Trust

What's more basic than trust? In just about every relationship in your life, that's what dictates how things go. Without trust, every relationship is that much more limited. You can't say this. You can't do that.

So far, I think my students trust me. There's a really good vibe in my classes. I hope I can maintain it, but you never know. A unique characteristic of ESL classes is they tend to double over the year, particularly if you teach beginners. Those who come in mid-to-end of year tend to struggle. (You also get students who are determined not to learn the language because, for whatever reason, they don't like being here. Some overcome it. Those who don't are pretty unhappy.)

The entire thrust of the Mulgrew-Carranza video is trust. This is a big ask. It's complicated by the fact that this entire rating system was developed as a battering ram to fire teachers. If you were reading the news or watching Andrew Cuomo at the time it came out, you know that all too well. Personally, I don't have great feelings about this system and never have. It doesn't matter that much what ratings you get. Well-rated teachers are nervous too.

This notwithstanding, I've come around on certain aspects of it. It turns out, despite my dire predictions, it has not fired a huge percentage of teachers. As many times as I've complained about the junk science of MOSL, it turns out that it helps a whole lot of teachers. They get rated low by supervisors and then seem to come up. I've spoken with other chapter leaders who tell me the same.

This leads me to a conclusion I've made more than once on this page. The prime obstacle to a reasonable evaluation system is more complicated than what the system may or may not be. When we rely on what is essentially a crapshoot to dilute the actions of our supervisors, those actions are suspect, to say the least. It's great that Carranza can talk credibly about the essential dignity of teaching, but do those below him reflect his spirit or actions? Ask any teacher, and you'll hear that no, they do not.

Some supervisors are terrible. How many times do we have to read about them in the pages of the NY Post before we ask ourselves whether or not there's a pattern there? How many principals and supervisors have to be reassigned before we ask ourselves how on earth they rose to those positions? And how many are bad, but not bad enough to stoke outrage in the tabloids?

Did your staff watch the video of Mulgrew and Carranza together? If so, did your principal stay in the room or leave? Did you then discuss what they actually said? How did your principal address Carranza's remarks about moving away from a "gotcha" mentality toward something approaching trust? Or did the principal just send a link knowing no one would bother with it? Did the principal simply say the number of required observations was changing but he could still do whatever the hell he felt like?

What was the follow up? Was there further discussion? Or did the principal, like many I've heard about, begin indulging in "pop-ins" or "drive-bys," depending on your point of view, just to show he could? If your principal did this, it clearly indicates no understanding whatsoever of the video. And if members all over your building are wondering why multiple APs wandered into their classes before IPCs have even taken place, that's not a promotion of trust, but rather an assertion of power--it's everything wrong with this system.

Have you ever asked your supervisor for assistance in a particular class? Did the supervisor offer to help, or say, "Well, if I come in, I'm gonna have to write it up." I've had reports of the latter. It's administration's job, in fact, to support teachers, not terrorize them. Imagine if a student came to you for help and you threatened her with a lower grade. You'd be a pretty terrible teacher. Maybe you'd even deserve a supervisor like the one I just described.

You probably aren't a teacher like that. If you were, you might want out of the classroom. The easiest way out, in fact, is studying how to be a supervisor. If that's what you want, you're likely as not becoming the one who threatens subordinates who ask for assistance. Supervisors like that are about as welcome as a cancer to those of us who actually do the work. The best thing you can do with cancer is get rid of it.

Until we do, trust is gonna be one tough ask, uphill all the way.

Co-Teaching--Making it Work

There's a lot of talk about what a successful co-teaching partnership entails. A few things are indisputable. One is that if it's genuine co-teaching, there should be genuine common prep time. Any administrator who assigns three or four co-teachers to one human cannot reasonably expect cooperation, let alone anything so productive it resembles success.

My experience suggests the primary selection method entails either A. eenie-meenie-miney-mo or B. These two teachers have the same free period, so they're a team. To my mind, neither is ideal, and both are borne of fundamental laziness on the part of the administrator. When they fail, the first response is generally some list of possible co-teaching methods. This one leads, and that one works with individual students. They take turns. This one leads the big group, while that one facilitates small groups. Whatever.

The thing is, if there's no common prep time, it's absurd to think this pair will not only plan together, but also decide an arrangement for which person will do what. In fact, in these instances, it's likely one teacher will do all the planning and execution while the other takes no part whatsoever. In fact, that's probably the best plan.

Last year, I was placed in a class with a teacher who taught it two periods in a row. I was only there for the first session. It was clear to me that the teacher needed to teach both classes, and needed to cover the same material. The best thing I could do for him was stay out of his way and let him do his thing. I was there, ostensibly, to help a couple of ELLs, but I helped anyone who asked. What was I supposed to do--say screw you, you aren't on my case load? We got along well, and I the teacher seems to have appreciated that I understood his situation.

Getting along well is the key, I think. I was in another co-teaching situation in which a teacher and I shared four periods. In that case, we truly cooperated. I'm good at writing things and creating presentations, so I did a lot of that. My co-teacher was good at making everything Danielson-friendly and conducting group activities. We each had a sense of who should lead what, and generally didn't have to talk about it at all. It was kind of intuitive for us.

Also, she spoke Chinese and I spoke Spanish. Between us, we were able to conduct extensive home contact and didn't have to go outside our small circle for help. Even now, while we're no longer partners, we support one another by calling for each other.

We were paired because, after years of mediating between poorly chosen teams, I told my boss that I never ever wanted to co-teach with anyone. She has this perverse propensity of needing to prove me wrong when I make blanket statements like that, so she paired me with someone I'd told her I found smart and funny. It turned out I continued to see her that way as we worked together. (Naturally, they broke us up at the end of the year.)

I'd argue that if you're inclined to get along, you don't need charts and handouts explaining models of how to work together. I'd further argue that if you aren't inclined to get along, you can have stacks of books on methodology, you can read and memorize all of them, and no matter what you do you'll be doomed. Training has limitations. I've been in bad pairings too, and it's painful every moment. I don't have what you call a poker face and if I'm not happy every kid in the room knows it, even if I don't say a single word.

The simple fact, if you ask me, is that admin needs to look for partners that are compatible. They need to ask questions such as, "Who do you like?" Not only that, but when people respond, they need a better answer than, "Well screw you, I'm putting you with Miss Grundy anyway because she's free that period."

Of course, I'm a dreamer.

23 Skidoo

There was quite a push back on December 23rd. It was ultimately successful, and I'm very glad of it. People in my building were quite happy as well. In my old age, I've developed a particularly low tolerance for stupid. Let me define that term--stupid is thoughtless, pompous, pedantic, inconsiderate, and wholly unnecessary bad behavior from people who ought to know better.

Now anyone can make a bad decision. A real measure is whether or not that person determines to stick with it. When there's evidence to prove the person wrong, does he accept it? Or does he vehemently argue with it because it doesn't conform with his predetermined and utterly inflexible worldview? You never can tell.

I've got considerably more patience for teenagers. The thing is, they aren't necessarily supposed to know better. So when they make terrible decisions, you can try to show them better ways. Sometimes you succeed and they improve. You always hope so. You don't want them to grow up and be like people you see who are, you know, stupid.

I don't know who made this particular mistake. I don't know how the DOE calendar is negotiated. This notwithstanding, I offer congratulations to all parties who did this, and decided to not be stupid.  You know, if more people would just wake up in the morning, look themselves in the mirror and say, "Hey, today I'm gonna try to not do or be anything stupid," what a wonderful world this would be.

Yesterday Mike Schirtzer emailed me the revised DOE calendar. I checked with a UFT source to make sure it wasn't April Fool's in September, or some mass hallucination, but once I did I emailed our entire staff. I then walked from department office to department office like Santa Claus declaring, "No school December 23rd."

It's a day of hope. Who would have expected NYC DOE, the same department that turns us down at step two all the time regardless of what merit our complaints have, the same department that sustains the clown car called "legal," the one full of English-challenged lawyers who can't be bothered reading the contract, the department overflowing with Bloomberg leftovers who cry reverse discrimination when a Latino fires or transfers a few of their worthless asses--Who could imagine it would rise up and do something not stupid? That is undeniably a step in the right direction for the DOE, perhaps an example for all humankind to replicate.

Thanks to our UFT brothers and sisters for not giving up, and for taking a stand for common sense we ought to model for our children. Our school was a very happy place for a while there, and maybe we can stretch it out some. I was even able to tell one kid, "My union negotiated this so you wouldn't have to come in Monday of Christmas week." She was thrilled, and thanked us. On this day, though,  UFT members were all just as happy as that kid was.

Isn't that how our job should be? How do we create more days like this? How do we create a career of making one another happy and appreciative? And no, we don't have to halt work days completely to do that.

UFT Executive Board September 23, 2019--UFT Supports UAW

Secretary LeRoy Barr welcomes us.

No guest speakers tonight.

Minutes—approved.

Barr—Abe Levine memorial Wed. Sept. 25 open at 4. Ceremony at 5.  Oct. 20 Making Strides Walk, various locations. Teacher Union Day at 11 AM, same day. November 21, LGBTQ youth empowerment dinner for Danny Drumm Scholarship. DA Oct. 16, EB Oct. 7.

Arthur Goldstein—Someone recently sent me a survey done by UFT in 2013-14 to gauge member interests. It was billed as the first annual survey, and specifically said it was to fill in gaps in the DOE survey. I'm sure there are still gaps. I’m told there was another done in 2015 as well but I’ve been unable to locate it.

My question is this—if we’ve continued with these surveys, where are the results? And if we haven’t, why haven’t we?

Barr—We do many surveys, polls. We’ve done them around contract. We’ve done them about many issues. Was one at CL meeting. Went to CLs to make sure we were clear on APPR and safety. In terms of filling in the gap, we can look at what was sent out and what was the intent. However, we do this constantly. Our work here is due to info we receive back. In general we do

Goldstein--My friend Mike Schirtzer expected to be here but has a relative in the hospital. He would like to know what we can do to preclude future situations like the one that just occurred at Maspeth High School, perhaps before they hit the NY Post.

Barr—Story came out and Mulgrew spoke to it. Response same now. We want people to let us know where these situations are taking place. When we hear about them, we follow through. We encourage members to let us know more about these things so they can follow through.

Reports from Districts—

Pat Delamina—Baci tournament for Italian American UFT, collected over 800 dollars for disaster relief.

Janella Hinds—Friday group attended climate strike. Amazing to see thousands of young people out there. President was there. Went to Battery Park, met students and educators. Yesterday was Alzheimer’s Walk. Was beautiful at Coney Island to support Caring Kind.

Michael Mulgrew—President’s Report—Was great Friday to see Broadway—could not see end for two hours.

Report on last year’s consultations—1400 schools filed at least one, 230 over five. Wants at least 7 from all this year. Will keep pressure on chancellor and superintendents that principals follow contract. This will empower school worksites. Not finished with CL survey from last week. Everything trending positive right now, so it’s an improvement. Nothing completely in the red. Seems work is having some effect, but still a lot of work to do.
Class size—new process. We are clearing up more than we ever have before. Difference in process. Some CLs liked it. DRs have reported superintendents are pressuring principals and don’t want to deal with it. DRs can now agree with superintendents about exceptions. Will make very clear what exceptions entail. We know some schools will be out of compliance, and they have been scheduled for arbitration. We want these things done faster, no more waiting until April.

CL survey available by next Exec. Board. DOE had a press conference. Want 60 teachers to review curriculum, that it’s aligned to standard and culturally appropriate. Chancellor says curriculum is important and we want schools to give support to every member.

Barr—Contribution button for those affected by Dorian up and running on UFT website. Wants to support those affected. Please share link with members.

Wendy Walker Wilson—Spoke to minister of education in Bahamas, said they were working with NEMA, so we decided to collect, put up link, and see money’s distributed where needed to help families. Special link that says Dorian relief. Please contribute. Ask family and friends. NYSUT also has link up and will collaborate.

Barr—Also working with border locals in Texas to raise money to help children.

Serbia Silva—Stride walk Oct. 20—all five boroughs, LI and NJ. Oct. 16 is wear pink day. Please send photos. Encourage members to wear pink. Need UFT picture release form if you include students in photos.

Special order of business—UAW Resolution—Mike Sill—We helped auto industry in 2008. Members of UAW contributed. We were sold a bill of goods. We thought there would be no loss of jobs, that an important industry would provide a living wage. When GM got back on their feet started outsourcing, doing all the things our money should’ve prevented. Imagine courage it took for them to flip Michigan. Only natural for those of us who benefited from their sacrifices to support them.

George Altomare—We are honoring Abe Levine—when we pushed for right for collective bargaining, when we won some battles, we needed money to fight those against us. We looked at industrial part of labor movement, got loans and contributions. With help of auto workers, we won. Ever since, we’ve always said we could never fully repay them. Took loans which allowed us to tell our story and win. Happy to be able to begin to pay back auto workers who helped us.

Resolution passes unanimously.

We are adjourned 6:28

CEP--Comprehensive Educational Plan or Waste of Time?

If you're a chapter leader, you're part of your school's SLT, or School Leadership Team. The main purpose of this team, theoretically at least, is working on a CEP for your school. I've been doing this for a long time, as I was on the SLT before I became chapter leader, and we've spent varying degrees of time on it. The only contribution I recall UFT making in our school was a suggestion we have fewer negative teacher ratings. Then last year we didn't have any, so there wasn't anywhere we could take it.

It's always seemed a little bit odd. I remember waiting until much of the year was over before we really dealt with it. I'm not at all sure it's even relevant. There are several issues that really bother me. The one that bothers me most is the rampant overcrowding. Even though UFT was able to negotiate us an annex, it won't open for two years. When it does, we'll have a net gain of only eight classrooms. In my view, we'd have been better off negotiating a reasonable population. DOE says it will stay the same but full disclosure--I don't trust them.

Another issue is the state of the building. For years, as custodial employees have left, they haven't been replaced. This is reflected in the condition of the building. As if that's not enough, air-conditioning doesn't work in much of the facility, including the trailers. Every day the custodians tell me the geniuses at Tweed will send someone to repair the trailer tomorrow. Pretty soon, instead of being 99 degrees in fall, it'll be 29 degrees in winter.

So how the hell do they expect teachers to focus on the graduation rate? There's some sort of hierarchy of human needs, and as far as I can see, shelter comes well before high school graduation. As if that's not enough, there's now a ponderous process involving some computer program into which the CEP must be entered.

At our first SLT meeting, the principal announced that there was an SLT already begun, and that there were already 125 pages of data entered. Not only that, but there were also responses and suggestions from the superintendent. I sat there wondering why I was sitting there. If all this is already done, why do we need to even show up? What's the point of pretending that we're part of the process?

Of course there's nothing to prevent us from discussing actual school concerns. There's nothing that prevents parents, students or UFT from placing things on meeting agendas. As far as I can tell, though, the CEP is a pretentious, unnecessary load of unmitigated nonsense. I mean, it's great to hope that 14% of some group or other will score 5% better on some test or other. I suppose if I were principal, I'd sit around and calculate exactly which goals I could probably meet, and then I'd set them. But I'd also know there were holistic concerns that affected my school and community.

A chapter leader I know told me his school has two CEPs. One is the official one they send the city. The other is the goals independently set by the school leadership team--things the school community actually wants and needs, regardless of the constraints of the ponderous yet limited official document. Maybe that's a model for other schools to follow.

I generally like the new chancellor. I'm not bothered by the things the New York Post writes about him. I think he has the interests of students and teachers at heart. I've seen him speak, and he sounds like a teacher to me. He sounds like someone who hasn't forgotten what it's like to be in the classroom. When the media complains he fired a few people, I think that's s good start. Now fire all the rest of them, every single one Bloomberg pushed in without exception.

I wonder whether he understood how preposterous the current CEP is. I wonder whether or not his focus was there. My job as teacher/ chapter leader is pretty much all-encompassing. Good intentions notwithstanding, I'm not coming in all summer for free to help the principal compose some tedious document that will likely have little effect on what's actually going on.

Am I overlooking something? Is the CEP more important than I think? Should I earmark 200 hours next summer to sit in the principal's office and pore over tedious documents for free? Will that change the world for the better? Let me know.

UFT Citywide Chapter Leader Meeting September 18--Paradigms and Telephones

4:23 UFT President Michael Mugrew welcomes us, salutes new chapter leaders.

Says he loved being CL, first year was really tough. Recalls defending contract, says CLs are not alone, and we support one another. Says union is focused on giving CLs more tools.

Says besides December 23rd, he has concerns. Looking at end of current administration and political context. They have this year and next year. Would like to get things done in that time. Says pre-K will be mayor’s biggest legacy. We have to protect it. Also wants to expand it citywide, which UFT supports.

Disturbed we are hearing nothing good about school system. Enemies are happy at that. Parents saying we don’t believe in standards, suspensions, G and T, only makeup and demographics. Fact is school system doing better than ever but we don’t hear it. Even with vocational diploma never had grad rate this high. Outperformed rest of state four years in a row. Not heard in public discourse.

Policy issues bantered about by people who don’t know what’s going on. This can be dangerous. We kept them from eliminating suspensions. Graduating entire class of social workers. Will be another one. School system not only about child who commits an act. We also need to help victims and remaining students.

We have led charge on school integration for years. We believe no more than ten or twelve districts could do integration well because of demographics in district. Proud that teachers led way on progress we’ve made. Need to continue focus while education children day to day.

G and T also tough subject. We participated in committee. Said from day one never believed in Joel Klein’s program as he changed it a decade ago. Klein standardized tests for four and five years old, and six years of this administration has not changed it. UFT wants to get rid of Klein’s G and T, but not G & T itself. Should have multiple measure criteria and never use standardized test again for four and five year olds.

No one is hearing about graduation and dropout rates, or outperforming state, but only these things. We need to take what we’ve been doing and work with communities to show our successes. No one would have anticipated this 15 years ago. Have we had the right supports? Curriculum? Real conversations with principals about changing dynamics in evaluation? “(Very few say yes.)

We should be in much better place, going further, but are dealing with agenda led by people who don’t understand what we do. We have a period to focus on great work, celebrate school communities.

December 23rd—Been dealing with state and DOE since calendar came out. Believes common sense and rational adult thought will prevail in a short period of time. If we lose one day, we still have three snow days. Lots of confusion now, will play out. You know a certain NYC paper would write an editorial about it were it to happen. We have to be reasonable—most people work on the 23.

Climate march Friday. DOE asks that we advocate in calm and rational way. Ss seem to have been reasonable. Did this after Parkland with anti-gun march. Governor and mayor did walkouts with schools. Knew it would happen like it or not, but there is a little different guidance. Not saying teachers should be arranging school trips. Rally outside of UFT between 3 and 5.

DOE was attacked when they did this, papers said they didn’t care about teaching and learning. Students believe climate change is quite important now.

Survey—Checking whether things happened—Will ask whether DOE priorities for beginning of year were satisfied—student removal? Video seen? Conversation as school community on it? They were told by chancellor and two deputies they had to do it? Have you been given curriculum? Has principal discussed new expedited class size grievance process?

Today is day ten. From today to September 24, class size overage is in your and your principal’s discretion to fix. Still at school level. September 25, it is not. It goes to the district rep. and superintendent to fix. They won’t be able to drag process out and fix it when you’re walking into arbitration, maybe months later. On October 4th, it goes to citywide labor management committee for oversized classes. If they don’t agree on a remedy will go to expedited arbitration. No more waiting until April. We will not let DOE do this.

Evaluation law was changed last year. NYSED finished new standards. City teachers worked on them. Commissioner resigned. Standards not rolled out correctly, want reset. No guidance on different aspects of MOSL including NYSESLAT. We will continue to work to protect people and keep you informed. Acting Commissioner should be around for at least six months while they do a nationwide search.

We worked on web design for year and a half. Need you to learn when you call UFT must identify yourself and say I am a chapter leader. Will help you get through to whom you need to speak. We’re trying to get everyone the info they need when they call. Wanted to change things dramatically. Met with CLs and DRs. Biggest issue was things people wanted to change to do their jobs better. Centralized training and calling.

Want to help CLs organize and empower chapters. Some people have trouble organizing consultation committees. Wants to see people empower, organize and engage.

CLs get a stipend, $6 for every member you represent. Used to be 5. Decided there was more work for you. Want to say consultations are important, and change process, not base. Want points for DA attendance, consultations, COPE membership, and will up stipend up to 1K. Will see if it works.

Union focusing on contact centers, events, and EOE, (empower, organize, engage). Trying to maintain correct union profiles via call center. Call center is dispersed across entire city. We get ready for anticipated topics—next will be retro. We want to give as much info, accurately and quickly as possible.

Events—everything in union is an event. We’re at an event. DR meeting is an event. Teacher Union Day an event. October 20 11 AM. Wear pink. We want more district and borough based events. Had bowling parties.

We are not DOE, who says they want to help but sends you paperwork.

Consultation, safety committee important. Can use student removal procedures. Principals have been trained.

Politics—AFT will endeavor to engage as many presidential candidates as possible and hold decision until next spring. Engaging with certain candidates to come to NYC—we want bigger names. Upset NY State has so little to do with primary winners. By the time they get to us it’s done. God bless the people of Iowa, but really?

Sunshine committees—organize to have fun. Have bowling or movie night. District reps and borough offices trying to do it. Promotes engagement.

What happens, for example, if superintendent is unresponsive, while teachers and parents are doing a lot of events? There are a lot of political relationships inside that district. We want to restructure union so it supports workplace at all time. Will continue grievances and arbitration, but want more info in hands of more members.

Of course there will be bumps in the road, but we don’t go backwards. Please have patience. People are doing things differently. We’re still dealing with Janus. They will try something else.

Deirdre McFadyen—Shows new website—launched in July. Had to upgrade for software reasons, but wanted to show value post-Janus area, focusing on your rights, your benefits, your union. Moved CL section—now right under “chapters.”

All union programs under “Your union.” UFT discounts found on member website, must be logged in. Podcasts available. Under teaching, there is new teacher section with instructional materials. Events calendar under get involved. Call center knowledge base integrated into FAQs.

Under “my account” there are customized links. New members will see Welfare Fund Application. Asks we download UFT app.

Mulgrew—This is designed to help CLs get info quickly. DOE is now officially under corrective action plan for special ed. violations. Pretty embarrassing, Much has to do with ELLs and SETTs.

NYC has said parent can opt out of having info shared with anyone, including charter networks. Will be challenged in court. Want to work on an opt-out plan. For years Klein said he wasn’t doing it, but he was. Would do anything for charters, including sharing private info. City now gives parents right to opt out, will work with parents and districts.

Thanks CLs from Bronx Plan schools. All got micro grants of 5K, were recruitment teams, AP classes, much more efficiently than DOE could have done. Clearest example of when you give it to people who do the work, they will make anything flourish.

DOE sends instructions and expects people to do things. They check paperwork. Nothing to do with you.

A plus—proud to announce that UFT has been accredited by NYSED for graduate level studies. Have it for a few course, but want to expand. Thanks Evelyn de Jesus and her team.
First classes will start shortly in Bronx.

We need to empower, organize and engage every school site. We will always get up, push back, and make it work. Can’t thank you enough for taking on this tough job. Our job is to get members support and respect they need. You made a choice to go above and beyond, to understand how important union is. We will not be stopped by teacher bashing. We will get beyond it.

You chose not only  to make a difference in children’s lives, but to protect those who made the decision.

Questions—

Q—How can we support UAW?

A—Will do a resolution Monday and work with them. Workers are under attack, gave back to save company.

Q—What can we do to expose abuses inside schools before media? Sometimes done wrong way with teachers blamed. Schools pushed to pass students. We know that much of it is fake. Happening everywhere. We are under pressure from abusive principals. Untenured play along, will backfire. Leaders use comp time to create a clique, de facto admin.

A—If we’re going to make an allegation, we need documentation to prove it. If there’s something going on, we want to know. CL has right to say no to comp time positions. It’s tough. People who want jobs are members, but you have to say no if it’s making someone de facto admin. You have right to do that. DOE denies this stuff, but ends up in paper. Use consultations to build case for when we go public. We will back you.

Q—How can we inform parents of opting out of charters? In our school, five students without parent consent were enrolled in charters. One parent had inquired but not given permission. Parents sent them back to public school.

A—Will roll this out by next DA.

Q—Gifted and talented is big diversity issue. Moving forward, what will be our role? Concerned about children of color having access to these programs.

A—Was with chancellor and mayor, took first press conference. Said UFT opposed tests, wanted things back in school district. Key is how to ID accelerated learners early. Tough in young children. Tests are unfair and caused segregation. Maybe should wait until grade 2,3,4. Needs to be district based. This is all political. Should be educational.

Q—Forms for submitting consultation minutes and SBO are a little clumsy. They should be a lot easier. Also call center is difficult. Member complained about being shunted through center, had to verify personal info. Freaked out member. Are the people in call center actual UFT people and teachers? Would like knowledge base accessible faster.

A—Not all. Mix of staffers and school-based. Has been improved in last two weeks.

Q—Know union is doing a lot with maternity leave—in next year or two are you working on tiered retirement system? Tier 6 is hard pill to swallow. Paying in for entire year. Should be equity.

A—Not a fan of tier 6. We don’t negotiate these things. Literally done in middle of night in Albany. Done to all city and state workers. If we see the opportunity—we are not allowed to negotiate pension benefits—has to go to legislature then governor. Municipalities need to agree. We have to seek an opportunity. Completely agree.

Make sure new members are okay. They may not speak out.

Q—With leave, and babies, challenge is teachers have to drop their kids off when they need to be at school. Our principal helped out on member, but that’s kind of a whim. Can we get parents time to get their kids to school and get to work?

A—Not sure how much this admin will do on this issue, but we can start reaching out. We had many SBOs, over 1300—number one was parent teacher conferences. More than two thirds of schools have shifted them. Others shifted start times. If we can agree on it and make it happen, that’s fine. We should talk about this more and more.

Q—Expedited class sizes—identified classes that were over, have two classes oversized—principal say he’s filing a variant. Can you give us guidance on that? What do we say?

A—Has to see Kerry Yefet—sometimes okay, sometimes not. Depends on situation. Special education has a lot fo rules. State rules not accepted in NYC.

Q—Principal on day one sent components he wants included on lesson plans—says they’re non-negotiable.

A—Clearly did not follow chancellor’s instructions to work with you to change the culture on evaluation. Start by documenting that fact that he’s not following the chancellor’s order in consultation. Let’s set the tone.

Mulgrew—Thanks us again. First DA October 16, wear pink. Will be coat drive.

NY Post Editorial Board Hates Regents for All the Wrong Reasons

I'm always amazed when I read the simplistic nonsense in the NY Post education editorials. Evidently, they believe passing the Regents exams actually symbolizes mastery of something or other. I guess these writers weren't focused when the tests were Common Cored to ensure maximum indifference to anything of inherent value. More likely they were off to the side cheerleading when that happened. Admittedly, I don't always follow the editorials.

I know counselors who tell me the very highest-achieving students cannot write a coherent college essay. I can't say I'm surprised. Our concept of teaching English involves prepping for a test that measures neither reading nor writing, but rather the ability to copy language from both sides of an argument, say which side you prefer, and then answer a bunch of multiple choice questions. Formulating your own argument? That's a thing of the past.

Common Core, of course, is founded by the great David "No one gives a crap what you think or feel" Coleman, who now runs the College Board. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. Since your feelings and opinions are presumed to have no value, it's hard to imagine how you're going to get the whole writing thing going.

It's ironic that an editorial board would champion such a philosophy. After all, it's their job to tell us what they think and feel. Why would they be so enamored of a system that so actively discourages what they actually do? If the Post editorial board thinks the system is so great, why don't they stop giving their opinions and start parsing whether or not shark netting is a good idea, and doing so by taking a list of prescribed articles and adding no judgment save which arguments they like better?

In fact, teachers have complained to me that they've failed certification exams for giving their opinions. It appears the whole common coriness thing has become a qualification for our position. Evidently our opinions are not welcome either. That's an odd qualification for a job that depends so heavily on frequent, almost perpetual instant judgments. But what do I know? I'm not an editorial writer or a test designer. (I mean sure, I design tests, but my tests are designed to measure what my students actually study, not David Coleman's public grappling with his lifelong feelings of personal inadequacy.)

Actually there is a reading test we offer. It's actually not called that. Rather, it's called the new global exam. I was pretty happy to know that I needed virtually no knowledge of global history to pass it. Because I've spent my life reading, I was able to figure out almost all the answers. On the other hand, you might want to, you know, have people study and learn about history. I think I would if I were a history teacher. If I wanted them to pass the test, though, I'd probably focus on reading and discussions. The subject would be of no importance whatsoever.

I'd discourage that if I were teaching to the English Regents. This doesn't involve reading, reflection or consideration, but rather close reading, or nitpicking for details that may or may not be of ultimate importance. The Post sees things differently, of course.

The real agenda here is simply to further erode any standard that might expose public schools as failing to educate. Ever since forcing the exit of Chancellor Merryl Tisch in 2015, the Regents have watered-down standards on teacher training, teacher accountability and state tests for grades 3-8 as well as the Regents exams.

It was actually Merryl Tisch who ushered in all this Common Core nonsense. All the current Regents have done about that, so far, is nothing. They've moved steadily in Tisch's direction. In fact, they've made the rather stunning determination that English Language Learners need less English instruction. So after watering down ELA to virtually nothing, they've determined that the students most in need of English need less than nothing.

For my money, getting rid of the Regents exams with which I'm familiar has no meaning whatsoever. You may argue that the math or science exams have some value, but I'd be quite surprised. The Post thinks the Regents want to make diplomas meaningless. If that is predicated on the assumption that they are now meaningful based on Regents exams, they've got their work cut out for them.

DOE Targets Public Enemy #1--Chocolate Milk

I'm always happy when the geniuses at Tweed put their heads together and figure out what our children really need. You know, while I was sitting in two of my three classrooms with no air-conditioning, I was reflecting on how important it is that we not have chocolate milk. If we had it we might simply pour it across one another's heads to keep cool.

Now sure, that's not the first use for chocolate milk that comes to my mind, but when the temperature reads 99% on your trailer thermostat you just never know what people are gonna do. So it's important to keep the chocolate milk somewhere safe. People that uncomfortable are likely to do really crazy stuff.

Another case in which chocolate milk can be dangerous is in oversized classes. There are dozens of them in my school, and chocolate milk would surely make a bad situation worse. For example, when there aren't enough seats in the classroom the few you have ought to be distributed in a fair fashion. You don't want people bartering seats for chocolate milk. It's not fair that only the students who get there early enough get the chocolate milk. Some students live too far away to get to school early enough.

And for goodness sake, you have to be careful about how chocolate milk is used in those half classrooms with over 30 students inside them. If someone should spill it, it could anger the guy who gets paid to clean the room. After all, it's a lot easier to clean the room if it isn't dirty. So maybe he'll write you a note telling you what a slob you are, insist you leave it for the kids, toss out the dividers you need in order to give tests in the crappy room, and then leave the chocolate milk all over the floor anyway. After all, how else to make good on his threat to infest the room with pests?

Yes, I'd say this is really where we need to focus our energy and effort. Yesterday, after period three, while I was silently cursing the slow-moving person in front of me while trying to get to my class on time in our over 200% capacity building, I said, "Thank goodness someone is finally tackling the chocolate milk crisis. And as I pushed the chronically stuck door of the half room with all my might, injuring my shoulder, I thought, "Well, we won't have chocolate milk to kick around anymore."

In fact, later that afternoon, when I was in the miserable trailer and the students wearing sweatshirts with nothing under them, the girl who wears long flowing robes that cover herself head to toe and everyone else started complaining about how hot it was, even though it was only 85 degrees, the coolest it's been all year, I thought as I walked them to the auditorium, where no one can hear anything, let alone accomplish anything, "Finally someone is gonna address this crucial chocolate milk crisis."

Even though the tests that measure my students' progress suck, even though they tell us nothing of any value whatsoever, even though the English Regents exam promotes neither reading nor writing, and even though the state doesn't think English instruction is important for newcomers, I'm bursting with pride at the way we're fearlessly tackling that rapacious chocolate milk lobby.

Another great victory for we, the people!

Oversized Classes, Free Donuts and Prostitutes

Every year I report oversized classes to the union. We do this in September and February. There's a process, and it's been slightly revised for schools like ours that are chronically in violation. As a matter of course, we report class sizes days 1, 6, and 10. Under the new agreement, if they aren't resolved by day 10 it goes to the superintendent days 14 and 19. I suppose this gives principals some incentive to actually do what's necessary to fix things. At least I hope so.

Last February, for the first time in my memory, we came into compliance and had no oversized classes. However, there's still the possibility of not doing so. In that case, we're asked what we want in lieu of reasonable class sizes. In the past, we've gotten things like relief from C6 assignments one day a week. Other schools got relief from C6 one day for each class that was oversized, or relief from C6 the entire week. The logic of arbitrators eludes me, and consistency doesn't appear to be a concern.

Summer 2018 during contract negotiations, I told the DOE that I'd taught classes of 50 and over. The DOE reps didn't care. I told them that the "action plans" they devised were ridiculous, and that if I had an oversized class, I needed support right there in the classroom. The only thing one free period could be good for was possibly going to therapy to deal with the stress the oversized classes caused me.

Last week, when my district rep. asked me what I wanted if we couldn't solve the issue of oversized classes, I told him I wanted $50 per extra student per day per oversized class, and also free donuts and prostitutes in the teacher lounges. He said he'd rather not ask for free prostitutes. Now I understand that we are union, and that we support working people. I never suggested anything about the DOE not paying them. This notwithstanding, he seemed to have other objections as well.

I brought my proposal to my department. At first they asked whether there would be both male and female prostitutes, and I said yes, of course. Though I'd answered that question to their satisfaction, they too seemed to have other objections. You just can't please everyone. Still, they seemed to agree with the district rep. for some reason, and began proposing alternate demands.

One said it would be really nice to have a licensed massage therapist or two in the office between classes. After a tough period dealing with the relatively impossible task of trying to teach over 34 teenagers at a time, it would be nice to stretch out and have someone sooth your highly stressed body. Put everything out of your mind and just feel those magic fingers. Of course we'd need space to lie down, so there's a memo to school construction. I'm not sure how viable that is.

Another asked for bubble baths and spa treatments. Now, as a guy, I'm not really familiar with what a spa treatment is. We hyper-macho type guys don't usually go in for that stuff. But all the women seem to think they are pretty cool, so I have to respect their experience. Again, there is that space issue, so I'm not sure how viable it is.

One of my colleagues suggested we install chocolate fountains in the department offices, to be stocked with fresh fruit. Personally I'm not eating sugar lately, but I'd respect that if it makes everyone happy. They also demanded marshmallows, and not those little ones either. However, our building is teeming with mice and having a lot of chocolate in the offices could exacerbate that issue. On the positive side, it might not take up a lot of space.

Another colleague chimed in and said we could adjust the plumbing to reflect hot, cold, and a nice Chianti. After all, if it's good enough for Hannibal Lecter, why not provide it for hardworking school teachers? Of course this would only be for staff. Students would have to rough it and buy Boone's Farm to drink in the woods, like we had to do when we were teenagers. We can't just hand them everything, you know.

Sure, you'll say, the district rep. and my colleagues are right. It's distasteful for working teachers to run around demanding that prostitutes be provided in public schools. Maybe I should be written up on page six of the tabloids for making such insane demands. To that I say you're absolutely right. Who the hell do I think I am, making such demands? They are ridiculous.

In my meager defense, all I can say is my demands are no more ridiculous than those of the DOE. 34 is already the highest class size in the state. There's been a successful lawsuit demanding they be reduced, which the geniuses in Albany, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to simply ignore.

Do you also deem my demands ridiculous? Would you like me to be more reasonable? Fine. Then tell DOE to stop demanding that my colleagues and I teach classes of over 34. Demand they do their jobs and fix the frigging class sizes. Stop kowtowing to Eva Moskowitz and start helping the overwhelming majority of New York City's children. That's what we pay them for, whether or not they know or care.

No, Tin Is NOT the Ideal Insulator

I'm glad, in a way, that I'm back in the trailers after having been out on leave for three or four years. I'd forgotten about all the little twists and turns and surprises they held, and I guess I needed to be reminded.

Period 7 yesterday I went to my class in trailer 4.  Several students preceded me, and were sitting in their seats waiting for class. It was nothing short of diabolical. The thermostat read 99 degrees. I was pretty surprised because it was cooler yesterday than it had been the day before. How could this happen?

Of course, the heat, which we likely as not won't have at all between December and February, was on. Why wouldn't you have the heat going full blast when it's 75 degrees outside? Heaven forfend anyone should be anything remotely resembling comfortable in one of those frigging boxes of tin.

I was pretty happy I had the foresight to wear a short sleeve shirt. I called and informed the main office that we were going to the auditorium. I also filed a grievance demanding trailers be closed until and unless they were fixed. Custodian said they'd requested an emergency repair but no one had showed. They were hoping for today. Hope springeth eternal.

I went back later and noticed a sign saying go to auditorium. Evidently I'd neglected it when I arrived, as did all the students in my classroom. Perhaps they shouldn't have left the doors open, which signified enter to my students and me. I closed the doors in the boiling trailers so no one else would enter. I worried some overly zealous new teacher would go in there and show the whole world that nothing would stop her, certainly not a thermostat reading 99 degrees, likely because it doesn't go any higher.

I met a teacher who told me her students were quite upset at how miserable the trailers were on Wednesday. She's Chinese, and the students kept asking her, "Is it because we're Chinese?" Can you imagine going to school feeling like you were dumped in an inferior setting because of your ethnicity? Unfortunately, inferior settings are something we all get to share in a place where there simply isn't enough space, a place where there is no limit on how many students can come in. Amazingly, Eva Moskowitz gets to toss anyone she likes out of her place, and for all I know, they all come to us.

The disgrace belongs to New York City. It's unconscionable to say there is no limit to how many students can enter a space. However, that's policy. Our school has done well for New York City. Bloomberg, frothing at the mouth to destroy every comprehensive high school in the city, never laid a glove on us. Instead, he just overcrowded us, hoping we'd burst at the seems. It seems we we outlasted the son of a bitch.

Of course, that can't last forever. We'll have an annex in a few years, which should add a little bit of breathing room. Even so, and even after they haul away those horrific miserable trailers, we'll still have spaces that no kid should learn in.

But hey, let's find a new place for Amazon. Jeff Bezos needs parking for his helicopter.

If Principals and Custodians Have AC, All's Fine in City Schools

Yesterday didn't seem as bad as Tuesday. I looked at the thermostat in the trailer, which was not easy. Some genius or other had mounted it outside the bathroom close to the ceiling. That may be a good idea, actually, if you want people to feel like it isn't as hot or cold as it really is. School trailer bathrooms somehow tend to get heat and AC when those of us sitting in the actual room do not. So I looked up, put on my glasses, and even with the weird location it read 87 degrees.

Of course, if you happened to be by the windows, you were getting direct sun, and that was brutal. A young woman in my class sits there, and she wears very long clothing that looks heavy. I asked her if she wanted to move further into the classroom, away from the window and she turned me down. She's clearly made of stronger stuff than I am.

I usually wear suits to work. I started doing this when I was in the trailer, because trailers look like piles of crap. I thought the students should know that even though the city dumped them in the crap I felt differently. When I was finally paroled from the trailers a few years back, I kept wearing them. I now figure if I'm in meetings with the principal and the district rep, I ought to look the way they do.

Another teacher told me that he went the other way. He used to dress up, but thought the students related to him better when he dressed closer to the way they did. I said that was really interesting, and that maybe we were both right. He said it was good that sometimes people could see things two different ways and not fight. Other things, though, are really obvious to everyone.

For example, it's absolutely miserable sitting in a hot classroom. This doesn't phase the Tweedies, who talk of something called "air-conditioning season." This is a period of time that one genius or another pulled out of his ass and decided was good enough for NYC children. The standard is it should be no higher than 78 degrees. Why not 75? And why is it okay for temperature to go highter than that when it isn't "air-conditioning season?" Do they sit in their air-conditioned offices and determine people don't feel the heat at those times? Who knows what goes into Tweedie decision making? A coin toss? The age of their mothers when they got them the jobs? Could be anything.

One of the great privileges of being chapter leader is getting the plum programs. I teach four classes in three classrooms, and only one is air-conditioned. That room, of course, is only half a room. It's diabolical. When you give a test, you have to put up these ridiculous dividers. It's awkward and inconvenient, and creates new and exciting ways to cheat. Also, if the guy who gets paid to clean the room takes a notion to throw them out because the room wasn't clean enough for his discriminating taste, you're screwed.

Don't get me started about the trailers. I was in there for twelve years. I'd always ask for them because while everyone hated them, it at least kept me out of the crappy half rooms. Now I'm in both. An AP asked me last week if I'd swap out one real classroom with one of his teachers who had a trailer. Why not, I thought. I'm already like that cartoon Mexican mouse running around on three different floors. Why not run outside as well?  I said yes. This week, he casually let me know he was doing something UFT hadn't approved, in blatant violation of the contract, and thanked me for allowing him to do so. When I told him that was not, in fact, the way we do things, he informed that me that I had a choice of going along with him or screwing the kids. Thoroughly charming.

Of course, being an assistant principal means never having to say you're sorry. Sometimes I'm jealous, and think I'd like to run around uttering whatever came into my head whenever I felt like it with no consequences. Actually, though, I would get no joy whatsoever in issuing pointless ultimatums or treating kids like that. I want my class to be a relative oasis where students know I will be patient and help them get where they need to be in other classes.

I was lucky yesterday, My wife found a short sleeve dress shirt someone had given me as a gift, and it really made the day go easier. I was going to buy a few more after work. I saw an ad saying they were two for $29 somewhere. It turned out they were two for $129. That's way too much for shirts I'd wear only a few times a year. 

Anyway, no more suits for me until the temperature outside drops below 80, and the true trailer temp drops below 90. I like the kids I have this year very much. They're charming and funny. But I've got my limits. My standards may be low, but they're all I have.

This Morning in Capitalism

I'm a creature of habit. This is particularly true because another creature of whom I'm very fond depends on me quite a bit to help him out. I walk him morning, afternoon and night if I'm free. Because work often makes me less free, my wife helps me out most weekday afternoons. When I have PM meetings, she often covers for me then too. But when school's in season, I'm almost always out on the street with him in the pitch black at 5 AM.

I'm not the only one up at that hour. I don't see many dog walkers, but now and then there's someone as crazy as I am. However, there's a big business collecting bottles and aluminum cans, which carry that five-cent deposit. I leave them in our recycling bin, and by 5 AM they're already gone. This bottle and can collection is serious business.

There's a young woman in a GMC van I see on the canal all the time. As far as I can tell, she's the most active of the three collectors I regularly encounter. The other morning I was trying to cross the street with Toby, and she came up the street maddeningly slowly. I wanted to cross, but unlike some people, I have this thing about walking in front of moving vehicles. I'm not Blanche DuBois and I'm loathe to depend on the kindness of strangers. Eventually, though, she passed us and my friend and I were able to cross the street without incident.

She's the most visible, and likely the most ambitious of our three bottle collectors. She spends hours out there. I know this because in the summer I was out around seven and I'd see her scouting for opportunity. Once or twice I've seen her in the afternoon, checking to see what she and her competitors left behind, or perhaps trying to find things before they waited until morning.

There's also a man who looks to be in his eighties. He drives a late model Toyota Camry. I often wonder why someone who can afford a relatively new car needs to collect bottles. Perhaps he doesn't need to and just does it for fun. Personally, the fun part of dredging through trash cans eludes me. If that's the case, though, is it ethical for him to compete with those who really need the money? Or did some generous relative simply gift him the car? Why didn't that person also gift him a little spending money too?

The third person I know is a really shadowy and elusive figure. The dumpsters for the Tropix bar are all the way in the back of a paved parking lot, a full block away from the club itself. Some mornings when I walk by there, I see a figure with a flashlight rattling through the dumpsters, and I hear the unmistakable rattles of cans and bottles being tossed into plastic bags. It's a little scary because all we can actually see is the flashlight. Actually, the last time I looked there seemed to be multiple flashlights, so perhaps this is a group effort. (After all, team work makes the dream work.)

Being as you can't actually see that person, or those people, it makes me a little nervous to walk by. But I've got Toby with me, and he's not afraid of anything. He barks at big dogs as if to say, "Yeah, I can take you. Come here if you dare." I think he's nuts, actually, and I tell him so. "Can't you see how big that dog is? Are you out of your mind?"

Collecting bottles is hard work. To make 15 bucks and hour, you'd have to collect 300 of them. To make 20, 400. It seems like there must be better ways to make money. I suppose there are worse as well. I wonder why such a culture exists while we're running around making America great again. Wouldn't America be great if we all had health insurance? Wouldn't it be great if everyone could afford to make ends meet without collecting aluminum cans? Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to divest ourselves of all our worldly goods to merit half-decent end of life care?

Maybe we need to make America decent instead of great again. Again or not, who cares? It's really sad that so many people have to live like that in the richest country in the world.

UFT Executive Board September 9, 2019--UFT Supports Dorian Victims, Census, Trump Victims and More

6 PM—Secretary LeRoy Barr calls us to order, welcomes us.

Barr recognizes new members. We applaud. Barr explains process.

Minutes—approved

Barr announces Smallheiser winners.

Barr—9/18 CL meeting. After will be 100% attendance celebration. 9/25—Tribute to founder Abe Levine 4 PM. Without Levine, UFT would not have come together. Brought factions together. Celebrated divergent thought. RTC meeting that day. CL training Oct. 5, 6. Oct. 20—Sunday, Making Strides even 8 Central parkt. Also Teacher Union Day 11. Sept 22, Alzheimer’s walk Coney Island, 9 AM.

Questions:

Arthur Goldstein—I’ve been a teacher since 1984, and I have never seen a test as useless as the NYSESLAT, which ostensibly determines English levels of English language learners. Last year I taught a class of supposedly advanced ELLs. Most of them were deemed proficient in English by the NYSESLAT. Many had passed the English Regents exam. Some who’d done both were unable to produce a coherent sentence in English. Almost none were able to produce a reasonable college essay.

This may work well for those of us who teach beginners, as we appear to be geniuses. But I have recently been hearing of teachers whose ratings have been dragged down by student performance on the NYSESLAT. What can we do to ensure the next commissioner is not insane, and what can we do to make sure the NYSESLAT is replaced by a test that isn’t a piece of garbage that any thinking teacher could improve upon with 90 minutes and a laptop?


Barr—There has to be a test out there somewhere. Evelyn De Jesus is working on it, and will continue to do so. We will keep you informed. We want someone who understands the needs of people who are school based and that needs of members are at the forefront. If they are insane we will find sanity for them.

Michael Mulgrew—President’s report—Asks new members to stand—welcomes them to more applause. Hopes everyone had a restful summer, thanks those who worked. This year we have to focus on what we can get done during next two years of this administration, after which there will be a mayor’s race. Must focus on what we’d like to keep.

Thanks those who came to Labor Day Parade, and those who prepared.

School opening has been smooth so far. Met with 2000 new members. Seems like there will be 5000 new hires. Much drama over gifted and talented, Looks like it will stay and there will be more access.

December 23—We are continuing convos with state and city. Commissioner has resigned. Thinks we’ll get there. Should never have happened, they know they were wrong. Safety issue, under ESSA we have to report attendance. Thanks parents and teachers for getting voices heard.

Over last few years, we’ve run more and more programs—we now have a call center here at UFT. It became tough to answer phones before. We want people to look at us as a resource. We are now answering more calls than ever, more work but work we want to do. Proud to be seen as support for school related or other things. We need to be patient—improving every day. Thanks everyone who went for training. We will get answers people need.

Outside of political work, consultation was important last year. Must build on what we started last year. Will push reluctant principals. Will have empowerment plans for every district. This will help empower and organize school chapters. Will have reports on how many schools were involved. Schools that use this tool are getting results. Gives us documentation to do what needs to be done. Thanks us for taking the time to do this. Thanks those who provide food. Says it will be a long and interesting year.

NYC performs well and keeps great graduation rate. Only way to make good policy is to listen to people who work in classrooms. A lot of people resist that and blame schools for everything. That continues to be our fight. They are supposed to support us. Thanks us.


Barr—union initiated grievance over envision math—members got training rate—our position is they should get per-session as posted. We will fight to get them paid.

Carl Kain—Over summer three decisions on behalf of individuals. Are precedents. Regents scoring doesn’t have to be both January and June. Can be one or other.

ELA scoring and religious accommodations—DOE said if someone missed training on Saturday couldn’t come until next question—we won, and had people trained on Sunday instead.

Paras and DC 75—Para was terminated, but placed back to work. First, service in D75 will count toward para probation now, of one term. Also defined term as five months.

Reports from districts—

Serbia Silva—invites to welcome back fest Lex 3rd Ave, cosponsored UFT and CD 4 10-1. Will register UFT there. Sat Sept 14

Rashad Brown—Reports that June 30 UFT marched 50th anniversary Stonewall Riots. Didn’t go to big corporatized parade. This was anti-corporate march. Thanks Anthony Harmon.

Janella Hinds—Heard about caring kind Alzheimers walk. Many members impacted, especially among families. UFT has developed partnership—If you’d like to participate we will have our first ever team with Caring Kind. Looks forward to phenomenal group

Eliu Lara—Reports that past June 20 brought school community together—gave kids laptops, printers, scientific calculators, backpack of school supplies, had reps from all over state. Kids were very happy and thank all of you for support.

Karen Alford—thanks to borough reps, staff and all who came out for new teacher week. Signed up over 2K over that week. Our ranks are growing. Just signed 220 on line. Please look for new members and support them, meet greet and help.

One of our schools, PS 52, will be on Inside Edition. Every student will get backpack of supplies

Doreen Berrios Castillo—First ever new secretaries orientation. DOE only 110

Arthur Goldstein—I want to talk about our trip to Texas. Evelyn De Jesus, LeRoy Barr, Janella Hinds, Tom Brown. Marie Callo, and maybe others in this room went last summer. We met AFT teachers there who told us what life was like without collective bargaining. It was mind-blowing for those of us who take that for granted. I know they were very happy to see us, and to see there is another way of doing things. I also know we will continue to support them.

We visited one of Trump’s internment camps, where we were denied entry. We stood in front of the building and held vigil until some guy with a gun offered to arrest us if we didn’t move to the sidewalk. We did that, and when we were just about finished he came around with some friends and their guns and told us we would now have to move all the way across the street. They also had tow trucks and threatened to tow our vans.

Randi Weingarten told us all to get in the vans. She told me if anyone was going to get arrested that day it would be her, and explained to me that getting arrested in Texas was no fun at all. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and we got to visit a Catholic charities facility that supports newcomers. We gave them a whole lot of necessities, and it was gratifying to see little children playing with teddy bears we’d brought them.  Tom says the family to whom we gave money is very grateful and in touch.

I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything, and I hope we follow up soon. I’m ready.

Tom Brown—Met many people, but walked in and saw a lady and her son. We took a tour, met Blancita and her 16 year old William, spoke only Spanish. Had arrived 3 days earlier, had walked fro Honduras for three and a half months. Wanted to get apprehended, asked for authorities.

Were granted asylum, but then had all their personal items confiscated. Were brought to bus station with nothing. We met them, sitting in a corner at Catholic Charities. They were on their way to Houston where father was. Had gone there 15 years ago. After three days father sent them bus tickets. That evening they were headed to Houston. Had not seen husband for 15 years, Willie had never met him. Had no money, broken cell phone. Group came, gave them money.

William sent pictures with clothes he and mom bought with money we gave him. Started school last Thursday. Wanted to thank all of us, AFT and UFT. When we met in lobby they gave us t-shirts. I took off my AFT shirt gave it to William. Have photo. They are forever thankful to us.

To meet someone who walked 3.5 months—they came because they’d been abused. They had to get out. Father was in Houston. They are together now. Have to go to court in three months for official asylum. Was proudest moment of being AFT/ UFT member.

Legislative report—Cassie Pruitt—More political—Please that yesterday at Columbia was successful training of union advocates to be presidential delegates. 200 showed. Will keep posted.

Thursday at 7 will be Democratic debate watch party. Will be special political guests.

Resolution to support Dorian victims—Karen Alford—Stories like Tom’s are who we are. We want to help victims. Were 100 foot waves. Death toll rising. Tens of thousands in need of aid. Asks that you support this resolution.

Resolution carries.

Barr—trying to figure how to help people in Bahamas and what exactly they need. Working with AFT.

Resolution to raise awareness about 202 census—Sterling Roberson—Census every ten years. Important because in NY we are under-represented, undercounted, below national average. Impacts funding for public services. Important we improve count. Public schools, housing depend on this. UFT will bring full court press to NY communities. Will work with partners and organizations. Big but important job. Will require our due diligence. Asks for support.

Resolution carries

We are adjourned—6:53

IO Classroom Sucks

I used to write that Skedula sucks, but it became the first thing you saw when you googled Skedula. I'm not sure whether or not that's why they changed their name, but they still suck. One of the reasons they suck is they are totally unresponsive. They actually sent someone to my school a few years back, and asked us what we wanted to see improved. Of course, no improvements followed.

This year IO Classroom sucks, but it's not 100% their fault. It's also the fault of the execrable Part 154, enacted by the geniuses in Albany to make sure that English Language Learners (ELLs) don't fritter away valuable classroom time learning English. Instead, we prep them for the English Regents exam. I'd argue the English Regents exam is the second worst test I've ever seen. The worst, of course, is the NYSESLAT, which theoretically measures English ability, but actually places students very poorly (and also rates teachers very poorly).

A particularly insightful idea the geniuses in Albany had was to group ELLs by grade rather than language level. Consequently, they decreed that students may be no more than one grade apart. That might make sense with very young children. For example, 1st and 4th graders may be at very different places developmentally. The Regents applied this across the board though, and couldn't be bothered noting that 9th and 12th graders may not have that issue. In fact, as someone who's taught them for decades, I can assure you they don't.

However, because of the directive by the Regents, I now find myself teaching as many as four classes in one room. (By "room," of course, I mean room, half-room, or trailer, all of which I teach in this semester. Thankfully, unlike the room and trailer, the half-room is actually air-conditioned.) There are several issues with this, the worst of which is recording grades for four classes instead of one. Actually, so far, there are only three, as four of my sixteen classes don't yet have students in them.

An administrator helped me the other day. There is, evidently, a way to combine classes within IO classroom. I thought that would solve my issue. To an extent, it did. I was able to combine my active classes together and rename them by period, as opposed to the long and incomprehensible letter and number alphabet soup mandated by the city. So I am now able to write, say, "homework #1," and assign it to three classes at a time. That's great.

Here's the problem, though--when I try to actually grade the homework, it shows up as three classes again. This means I have to separate the assignments into groups, or jump back and forth in those letter and number groups I don't recognize. This was not so bad last year, when I had only two groups in a class. After a while, I kind of remembered who fell into which groups. Three, likley four as I get more incoming, is beyond the pale.  If I had a paper marking book, I'd simply alphabetize all the students together and mark them very quickly.

This is redundant paperwork. IO Classroom ought to fix this instantly. If they don't, they'll have to deal with a UFT paperwork complaint, because I certainly won't hesitate to file it. Like every teacher, I haven't got time to jump through hoops on a daily basis in order to satisfy their lack of foresight and flexibility.

The Making of an Assistant Principal

Everyone wondered why Mr. Jones was so happy. The weight of the world seemed to be lifted from his shoulders. He had a spring in his step. His smile radiated 100% organic sunshine. Just last week he was a chronic complainer, but now he was reborn. No one knew why, at first.

A few days later, we noticed a harried young woman sitting in the cafeteria, frantically consulting books and writing things on her computer. She never spoke to anyone, so a friend and I introduced ourselves. She didn't want to stop, but she was polite nonetheless. It turned out she was Mr. Jones's student teacher. Mr. Jones had a comp-time job, sitting in an office somewhere, doing something or other, and only taught three classes. This young woman, with no experience whatsoever, and no evident support was prepping and teaching all of them.

As a student, she did this for no monetary compensation, while Mr. Jones sat in back of the classroom pretending to pay attention to what was going on. Nice work if you can get it, perhaps. It didn't pay well enough for him, so he tried to get a job at Queens College, where I happened to be working. He and a young woman I know applied at the same time, and both used me as a reference. I talked up the young woman, who was brilliant, and she was hired. When asked about him, I said I had no idea, and he wasn't hired. He called me at home on a Friday night to angrily ask why not. I had no idea, I told him. In fact I had no idea where he got my phone number. Shortly thereafter, he got a job at a different college.

Another colleague taught at Queens College, and had Mr. Jones and the same young woman in his class. He swears the young woman did the homework and Mr. Jones copied it. He also told me that one of his high school students was busily grading papers in his high school class. He asked why she was doing it, and was told they were the papers for Mr. Jones's college class. He took the papers and told the student to tell Mr. Jones to come ask for them.

I found that story hard to believe. One day, though, when I was working in a department office I noticed a young man across from me grading compositions. I asked why he was doing that. Mr. Jones was giving him extra credit, he said. Can you imagine paying for college and having a high school student grade your papers? I assume the kids did as good or better a job than Mr. Jones would have, but still.

A person gets tired, though, of not teaching and not grading papers. Who knows, for example, when someone was going to come and observe you? Sure, you wouldn't be teaching, but what if they asked why the student teacher was doing this or that? What could you say? You never consulted with her, and you hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing. Also, what with her grading all the work, you had no idea what the students were doing.

It was time for a new career, decided Mr. Jones, so he went to supervisor school. There was time, after all, since he didn't teach in the day, since he didn't grade night school papers, and since no one knew what exactly he were supposed to do at his comp-time job. Also, there was that paraprofessional who actually did all the, you know, actual comp-time work. Still, he had a ponderous, florid  multi-page resume enumerating in great detail all the things Mr. Jones did not actually do. But the resume used a lot of impressive big words, and why shouldn't it? Mr. Jones had paid a girl with a very high SAT score to write it.

Mr. Jones could be charming when he wanted to, and as soon as he had his administrative certificate, he snagged an administrative post. When the first school he worked in closed, he found another one. With every progressive gig, life became less demanding and tedious for Mr. Jones. Finally, he was able to spend more time doing the things he liked, whatever on earth they may be.

I hope he's not your boss today. Alas, the empty soul of Mr. Jones resides in many, many administrators.

Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't--Teacher Vilified in NY Daily News for Working Too Much

You know, you can't win. I'm forever reading about how lazy I am, how easy my job is, and how it's a walk in the park to stand around and have big fun with 34 teenagers in a trailer. On the other hand, if you work too much, you make too much money, and then you get dragged over the coals for that as well.

I gotta say, this piece caught my eye. The headline suggests outrage that a teacher managed to pull in 78K of per session. If you look more closely it also includes back pay, which evidently is also to be condemned. This teacher somehow did 1100 hours in addition to his teaching schedule.

A copy of Singh’s schedule for the 2018-19 school year reviewed by The News showed him teaching three out of eight periods a day, with the others devoted to scheduling, overseeing lunch, and coordinating coverage for missing teachers, as well as leading “senior activities” and a prep period.

Based on this, DN calls him a "part-time teacher." It's not clear whether or not the writer is aware that teachers do five classes a day, not eight. By that definition, I'm a part-time teacher too, since I teach four classes out of eight. To get this plum assignment, all I have to do is be UFT chapter leader of the largest school in Queens, the most overcrowded in the city. Doing this in addition to teaching four classes of teenagers is a walk in the park, and I have no doubt the reporter could do it in his sleep.

I was sorely disappointed to see this quote:

“I never see him staying with kids” after school, one teacher said.

It's not only that the guy is a programmer, and that this particular job does not entail staying with kids. It's not only that programmers do long hours, and that this often entails extra hours. It's not only that people ought to, you know, be paid for their work. It's also that it's disappointing to see UFT members trashing one another in the press. It's particularly egregious when their arguments have no merit.

Hey, if someone commits an atrocity, I don't expect everyone to get up and applaud. It's quite different to complain that someone whose job does not entail staying with kids doesn't stay with kids. This person doesn't even give a name.

Let's look at what's really wrong here, if something is wrong. That looks like a lot of per-session hours. Did this person really need them? If not, there is indeed fault. I'd lay it at the feet of administrators, whose job it is to post these hours and select someone to take them. In fact, it's on someone like me, the chapter leader and "part-time teacher," to make sure that postings go up and candidates are chosen according to contractual regulations.

It's disappointing to see something so misleading in the paper, aimed at instigating anger toward teachers. I can't really speculate on how much this teacher's efforts were needed or not. However, it's administrators who decide how to allot per-session hours. It's on chapter leaders, people like me, to make sure that they are posted and everyone gets a chance to apply.

Personally, I don't seek extra hours. I already lack sufficient hours in the day to do what I want. However, I worked for over twenty years as an adjunct professor. I didn't want to live in a tree, and it's tough to make ends meet. 

It's on members to speak up if they aren't being considered. I've found times when jobs were given to members without rotations, and I've corrected them when I could. Sometimes members will not complain, and will specifically instruct me not to complain either. I can't do much about that. The truth is I have no idea what's going on here, and it's disappointing that most people who read this article will think they do.

Finally, how does this teacher make 130K when UFT salary maxes out around 10K less than that?

There's more here than meets the eye. At the very least, there's more than reached the eye of the reporter, whose job entails, you know, reporting.

Startup Tips

Tomorrow is the first day we meet students. Here are some tips I wrote for new teachers. I'm sticking by them. If anyone has anything new to add, please do so in the comments.

I Wish Someone Had Told Me

I hope you are kind to children, and I hope you like and respect them. If you don't, you may wish to look elsewhere for advice. If you really care about the kids you teach, read on.

Practical suggestions were few and far between when I started out. I was an English teacher, with an AP who spent hours describing the difference between an “aim” and an “instructional objective.” To this day, I haven’t the slightest notion what she was talking about. She also spent a good deal of time describing the trials and tribulations of her cooking projects, and other utterly useless information.

Neither she nor any teacher of education ever advised me on classroom control. The standing platitude was “A good lesson plan is the best way to control a class,” but I no longer believe that. I think a good lesson plan is the best thing to have after you control the class.

I also think a good lesson plan need not be written at all, as long as you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, neither the lesson plan nor the aim will be much help. (Note--neither the DOE nor your supervisor accepts that, so have a lesson plan available anyway. I do.)

The best trick, and it’s not much of a trick at all, is frequent home contact. It’s true that not all parents will be helpful, but I’ve found most of them to be. When kids know reports of their classroom behavior will reach their homes, they tend to save the acting out for your lazier colleagues—the ones who find it too inconvenient to call. You are not being "mean" or petty--you're doing your job, and probably helping the kid. If you want to really make a point, make a dozen calls after the first day of class. Or do it the day before a week-long vacation.

Now you could certainly send that ill-mannered kid to the dean, to your AP, to the guidance counselor, or any number of places. But when you do that, you’re sending a clear message that you cannot deal with that kid—he or she is just too much for you. You’ve already lost.

And what is that dean going to do anyway? Lecture the child? Call the home? Why not do it yourself?

You need to be positive when you call. Politely introduce yourself and say this:

“I’m very concerned about _______________. ___________ is a very bright kid. That’s why I’m shocked at these grades: 50, 14, 0, 12, and 43 (or whatever). I’d really like __________ to pass the class, and I know you would too.”

I’ve yet to encounter the parent who says no, my kids are stupid, and I don’t want them to pass.

“Also, I’ve noticed that ___________ is a leader. For example, every time ___________ (describe objectionable behavior here) or says (quote exact words here—always immediately write objectionable statements) many other students want to do/say that too.”

"I'm also concerned because ________ was absent on (insert dates here) and late (insert dates and lengths here).

I certainly hope you will give _________ some good advice so ___________ can pass the class.”

If the kid’s parents speak a foreign language you don’t know, find someone else who also speaks it, and write down what you want that person to tell the parent.

If you’re lucky enough to have a phone in your room, next time you have a test, get on the phone in front of your class and call the homes of the kids who aren’t there. Express concern and ask where they are. If the kid is cutting, it will be a while before that happens again. If the kid is sick, thank the parent and wish for a speedy recovery.

The kids in your class will think twice about giving you a hard time.

Kids test you all the time. It’s hard not to lose your temper, but it’s a terrible loss for you if you do. When kids know you will call their homes, they will be far less likely to disrupt your class. The minutes you spend making calls are a very minor inconvenience compared to having a disruptive class.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a reasonable and supportive AP, God bless you. If not, like many teachers, you’ll just have to learn to take care of yourself. If you really like kids, if you really know your subject, and if you really want to teach, you’ll get the hang of it.

But make those phone calls. The longer you do it, the more kids will know it, and the fewer calls you’ll have to make.

Your AP, whether good, bad, or indifferent, will certainly appreciate having fewer discipline problems from you. More importantly, you might spend less time dealing with discipline problems, and more helping all those kids in your room.

Originally posted June 5, 2005

See also:

Ms. Cornelius with everything they forgot (or more likely, never knew about) at ed. school.   Here's something from Miss Malarkey. And whatever you do, don't forget Miss Eyre's excellent series on what no one will tell you about working for the DoE.