power simply want to keep the power to themselves. An informed electorate is always a threat to them. It’s why the UFT leadership never concerns themselves with the fact that less than 20% of it’s members vote in union elections. It’s why Unity Caucus, at the state level, shut down a constitutional amendment at last spring’s NYSUT RA that would have allowed regional voting so that more than 30% of locals could actually cast their votes in NYSUT elections.

To those in power, whether they be in our parent unions, our government, or elsewhere, democracy is nothing but a buzzword.  It sounds good to talk about, but in actual practice they risk too much power to want it employed among those they hold power over.  The leaders of the AFT, the NEA, and NYSUT simply don’t care about classroom teachers. They want the cozy gigs they have now, the big salaries that come with it, and the continued ability to be able to rub elbows with “important people” like Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton. That’s why we, when we are in desperate need of mass labor action, are stuck being encouraged to make Nae Nae videos instead.

Having said all that, the structure for change does in fact exist.  The blueprint for such change can be seen in Chicago and Seattle where rank and file movements have pushed leadership into drastic labor actions that have given them hard won victories.  The Chicago Teachers Union recently held a mock strike vote in preparation for what may prove to be a lengthy strike this winter.  95% of their membership participated in that vote and 97% of those voting voted that they would authorize a strike.  A similarly high turnout approved the Seattle Educators Association’s strike in September.  You simply don’t get all members on the same page with votes to authorize a strike unless you have undertaken lengthy, in depth organizing campaigns that have both informed membership and then brought their voice to the forefront.  Those are simply astounding numbers.  The key to the organizing within both locals has been the presence of a rank and file lead, social justice unionism caucus.  In Chicago that would be CORE (Caucus of Rank and file Educators) and in Seattle that would be the SEE Caucus (Social Equality Educators).  Both caucuses were in existence for several years, lead by rank and file membership and hyper focused on organizing before they went about the task of organizing a drastic action such as a strike.

While the MORE Caucus brings a similar brand of unionism within the UFT, such an organization has not really ever existed within NYSUT.  The one hope for change lies with the Stronger Together Caucus which, at the very least, provides an existing structure to work within.  STCaucus, which formed last year, certainly is willing to oppose NYSUT leadership in an effort to represent what they believe is the voice of the classroom teacher, as they have shown throughout the past few months.  While that is encouraging in and of itself, the caucus has yet to do much organizing of the general membership.  There likely are a variety of factors behind that.  What remains to be seen is whether or not they intend to do the organizing necessary to facilitate a rank and file driven movement and whether or not they are receptive to the being steered by the voice of the membership.

There are scheduled to be some membership meetings and conferences of the caucus in the next few months.  I highly recommend teachers across New York State reach out to the caucus to see when those will be held and then make sure you are in attendance.  The direction the caucus leadership takes from there should be pretty telling.  Hopefully they are up to the task because the clock is ticking and our profession is approaching the edge of the cliff.

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.

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.

Reactions to the New NYSED Commissioner

As you have surely heard by now, the Board of Regents unanimously elected MaryEllen Elia as the new state education commissioner.  Elia, who supports the Common Core, high stakes testing, test based teacher evaluation schemes, voucher programs, and charter schools, was a predictably disastrous hiring.  She recently was fired as a superintendent in Florida where she was accused of trying to cover up the district’s complicity in the death of a 7 year old and was also accused of racial discrimination regarding her disciplinary policies.  That’s only the tip of the iceberg too.  Basically, the regents decided that Florida’s trash was New York’s treasure.

The hiring of Elia (or “EVILia” as she was dubbed in Florida) is nothing short of a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands who opted-out of state tests and to public school teachers.  To be clear, a teacher with the track record of Elia would never be hired again.  Yet Elia essentially got a promotion.  This coming from the people who like to preach about accountability.  The regents decided that they’d ignore the parental and teacher outcry against the reform agenda and double down on it instead.

Over at the Perdido Street School blog, Reality-Based Educator ran a great series on Elia.  You can check out his posts…

“Reign Of Chaos” For Ten Years At A Hillsborough Middle School Under MaryEllen Elia’s District

LeadershipAllegations Of Racial Discrimination In Hillsborough Schools Under MaryEllen Elia’s Leadership

Parents Wanted MaryEllen Elia Out After Deaths Of Two Special Needs Students

New NYSED Commissioner: We’ll “Repaint” The Common Core Narrative So People Like It

Reactions from union “leaders” were typically awful…

STCaucus had a decidedly different take.  In a statement released yesterday they said…

Members of the ST Caucus Executive Committee were present at the May 18, 2015 Board of Regents’ meeting and had meaningful discourse with various Regents about APPR and high stakes testing. Ms. Elia’s track record does not align itself with the ST Caucus’ stance on these issues. In light of these discussions, the ST Caucus was surprised with the appointment of Ms. Elia to the position of Commissioner.

Ms. Elia’s track record does not align itself with the ST Caucus’ stance on these issues as well as positions shared with us by the Regents. It is the hope of ST Caucus that Ms. Elia will reverse her past positions on CCSS, HST, charter schools, and teacher evaluations. Further, the ST Caucus calls for the inclusion of each of the stakeholder voices related to decision-making in all aspects of the public education system in the state of New York, as well as demanding the process be a transparent democratic process that is representative of the great state of New York and the people it serves.

 

Who is the Stronger Together Caucus?

Anyone who paid attention to the news coming out of the NYSUT RA which was held this past weekend in Buffalo, likely heard of the standing room only crowd in the Stronger Together Caucus (STCaucus) meeting.  As a matter of fact I had several delegates approach me and tell me that the caucus meeting was the highlight of the entire RA for them.  Approximately 500 NYSUT delegates, representing locals from all corners of the state, registered as members of the caucus.  On Sunday, following the RA, membership in the caucus was opened up to all NYSUT members, whether they be delegates or not.

If you are not a NYSUT delegate you may be wondering exactly what a caucus is and why you should consider joining STCaucus.  I’ll attempt to answer those questions for you in this post.

By definition the term caucus means “a group of people with shared concerns within a political party or larger organization.”  Within many of the larger unions in the country, whether they be a local representing teachers in a specific city or a statewide union like NYSUT, caucuses exist.  Quite often these caucuses represent different visions and philosophies for how their union should be governed.

Prior to this weekend, NYSUT has always been a union dominated by one caucus, the New York State Unity Caucus.  At the state level Unity Caucus is an outgrowth of the UFT Unity Caucus in New York City which is an invitation only caucus in which all members sign an oath to vote as their leadership instructs them to vote.  It is an exclusive club which severely impairs democracy within the UFT, NYSUT, and the AFT whose largest voting contingent is made up of NYSUT delegates.

There are very fundamental ways in which STCaucus differs from Unity Caucus.  The first, most basic way is STCaucus’ mission to create a more democratic union that is inclusive in nature and truly representative of it’s members.  This can be demonstrated by one of the amendments that STCaucus authored for consideration at this year’s RA.  The amendment would have had NYSUT elections take place through regional voting.  NYSUT delegates from around the state would vote at their local regional offices, rather than at the RA.  The amendment was created because only about 30% of NYSUT locals participated in the last NYSUT election.  One of the primary reasons being that many small locals from across the state simply cannot afford to send their delegates to stay at the New York Hilton in Manhattan where the elections are held.  The amendment would have allowed for more locals to have had a say in the election, thus furthering democracy within the union.  Unity Caucus came out against this amendment and helped to vote it down.

Another fundamental difference between the caucuses are their leaders.  Most of, if not all of the members of the STCaucus Executive Committee are currently classroom teachers.  For example. committee chair Beth Dimino is currently an 8th grade science teacher in the Comsewogue School District.  Compare that to the current NYSUT officers, or the UFT’s Mike Mulgrew or Leroy Barr, all influential within Unity Caucus at the state level.  Most of those individuals have not seen a classroom in years.  Being disconnected from the classroom, while limiting who is permitted to be a part of your caucus is no way to get the pulse of where our members stand on the issues important to our profession.

Arthur Goldstein, the blogger who runs the NYC Educator blog, recently asked me to write a piece for him on the significance of the development of the STCaucus.  That was published yesterday over at the NYC Educator blog.  I also re-published it here.  I encourage you to give it a read as it has a more detailed look at how STCaucus impacted the NYSUT RA this past weekend and it’s potential impact going forward.

You can join STCaucus by printing out this registration form and mailing it to the address at the bottom of that form along with a $10 check.

STC
STCaucus Executive Committee- Joe Karb, Nate Hathaway, Laura Spencer, Kevin Coyne, Angelee Hargreaves, Beth Dimino, Michele Bushey, Beth Chetney, Orlando Benzan, Megan DeLarosa, Mike Lillis Not pictured: Mike Schirtzer

ST Caucus Brings Real Grassroots Unionism to NYSUT

Blogger Arthur Goldstein, who is the primary writer for the blog NYC Educator, recently asked me to write about the significance of the STCaucus within NYSUT.  Here is what I wrote, originally published at NYC Educator…

Every now and then I have one of those moments in life where I just know that I am in the midst of something historic, something important, something special.  A moment where I am certain that a course has been forever altered.  Activists like myself live for these moments.  These moments are the positive affirmations of the endless hours of work we have put into a cause.  They are the fuel that keeps our tank running, pushing us onward in our journey for positive change.  This weekend, at the 2015 NYSUT Representative Assembly in Buffalo, I had one of those moments.

The membership registration drive followed by the inaugural caucus meeting of the Stronger Together Caucus (STCaucus) was a significant development for anybody who seeks a more member-driven style of unionism from their statewide union.  It may very well prove to be a seminal moment for teacher unions.  Jennifer Moore, president of the Sherburne-Earlville Teachers Association said, “It was so refreshing!  It was grassroots unionism at it’s best.  I felt like our voices were heard and valued!  Thank you STCaucus!”

Moore’s comments struck at the heart of the issue that lead to the creation of the STCaucus.  Within NYSUT far too many locals across the state have become disenfranchised, feeling as though their statewide union has abandoned them, it’s leadership acting only in their own best interests and not in ways that benefit the 600,000 members they represent.  Whether it be officers who had only been in office for four months giving themselves a 2% raise (on already hefty salaries) or wasting VOTE-COPE dollars on candidates who are clear enemies of public education, NYSUT rank and file membership has reached a breaking point.

To get a sense of where STCaucus stands, one only has to look at the constitutional amendments that they authored for consideration at the RA.  The first amendment, called for there to be regional voting for the election of NYSUT officers.  Last year, during the elections for NYSUT officers, a mere 30% of NYSUT’s locals participated.  One of the largest reasons for this was the fact that many small locals (several across the state are below 100 total members) simply do not have the economic means to pay for their delegates to travel to New York City and stay at the Hilton for a weekend.  Of course with the voting always taking place in New York City and with the enormous amount of dues money that they collect, the UFT is always able to send their 800 delegates (all of whom have taken an oath to vote as they are told by their leadership) to the RA.  This sort of situation undermines democracy within our union and contributes to thousands of members feeling as though they do not have a voice.

STCaucus’ amendment would have allowed the delegates of every local across the state to vote at their own regional office.  This likely would never cause any delegate to have to travel more than a couple of hours and certainly wouldn’t necessitate an overnight stay in the most expensive city in the state.  It is a common sense idea that would further the democratic process within our union.  Naturally, the New York State Unity Caucus instructed their members to vote against it.

The next amendment would have dictated how at-large directors are elected.  Currently delegates from the entire state are allowed to vote for all the at-large directors, most of whom work in different regions.  This allows Unity Caucus to use the weight of their 800 UFT delegates to determine at-large directors who represent parts of the state outside of New York City.  Last year, for example, the at-large director representing my area of Long Island received less than 10% of the votes in our area.  However because she had the Unity Caucus endorsement she received all of the UFT votes and now represents our area of Long Island.  It is akin to New Yorkers voting for members of congress in Wyoming, Georgia, or any other state outside of ours.  It was another common sense amendment that would allow all regions of the state to feel represented.  Once again the New York State Unity Caucus instructed their members to vote against it.

At this time, however, it is important to note that while the amendments were voted down on Friday night, it is likely that they went down simply because ⅔ of a vote is needed for a constitutional amendment.  On the floor of the RA most seemed to believe that the split was close to 50/50.  That in itself is an extremely important development as it marked the arrival, for the very first time, of an organized opposition to Unity Caucus who carries a comparable number of voters.

The validity of the caucus was furthered the next day when both a resolution and a special order of business authored by the STCaucus were passed unanimously after an agreement was negotiated between the leaders of the two caucuses.  The resolution, known to many as the IRefuse resolution, had two resolves added to it.  The first one strengthened the resolution by requiring NYSUT to send it on to the federal government.  The second resolve allows each local the ability to decide how they share the resolution with their membership.  The special order of business called on NYSUT to oppose NYSED’s college and career readiness standards.  The compromise resulted in a resolve being removed from the end requiring NYSUT to launch a financial campaign. If it had  not been removed the special order of business could have been ruled out of order.

The takeaway from all of this wasn’t so much how the resolutions were or were not changed.  Rather it is that instead of just voting down what they didn’t want, as they would have in the past, Unity Caucus felt the need to negotiate because they could no longer be confident that they would have the numbers to impose their will on the entire convention of delegates.  It was validation that there is now another loud voice in the room when it comes to governing NYSUT.

The significance doesn’t end there though.  The arrival of a formative opposition to Unity Caucus could have a deep impact on the national level as well.  NYSUT carries enormous weight within AFT voting.  STCaucus has the ability to significantly alter how the votes are cast.  In addition, there are strong indications that STCaucus will be joining with the United Caucuses of Rank and File Educators (UCORE), a network of social justice oriented caucuses around the country including CORE in Chicago, Union Power in Los Angeles, MORE in New York City, the Caucus of Working Educators in Philadelphia, and the NEW Caucus in Newark among several others.  There is certain to be collaboration among these caucuses leading up to the 2016 AFT Convention in Minneapolis.

Finally, the emergence of STCaucus is significant for the rank and file NYSUT members across the state of New York.  While the New York State Unity Caucus is only open to NYSUT delegates and the UFT’s Unity Caucus is by invitation only, STCaucus is open to all NYSUT members across the state to join.  There is talk of regional meetings being held to listen to what is important from membership and each region of the state had a vice-chair elected to keep the pulse of what is happening in their region and what issues are important to their members.  To join STCaucus visit this site.  I strongly encourage all NYSUT members to do so to ensure that your voice is heard within the governance of NYSUT.  Additionally you can “Like” STCaucus on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

There were other story lines to come out of the RA as well.  President Karen Magee’s inability to follow protocol, for example, refusing to go to a vote count after calls of yea or nay proved inconclusive on one vote.  While Beth Dimino and several others called for a vote count and Mike Lillis attempted to make a point of order, Magee refused to turn Lillis’ mic on and simply declared the constitutional amendment votes a victory for Unity.

Listening to the absurd arguments from Unity Caucus members during debates would have been comical if not so sad.  For example when an amendment was debated about whether or not to add another officer position (at a compensation package that would cost NYSUT in excess of $500,000) some Unity members argued that NYSUT was in wonderful shape financially and that we could certainly afford such an extravagance.  Mere moments later, when discussing STCaucus’ amendment to move to regional voting, those very same Unity members argued that such a change would be far too expensive.  In other words, plenty of money for expensive officer positions, not enough money for furthering democracy.  Another argument against regional voting was that it would deter delegates from attending the RA and that their attendance was extremely important as it is where the governing of NYSUT took place.  On Saturday afternoon a Unity Caucus member requested all remaining resolutions and orders of business be dealt with by the board of directors at a later date rather than by the NYSUT delegates who remained at the RA.  When Freeport’s Stuart Napear (an STCaucus member) argued against the motion a Unity delegate pointed out that there likely was no longer a quorum in the room.  Upon counting the delegates Magee revealed that in fact there was no longer a quorum present and the RA was embarrassingly brought to an immediate end.

Still, emerging from STCaucus this weekend were names who we are sure to become familiar with as we move into a new era within NYSUT.  Teachers whose passion for a more democratic union was inspirational to their union sisters and brothers. For example, Lakeland Federation of Teachers’ President Mike Lillis, who crafted and argued for the special order of business against the standards.  Or Malone Federation of Teachers’ President Nathaniel Hathaway who argued so passionately in favor of regional voting that some Unity members seated near me admitted he made great points before ultimately voting against the call for democracy.  Or perhaps Shenendehowa Teachers Association’s President Megan DeLaRosa who so skillfully highlighted the hypocrisy behind Unity Caucus voters voting in favor of a resolution that supported an increase in democratic voting in New York State only hours after they voted against a resolution that would further democracy within their own union.

For those readers who have felt disenfranchised and shutout of their unions, this was an important weekend.  One day we may very well point to the emergence of STCaucus as one of the defining moments in the fight for a democratic union who was truly capable of leading the fight for public education.

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…

NYSUT’s Karen Magee Calls on Parents to Opt-Out

It’s hard to call it leadership when the rest of the state has been doing it for a couple of years now, however kudos go out to NYSUT President Karen Magee who today called on parents to opt-out of the coming New York state tests.  This is certainly an interesting development given that the UFT’s Mike Mulgrew called the budget deal a victory.  This is the first time under the current leadership regime that I have seen a NYSUT officer go again Mulgrew.  Perhaps Magee knows she is only staying on for one term and has decided to start listening to the demands of the membership.  That would certainly be a welcome development and one that I would happily support.

If NYSUT really wants to put their money where their mouth is we will see a NYSUT sponsored advertising blitz imploring parents to opt-out their children over the next two weeks leading up to the state tests.

Hooray for Karen Magee!

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.