On The "No Deal" (UPDATED)

First, let me preface my remarks by quoting something from the story in the NY Post about the lack of an agreement between the UFT and the DOE on teacher evaluations:

Despite the blowout, sources familiar with the negotiations did not rule out the possibility of an 11th-hour accord later tonight.

When the midnight deadline passes and the NYSED and the Regents issue statements saying that NYC did not make the deadline, that's when I'll believe that the VAM evaluation deal is dead.

Until then, let's operate under the assumption that while things look very bad for a deal right now, something schmutzy could happen before midnight to change that.

As for who is to "blame" for the lack of an agreement, Mulgrew says Bloomberg blew up the deal by refusing to give teachers a chance to meet with principals post-observation, Bloomberg says the UFT blew up the deal by insisting that it sunset in 2015.

All I know is that 90% of the evaluation deals in the state are one year deals, the UFT was giving the Little Colonel twice that and it wasn't enough for him.

It is quite clear that the only thing that was going to make Bloomberg happy in this deal was if he got to say that many teachers were going to be "I-Rated" and fired as a result.

That was what he wanted and if he didn't get it, he was going to take his ball, go home, and use his own media puppets and those of his corporate pals, Zuckerman and Murdoch, to bludgeon teachers for the next 11 months until the Bloomberg administration itself sunsets.

And so, barring some last minute deal, that's what we're going to have.

Beginning tonight, the corporate media is going to hammer the UFT and NYC teachers for the lack of the deal and back Bloomberg's push to lay off teachers to close a so-called "budget shortfall" that the mayor claims the city will have without the increase in state education aid.

Never mind that as Leonie Haimson points out here, the NYCDOE has been handing out contracts to companies under federal investigation for corruption - companies that have already stolen millions from the city.

The budget shortfall could be closed, or certainly minimized, if somebody just forced the Bloomberg administration to stop handing money out to crooks.

In any case, this loss of state aid will be depicted in the media as the fault of teachers and the schools are going to take the brunt of the budget assault Bloomberg is going to try and unleash.

I have some real problems with the way the union handled these negotiations, with the leadership's inability to articulate why VAM is voodoo and an evaluation system based upon high stakes standardized testing is damaging to students AND teachers.

But as the MORE people noted in their statement, we're going to have to close ranks for a bit and fight the onslaught that will come from Bloomberg, Cuomo (perhaps), and the corporate media, so I will save my critique of the UFT leadership for another day.

That Bloomberg is currently fighting with the school bus drivers and matrons certainly gives teachers some cover - it's not as if everything is rosy in the city that Bloomberg rules from his bullpen desk.

We'll have to see how this all plays out in the days, weeks and months to come.

I suspect things are going to get pretty rough in the short term.

But not as rough as they would have been if Bloomberg had been given the power to "I-Rate" thousands of teachers this year.

UPDATE - 8:30 PM: They're still negotiating, according to various Twitter feeds, but Beth Fertig tweeted that Mulgrew said the following:

#UFT's Mulgrew: "we are not interested in a sham offer. We would be open to a serious proposal" but says he hasn't yet heard 1 from #NYCDOE

Also, have been told that Mulgrew gushed about some parts of the agreement at the DA tonight, saying teachers would love the growth model based upon test scores, as it would protect them against vindictive principals handing out "U-Ratings."

Ugh.

They're really looking to institutionalize high stakes testing and some kind of voodoo VAM and/or growth model as part of a negotiated evaluation system.