tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post2804192109117931546..comments2024-03-22T02:15:56.280-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: The Summer of Our DiscontentDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-15169189251446202632013-07-09T19:53:49.281-07:002013-07-09T19:53:49.281-07:00I’m not in the least convinced that anyone on the ...I’m not in the least convinced that anyone on the outside can fix this for us. At best, the state might hold the BOE and other Camden Elite at bay for up to 3 golden years. After that, the new SUPERintendent will be dispensed with if he’s worth anything, and the old crowd will ooze back into power. Trenton is a magnificent example of this where Rodney Lofton was King for a Day for cleaning out CAB to keep teachers in classrooms, and then he was gone and Priscilla Dawson was back on top, instead of in jail where she should be.<br /><br />But I would love a crack at the 3 golden years, when 6 year olds turn 9, and 9 year olds turn 12. These are pivotal years in their lives that might sustain them through whatever is going on over at Creative Arts HS where hand-picked students enjoy the lion’s share of resources intended for the whole district and still suffer a 44% graduation rate. <br />Mrs. King's music studentshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211235832988015448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-34523048466434377082013-07-09T18:20:12.574-07:002013-07-09T18:20:12.574-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Mrs. King's music studentshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211235832988015448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-29822547951424414702013-07-09T17:48:41.200-07:002013-07-09T17:48:41.200-07:00"Get off defense and mount a strong offense t..."Get off defense and mount a strong offense that exposes what is going on here" - If you really think this will ever happen you are delusional. NJEA is too busy cowering on West State Street.http://teachersdontsuck.blogspot.com/<br />http://freebooksbywalt.blogspot.com/ walt sautterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02271157042842858883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-8876254898335458812013-07-08T19:28:22.698-07:002013-07-08T19:28:22.698-07:00There are WAY more than two sides to the union iss...There are WAY more than two sides to the union issues in Camden. For example, in my case, I received a letter of termination on June 14th, after reading I had been renewed in the May Board Minutes. I texted my prinicipal immediately, and she texted back “it didn’t come from me”. This launched a trail of investigations that revealed a new dimension on the role of the NJEA and ed. admin in preventing ed reform in New Jersey.<br /><br />On June 17th, my principal finally admitted in a text, that she had requested my termination, and was either too chicken to tell me, or she had another reason for keeping her actions secret. To find out which, I interviewed other non-tenured teachers in the bldg. to find out if they had been approached by union reps and urged to write a letter accepting employment before June 1st. They replied that union reps had done this last year, but did not do it this year. <br /><br />Why would they do that? By ‘negotiating’ with OUR union reps to neglect non-tenured membership, my principal (and MANY other admins like her) can put all of the untenured teachers in a bldg. at their mercy, and then pick and choose those they like for renewal, and terminate those they dislike –<br />REGARDLESS of performance, highly qualified status, test results, attendance, or any other thing with significance for true ed reform. <br /><br />This is the real reason many South Jersey teachers (not limited to Camden) hate their own union. Until the NJEA and ed administrators are held directly accountable for the 47 and ½ % rate of teacher attrition, no reforms can happen in education. <br />Mrs. King's music studentshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211235832988015448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-10181970169472075822013-07-08T05:43:11.749-07:002013-07-08T05:43:11.749-07:00If you are in an army about to go into battle and ...If you are in an army about to go into battle and you find your General is collaborating with the enemy, would you meekly follow that General into battle?<br /><br />Valerie Strauss in the Answer Sheet in the Washington Post has documented the millions that the AFT and NEA have received from the Gates Foundation to promote Common Core. http://tinyurl.com/bpelh34<br />.<br />American Federation Of Teachers Educational Foundation 2012 College-Ready US Program $4,400,000<br />The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education 2012 College-Ready US Program $99,997<br /><br />Randi Weingarten has been collaborating with the Broad Foundation and Gates for over ten year.<br /><br />See the "The Broad Foundation and the unions" in the later part of the article "Who is Eli Broad and why is he trying to destroy public education?"<br /><br />http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/<br />Ken Derstinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02645967327068634236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-84819244948171219072013-07-07T21:03:48.255-07:002013-07-07T21:03:48.255-07:00Norm, as usual, I think you make very good poinst,...Norm, as usual, I think you make very good poinst, and you find the right words to say so. You've been doing the heavy lifting in NYC, and you've been keeping your union's leaders honest. If they have a problem with that, then shame on them.<br /><br />I realize I'm walking on dangerous ground here, and some of my readers aren't going to agree. I'll say this:<br /><br />If I were a teacher in NYC, I'd have voted for Brian and Julie. But not because they trashed Mulgrew (from my side of the Hudson, they really didn't), but because they took positive, proactive steps like "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" to meet the challenge of corporate reform head-on. <br /><br />The NYCORE meeting I was honored to attend this past winter - the one you wrote so well about - was exactly the sort of unionism I happily endorse:<br /><br />http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/03/karen-lewis-video-at-nycore-30-minutes.html<br /><br />I think Mulgrew should be held to account for how he's run UFT. Same with Randi and Dennis and Karen and everyone else.<br /><br />I just think there's a difference between saying someone's wrong and saying someone's a sellout. In the same way I have no patience for disrespect toward the loyal opposition. I just find the attitude - on both sides - to be toxic and unproductive. Brian and Julie can win on ideas; Karen did. That's what it should be all about.<br /><br />Yeah, so maybe I'm naive. But I've really got bigger fish to fry, and I'm saving my invective for the real enemy. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll have a story on charter schools so corrupt it'll make your head spin. The worst part is it's all legal. And I have a dozen more stories I could persue if I had the time. <br /><br />That's where I'm taking the fight. And if the powers that be don't come along... well, when the next leadership election? <br />Dukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-8179553023096983972013-07-07T20:12:40.996-07:002013-07-07T20:12:40.996-07:00I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Do we have ...I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Do we have democratically run unions where there is open debate on the issues? I can only speak from the point of view of being in the belly of the beast here in NYC where the Unity Caucus has controlled the UFT for 50 years and where after our recent election in which 18% of the classroom teachers voted and 52% of the total vote came from retirees and where 100% of the exec board were endorsed by Unity. The AFT is under the control of the Unity Caucus. It is hard to defend a union leadership under such conditions. Ed Notes over the past 16 years has reported on how the ed deform movement has been aided and abetted by this union leadership -- the seat at the table concept turned the union into the handmaiden of ed deform.<br />The rise of Karen Lewis' CORE in such quick time was a response to such a union leadership in Chicago, Washington and Newark. Let's not call them sell-outs if that is offensive but from the inside it is hard to find the right words. <br />Finding the fault lines in building an insurgency inside a union that functions this way is the difficult terrain we here in NYC are trying to navigate. No matter how optimistic you are - as I am too - about the rising opposition to the deform agenda, until more unions -- especially the NYC operation take a strong stand in opposition to that agenda -- join in the battle with the considerable resources they have instead of straddling the fence -- that optimism can only go so far.ed notes onlinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-53914374023726755572013-07-07T18:35:35.048-07:002013-07-07T18:35:35.048-07:00I will be anxious to see what you have to say in a...I will be anxious to see what you have to say in a couple of years when the massive firings caused by VAM decimate the NEA and AFT rank and file, leaving no one to doubt the motives of leadership. <br /><br />CCSS testing is a tsunami heading towards us that no one seems prepared accept. Every day more reports are released telling us that the CCSS assessments are going to result in massive drops in scores which means teachers being rated ineffective. Period.<br /><br />The laws on the books of the states that accepted the RTTT and NCLB Waivers say that teachers must be fired after receiving 2 ineffective ratings. The Title I teachers will be the first to go but the rest will not be safe except in the most white, upper middle class schools and districts.<br /><br />I guess the majority of teachers think that somehow their students will pass these tests and they will be safe. Or that somehow the legislatures and state departments of education will undo the mess after that majority of teachers are let go and their careers as public school teachers have ended forever. <br /><br />That's one possible scenario, however unlikely it seems given that they have been gunning to destroy the union for generations. <br /><br />At that point whatever the leadership of the NEA and AFT have decided to do you can bet your next paycheck that Dennis Van Roekel and Randi Weingarten will not be frantically trying to figure out how to pay the rent or buy food. <br /><br />Their families will not be desperately scrambling to survive like thousands of teachers are right this minute, laid off and excessed around the country and soon to be joined by their still-employed colleagues on the unemployment line.<br /><br />But we have to defend the leadership and trust them because SOLIDARITY! Funny how that solidarity doesn't endanger anyone at the NEA or AFT headquarters so of course we should just trust them and take our time in years-long efforts to replace them through byzantine internal election procedures.<br /><br />Chicago and Washington are small rays of hope. I salute them for taking back their unions. Would that the rest of the rank and file could or would do the same.Priscillahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13810106898462541118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-18370315764221643462013-07-07T13:54:10.405-07:002013-07-07T13:54:10.405-07:00Jazz...do you know why the American auto industry ...Jazz...do you know why the American auto industry is in such bad shape? Its because the union leaders went to bed with the corporate bankers and stabbed the rank and file in the back. Now the same thing is happening to education.<br /><br />I trust DVR about as far as I could toss him (which at my age is only inches!) Friends of mine in ATL told me that he was arrogant as hell and wouldn't respond to pleas from Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, or Penn delegates about collective bargaining, Arne Duncan, or loss of jobs...it was all "Corporate Core". You can't even put in a negative response on the NEA website about it...you will be purged!<br /><br />Its time for all teachers to move away from the Democratic party and form a Socialist Workers Party.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18252657462697510044noreply@blogger.com