A few months back, I wrote about the blue ribbon panel, which determined private companies should run schools, and that teacher pensions should be eliminated.
Yesterday, UFT President Randi Weingarten was on another panel discussing those recommendations. Ms. Weingarten objected when Mr. Klein proposed sacrificing pension for salary.
However, Ms. Weingarten's caucus once boldly trumpeted the end of lunch duty and hall patrol. It once felt teachers were innocent until proven guilty, and shouldn't be subject to 90-day unpaid suspensions based on unsubstantiated allegations. It once felt teachers in schools closed by the city were entitled to placement rather than purgatory. It once felt inaccurate letters in the file and observations should be challenged before teachers were actually facing dismissal. It once felt five classes a day were enough.
Given Ms. Weingarten's demonstrated willingness to give up anything and everything for less than cost of living (as long as nothing upsets her patronage mill), it's difficult to give her objections much credence.
Ms. Weingarten, full of upward aspirations, appears determined to show the world she's no old-time socialist union boss who just runs around seeking improvements in the workplace.
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