It’s something I could never do: talk out of multiple sides of my mouth. I try not to have it many ways, but one, the way I know and feel is right. Granted, we all do things that run counter or contrary to that of our employers. We seek a balance. Many of us do that quite well.
The president of the AFT does it best. Her connections to the power players, the profiteers in education reform, are numerous. Now, we are seeing connections to the roundly criticized firm inBloom. Are the members of the national AFT aware of this? How is this conflict of interest not entirely inappropriate? Well, it is, but it does not seem anyone cares, least of all Ms. Weingarten.
Now, I can already anticipate the defense. We need to be at the table, perhaps. We as educators need to be at least in the room when decisions are made. I have two responses to that. One, where has that gotten us? And two, it will allow them to say they’ve consulted teachers when in fact all they’ve consulted an executive who seems more interested in preserving her own employment and that of close allies than effectively serving the long-term interests of members.
Beware, my friends. Brakes on stakes, a staged arrest in Philly, all part of this triangulation. You’re just an acute angle. Nothing more.
All a show, made to fool you if you're not paying close attention.
But her act is growing stale and tired and many of us have seen her diversionary tactics before.
She and her fellow sell-outs at the AT fool fewer and fewer people these days.
RBE, you realize that the comment you made about the Mayoral candidate that was a congressman (previous post) is more than appropriate for the AFT leader as well.
ReplyDeleteIve heard her repeatedly lie to large groups of teachers about how she "was in the trenches for 7 years"- completely false.
ReplyDeleteRandi was in the trenches for one period a day with the best students; I think AP students at Bard HS Early College. This is a school where the principal and the majority of the teachers have a PhD and the students are highly motivated. Leo Casey was a teacher there fore many, many years.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding was that she taught that one class a day, not a large class, for 6 years. Leo Casey was her mentor, showing her how to write lessons, the technique of presenting the lessons, and asking questions that assesses the students' understanding of the lesson.
How can she call herself a "teacher in the trenches" when teaching one class a day does not make you an experienced teacher? What about those teachers who teach 5 periods a day, for 180 instructional days a year, for over 20 years? Those are teachers in the trenches! She was a politician and union hack in the making using the classroom and those students as stepping stones. Wait a minute. This sounds exactly what TFA does to our students.
It is time for someone to FOIL her year-end evaluation rating sheet and find out the amount of time she spent in the classroom.
Randi managed to escape the full-time teaching load through politics and she uses the word "trenches" so as to belong with the teaching force. I say throw her in a trench and cover her up with dirt. She and her entourage of deformers have destroyed the teaching profession.
Once the decision was made to make Randi Sandy Feldman's successor (sometime around 1990 - when Shanker was still alive and no doubt helped make that decision) Randi needed to get some teaching creds (and courses -- find someone who took ed classes with her and you'll find Jimmy Hoffa) so she was handed a position as a teacher at Clara Barton HS -- near Bklyn Bot Gardens so she could be near her home in Park Slope. Casey was the chapter leader there to protect her. She technically taught there for 6 years but only 6 months full-time. She coached the debating team for comp time and reports were that she taught 2 periods a day. But she was also negotiating the 1995 contract (which we turned down the first time - a major defeat for her) while supposedly teaching. The Village Voice did an expose on her. Question that came up since she never got a regular appointment -- did she sit for the exams? -- was whether she was on leave all those years she was president and the UFT was reimbursing her salary so she could get pension credit? All was muddled. When she bacame pres she took Leo with her.
DeleteI've also heard the rumor that Weingarten never fully earned her NY State license and certification. Can't say for sure, but the person who told me knows a lot of the inner workings.
ReplyDeletehow could she unless they counted her law degree as an ed MA.
ReplyDeleteFrom The Voice:
ReplyDeleteStrangely, while she told the Voice she was a per diem for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years, her records list her as a full-time teacher. Because she was credited with the required two years of full-time service she doesn't even claim she performed, she was given a permanent certificate in September 1996. She has been on union leave since 1997, accumulating a total of nine years of pensionable city time though she only did one semester of full-time teaching.