This is my prediction...in the end, it will all result in lawsuits because VAM and the SLOs will be found to be indefensible as measures of teacher quality. This is the full employment act for school attorneys.
Unfortunately it does not seem the UFT will be joining the lawsuits because they're too busy spinning how this is a win for teachers.
You can bet they are in major CYA mode at 52 Broadway and every critique of the system will get a response from the geniuses there.
I wonder, will they bring back Lyin' Leo Casey to lead the pushback?
Will they bring in Redhog to tell us how this deal is so good it "scrapes the skies"?
I think that the whole system is indefensible in court.
Again, I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me both the VAM, with its large margins of error and wide swings in stability from year to year, and the SLO's, with their dubious make-up and quality, cannot stand up to scrutiny as measures of teacher quality.
In addition, I think that the changes to test part of the evaluation plan are also problematic.
Under the agreement made in February 2012 by King, Tisch, Cuomo, Mulgrew and Iannuzzi, a teacher found to have "zero growth" in the test score part of the evaluation (20%) would have to be rated "ineffective" automatically no matter what.
But under the plan revealed yesterday, we get this:
"Teachers rated ineffective on student performance based on objective assessments must be rated ineffective overall."
If I'm reading that correctly, that's a big shift from the February 2012 agreement - from "zero growth on student performance" to "ineffective on student performance."
Will that seismic change to the 20% test part of the evaluation stand up in court?
We may never know because the UFT doesn't seem like they're going to challenge any of this stuff in court.
They're already in major spin mode, with Mulgrew sending out a jive letter stating that "The commissioner’s plan is professional and fair and is designed to help teachers improve their skills throughout their careers" when the truth is, the plan is anything but fair and has been instituted simply to give the NYCDOE the tools to fire as many teachers as possible as quickly as possible.
I do think this system unveiled by King yesterday is indefensible.
Unfortunately for us, the UFT leadership are too busy defending it in the court of public opinion to take it to a civil court and see just how indefensible it really is.
Funny, Mulgrew & company are darn anxious (I was going to say good, but I guess in a Baghdad Bob way, they might be) to win a PR battle over this. But heaven forbid have have any idea about trying it...
ReplyDeleteScrew it..these folks are so lame...I can't even begin to show how disgusted I am at them, and the 80% that could not take time to vote, guaranteeing another Mulgrew win, and another screw job of the members.
Now it becomes our duty and obligation to point out that there is a solution to this mess, there is another way forward - there can be MORE than this...
DeleteMuch more work, invasive 15 minute observations by wolf pack of administrators with recording IPADS scrutinizing your teaching and learning environment, student surveys, student portfolios, 100% ineffective if your exam rating is judged ineffective..........are you prepared to pay a retainer to a lawyer?
ReplyDeleteHow dumb can you be if you accept the Mulgrew/ UFT spin? You were just too lazy to vote for MORE. And so you are now too just too dumb and naïve. So you completely trust the UFT leadership?
This is a scheme for rating 10% of teachers ineffective based on Pearson Corporatized exams. This is a scheme for firing tenured teachers without a due process after two years. What MORE do you need to know?
You're right. You're right.
DeleteNow is the time to strike. Just before the Regents and other nonsense. All of this can be reversed through a proper strike. Let the Oligarchs chew on that. While we are at it the union needs to be decertified.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Angry Nog
Mulgrew has sold us down the river. I plan to use the June 12 rally to express my discontent with Mulgrew. I'm hoping others do the same.
DeleteAs Norm wrote, the enemy here is not Bloomberg and Walcott.
Mulgrew and the UFT leadership - those are the enemies.
Bring lots of teachers to heckle Mulgrew and his lackeys.
ReplyDeleteBy the time this all is blown up...Mulgrew will have purchased his gated community enclave by the sea. That 40 million his sis did in DOE business
ReplyDeletehas gotten him that already...do you think he gives two shits if he gets heckled..? But please do...make it uncomfortable for him.
The 80 percent of teachers who didnt vote now get what they deserve...while the elite UFT peeps continue to rake in 6 figure base salaries and collect two pensions....for what exactly...?
This episode shows, as if any more proof were needed, that the UFT/AFT/NYSUT now exist to co-implement programs like this, and are content to help manage the workforce, as long as the dues keep coming in, officers keep their salaries and double pensions, and the Mulgarten's of the world get an occasional pat on the head from the Overclass.
ReplyDeleteAt best, the UFT is now a kind of in-house ombudsman, going to bat for teachers now and then, but always within the premises and confines of The Beast. Rather than existing as an independent working class institution, the union is rapidly devolving into a parasitic arm of management. This new evaluation system, generated by the lie that the old system had failed and was in crisis, may be the crowning turd of their many betrayals.
In their self-interested delusion, they seem to think they'll be allowed to continue riding the gravy train forever as an offshoot of the Human Relations and "Talent Management" departments of the DOE. What they don't seem to realize, or are incapable of imagining a response to, is that the moment they have outlived their usefulness and are perceived to be sufficiently weakened (by the very policies they've helped implement), the so-called reformers will go for their throats, too.
That outcome is being planned at this very moment, if it hasn't already been formulated.
Yeah, Randi and Michael, you'll get that ride on Bloomberg's (or Broad's, or Gates', or...) private jet, but soon enough they'll eject you over the water.
They may get us first, but they will get you, too.
i respect all positions here, but you blogtavist have reached a point where deep in your hearts you all know that the expected acts of discontent, ie marching in protest, will no longer be effective and prompt change.
ReplyDeleteNext move???? 'cause protests alone will mean nothing.
i agree with the comment that those who did not find the time to vote deserve all of this.
Mulgrew and all like him are disgusting!!!