By special guest blogger Mary Ahern, UFT Chapter Leader, PS 182Q
Like most NYC teachers who are even remotely aware of what
goes on in Albany, I don’t have a lot of love for NY State Senator and
Education Committee Chair, John Flanagan.
It goes back to 2011 when The Flanagan Bill sought to eliminate
seniority protection only for those teachers lucky enough to work in New York
City.
So, when I saw Senator Flanagan this past Saturday marching
in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Kings Park, I decided it was time to have a
conversation with him. I caught up with him at the end of the parade and stood
by patiently until he finished his conversation with Congressman Lee Zeldin. I acknowledged that this was probably
not the appropriate venue but said I would really appreciate a few minutes of
his time to discuss education issues.
Surprisingly he said, “Sure.”
I introduced myself as a NYC public school ESL teacher and we spoke for nearly 15 minutes. Well, to be honest, I was doing most of
the talking and he occasionally interjected with an objection or explanation.
I’m not a politician so I tend to be more honest than is
probably necessary or welcomed by those who are. I didn’t waste any time in telling him how
disappointed I was to learn that while I was up in Albany last week meeting
with legislators during UFT Lobby Day he was once again attending a Success
Academy rally and showing his support for charter schools over public
schools. I told him his lack of
support for public education was troubling.
He said “I support public education. Where are you getting your information
from that I don’t?” I told him I’d
seen photographs of him at the Success Academy rally and to me that indicated
that he supported them and what they stood for. I said that I was also disappointed that Kathy Hochul had
attended the SA rally and perhaps even more angry that AFT President, Randi
Weingarten had campaigned for her, but that wasn’t what I wanted to speak to
him about.
Some of the things we did speak about included:
·
How the original concept of Charter Schools may have been good one (incubators of
innovative ideas that could be exported to public schools), but which has now
been corrupted by the involvement of hedge-fund millionaires
·
That Students First and the other organization
like Families for Excellent Schools are not grassroots organizations but are
backed by people who are looking to make money off of our kids. I pointed out that Rupert Murdoch
has said that public education is a $500 billion dollar industry just waiting
to be tapped.
·
His acceptance of campaign contributions from
Students First. He tried to justify
this by saying he attends a lot of events and accepts money from different
groups but it doesn’t mean he supports everything they stand for. He started to tell me that even NYSUT
had contributed to his campaign but I stopped him by rolling my eyes and saying,
“Well, as I said, I don’t agree with everything my unions do.”
·
Charter schools don’t serve the same students as
public schools. They don’t accept
the same number of ELLs or special education students. They make demands on parents to
volunteer a certain number of hours to the school. Many “counsel out” students who they believe will bring down
their scores or who may have behavioral issues. They siphon off funding that should be going to help improve
public schools.
·
Success Academy was able to raise over $7
million dollars from wealthy supporters in just one night yet the Governor included in the budget a
mandate that the City has to provide space or pay charter schools’ rent while
many of our public school students have to sit in trailers or over-crowded
schools.
·
I asked if as Education Chair he had ever
visited a struggling NYC public school or any inner city public school. He told me that following the Success
Academy rally he met for an hour with my union President, Michael Mulgrew, and
teachers from NYC PROSE schools and that Mulgrew had invited him to visit which
he said he would do.
I pointed to the elementary school we were standing in front
of and told him that I had gone to school there and I had excellent teachers
and had received a wonderful, well-rounded education. I went on to say, “but I truly believe if you took every one
of those excellent teachers and put them in a struggling NYC school you wouldn’t
see much of an improvement, if any.”
I tried to explain that it was NOT the teachers that were failing. I told him that for over 20 years I
have been teaching in various NYC public schools. I’ve seen the blood, sweat, and tears that teachers have put
in to help our most vulnerable students. As teachers we WANT nothing more than
for our students to succeed in school and in life. We wouldn’t have gone into
teaching if we didn’t care about kids, but there are so many obstacles to success,
much more so than the schools in the wealthier suburban districts and we need
support.
I also pointed out that success cannot be based on a test
score. NYSED had manipulated the
scores so that only 30% of all students in New York State would pass. I asked “If nearly 70% of students in
New York State failed, how well would you expect students in New York City
schools, which were already performing well below schools in the suburbs, to do?” I said, “My school had an 18% passing
rate on the ELA and yes, that sounds terrible until you take into account that over
30% of our students are English Language Learners in addition to other factors including
poverty” I asked, “Do you
think you would be able to go to a country where you don’t speak the language
and be able to pass a difficult language exam after ONLY ONE YEAR of
study? It used to be 3
years, which could be extended to 5 but now it’s ONLY ONE YEAR!”
He said, “Well, that’s the Feds.”
I said, “Yes, it’s the Feds who decided to reduce the exemption
but NY State is now using these flawed test results to label our students, our schools,
and our teachers as failures when they’re NOT.”
I told him that in the past I’ve worked at SURR schools,
Chancellor District Schools, etc., and there are so many needs students in
impoverished neighborhoods have which are not being met: counseling for
students, counseling and/or parenting classes for parents, a whole host of
supports that aren’t being provided. Yet the teachers are there doing the best
they can under very difficult circumstances.
He then said, “Well, I don’t have nearly the amount of
experience you have so I wouldn’t even try to tell you you’re not correct.”
He asked me to find out more about him because he repeated
that he does support public education.
He said he’s working to eliminate the GEA and he attends many events,
most which are not covered by the news.
He said the “Smithtown News” is probably going to attack him for
attending the Success Academy rally but again it does not mean he supports
everything they stand for and he doesn’t support everything in the Governor’s
agenda either.
I ended by saying, “I appreciate your time. Please support
public education and properly fund our schools.”
He thanked me, shook my hand (said it was cold) and we said
goodbye.
I’m glad I finally had an opportunity to speak with him
directly. There was so much more I
probably should have said. I
completely forgot to bring up class-size reduction (which I believe is crucial
to improving student outcomes) but I think I touched on a lot of other important
issues.
While I don’t predict that our conversation will cause
Senator Flanagan to completely change direction, I do know that he heard what I
had to say. He seemed concerned
that he’s being seen as anti-public education and anti-teacher. Thanks to the efforts of teachers and
parents from around the State, that’s not a place where most NY politicians
want to be these days. He seemed
surprised that I called him on his acceptance of campaign contributions from
Students First and linking him to hedge-fund millionaires. Maybe, just maybe, he will think about
some of these things as he goes forward.
Posts
