One of the reasons this situation bears watching is because of how the rise of Lewis and CORE have had reverberations throughout the American Federation of Teachers, CTU's parent union.
AFT has played the card of being the more accommodating of the two national teachers' unions with respect to national policy movements, such as teacher evaluations based partly on student achievement. But Lewis has shown that outright resistance and opposition can work in some contexts, too, and that has proved to be an attractive option for some.
Opposition groups modeled on CORE have sprung up in the AFT's affiliates in New York City and Newark, among other places. And they seem to be having an effect on AFT, which has taken a much more strident tone on standardized testing and school closures lately.
Norm Scott says no:
Don't leave out the connection to the Chicago 80% victory by Karen who is leading the battle against ed deform while Randi once again defends Common core in the NY Times. The AFT I believe gave the CTU money to support the CC or something like that. But from what I hear they are ready to take on that battle. At the AFT convention in LA in July 2014 many of these issues will be fought out with the local 800 Unity slugs just elected will still be pulling back from the battle.
Ed deform will not fall until we drag the UFT/AFT into the battle. The Chicago election was a referendum on the Randi collaboration strategy and that took a beating.
I take a hardline on Randi.
Having watched her here in NYC, I can tell you that all Weingarten cares about is advancing her own career.
This is a labor "leader" with no core beliefs, no principles, no standards of conduct other than "How do I get on television more?"
She maneuvered herself into the "reform-friendly labor leader" slot because that was the place that would personally enrich and benefit her the most.
Until she has her power stripped from her or is carted out on RICO charges, Weingarten will not abandon her chosen role in the education reform war - the collaborator who works from within to destroy teachers and teachers unions.
I am glad that Karen Lewis and CTU are putting some pressure on the AFT leadership.
Winning with 80% of the vote after winning a fight with Rahm Emanuel is, I believe, making the AFTers a little worried that other locals will clamor for the same kind of pushback from their union against the deformers.
So their making some noises like they're pushing back.
But make no mistake, just because the AFT leadership is feeling a little pressure from a local doesn't mean their core collaborator policies will change.
They'll make it look like they're changing their policies without actually, you know, changing their policies.
Kinda like calling for a moratorium on high stakes attached to the Common Core tests, but not pushing for the end of high stakes attached to the Common Core tests.
Sure, Weingarten made headlines, but in the end, she did nothing to halt the education reform steamroller about to crush teachers with value-added measurements based on the Common Core tests that were added before the Common Core curriculum was taught.
That's the stuff Weingarten is made of - getting headlines for herself while doing nothing to help teachers (or worse, actively harming them.)
Sleight of hand artists call it misdirection: using patter and irrelevant motions to distract the audience while the real trick is being played.
ReplyDeleteHaving observed Weingaren for years, I'll attest to her skills as an illusionist, but you're never supposed to repeat the same trick during a performance, and her act is getting very, very tired.
Her act is growing tired and many of the teachers who were once fooled by her sleight of hand have seen her tricks once too often to be fooled these days.
DeleteUnfortunately there are still enough who are fooled.
I agree totally and I ask this question; How will the CTU victory coupled with the low teacher voting in the UFT elections effect the Mulgrew/Weingarten leadership in NYC??
ReplyDeleteThey'll look to make retiree votes 2 to 1 - every retiree vote counts two times an active member's vote.
DeleteI'm only sort of kidding. I think they'll look to continue their reign by hook, crook and whatever other means necessary. But changing their policies won't be one of those means.
Don't underestimate Randi. It is not all about her career or even her. Sure she has a major ego and self-interest. But I never saw her as a money person but as a power person. There is an ideology behind her and it comes from Shanker who began the slide to ed deform by the unions. Randi is not as adept as he was but aspires to be like him. She also doesn't have the depth of ideology he had. She is more liberal but the AFT still continues to do anti-left stuff abroad. (Read the great George Schmidt pamphlet on the AFT and CIA).
ReplyDeleteDue to the top-down fundamentally undemocratic operation of the the aft/uft they do not and cannot ever truly organize people in an effective battle against ed deform because an active membership would not allow their union to be controlled by retiree vote. Their only recourse is to try to stay alive at the top and that is to try to convince the union killers they are emenable to "reform" and will control the membership to boot. THus Chicago gives Randi a bargaining weapon in a sense -- deal with me or you will end up with 10 Karen Lewises. Praise me for being reasonable or vilify me too so I can convince the members I am really militant but I will only do it verbally but never in a way to threaten you.
If there were more flux at the center of the AFT Karen could be a threat but right now she doesn't need to deal with the national issues but focus on Chicago. So she remains a member of Randi's Progressive Caucus nationally.
I agree that she is in it for power too, Norm. That's important to her. But it's an ego thing - I don't think the policies mean anything to her. She craves the attention. I do think the money is important to her too.
DeleteRandi continues to give two very damaging approaches to the deformers in our nation.
ReplyDeleteShe accommodates and collaborates.
That's all you need to open the door to privatization.
Yup - which is why she's on the payroll. How many boards doe she sit on?
DeleteGo Karen, go Karen, go Karen!
ReplyDelete