ATRs Are the Golden Key for Reformies

Thanks to the blogger at ATR Adventures for alerting me to pieces I miss. This one, from the NY Post, is important for several reasons. First of all, it's important that they even bothered to speak with a real teacher and former ATR in the form of James Eterno. That's a step up from a lot of the nonsense I've seen on the same topic in Chalkbeat.

It's also important that the article attributed this demonstration, like others of its ilk, to a reformy astroturf group. In this case, it's charter-loving StudentsFirstNY, and offshoot of Michelle Rhee's group. Rhee, of course, has moved on to a gig that deals with actual fertilizer rather than what passes as information with her BFFs.

The big question, of course, is why the reformies are so preoccupied with the ATR, or Absent Teacher Reserve. Why, if they want to push privately run charter schools, do they even care whether or not we put these people to work?

I'd argue the answer is pretty basic. We are all ATRs waiting to happen. It's just a matter of being in the wrong place at the right time. I worked at John Adams High School for about seven years. It was just a simple twist of fate that I'm not there anymore. When Adams became a Renewal school, or whatever they were calling it that year, all the teachers had to reapply for their jobs. I recall reading the majority didn't bother. That could easily have been me. Or you.

Even the NY Times is piling on ATR teachers. I expected better from them, but I've been wrong before. Of course newspapers have unions, and they'd probably like them to go away. Who wants to deal with contracts when you could just cut pay, benefits, and rights? Once you do that, you can treat people any damn way you please, and keep more money for yourself. And that's directly relevant to us.

Right now, NY charter schools can certify their own teachers any way they want. It's a month of training, 40 hours in the classroom, or something, and then they are teachers, sort of. Charters have a turnover problem. They treat people like crap and people seem not to like it. People say it isn't sustainable if you want to, oh, get married, have children, live a life or anything like that.

This is tough for charter school bosses. In fact, I know charter teachers who've moved to public schools, and they aren't going back, ever. Despite all the things I write, and all the nonsense we endure, our jobs are a walk in the park compared to charter schools. Can you imagine having to take a cell phone home to answer questions after work? Imagine having to take bus rides to Albany at Eva's beck and call. Imagine having no contract, no rights, and no voice.

People who run charter schools have not only imagined, but also realized all those things. They see them as a prototype for all of us. They're reinforcing it with their limited certification. What if the charter teachers can't move to public school gigs? People with charter certification will be stuck. It's unlikely there's time to work in a charter and take night classes. After all, you have that phone to answer, and you've probably only slept eight minutes, what with making home visits and doing who knows what else.

The ATR was an egregious error in the 2005 contract, quite possibly the worst mistake the UFT ever made. We made a strong showing against the awful contract, but it wasn't good enough. The ATR is kind of our Achilles Heel. Bloomberg used it against us, demanding a time limit for ATRs. Leadership, to its credit, hung tough. Of course, this resulted in an inferior contract for us and a pattern that was the worst I've ever seen.

This notwithstanding, giving up the ATRs would place targets on all our backs. Close this school, close that school, wait a few months, and then fire everyone. Where do fired teachers go? Many I know have gone to charter schools. It's ironic that the people out marching against ATRs are perfectly OK with that.

Here's why it's OK--degrading and debasing middle class jobs is a win for the hedge funders and gazillioanaires who fund groups like StudentsFirst. They'll shed crocodile tears about how it's all about the children, but it's all about the money. Janus isn't enough for them. They want it all, they want it now, they want more, and they don't give a golly gosh darn if you go begging, eat cat food, or both.

That's the master plan, in fact. Crap jobs for you, crap jobs for the children they claim to love, no union, and bring back the good old days of the nineteenth century. Child labor isn't far behind.

Doing to the Times What the Times Does to ATR Teachers

Judith Miller was a reporter at the NY Times. She was known for "anti-Isiamic bias," and was famous for perpetrating the weapons of mass destruction nonsense that dragged us into a costly and endless involvement in Iraq. She was also involved in the disastrous matter of Valerie Plame. Though she acknowledged having used inaccurate sources, she went on to work for Fox News and Newsmax, likely offering the same crap she did at the Times.

Jayson Blair was famously caught fabricating sources, yet continued on writing. Blair wrote a book called Burning Down My Master's House, and people not only bought it, but also evidently read it. In the book, Blair revealed substance abuse, and revealed that he had committed said abuse before he left the NY Times.

Numerous columnists on the NY Times write baseless reformy nonsense. This includes Nicholas Kristof, who put forth the absurd notion that teacher certification was keeping Colin Powell and Meryl Streep from careers as teachers, though neither of them had expressed any remote interest in doing so. Kristof also thinks that students need to learn Spanish before they learn Chinese, as though no American child has Chinese family, or interest in learning the most-spoken language in the world.

NY Times Columnist Charles Blow thinks Eli Broad is fighting the good fight to "reform" education. Diane Ravitch deems him hopelessly misinformed, and says he relies on flawed information. He's one of several NY Times columnist who got on board with the Common Core lovefest the paper seemed to embrace.

Former food critic Frank Bruni was made a columnist, and writes a whole lot of nonsense about city teachers. He indulges in stereotype and says it's nearly impossible to fire teachers. Oddly, I know teachers who have been fired, and I'm just a lowly teacher, without nearly the resources of a NY Times reporter. Bruni relies on interviews with E4E folk for information, and that's good enough for him. Bruni relies on logical fallacy like appeal to authority to make his point.

Do you see what I'm doing here? I'm using stereotype to bash the NY Times. I'm giving you several examples, drawn from who knows how many, and painting a picture of the entire organization. This is the same as when people point to members of a religion, racial group, or nationality and attribute some quality to said group as a result. I'm an ESL teacher. I have taught students from every corner of the earth, from many religions and countries. One thing I've learned is that no stereotype is true.

Over at the NY Times, education reporter Kate Taylor has learned no such thing. Thus, she takes a handful of anecdotes about ATR teachers, places them all into a story, and paints the entire group with one brush. That's stereotype, that's logical fallacy, and make no mistake, that's what the Times is offering us as reporting.

This is no different from the trash we see in NY Post and Fox News editorials. I read education reporting all the time, and the Times is way behind the News and the Post. I remember, years ago, reading that the February break was a big loss for parents, because they'd have to find some way to care for their children. Unlike every single teacher in NY, the Times was unaware that NYC's preferred alternative to the week off was teachers going in for PD. There was no scenario under which the students were going to attend, but that didn't get in their way of demonizing the UFT.

This Times story is a disgraceful piece of trash. This is exactly how Campbell Brown made her career as a reformy, and the Times story is no better than any of the nonsense propagated in the tabloids by Brown. Kate Taylor should get in touch with her inner sense of shame, if indeed she has one.

I Took 48 CREDITS at Supervisor School and They NEVER ONCE Said Not to Smuggle Heroin into Prison!

You know, I can't believe this. I take an ENTIRE MASTER'S DEGREE in administration, I finally get the principal gig and not ONCE did anyone say anything about not smuggling heroin into prison. I mean, what's up with that?

Everyone does things when they're off work. I know this teacher who plays fiddle in bluegrass bands on weekends, and I mean, like everyone, I HATE that music, but you don't see me trying to have the teacher FIRED over it. Well, MAYBE I put a little-bitty letter in his file, but EVERYONE does THAT.

That's not what I'm all about. I mean, PROGRAMMING. Ask me anything about programming. I can do three classes in a row, but I don't do four or that stupid chapter leader is up and screaming bloody murder. I mean, what's the big deal? You'd think teaching FOUR classes in a row was gonna give someone a massive coronary or something. But NOOOOOO. It just won't do, because it's in the CONTRACT, and so I have to go and change not one, not two, but THREE programs to do it.

But take a look for SMUGGLING HEROIN into a PRISON. Do you see ONE stinking WORD about it? Of course you don't. But they nailed me for it, the bastards. Why? Because they're jealous of my power. They wish they could summon teachers to their offices but they can't.

Those teachers babble on about this and that, and they do nothing but complain about my work. I go in there with my iPad and tell them exactly why they suck and do they thank me? Do they ever once offer to wash my car? I mean, they could, just ONCE thank me for all the things I do for them. There's this little guy who teaches science. I always see him walking down the stairs. But I never push him. You'd think he'd thank me for that, but NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Too much trouble.

And there goes little Miss Sunshine. All the students love her. I saw her in the park last week, jogging with a bunch of kids. She was right by the pond and I could have easily tripped her. She would have gone flying into the water. But I didn't do it, because that's the kind of person I turned out to be. And again, not a WORD of thanks. What ingratitude.

Après moi le déluge, baby.  You think you're gonna find ANOTHER principal who will treat you so well? Not on your life. Do you have any idea how many of you I DIDN'T write up for no reason? Do any of you appreciate it? No, it's always, "How come I got a letter in my file for eating an apple in class?" Did any of you ONCE offer ME a piece of the apple? Yes, I LIKE apples. I was a teacher too, you know, for two whole years.

You want to fire me? Fine. I hope they send you the worst of the worst Leadership Academy principals. I hope she speaks in slogans no one understands. Mess with ME will you? You will regret this. Don't worry, I'll land on my feet. I'll just become principal of a charter school. They'll hire anyone and there are no stinking contracts so I can do whatever I want.

THEY won't fire me for smuggling an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bag of heroin into a prison. And after I do a few years there, I'm coming BACK.

I'll get the LAST LAUGH, you worthless ungrateful wretches.

In Which I Am Asked to Collaborate with David Cantor and the 74

Yesterday I got an email from Norm Scott, saying that David Cantor, former mouthpiece for the execrable former Chancellor Joel Klein, wanted him to comment on union dues. Norm declined, of course. Union dues are in the news, I suppose, because we're facing Janus and a "Right to Work" nation. I have a lot of issues with UFT leadership, but I don't remotely support that.

You see Cantor's new gig is working for the 74, the reformy website initiated by self-styled education expert Campbell Brown. Evidently Brown, who now works for Facebook, has turned over the reformy reins. I mean, someone has to spread the word about the perfidy of those of us who choose to spend our lives helping children, and I guess it's his turn.

I wondered who else Cantor would reach out to. I didn't have to wonder long.

@TeacherArthurG Can I speak briefly w/you about dues?

— david cantor (@cantorrac) October 10, 2017

Well, what can you say to that?

You just did. I have no more to say on the topic. But it was an enjoyable conversation. Enjoy the 74! https://t.co/OJ4W2pqM0Z

— Arthur Goldstein (@TeacherArthurG) October 10, 2017

I mean, really, he talked to me. That's what he asked to do. What more could he want? I mean, I guess I could have told him some nonsense about dues. But honestly, here's what I think about union dues--they're like taxes. I'm paying my share.

Now if I didn't pay taxes, someone else would have to pay my share. In fact, that's kind of how America works. Rich people are so sensitive, if you touch them they'll probably break. That's why rich people pay so little in taxes. Cantor's old boss, Joel Klein, has doubtless raked in truckloads of cash working for Rupert Murdoch, and he needs do keep it. That's why we can't have universal health care. That's why we can't have a living wage. That's why college is unaffordable for so many of our students. Maybe Cantor has tons of cash too. Who knows? Reforminess tends to pay well, certainly better than teaching.

Anyway, because the rich people are so awfully sensitive, they need to siphon off funds from public schools, Thus they establish Moskowitz Academies where kids pee their pants rather than sacrifice one moment of test prep. (You know, because tests are way more important than basic biological functions.) Thus they establish cyber charters where maybe kids show and maybe they don't.

In any case, Cantor was not 100% satisfied with my answer:

It wasn’t so enjoyable but I understand.

— david cantor (@cantorrac) October 10, 2017

Well, not everything can be enjoyable, I guess.

Working under you and Klein wasn't that enjoyable for 100,000 UFT members. But I understood. That's why you get no story from me. https://t.co/TOV6MtIavh

— Arthur Goldstein (@TeacherArthurG) October 10, 2017

I mean jeez, talk about sleeping with the enemy. There's a court case called Janus designed to obliterate union and I've got reformies contacting me asking me to help them do it. My guess is he'll find some E4E type ready to demand more work for less pay. It's all about the children and that's why I'm willing to work 200 hours a week, be on call on my charter school cell phone until one AM, get up at four to go to PD, and get fired for no reason because I have no union.

Make no mistake, that's precisely the life the reformies have in mind for not only us, but our children as well.

The Big Lie

It's the national pastime, you know. With Donald Trump as President, black is white, day is night, and up is down. No more waiting for Wacky Wednesday.

I once had a student hand me several unsolicited extra credit papers early in the term. One was about the delights of reading Shakespeare. Bear in mind that this was from an ESL class. I had been reading this girl's writing fairly consistently, and it wasn't hard for me to distinguish her writing from that of some hack on the internet. She absolutely expected me to give her credit. I declined.

Another student of mine wrote an A paper for an assistant principal who was teaching a class. I was in a department office when some students, who had the paper for some reason, showed it to me. I knew immediately it was 100% plagiarized. I took the paper, looked up the student's schedule, pulled her out of her class and told her if she had handed that to me, she'd have gotten an F.

"You're not gonna tell Ms. Grundy, " she said.

I told her no, but if I could recognize it others could too, and she wouldn't get away with it forever.

More recently a student gave me a medical note. This was a student I knew to cut class. The top of the paper had the name of a medical clinic, but no address or phone number. I also noticed that the signature was not live, but rather copied. If that weren't enough, I saw the student's handwriting in two places. It said __________________ was absent on ___________________. He had written his name in both places.

I told him I had a problem with these things and I was going to call the doctor. He said go ahead. So I looked up the number on my little computer, I called, and I found out that the clinic had no record of this student. I then brought him into the hall, where he explained that he had gone to that place, but just not on the day he was absent. This was also a lie, since the clinic had never heard of him.

I really don't understand this. The student could've just admitted that the note was false before I called. This would've saved me a lot of trouble. Now I'd have to write the thing up, call the parent, summon her to school and have a meeting. Had the student copped to what he'd done, I'd have marked him cutting and we'd be done with it.

Here's the thing--I am not terribly surprised that students cut class now and then. I was a teenager, and in retrospect I'm surprised I didn't cut more than I did. Actually most of my cuts were a result of classes being too early for me. Making that 8 AM health class was a challenge. How I passed it and graduated high school remains a mystery to me.

But if the teacher had asked me why I wasn't there, I'd have said I overslept. I wasn't proud of it or anything, but tt wasn't anything more than that. Why would I complicate the situation by lying about it? Why bother bringing in a phony note? And if I'd gotten caught, and the teacher had a phone in her hand, why would I tell her to go ahead and call? Could it be that the kid thought I was making an empty threat? Why would I do such a thing?

Evidently there is a school of thought that once you create a lie, you stick with it. If you get caught, you mitigate or adjust it so that it appears to be less of a lie, even if it isn't.

When I screw up, I just say I'm sorry and move on. I don't see the advantage of doing otherwise. I sometimes wonder whether I'm growing out of touch with our national culture. 

NYSUT, Where Officers Can Do Anything and Everything

Those wacky Revive NYSUT folks and their zany antics continue unabated. NYSUT used to have a Staff Director, whose duties included acting as a liaison between officers and staff. About a year ago, he retired. Rather than hire another one, Vice President Paul Pecorale took on his duties. This is interesting on multiple levels.

First of all, what is it that Paul Pecorale did every day before he was Staff Director? I mean, there you are making a quarter million dollars a year to do something. Whatever it is, though, you have time to do the entire job of another person. This indicates that at least one of these jobs didn't really merit a full salary. Which one? Both? Your guess is as good as mine. (I know Stronger Together proposed eliminating one officer job in the last election and ran for one fewer than Unity did.)

I'm just a lowly schoolteacher. With my job as chapter leader I get one period off teaching. With 300 members, it's not nearly enough to keep up. Fortunately I like being challenged, and I'm up for it. Nonetheless, for years now I've been offered a sixth class. Because ESL is a shortage area, I could make an extra 13K a year. Sure I'd like to make the money. But I can't figure out how I could keep up with what I already do with a sixth class. In fact, I have no idea how I keep up with what I do now.

Yet Paul Pecorale, earning over double my salary for a high profile job leading the state union, somehow has time to take on not just another class, but rather an entire other job. I always wonder what those people do. I didn't have to wonder what Lee Cutler did. He was endlessly running all over the state, making contact with teachers. He was much loved and came very close to putting a huge dent in the statewide Unity machine, largely controlled by the citywide Unity machine.

There were, of course, repercussions to the Revive NYSUT coup. For one, there's now a resistance group in the state union called Stronger Together. They were beaten back in the last election, but with shenanigans on high for all to see, they could do better. I had my issues with them when they didn't include MORE in their last campaign, but there are some real quality people in this resistance.

I know they are real quality because I've met them. Current President Andy Pallotta knows they're quality too. That's why he asked some of them to run with him in the 2014 coup before settling on the batch he eventually wound up with. The thing is, a lot of people Pallotta asked had loyalty to Lee Cutler and Dick Iannuzzi. Having spent time with both it's not hard to see why.

Let's drop personalities and take a look at what the Staff Director does. I don't know everything this person does, but one role my sources offered is as a liaison between staff and officers. This could be important. For example, if a staff member has an issue with the officers, that member doesn't have to face them directly. In that way, staff director is s a little like my job. A lot of chapter members, right or wrong, don't want to speak to the principal so they address him through me. Whatever the principal is good, bad or indifferent, he's the boss. A lot of people, being smarter than I am, wish to avoid being adversarial. That's one reason why, in city schools, we have chapter leaders.

Now imagine that the principal fired the chapter leader and appointed himself chapter leader. Whenever you have an issue with the principal, you can go talk to the principal. He will then relay your concerns to the principal, who will work something out with himself and issue a decision.

Hardly seems worth it, actually.

What this means, essentially, is that NYSUT staff have lost something of value. When you have an issue with the boss, it's always easier if you have a representative. That's one of the benefits of union.

Curiously, NYSUT seems to feel their employees don't merit this benefit. Ironic, ain't it?

Put a Letter in My Box

That was the advice I got from a former chapter leader. What do you do when you get advice like that? Me, I'd write a letter and put it in his box. I can't remember whether or not there was any follow up.

I do recall, though, that the main advice I got from the guy who I replaced was to say that to everyone and everything. "80% of them won't do it," he confided. I also recall the first time, as chapter leader, I had a UFT rep visit our school. She shared these very same words of wisdom with me. I'm thinking they likely came from on high.

When I became chapter leader I made it a point to get every email address I could. I opened a new gmail account and sorted the addresses by department so I could mail to one group at a time. I get email all the time and I answer it instantly. It comes to my phone and buzzes my watch. I figure it's my job to either respond to member queries, or find someone who can, but what do I know?

At UFT Executive Board they never tell me to put a letter in their box. (I don't even know whether or not they have boxes, and if they did their locations would probably be top secret.) I stand up and ask questions at virtually every meeting. At the last two, the response was some variation or other of, "We'll get back to you." When I cited Class Size Matters research on overcrowding, Howie Schoor questioned their assertion, based on DOE figures, that half of our students were in overcrowded conditions. He then said he'd get back to us. I've now had two reps from Class Size Matters offer to explain their research to the board. I told Howie the good news, but he hasn't seen fit to respond.

It's pretty clear to me that put a letter in my box is code for, "I'd rather not be bothered." I see increasing evidence this is unofficial leadership policy. It's telling that UFT's website offers no clue that members are free to address the Executive Board. It's only because the high school reps invite and enable people visiting that they've heard from so many abused teachers this year. I have no doubt the majority would rather approve the minutes, tell one another what a great job they're doing, eat the crappy sandwiches and go home twenty minutes later.

As for immediate action, I get mixed messages from UFT leadership On the one hand, I hear that we need to organize pre-Janus. The Constitutional Convention seems an ideal opportunity to foster that. I've got 300 members in my school. Thus far, after many meetings, I've amassed just six or seven buttons and two bumper magnets. I wore the button and every time someone asked about it I gave it away. I now have none. I got one bumper magnet at the citywide chapter leader meeting, and it's on my car. (The only reason it's still there is because I tend to park my car outside the building, so no one asks me about it.) My district rep. gave me one more, and I gave it away within minutes. I'm amazed that they've failed to utilize such a simple, consciousness-raising organizing tool effectively.

In fact, last week I stayed after the Queens chapter leader meeting for a con-con meeting. I already know about con-con. In fact, I recruited a whole lot of people to COPE, for the first time ever, so as to fight it. I went there specifically to collect swag I could distribute to members. Instead, I endured 30 minutes of a two-hour lecture, learned there were no more bumper magnets, and mercifully left before I had to hear the other 90.

As for organizing post-Janus, I'm just not sure. For me it's a moral imperative to pay union dues. But my most dreaded task as chapter leader is collecting $15 a head, per year, for our Sunshine Fund. Some people tell me the UFT didn't get them LIFO, the day came out of their bank, and therefore they aren't giving the union any more money. I tell them this money goes to a luncheon and gifts for members but they don't care. Some people tell me they have phone and electric bills. Some say they don't feel well-served by UFT but won't say why. I'm not confident they'll instantly agree if I ask they send $1200 a year to 52 Broadway.

A few weeks ago at Executive Board, some genius or other in leadership decided it would be a good idea to abridge our right to bring resolutions. It was odd because we weren't all that focused on resolutions. We had just come from a very positive meeting with HS VP Janella Hinds and were looking to work together. We walk out, go down to the meeting, and they essentially inform us we can go screw ourselves.

Here are a few things to ponder:

1. Technically, membership should guide the Delegate Assembly. The DA, theoretically, is the highest-ranking body in the UFT.  Executive Board should support th DA, and AdCom should support the Executive Board. In reality, AdCom makes most of the decisions for UFT and are never voted down by Executive Board or DA. 20,000 high school teachers have no democratically elected representation on AdCom.

2. NYSUT is the NY State teacher union.20,000 high school teachers have no democratically elected representation on NYSUT.

3. AFT is the national teacher union. 20,000 high school teachers have no democratically elected representation on AFT.

4. A whole lot of chapter leaders join the Unity Caucus. They all sign loyalty oaths and do as they're told. Many are motivated by patronage rather than activism. To be successful post-Janus, UFT needs to emphasize the latter over the former. Leadership is spectacularly unprepared to do that.

5. None of the high school reps have UFT jobs. We are activists, each and every one, doing the work regardless of what leadership does for us (or to us). Leadership seems to feel that spitting in our faces is somehow productive. Thus they demand advance notice of resolutions, even though we all teach full-time, come from all over the city and have very limited time to meet.

I've actually been trying to work with UFT leadership on multiple levels. I didn't attend the meeting with Janella just to pass the time. I have 500 other things I could be doing. I can't speak for the other high school EB members, but that anti-resolution resolution dialed my good will back by a good two years.

And hey, for every action there's a reaction. Unity doesn't consider things like that, and that's why we're facing, for example, Janus.

This was one of the stupidest moves I've ever seen, and stupid is not what's going to save the United Federation of Teachers. You want real activists to help and support you, UFT leadership? You might try treating us with a modicum of respect.

Otherwise, put a letter in my box.

A Dog of a Situation

A few months ago, my daughter moved out of the house and took our dog Julio with her. There was not a whole lot I could do about it. She wanted a dog for years, and one birthday we relented and got one. I hadn't had a dog since I was a kid. I was very surprised about how quickly and thoroughly I bonded with him. I never knew how much I missed having a dog until we got one.

I spend a lot of time writing at home. That's what I'm doing right now, as a matter of fact. It's not spectacularly fun to hang out with someone who's writing, but Julio sat by my side every moment. Sometimes he would look at me imploringly with those big brown eyes, and that meant it was time to go out. I would stop whatever I was doing and oblige.

Julio spent a lot of his time on top of a love seat, zealously guarding our home. Whenever a squirrel ran by, he'd dutifully report. I'd ask him what it was, and he'd look at me just like in the picture above. I'd walk to the window and check it out. He was usually gratified that I did so, and calmed down. The only thing that really bothered him was big dogs. For reasons I can't fathom, big dogs required intense barking that didn't stop until they were a block away. I'm sure his bark was worse than his bite, because he never bit anyone.

I waited a few months before contemplating getting another dog. After all, you never know when a kid will turn around and come home. I took Julio's loss pretty hard and didn't want to go through it again anytime soon, so I decided to try to get a younger dog or a puppy. But I wasn't going to just go to a store like my daughter did.

Right after we got Julio, a friend of mine asked why I didn't go to a rescue. There are all these dogs wanting for homes, and I just went where my daughter found the dog, took out a credit card, and brought him home. I told her I had no idea about rescues, and that Julio needed us just as much as those rescue dogs did. But I also promised her that the next time I sought a dog I'd try to get a rescue.

Julio is a morkie, half Maltese and half Yorkie. Neither of these breeds sheds much, if at all, so they're considered hypoallergenic. My daughter has bad reactions to cats and some dogs, but she's fine with Julio. So we need another dog with that quality. In addition to Yorkies and Maltese, Schnauzers, Havanese, and Poodles have this quality. We want our daughter to be able to visit us without having an allergy attack.

The first place I looked was at a shelter five minutes from my house. There's a puppy we liked there, and I applied. I had to give references. They also wanted to do a home inspection. I told them fine, filled out a long application, and left. They said they would call the next day. I made a donation to them on line. Several weeks later, they haven't called us, and they haven't called our references.

A Facebook friend told me to use Petfinder. About a week after not hearing from the local rescue, I did. I've applied to four or five places. The last application I filled out was eight pages long. Yes we have an enclosed yard with a six foot fence. Yes our dog was neutered. No we won't leave the dog alone for long periods of time. No we won't leave the dog chained up outside. Yes you can come and do a surprise inspection. No we've never surrendered a dog before. No I can't think of a reason we'd surrender a dog. Yes we'll bring the dog back to you if we ever do that. No we've never had a dog hit by a car. Yes you can call our vet. What if I drop dead tomorrow? The dog goes to my wife and then my daughter.

So far, only one of the places has called our references. As it happens, it's the only place that hasn't got a dog we're interested in. I've got a line on a dog we like but this place doesn't have an online application. I printed it out and completed it, but thus far I have no idea where to bring it. Yes I've asked, and yes I will follow up. This place has actually gone to the trouble of contacting me via email, and that's more than any other place has done.

I worked for years as a musician. I can't remember the last time I did an audition, but I remember I hated them and they were not often productive. Very early we decided to make recordings so as to avoid them. You don't like the recording? Then you won't like us either and no we're not playing for free so you can make sure.  I feel like I've spent the last month in a perpetual audition.

I've read about puppy mills and I'm not going to the puppy store five minutes from my house, even though it would be very easy. I've also read about breeders who raise dogs in their homes and I've located one upstate New York that raises Yorkies. There seem to be a lot of them in Pennsylvania. I've traveled to Pennsylvania to play gigs that barely covered my expenses. I'd certainly go there to get a dog.

I'll keep trying the rescue route, but I won't wait forever. I kind of feel like bringing animals into your home and caring for them is a win-win. I won't patronize a puppy mill, but I can certainly understand why other people are driven to do so. It seems to me that some rescues, by blatantly ignoring those who reach out to them, have to be driving a whole lot of pet enthusiasts over to Puppy Palace. That's exactly what they're in business to avoid.

To PD or Not to PD?

These days a whole lot of teachers need a whole lot of special PD credit. It's called CTLE credit. Not everyone needs it. If I'm not mistaken, you don't need it for your initial certificate. Also if you're an antique like me with a permanent license you don't need it either.

But if you're in the great middle, you need those credits. You need 100 of them over five years. Now here's the thing--the DOE doesn't necessarily offer it. Technically, they are a vendor now, after a year of not being one. But they can't necessarily keep records. Having visited them many times, I wouldn't trust them to remember anything.  They also can't just get up and give classes without approval. They haven't bothered with the whole due diligence thing. You know, that's for teachers.

So when your principal gets up and says lateness is bad, that kids shouldn't be late, that you should tell them not to be late, and that the whole being late thing is just not okay, and when he explains that for ninety minutes, it doesn't mean you're gonna get the CTLE credit for it. You'll have to go out and get some yourself. You might even have to pay for it.

In fact, our principal sent out a list of CTLE courses during school hours. When I asked whether he was planning to release teachers to take these courses, he said, and I quote, "Yes." I was happily surprised. (Maybe this could start a trend.)

Now one of the super-wonderful things about the last contract, according to leadership, was that teachers would now have a voice in PD. There would be teacher-led PD, and it would no longer be a long lecture on exactly why students shouldn't be late. That sounds good, but it's not necessarily practical. In my school, for example, our PD committee offered teachers ten per-session hours to prepare PD. While I think that was a very fair offer, not many teachers responded.

But let's say they did. If that were to happen, a whole lot of teachers would sit through a PD that might not work for them. They would be frustrated. What am I doing here when I'm not getting the credit I need to keep my license? Do you want to get up in front of a crowd like that and tell them about the new program you're using in your class? Maybe they'll be polite. Maybe they won't. But that's what you call a tough crowd.

I was trained last summer, by UFT, to give CTLE hours in ESL. I did this because I thought that I'd be helping people who need them. But guess what? People who don't need CTLE hours are not necessarily thrilled by it. I got to hear all about that when I offered PD to my staff. A lot of people just don't want to do PD at all.

Now you could argue that, hey, PD is necessary because we need to learn constantly. We need to improve constantly. Nonetheless, I've been doing this for three decades, and I'd estimate, very conservatively, that 95% of it has been a waste of time. So I absolutely understand cynicism. Calling it CTLE doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile.

I spoke with a young teacher a few weeks ago who said that his school had particular needs, and that PD would be very helpful. He thought it was a way for teachers to support one another. That makes sense to me. In fact, it makes more sense than hitting people with sledge hammers and saying, "You will take this PD." The problem is there are a whole lot of sledge hammers out there. Some are CTLE and some aren't.

Finding really valuable PD is tough. What I need might not be what you need. The whole CTLE thing is kind of a buzzkill. It was difficult to begin with. But to tell people you need this particular sort of PD, to mandate it, and then not offer it, borders on insane. So very new teachers don't require PD at all, but may be in dire need of it. Teachers with newer certificates have dire need of CTLE credit but are unlikely to get it at work. The last group, people like me, may need something but don't require it at all.

Go ahead and try to persuade me that PD is valuable. My experience tells me it isn't. Placing the title CTLE on it won't change my mind. Actually I'd love to see valuable PD that addressed my concerns. Oddly, most of the things I worry about are outside of the classroom. The classroom itself is one of the most peaceful areas I know of. That's not to say my classroom isn't crazy, and that's not to say the craziness in my classroom isn't my fault. Nonetheless, it's one of my favorite places ever.

Outside of the classroom I spend an awful lot of time reading about problems I don't have, problems that don't exist, and what an awful person I am for taking money for my work. I hear about some of those things at PD. Sometimes I hear utter nonsense. Frequently, in fact.

I went this summer so I could help people. I don't want my members losing their licenses. If I can give them a few hours, I will. Now I can't just say what I say here and get them credit. And some of them might be bored out of their gourds. I'm practical, though. If I can help them get hours they need, I absolutely will.

Of course, the UFT idea of teacher-generated PD is smarter and better. But it's a hard sell when you lose your job without the CTLE. This is kind of a rock/ hard place situation.

New and Improved--Now With Only Sixteen Dead (So Far)

Donald Trump went to Puerto Rico, a state that's been thoroughly devastated by a natural disaster, and spoke about how great things were. You've only had sixteen deaths (so far). Fantastic! After Katrina there were over a thousand! So what if your homes are ruined? So what if you have no electricity and no water? Look on the bright side! We're doing a fantastic job!

Trump always thinks he's doing a fantastic job. Our health care program is great! Tens of millions of Americans will be without health care, but it will be available to them. All they have to do is pay a little more. For ten or twenty thousand dollars a month, everyone will have health care. And really, what's that? I mean, I go golfing every weekend at one of my private clubs, and the government pays way more than that. So what's the big whoop?

Trump is always on top of problems. If there's terrorism, let's stop Muslims from coming into the country until we know what the hell is going on. His supporters cheer. But let's base the ban on national origin rather than religion, so we don't piss off our good friends in Saudi Arabia. Of course, when some white guy takes a machine gun and randomly murders people in a crowd, or when a whole lot of mass killings are actually done by white guys, we don't ban white guys from the country until we know what the hell is going on.

Of course anyone who's been watching Trump knows he lacks the sensitivity you'd generally find in a number two pencil. I try not to watch him too much because my stomach's getting progressively weaker these days. But there he is, tossing paper towels to the crowd. Maybe next he'll go to Las Vegas and toss band aids or something. Whatever he does, he'll still be who he is, and that alone is unconscionable on multiple levels.

Sometimes I'm at meetings and some administrator will say that 98% of the teachers in our school got ratings of effective or better. My mind immediately goes to those that didn't. I know they're hearing the same thing I am, and I can only imagine how they feel. Often I need not imagine and I hear about it first hand. How would you feel sitting there and hearing you're an aberration, part of the bottom two per cent?

What if you're rated ineffective? What if it happens twice and you now have to go to some arbitrator to prove you are not incompetent? What if you're required to do this based on a system you find incomprehensible? What if you're required to do this based on a system that virtually everyone finds incomprehensible? That's a tough mountain to climb. What if it's not you, but the system that's ineffective?

For the first two years of this system, I was rated effective. My supervisor rated me highly effective, but the test scores pulled me down. I regard the scores as nonsense, so I was pretty angry at first. Then I saw teachers rated ineffective who were pulled up to developing and I felt a little better about it. My loss was their gain, and the only difference between HE and E was the chance to get one fewer observation.

This year, because of the matrix, I got similar results and was rated HE. It doesn't make me feel like I'm a better teacher. It makes me feel like this particular system works marginally better for me, and also for a lot of teachers in my building. I will grant that the matrix is likely an improvement, and that ineffective-rated teachers may come up in schools like mine. Of course, if you're in a school that gets low test scores and you also have a crazy supervisor, that's gonna be a problem.

So when UFT announces how few teachers got negative ratings, I'm not ready to jump up and do the happy dance. Unfortunately, I know exactly how those people feel. It's bad when admin releases favorable numbers like that and you aren't among them. It could be worse when you get those numbers from the union. Are those teachers really ineffective? Who knows? This particular system certainly fails to conclusively establish anything. Will people be fired as a result of two consecutive ineffective ratings? They certainly will.

Will the reformies look at the low numbers of ineffective teachers under this system and say the reforms need to be even reformier?

Bet on it.

In 2017

I was at a meeting the other day where an administrator told me, “In 2017, we don’t do things like that.” The particulars of that discussion aren't  important. The fact is a lot of things have changed. I’m not the same teacher I was 20 years ago. I’m sensitive to what goes on around me and I evolve as necessary. I love using computers, for example, and ever since I was kicked out of the trailers I’ve been able to use them in my classroom.

Here’s the thing—I walked out of the meeting about what 2017 was like and directly into a classroom that was diabolical. The AC, which was fixed the previous day, no longer worked. I’m in the middle of a project. I’m working up to taking my classes to see Wicked on Broadway, courtesy of TDF. I therefore have to show my kids The Wizard of Oz and at least try to make them understand it. Try making anyone understand anything in a hundred degree humid room.

You’d think in 2017 you’d have air conditioning. I mean, how does anyone muster the audacity to lecture teachers on the way children should be treated and then dump them into hellish environments? If some kid got offended because I told him to sit down without the requisite happy smile and I therefore get a letter in my file, why don’t the assistant principal, the principal, the chancellor and the mayor get them when kids have to sit through lessons in rooms unfit for man or beast? And as if that isn’t enough, they challenge and lecture the girl who comes in a halter top with cutoffs split up to her belt loops. Given climate conditions, she’s the smartest person in the room. Instead of sending her home, they should make her valedictorian.

In 2017 we should know that teacher voice is a thing. It’s got various meanings and implications, but to me, teacher voice is how you choose to approach your job. It’s entirely possible that you do that in a completely different manner than I do. But that doesn’t suggest either of us is better or worse. Yet in 2017 we have a checklist. Teacher did or didn’t do this, that or the other thing. Therefore teacher is highly effective or teacher sucks. I’m sorry, but a competent administrator could write up a lesson and explain what is good and what could be improved, and do it without a cookie-cutter checklist. A competent administrator used to be a teacher, and has his or her own teacher voice. Maybe that voice could help other teachers.

Here’s the thing, though—In 2017, and you might want to sit down before you hear this, but in 2017 not all supervisors are competent. Some are small-minded and power obsessed. Some think they are smarter than they actually are. Some think there’s only one way to do things and can’t conceive that things could be done any other way. You have to use the green card and the red card to see if students understand. If you don’t, you suck and I’ll rate you ineffective. I knew a supervisor who thought that. Maybe, if administrators aren't capable of broader thinking, they should should be working at Burger King, where the mission is more clear-cut.

In fact, I knew a supervisor who had a member so on edge that every time he saw him, he had an a-fib episode. The following year, another member in the same department had a heart attack in the hall. That, of course, didn’t stop the supervisor from walking in her classroom on a half day when only eight students were in attendance, and giving her an awful writeup. The year after that he topped himself once again when a member he threatened to rate ineffective went home and died prematurely.

In the UF of T in 2017, there are seven elected members of the High School Executive Board. We are all from the opposition caucus. The Vice President is from the dominant caucus because in 2017 high school teachers are not allowed to select their own VP. And at the last Executive Board meeting, they changed the rules so that we have to place any resolutions on the tables 30 minutes before the meeting. That’s problematic because it’s anti-democratic. But there are other issues here.

In 2017, I’d be surprised if even a single Unity Executive Board member did not hold some paid position at UFT. At the very least they’re all delegates, voting at conventions where, in 2017, high school teachers have no democratically elected representation whatsoever. It’s a little different for us. In 2017, I travel from my non-air-conditioned classroom in Queens to 52 Broadway, and my fellow members come in from boroughs across the city.

Unlike the union leaders, we don’t have secretaries to run off copies. We don’t have people to run to the room and hand out stuff. As a matter of fact, in 2017, I’m not even sure whether we’re allowed to go up and enter the room thirty minutes before the meeting starts. Unity now says if we submit in advance, they'll print things up for us and distribute them. Here's the thing--given they outnumber us, and given they have voted everything we've presented down with the exception of one (which they cut to the bone), they're effectively asking that we give them advance notice of everything we do. In an already rigged system, that's an unfair advantage they neither need nor merit.

Regarding advance notice, they do nothing of the sort for us. They have the numbers to pass whatever, and our input is neither sought nor welcome. In fact we support virtually all they present, because we are not contrary for the sake of being so. They sprang the anti-democratic resolution on us without warning. Maybe they thought, given the time constraints, that like them, we wouldn't be able to respond. They were wrong.

It's easy to give a sincere response. It's harder to rationalize doing the wrong thing. If Unity can't think of appropriate ways to respond to resolutions that unequivocally support teachers and students, resolutions about class size and abusive administrators, in 2017, time is not the issue.

I Don't Give a @$%&.

One day, Mr. Blister, a soon to retire member, and I were sitting at a table together. He told me, "Miss Treecrab gave me an observation. It's pretty bad. Fortunately I don't give a @$%&."

"I'm happy to hear that," I told him.

"I knew it was gonna be terrible," he said. "She came in at 9:25 and just kept shaking her head. She walked out at 9:38. She was still shaking her head. I knew it would be awful."

"Are you sure about the time?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said. "I looked at my watch."

"Then the observation is invalid," I told him. "She needs to stay at least fifteen minutes. Let's file a grievance."

"I would," he said. "It's just that I don't give a @$%&."

"Yes, but I do. Let's file a grievance."

"Okay," he said. "I'll do it as a personal favor to you. But I still don't give a @$%&."

"Thank you," I said. We filed a grievance and won. The observation was tossed.

I thought about that when I was counseling another member. He was very upset. I told him the story.

"Try to channel Mr. Blister," I told him.

"You're right," he said. "I DON'T GIVE A @$%&! HOW COULD THOSE IDIOTS DO THAT? WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?"

"No, you're not getting it," I said. "Take a deep breath. Good. Now try it again."

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING @$%&. WHAT THOSE MORONS THINK!"

"No. You need to channel Mr. Blister. Think about this," I said. "What's the opposite of love?"

"IT'S HATE. I HATE EVERY ONE OF THEM. I DON'T GIVE A @$%&!!!"

"The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. Mr. Blister really didn't give a @$%& about that observation report. He would've been fine if they wrote 200 more. That's the approach you have to take."

I started making peaceful, calming gestures. After a while he got it.

"I don't give a @$%&," he said, finally with calm.

I hope he can keep that up. I probably wouldn't give that advice to a new teacher. But when you have enough years in, and you have Boy Wonder for a supervisor, it could be the best way to go.

Blogger's Day Off...

...but you can read my new piece on school overcrowding over at Gotham Gazette.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

For weeks I've been hearing rumors about Martin Messner, Secretary-Treasurer of NYSUT, and outstanding proponent of Met Life auto insurance. I've been hearing that his home district, which contains far fewer teachers than my Queens high school alone, would not grant him a leave to continue working at NYSUT.

In a small district, it must be tough to hire people as leave replacements. They're hired for a while, but they can't make a career. They can't get tenure. Maybe the district got tired of not being able to hire a permanent teacher. Thus, no leave and Messner had to choose between his 240K gig at NYSUT and his 60K gig as a teacher.

It didn't sound like a very tough decision to me. Messner campaigned for this NYSUT job and has been at it for over three years now. He ran for re-election, so I suppose he likes the job. It's hard to imagine that he'd choose to go back to a much lower-paying teaching job.

Here's what my sources tell me--Messner has, in fact, gone back to the teaching job. He is deducting the teaching salary from his NYSUT salary and working nights and weekends for NYSUT. So his district pays him 60K and we get him for the bargain basement one-time-only price of 180K. (That's a lot better than some of the gigs UFT doles out. I've met people who'd pretty much sell their souls for 30 bucks an hour.)

My sources tell me that Messner will continue with this work until August, 2018. Let me be the first to say, as someone with no voice or vote in NYSUT, that it's a great honor to pay not only his salary, but also those of his colleagues (none of whom the majority of rank and file New York City high school teachers had any say about). Here's the thing, though--my source tells me that by waiting until August 2018, Messner will be vested in the NYSUT pension system.  So if Messner worked for four years, he's made almost a million dollars. Pension on that could be payable years from now, but must be worth pursuing. I imagine NYSUT officers provide well for themselves.

But then you ask yourself--who the hell walks out on a 240K job, a job that certainly must be stimulating and interesting, to take one for a quarter of the salary? I mean sure, it's conceivable that someone could just really, really love the classroom and want to get back to it. But if that's the case, why did Messner apply for a leave to work at NYSUT in the first place?

Messner could certainly have resigned his teaching job and stayed on at NYSUT. That's what Lee Cutler did, years ago. Lee is a great person, and getting to know him was one of the great benefits of running a quixotic campaign for Executive Vice President of NYSUT a few years ago. Lee is now a school principal, of all things. But I digress.

I love being a teacher. But I also love being a chapter leader. I love representing and fighting for my colleagues. I don't fault Messner at all for seeking and taking the NYSUT job. I'd certainly have done the same.

What I kept asking myself, though, is what on earth would make me give up a quarter-million dollar job for a 60K job? Does that make sense to you? It's not like the NYSUT gig entails working a chain gang or going down into a coal mine or something.

Why would I take a 75% pay cut to leave an interesting and challenging job? You know why I would do it? I would do it if I believed that Janus was going to eviscerate NYSUT. I would do it if I thought my NYSUT gig was so risky it might disappear at any time, and that I'd be better off with a secure 60K job to take care of my family.

Nonetheless, if I were a NYSUT officer, that would be a very dangerous message to send. I wouldn't do that. I'd be saying I had no faith in my organization. And by the way, if my job were treasurer, I'd also be a little uneasy sending out the message that my nights and weekends, after working full time as a teacher, were worth 180K a year.

Of course I'm neither a NYSUT officer nor a treasurer, so what could I know?

UFT Leadership Says Everything Is Wonderful and If You Don't Agree You Are Crazy

Ever since I've been reading NY Teacher, that's been the official message. Every evaluation system has been wonderful, this is the best possible scenario in the best possible world, and we're doing a great job. A case in point is this article, discussing the lump-sum retro payment members will be receiving in October:

Because you have a union that fights for you, eligible members are entitled to be compensated for the two 4 percent raises that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave to members of some municipal unions in 2009 and 2010 but refused to give to public school educators and other city employees at the time.

Of course there is another side to that.  Before we even look at it, let's take a look at that first phrase. "Because you have a union..." I often argue that we are the union. A lot of people say to me the union did this or that. I tell them you are the union, or we are the union. In fact I've heard Mulgrew say that too. But when there's something worth boasting about, we have a union. The leaders or officials have done this or that wonderful thing for us.

If we're going to look at it that way, let's change the angle a bit. Because you have a union that's willing to wait years for what NYPD and FDNY got in 2008, you still haven't received 75% of the money that's owed you. Furthermore, the city has been sitting on it interest free and will continue to do so for another three years.

There were other things the union you "have" could've done for you while Bloomberg was mayor. For one thing, it could've opposed the disaster that was mayoral control. Under that system, high schools all over the city were closed. Smaller schools and charters popped up in their spaces, sometimes staffed will all newbies. There are still schools with no chapter leaders and effectively no chapters. There are still schools in which the UFT Contract is a quaint afterthought while principals run roughshod and do any damn thing they please. (Also, the union you "have" supported mayoral control a second time after it was proven to be an unmitigated disaster.)

I'm glad there were fewer ineffective ratings. I'm glad there were more highly effective ratings. Sadly, that doesn't diminish the pressure teachers feel, the pressure I hear about absolutely every day on my job. No one understands what the hell MOSL means. While there may be a possibility of some teachers using portfolios or something, that's a whole lot of extra work and no one really understands how it will be used or interpreted. This is a high pressure job and anyone who doesn't understand that hasn't been in a classroom for a while.

The UFT line is the alternative is total principal power under S and U. That may be, but no one under the S and U system ever faced a 3020a hearing with the burden of proof on them. Having to prove you are not incompetent is a high standard indeed. And while District Reps and UFT officials can lecture you on how bad that system is, none of them teach more than one class. All of them are rated S and U. If that system is so terrible, why did they insure that they'd be subject to it?

I have people asking me to be on S and U system. How can I teach one class and get rated that way?  I haven't got an answer. In our building, we haven't got any .8 comp-time positions. If we did, people would fight for them for sure. I don't know a single teacher not on UFT payroll who likes Advance and Danielson. As for MOSL, it's far from perfect. In my own building, non-ESL teachers who teach classes with many ELLs see their scores fall below effective. Who will want to teach ELLs if it causes their scores to drop?

In fact, NYSUT opposes the APPR system. They wrote that position into official policy via resolution. UFT leadership voted unanimously for the resolution, yet tells us that it is wonderful. When I ask whether or not they support the resolution they unanimously supported, the response is they'll get back to me. 

Here's the thing--the rating system changes. Teaching conditions change. You and I change. Our families change. Our friends come and go. Politics change. Janus will bring change.

But the message of UFT leadership never changes. I know, because more often than not, I'm on the receiving end. Everything is wonderful and if you don't agree you must be crazy. If I were leadership, I'd try tweaking that message a little before Janus.

Of course I'm not leadership. I am UFT. I don't expect leadership to realize that either.

Exec. Board September 25 Takeaway--The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So last Monday was a mixed bag. Let's get to the good. I was inspired by the women who spoke on child care. They managed to gather 80,000 signatures in support. Mulgrew spoke well, and said he would use that to work for us. He also said that he wouldn't settle for a crap deal like the one imposed on the non-union workers. I have the feeling that any agreement we hammer out would apply not only to us, but to other unions as well.

I was fascinated to hear that the women didn't know about Executive Board, had no idea it existed, and that there was nothing at UFT.org to even suggest it was possible to visit and speak. Things must've been great over there before we not only showed up and started asking questions, but also started inviting others. Secretary Howard Schoor, last year, showed amusement over questions, making jokes about them. On September 25, his position was, "If you hate someone, have them run for Executive Board." Hilarity notwithstanding, it speaks volumes on how some in Unity feel about having to endure free speech from rank and file twice a month before climbing back onto their pedestals.

Two years ago, some woman from Unity told everyone at the DA that women on maternity leave, and everyone on leave would have to wait for the "big magical chest" to open before they got the last payment. Now, it sounds like they will get that payment this year, this year's payment next year, and everything else a year later. Did anyone know that when they voted for the 2014 contract? I sure didn't. Not only is there no maternity benefit, but there's also an effective maternity tax. Unity voted it up before even seeing the MOA, which made no mention of it anyway. (Then, in case anyone has forgotten, there are those raised medical copays no one knew about when we voted.)

Adult ed. is alive and kicking, and Mulgrew spoke in unequivocal support. Of course the adult ed. situation has been going on for some time, and we heard from them last year as well. Let's hope that a meeting with the chancellor might do something to curb the terrible leadership she imposed on these teachers. Of course, words aren't deeds so we shall see. Mulgrew stayed over a half hour, which I've never seen before. Are we moving toward a situation where the President stays for the entire meeting? Probably not. If I were him, I wouldn't want direct credit for the way Executive Board is run.

There was much talk of a District Rep. who members suggested did not rep the district all that well. Howie Schoor characterized it as personal attack. If those stories were true, I'd want to tell them too. I have heard UFT people telling others they still had a job so they were alright. I knew one who, upon a complaint from someone suffering from cancer, astutely pointed out she was alive and somehow expected her to be consoled by that. I haven't heard the outright negative statements like you're screwed or something, but I know how I'd react if people spoke to me like that. You'd probably be reading about it here.

I presented research done by Class Size Matters and based on DOE stats. Schoor questioned its validity rather than addressing it. In a way, I don't blame him. Class size is out of control, and overcrowding is epidemic. UFT can form committees and study groups from now until Doomsday and the problems won't go away. It's nice that we placed class size into the contract half a century ago, but an update is long overdue. It behooves union leadership to address this crucial issue and they are failing utterly. (Schoor also claimed never to have heard of the 2014 law requiring de Blasio to pay rent for charters, which pretty much made my eyes roll to the back of my head.)

Despite all the grievance hearings I've attended (and I attend them twice yearly), the problem is getting worse. Some of the arbitrators are troglodytes, and it's frightening to imagine the future of UFT members can be in their hands. A week ago, a $2400 a day arbitrator ruled that it was OK for principals to cut up old programs the day before last in June, stick them in mailboxes and say they'd given complete programs. That was his learned interpretation of article 7A1. Imagine what would happen if your principal asked for your lesson plan and you gave him one from last year. Meanwhile, at class size hearings, brilliant arbitrators rule that if you have oversized classes, you get one day off from C6. That way the kids in oversized classes get less tutoring, so it's a WIN-WIN!

I'm still waiting for an answer to my question from the first meeting--whether UFT supports the NYSUT opposition to APPR, the resolution for which they voted unanimously. It's odd, because I've heard from leadership how wonderful this system is, how wonderful the system before that was, and how wonderful the system before that was. It's like everything that happens is the bestest thing ever, I know we said last year's was the bestest thing ever, but this year's bestest is even bester. Teacher morale, ironically, gets lower each and every year, despite how bestest it gets. And yet they voted to oppose this bestest of the best. Go figure.

I was surprised to hear Jackie Bennett defend using 7th grade scores as baselines for 8th grade teachers. These are tests for which there is a statewide moratorium. They don't count for the 7th grade teachers either. They are basically treated as meaningless by the state, and boycotted by a whole lot of students. But there you go--Unity voted against test-based evaluation but is pretty bullish on using the most discredited tests in the state as a baseline to judge teachers.

It was pretty ugly when they moved to the resolution about resolutions. I was shocked they felt the need to further restrict us. It's not like it's a fair fight to begin with. It's not like we have anything resembling proportional representation. It's not like anyone at Adcom represents those of us who voted. It's not like we have any vote or voice in NYSUT or AFT, to whom we pay dues. You'd think they'd be happy with that. But that's not enough for them.

They vote down absolutely everything we bring just because we brought it. But that's not enough. Evidently, they need more time to try to muster arguments against things that are often not even debatable.

With one word from the dais, they all vote as they're told, and upon request, argue for it passionately. After all, there are those after school gigs and such they've literally signed a loyalty oath for. The free trips to Schenectady. All you have to do is get up and say ATRs are delighted to dump their careers immediately for 50 thousand bucks, or it's empowering when members are guilty until proven innocent at 3020a.

Unity makes the rules and may change them at will, as Howard Schoor pointed out. If I can go to a forum in which I'm outnumbered 19 to 1 twice a month, where they vote against us just for the sake of voting against us, I can adjust to whatever.

For me, it's ironic, because I just came off of bringing in a resolution through a UFT official, having it blended with their own, personally motivating the resolution and having it passed unanimously. I am more than happy to work like that. But if that's not good enough for them I can also write a resolution in ten minutes. I can make copies, leave them around the tables at 5:30 and make them vote down things that teachers want, twice monthly. I'm flexible like that. I can do other things too. I have a lot of ideas.

All I can tell you is that if I were a union head facing Janus, I would move to increase democracy rather than suppress it. I would move to heed member voice rather than acquire better earplugs so as to avoid hearing it. I would embrace activism rather than build walls around it.

Here's my tip of the week--bet dimes to dollars that come Janus, NYPD and FDNY keep a far higher percentage of members than we do.

Chapter Leader Citywide Meeting

Mulgrew wishes us a happy school year.

Moment of silence for student. CL passed this year. Bob Ostrowski passed.

New CLs stand, are applauded.

Mulgrew says we are as crazy as they are but we like it because we make a difference.

Puerto Rico is a disaster. We have donated and helped AFT. Have helped in Texas and Florida. UFT has office in Florida, and our retirees are largest local.

Puerto Rico is Katrina happening again for US citizens. UFT organized Puerto Rican teacher association. UFT organizer there now, and we worry anyone we send there will have to be saved. Are coordinating with mayor and governor. Feds should take care of PR, but we won’t leave our family members and connections in their hands.

Trying to use teacher association building as distribution point, but FEMA is doing nothing. Hospitals lack diesels for generators and President tweets they need to pay their bills. We can’t get supplies to people who need them because feds don’t do their job.

Collection is taken for Puerto Rico.

Mulgrew says second arbitration on SESIS completed. First was because people worked outside school day, and it was impossible to work during day. They had records of every minute spent on SESIS. Second was about failure to make SESIS easier to work with. Caused undue burden on those who interacted with it. Settlement based on anyone who used it. Checks coming, majority 9/29, some 10/6, retirees being worked out. Minimum requirement you have to have averaged 5 minutes per week on SESIS. Some did all SESIS work in school and took all other work home.

Lump sum payment due in October. If you received it last time, will be more, because continues to compound and gain.

Consultation—Everything this year is about consultation.

Paperwork process now empowered. Almost 400 worksites got paperwork changes because CLs followed process.

According to DOE, every admin is respective and collaborative. There are some pretty atrocious admins who swear they’re collaborative. Wants consultation agendas reported to UFT. If some things are not being resolved, you can report what’s happening at our consultations. Worked well for us because I could show chancellor principals and supes were lying to her. Records of consultations show principals knew about things.

We can’t have admin slip into bad habits. Even after consultation, some admin falls back into bad habits. They’re all on record.

Chancellor says she will get all superintendent consultation records. Important they have ours. Consultation is about school wide issues. Individual grievances should be dealt with privately.

Important issue is class sizes. Many don’t get resolved until February, March or even April. There are very few real exceptions. Only person who can deem it exception is us with them. We are using this as a primary issue. They always say they’re fixing it morning of hearing. Everyone agreed that was stupid. Chancellor says principals are to fix class size grievances. Must be agenda item in consultation.

I bet they don’t care what chancellor says and will do whatever the hell they please. Use paperwork and class sizes. If principal doesn’t schedule consultation, contact district rep.

Family leave—We’ve been trying for 2 years. Teachers started petition and I love it. I’ve made numerous proposals, but city wants to make money off of us for it. Managers in NYC “were granted” family leave. They have no union. It was forced upon them and it cost them a fortune. If they could’ve voted on it they would’ve voted it down.

We are using this to push forward. We will pay for what the benefit costs. Mayor says he wants city workers to have it. Since announcement, zero workers have gotten it, because they insist on ridiculous things where they profit from us. If they don’t settle it we will go on a campaign and push it. City talks like superintendents and principals.

Some members say they already had babies so don’t do anything. It’s called a union, not a union that only wants to do what’s in my interest and no one else’s.

Members gave up something to get class sizes in their contract. They made that decision and thank God they did. In the past, there was no enforceable grievance.

We will do this fairly, and we will not be hoodwinked. We need to take this opportunity Last mayor probably thought you have a baby and you’re fired

CTLE hours—2.5 years ago, in Albany, teachers said they wanted to be treated like professionals, fought over eval, and some people were required to do professional hours. We got number down to 100 over five years. Kicked in last year. We asked DOE to come up with a plan so everyone could get them during school year. City didn’t care. We became a certified provider.

Now, DOE is trying to work with us. They need to work with us but they know what’s best, at all times. We helped them become a certified vendor. State requires that you submit and get approval of a curriculum. You must show instructor is CTLE certified, keep attendance records. DOE knows, but says it isn’t their responsibility and they won’t do it. Fear is that four years from now there will be members who did hours with school and they won’t be able to prove they’ve met requirement. They will have summer to fix or lose certification.

We’re working, again, with DOE. We have to pay instructors. We keep accounts for members who do hours through us. We can pull up records and send them to state with them or for them. Would prefer we didn’t have to do that. We charge small fee because we pay people to work. 85 people volunteered over summer to become certified. UFT charges because they built this and had to pay instructors.

Goal is to create PD for everyone in schools. Monday PD not certified because DOE won’t do paperwork. They say they’re looking into that, and meanwhile we have to take care of member needs. Four years from now, we may need two week crash courses for 100 hours. SED doesn’t care, will blame school districts. We will do what we can, but we have to push DOE harder.

How many principals are doing meaningful PD? SED wants to know too. DOE wants no responsibility. Teachers are DOE employees and are their responsibility. CLs need to give correct info. Much bad info out there.

Teacher evaluation—our favorite topic for last 8 years—within one year of RttT, districts were using new evaluations. States needed the money. Politically, test scores were the fad. Problem I had was passing percentage. Made me nuts, because we always had standardized testing and were looked upon as horrible. Rest of state doesn’t teach same children we do. How long would some of our colleagues around state last in our classrooms?

Remember when we recruited teachers? Many couldn’t understand how children were allowed to act certain ways and left quickly.

There were no good old days of teacher evaluation. Ratings were based on how principal thought of teacher. Did nothing to help us develop.

Decided if we were going to move forward it had to be about growth—where does a child come in and where does he leave? That is what validates our work, not whether he can pass a test. Not same work teaching AP and at-risk. If it’s about test score, I’m putting myself at risk by teaching at risk.

Bloomberg presented a formula to us that said 85% was about passing a test. They didn’t know about variables for special ed. They used one variable and did not consider different disabilities. They were all business majors. We continued that fight. Test scores should not be only thing we measure. We pushed authentic student learning when Cuomo’s rating plummeted.

We do not want to go back to when principal decides if he likes me or not and gives a U or an S. We wanted something that gave a true understanding of what we do, and needed a check and balance against the principal.

If there is evidence about student learning, and principal says I’m bad, then principal’s word is not valid. City would never agree. Mentions matrix, to applause. Blogs said matrix would kill us. I read all the blogs. We have a lot of smart people. We got this into the law because we won the argument in Albany.

I know it looks a little weird, and I heard all the jokes, and said just wait until it kicks in. I know we were onto something because now they don’t want to negotiate overall rating. They want just MOTS. We say no, they must use overall rating. We are not gloating.

When this started 8 years ago, my own experience was there was no support. The only reason I’m still a teacher is because of a teacher I shared a room with. He said I needed help. We don’t have a system that helps people understand how difficult our profession is. We force administrators to do observation in a way that they have to talk about our craft. We take children at all different levels in September and we move them. It’s not about a test. I wanted to validate what we do in NYC.

DOE is way behind on how to do observations correctly. Some schools have collaborative processes.

25.88% highly effective this year. Up from 22.
71.1% effective down from 81.
2.68% developing down from 6%
.34% ineffective down from 1%

(Note--I'm told last year's figures add up to 110%. This could easily be because I copied wrong.)

Post will lose its mind, say we hoodwinked them. Some people want to go back to “good old days.” We took journey and figured out basis was student growth. For first time, NYC outperforms rest of state of NY. We’re better at it because we have more experience with children with disabilities and ELLs. Those are areas of growth. Are those kids being educated in schools that say they’re better than us?

Wrote an op-ed about Moskowitz, who says she’s 100% about everything. Her oldest class is a junior class, claiming 100%. Started with 78 kids. Now there are 18. If your school did that, you’d be looking at closure.

Teacher asks what happened to other kids, Mulgrew—we have them, and we’re happy to have them. Says this happens in every Moskowitz cohort. Compare her to our school system. You’re not 100% when you lose 75%, you’re 25%.

Constitutional Convention—Vote No. Tells us take bumper magnets. Asks about lawn signs. Wants pictures of members with lawn signs.

Did town hall at church, standing room only, people screamed liar. This is not about greater voting rights, or more ethics. We have ways to do that without it. Everything we do have is in jeopardy if we get this. People have spent tens of millions of dollars against us. They’ve come after us everywhere. Do you think they’re going to preserve the greenlands, strengthen social safety net?

They will attack pensions.  There will be millions against us. Proud to say I’m protecting pensions. Not something we are given, but something we earned. In NY every worker has a right to unionize and collectively bargain.

Only 17% of people voted in primary.

Monday SCOTUS goes into session. They will be hearing JANUS, which will make US “right to work” country. Has happened in other states. Takes away ability to get decent working conditions and pay. Only reason we have what we do is because of strength of union. In every right to work state more and more is being taken away. Their conditions are getting worse. Paying more for health care and getting less services. We could lose ability to advocate for public education.

We are now outperforming state, grad rate higher, dropout rate lower.

CC first, then Janus. Let’s use tools—paperwork. Let’s hold principal’s feet to fire in consultation. Part of agreement. Don’t care about personality.

Last, we have many brand new teachers. We had lowest number of vacancies. You have to take them, hold them, squeeze them and love them. We have new teacher program. Came in during summer. Got 1500, need to find 3000 more. They need help with the profession. Bring to borough offices. We will help.

Longest report I will give this year, next DA October. Wear pink.

Mulgrew says we raised over $5,000 for Puerto Rico.

Q—Can we wear black November 7th?

M—What if we win? Let’s come up with a color.

Q—My chapter says since duties, responsibilities growing online it’s adding work. Would it be possible to bargain for two prep periods.

M—I’m game for it. I’ll ask for three. I agree. Certain schools have cracked code and made life easier.

Q—Our school’s under massive construction, draping over building. With heat, has been horrendous. I know de B spoke about AC. What about electrical work required?

M—We’re working with city council. This is negotiations. We posed this to them. I said schools first, not DOE offices.

Q—We now have literacy coaches, but nothing on their responsibilities, especially if they consider themselves admin.

M—They are not administrators. We’ve had numerous attempts by admin to use them that way.

Q—English teachers want to know why their choice is algebra Regents when they teach English.

M—Talk to Jackie Bennett. We track this every year. We look at how MOSL decisions affect final ratings. Schools that choose only one measure probably making mistake.

Q—Rumor is CC is on back of ballot and if you don’t check it’s automatic yes.

M—Not happening. It’s a rumor. Prop one is on back of ballot.

Q—Any prospects on better parking? Permits good for only certain spots.

M—Howie Schoor will negotiate with DOT. Post lost their minds over permits. Was because of legal action taken against city. They only have to honor designated parking. We don’t have enough. Some schools have none. Only way to get more parking is through City Council and DOT. People in neighborhoods don’t like people getting more parking.

Q—When Sandy hit, was huge increase, 8% in school population. Many displaced families. Given hurricane season we may see influx from Texas, Florida, PR.. Can we lobby to push back census, so we don’t eat costs after 10/31?

M—We expect large # from PR to NYC. We need to put this on the table right now. I will make sure we start doing that.

Q—something about CTLE.

M—We’ve given more CTLE hours than anyone, and our largest group is paras. We’re creating more para-centered PD. We’re trying to help them because they don’t have time.

Wishes us great school year.