Tag: Opt Out

Courageous MORE Teachers Defy Gag Order

Three courageous members of the United Federation of Teachers are defying the city’s gag order on speaking out against the state tests.  Lauren Cohen, Jia Lee, and Kristin Taylor, all of whom are running for positions in the upcoming UFT election with the Movement of Rank and File Educators Caucus, spoke to NBC 4 New York and encouraged parents to opt their children out of the rigged Common Core exams that New York State students in grades 3-8 are in the midst of now.

Click here to watch the video with the three courageous teachers.

Unofficial Opt-Out Numbers From Around NYS

We will update this page throughout the day as we get unofficial opt-out numbers in from around the state.  If you know your district’s opt-out percentage please leave it in the comments, send us a tweet (@ThePJSTA), or send it via email to pjsta1vp@gmail.com and we will add them to our post here.

**Updated 4/6/16 1:42 PM**

Baldwin- 51%

Bayport-Blue Point- 72%

Bellmore- 69%

Bellmore-Merrick- 70%

Brentwood- 55%

Carle Place- 54%

Central Islip- 12%

Cold Spring Harbor- 20%

Comsewogue- 86%

Connetquot- 74%

East Hampton- 13%

East Meadow- 49%

East Islip- 72%

East Quogue- 63%

East Rockaway- 65.4%

Eastport-South Manor- 73%

Floral Park-Bellerose- 27%

Freeport- 29%

Glen Cove- 43%

Great Neck- 18%

Greenport- 65%

Hauppauge- 72%

Herricks- 15%

Hewlett-Woodmere- 60%

Hicksville- 34%

Island Trees- 55%

Jericho- 20%

Kings Park- 59%

Lawrence- 25%

Levittown- 68%

Lindenhurst- 81%

Locust Valley- 56%

Lynbrook- 62%

Malverne- 44%

Manhasset- 12%

Massapequa- 64%

Mattituck-Cutchogue- 42%

Merrick- 56%

Middle Country- 72%

Montauk- 17%

Mount Sinai- 55%

New Hyde Park-Garden City- 26%

North Babylon- 63%

North Bellmore- 68%

North Merrick- 62%

North Shore- 43%

Northport-East Northport- 69%

Oceanside- 48%

Oyster Bay-East Norwich- 40%

Oyster Ponds- 34%

Patchogue-Medford- 72%

Plainedge- 79%

Plainview-Old Bethpage- 59%

Port Jefferson- 60%

Quogue- 19%

Riverhead- 39%

Rockville Center- 60%

Rocky Point- 79%

Roosevelt- 8%

Roslyn- 47%

Shelter Island- 46%

Shoreham-Wading River- 74%

Smithtown- 59%

Southampton- 34%

Southold- 55%

Springs- 23%

Three Village- 56%

Tuckahoe- 36%

Uniondale- 47%

Valley Stream Central High School- 51%

Valley Stream #24- 56%

Valley Stream #30- 18%

Wantagh- 61%

West Babylon- 62%

West Hempstead- 32%

Westbury- 34%

Westhampton Beach- 47%

William Floyd- 40%

More to come…

A Couple of Links While We Wait for Opt-Out Numbers

As we wait to hear on opt-out numbers across the state today, a few worthwhile links to pass along.

Though their local union, the UFT, may be working against the opt-out movement in New York City, the teachers at the Earth School in Manhattan have an important message to the families they serve…

Public education is important to us. As teachers, we share a deep commitment to our school’s mission and have chosen public education because that is where our values lie. The founding teachers of our school envisioned a “dream school”: a public school to serve diverse students and families. Our participation in public education comes with responsibilities and implicit agreements–a social contract. We agree that all of society benefits when children have access to quality education. We also share the uniquely democratic hope that children who learn together will later govern together with more compassion, more social cohesion, and a greater sense of civic responsibility.

Be sure to read the full text of their letter.  It is well worth your time.

earth-school-support-public-schools
Teachers at the Earth School

Over at Living in Dialogue, Michelle Gunderson of the Chicago Teachers Union write about her experience organizing picket lines for their one-day strike last week…

A picket line is sacred ground. As a labor organizer and teacher unionist, I do not say this lightly. Workers have fought and died on picket lines fighting for work conditions that respect the inherent dignity of human life. A picket line is hallowed ground sanctified by sacrifice.

Make sure you check out that whole post as well.

extralarge
CTU Picket Line

PJSTA and PJTA Team up on Port Times Ad

We are happy to share that we are teaming up with our sisters and brothers to the north, the Port Jefferson Teachers Association in creating an advertisement promoting the opt-out movement.  The ad will run in the March 31st issue of the The Port Times Record.  You can view the ad, as it will appear in The Port Times Record, below.

Port Times Advertisement

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.

 

 

 

MORE Announces Jia Lee Will Oppose Michael Mulgrew in 2016 UFT Election

Beth Dimino, Jia Lee, Brian St. Pierre. Lee will be running against Michael Mulgrew for UFT President.
Beth Dimino, Jia Lee, Brian St. Pierre. Lee will be running against Michael Mulgrew for UFT President.

Jia Lee, the well known teacher activist from New York City who was the guest speaker at the 2015 PJSTA Conference Day, will be running in opposition to Michael Mulgrew for president of the United Federation of Teachers in this spring 2016 UFT election.

Mulgrew, whose position as the president of the largest local in the country, makes him the most influential teacher unionist in the country, in regards to influencing the direction of our statewide and national unions.  He famously defended the Common Core at the 2014 AFT Convention by threatening anyone who “took them away” from him with violence.  Additionally he marched with Governor Cuomo during the 2014 Labor Day Parade.

Lee’s record shows her to be quite a different candidate than Mulgrew.  A current special education teacher, Lee has been one of the most visible opponents of high stakes testing in the state.  She has worked diligently to build the opt-out movement in New York City and has traveled to other parts of the state as well to help the movement in those regions.  She spoke at a Students Not Scores event in Port Jefferson last spring.  Lee is also the face of the conscientious objector movement as she has refused to administer the New York State tests the past two years and helped to pen the Teachers of Conscience position paper.  Lee, a member of the MORE Caucus within the UFT will be at the head of a joint slate put forth by MORE and New Action.  At the statewide level, Lee is a member of the Stronger Together Caucus.

Via MORE Caucus…

NEW YORK: Educators, parents, and community members cheered the announcement of Jia Lee as their choice for UFT presidential nominee at the State of Our Union, State of Our Schools Conference on Saturday. Fed up with overcrowding, underfunding, and overtesting, educators are coming together with the community to take back their union, and bring change to their schools through the 2016 UFT elections.

“Our schools are in crisis, in large part part because our current union leadership is complicit in bad policy and continues to tell us that this is the best they can do. It’s not the time for us to re-negotiate what has already proven to be disastrous. It’s time for teachers to come together with the community and chart a new course for our union. We are going to take back our union and lead a fight for the schools our children deserve,” said Ms. Lee.

Saturday’s conference, organized by the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) in coalition with a host of community organizations, was the first step in defining a platform for the upcoming UFT election and 2018 contract negotiations to defend and enhance New York City’s public schools. The conference  featured discussions ranging from “Bringing Democracy to the UFT” to “Making Black Lives Matter in Education.”

In the upcoming UFT election, Lee will head a joint slate of teachers representing a united front of MORE and the New Action caucus. As a parent and a teacher since 2001, Jia Lee is at the forefront of the growing movement to opt-out of high stakes testing. She has served as a UFT Chapter Leader for the past 8 years, and is a conscientious objector who has steadfastly refused to administer tests that reduce her students to test score. Last year, she brought this testimony to theU.S. senate hearing on ESEA.

Educators have lost patience with Michael Mulgrew and the Unity caucus’ leadership of the United Federation of Teachers and are joining the community to continue building a movement for change– in their union and in our schools. Mulgrew has been president of the UFT since 2009 but has been unable and unwilling to effectively challenge the corporate onslaught against public education. He has agreed to high stakes-test based teacher evaluations and a contract that delayed earned pay raises for teachers.

In the last union election, in which 75% of working educators did not vote and the majority of ballots came from retirees, the MORE caucus earned 40% of the vote in the high school division and 23% of the active teacher vote overall. This year, in partnership with the New Action caucus, MORE seeks to increase voter turnout as active teachers reclaim their union.

ABOUT MORE: The Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE), is the social justice caucus of the UFT and largest force for change within the teachers union. In the upcoming elections, MORE has formed a united front with New Action Caucus  to challenge Unity Caucus, the bureaucratic political machine that has dominated New York’s teachers’ union for the past 50 years. Over the past decade, Unity has led the UFT into crisis, signing off on harmful policies such as overuse of standardized testing and pay increases that fail to keep pace with inflation, while using union funds to pay UFT President Michael Mulgrew over $260,000 per year and dole out salaries of over $100,000 per year to over 100 Unity Caucus political operatives on UFT staff.

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The Movement of Rank and File Educators is the Social Justice Caucus of the United Federation of Teachers.  To learn MORE, visit www.morecaucusnyc.org

Lee’s keynote at this weekend’s MORE Caucus Conference…

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!

Comsewogue May Consider Refusal to Administer NYS Tests

Comsewogue’s Board of Education

The Comsewogue School District’s Board of Education will be discussing at the board workshop on 3/26 the possibility of adopting a resolution that would have them “seriously consider not administering the New York State standardized ELA and Math exams in grades 3-8, and the Science exam in grades 4 and 8.”

This follows the Kenmore-Tonawanda School District’s resolution that was very similar.  In that district, located right outside of Buffalo, the school board tabled the resolution until their meeting tomorrow, seeking to have more input from the community.

Here is the resolution in it’s entirety…

The Board of Education of the Comsewogue Union Free School District has serious concerns about current and proposed New York State education policy. We believe as elected representatives of the Comsewogue community we have an obligation not only to provide our students with a sound, basic education, but to provide them with a supportive and encouraging environment in which they can develop at their own pace. This environment also seeks to support the dedicated educators of our schools, encouraging best practices and collaboration, as opposed to competition. The current funding and evaluation policies, as well as Governor Cuomo’s proposed reforms are contradictory to that intent.

Unless Governor Cuomo and the State Legislators establish a fair and equitable state aid funding formula which adequately provides funding for ALL school districts throughout the state so they can provide for the educational needs of every child in New York State

AND

Comply with the court ordered removal of the Gap Elimination Adjustment thereby providing school districts with the necessary funding already owed to them

AND

Unless Governor Cuomo and the State Legislators suspend the current teacher and administrator evaluation regulations using student test data for 20% of the total score

AND

Abandon Governor Cuomo’s proposal to expand the use of student test data to 50% for teacher and administrator evaluations

AND

Without these efforts, The Comsewogue Board of Education believes that New York State leadership is proceeding with policy that is detrimental to our students, faculty and administrators. These misguided funding and evaluation policies seek to further an agenda of blame and punishment, instead of support and development.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED

The Board of Education of the Comsewogue School District will seriously consider not administering the New York State standardized ELA and Math exams in grades 3-8, and the Science exam in grades 4 and 8.