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UFT Election Results Coming Today

The United Federation of Teachers, the country’s largest teacher union local, has wrapped up their 2016 elections and results are due back today. President Michael Mulgrew, who infamously threatened Common Core opponents with violence, was being opposed by opt-out activist Jia Lee. Though a victory for Lee would seem to be a no-brainer to most outsiders, those who know the UFT’s rigged system of democracy will tell you that it is anything but. It is expected that Mulgrew and Unity Caucus will be victorious, however the MORE Caucus, of which Lee is a member, is expecting to seriously challenge for several executive board seats. Winning executive board seats would represent an enormous victory for MORE, the social justice caucus of the UFT.

Early election results are showing an increase in voter turnout by about 10,000 according to James Eterno at the ICE UFT Blog…

Camille Eterno and Norm Scott are reporting from the American Arbitration Association where votes are being counted in the UFT Election. Here are the latest numbers from Norm:

53,000 voted, that is up 10,000 from 2013.

Only 1000 of that increase came from retirees who in 2016 make up 46% of the voters. In 2013, retirees made up 52% of the voters.

Where did those new voters go? Mulgrew is the known commodity. The conventional wisdom guess would be the majority went to Unity but we shall see.

We will try to be back later with updated results.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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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.

APPR Rumors

Our friend Arthur Goldstein, who blogs at NYC Educator, has heard a few rumors regarding a new APPR plan.

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.

However, a UFT source I also trust tells me that Mulgrew will indeed fight Cuomo’s APPR efforts. Hopefully we’ll know more after Wednesday’s DA. An agreement could be made to make an NYC-style evaluation statewide, or 40% junk science, and UFT could argue that Cuomo wanted 50% and we kept it down to 40.

The problem with UFT leadership is that everything they do is a victory. When we got the UFT transfer plan it was a victory. When we lost it and got the ATR instead that was a victory. Getting artifacts for ratings was a victory, and losing them was a victory. Getting the entire Danielson Framework was a victory and cutting it down to 8 domains was a victory.

So Mike Mulgrew can’t lose, no matter how miserable UFT and NYSUT teachers become. He is King Midas and everything he punches turns to gold.

Both options are better than Cuomo’s proposal. The NYC-style evaluation would be preferable to a plan in which 40% relies upon state test scores. Still, as Arthur notes, both are far worse than what the PJSTA currently uses.

De Blasio, Weingarten, Magee, Mulgrew: 4 Biggest Reasons for Cuomo Victory

I have a lot of thoughts to share on the role of our unions in yesterday’s Cuomo victory in the Democratic primary. Within the next day or two, when I have the time to sit down and get those thoughts on paper I will share them. In the meantime our friend Reality-Based Educator who blogs over at Perdido Street School absolutely hit the nail on the head in his piece today.

Via Perdido Street School…

The only group of people who did more work than de Blasio to help Cuomo and his bank lobbyist running mate win the primary?

The UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaders:

1) who engineered a putsch at NYSUT to make sure the old leaders who had turned on Cuomo were ousted

2) who threatened the Working Families Party with dissolution if WFP gave their ballot slot to Zephyr Teachout

3) who refused to endorse Teachout in the primary and provide much needed cash and support for the Teachout/Wu campaign (as PEF did) and

4) who made robocalls for the campaign.

De Blasio, Weingarten, Magee, Mulgrew – four reasons why Andrew Cuomo will win re-election this year handily in the general election and his bank lobbyist running mate will ride along with him into power.

Head on over and read the entire thing. There are some good quotes from Tim Wu as well on the role that De Blasio played.

A Tale of Two Unionists and How Rank & File Teachers Lose

I’ve been meaning to link to this for a few days. A great analysis of the Common Core from MORE’s Julie Cavanagh.

Via the Daily News… (emphasis is mine)

The truth is, these tests were designed to create a narrative of failure, and the trends are not so different from those we saw on the old tests: we are failing our children with special needs, our English language learners, our children who live in poverty, and a disproportionate number of black and Latino pupils.

It is no surprise that the results mirror the struggles and deep flaws in our society. Of course, the goal was never to actually fix our schools — there are no profits in doing that. There are no profits in providing small class sizes, experienced educators and services like counseling, tutoring and family support — proven reforms that would benefit all students.

Instead, the focus is on unproven standards and the tests that supposedly measure our student’s competency — written by the very people who profit from their use.

Julie Cavanagh says the Common Core was designed to create a narrative of failure.

Whether it is being quoted in the New York Times, appearing on MSNBC to discuss education issues, or co-hosting the movie The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman Cavanagh always does a remarkable job representing teachers. Her track record of activism and her ability to articulately state what classroom teachers are feeling are exactly what we should expect out of our union leaders.

So it is extremely telling that there is a problem with the UFT and NYSUT elections when you consider the fact that a teacher and activist of Cavanagh’s caliber has, not once but twice lost elections to Michael Mulgrew. She lost an election to him for UFT President in 2013 and then lost to him this past April when she ran against him for an at-large position on NYSUT’s board of directors. You saw Cavanagh’s well stated opinion on the Common Core above. Contrast that with Mulgrew who talks about punching people in the face and then pushing their face in the dirt if they take away his Common Core. Keep in mind the UFT President is likely the most powerful teachers union position in the country. Wouldn’t we be so much better off with someone like Cavanagh representing us in that position?

Two different takes on the Common Core, two different takes on unionism. It’s a shame our leadership is on the wrong side in both cases.

Mike Mulgrew will punch you in the face and rub it in the dirt if you take away his Common Core.

Working Family Parties Seem Set to Endorse Cuomo

Countless outlets are reporting this morning that the Working Families Party is set to endorse Governor Cuomo in November’s election. If you are new to the political scene and are wondering, “Who is the Working Families Party?” we take this from their website…

Formed by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together build a society that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected.

We fight to hold politicians accountable on the issues working- and middle-class families care about, like good jobs, fair taxes, good schools, reliable public transportation, affordable housing, and universal healthcare.

If ever there was a candidate who did NOT represent those values it would be Governor Cuomo.

What makes this news particularly egregious is that the endorsement was apparently brokered in large part by the work of the UFT leadership. We have covered the UFT leadership extensively on this site as they essentially control NYSUT as well (particularly after this spring’s coup). We also know that their NYSUT delegates always vote as their leadership tells them to vote at NYSUT conventions thanks to their Unity Caucus oath. If you find it disturbing that the controlling voice of NYSUT just brokered a deal to sell out the rank and file membership and endorse Andrew Cuomo for governor, well you would not be alone.

You can read more on this at…

NYC Educator, Perdido Street School, and South Bronx School.