The NYC teachers union is out with a new TV ad that accuses the governor of putting his own political career ahead of the education of New York’s children.
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The new ad, which is airing on cable stations on Long Island and in the NYC metro area, features a Brooklyn public school teacher and a an unnamed public school parent and her daughter.
The 30-second spot calls on the governor to focus on what students “really need to succeed,” (in the union’s point of view): Smaller classes, after-school funding and a “fairer” funding formula.
“Governor, tough talk is not the answer,” says teacher Lynne Yabroudi at the end of the ad. “Come visit my classroom to learn what all kids need to get a great education.”
Very, very lame - doesn't get at the real matter here, which is that Cuomo's "reforms" will do more harm than good.
Here's the ad they should run:
Tell New Yorkers what will happen if Cuomo gets to tie 50% of teacher evaluations to student test scores.
Start that process by running an ad featuring Sheri Lederman, the award-winning teacher who was rated "ineffective" by NYSED on her test component via their value-added algorithm even though Lederman's students all passed their state tests and scored well above the state average.
Tell New Yorkers that Lederman is suing the State Education Department over this rating and that so far, NYSED has been unable to provide an explanation for why Lederman was rated "ineffective" even though her students passed the state tests with scores well above the state average.
Tell New Yorkers that if Cuomo gets his way, many more teachers will be rated "ineffective" via an inscrutable NYSED value-added measurement algorithm that nobody from SED or the Regents seems able to explain.
And end the ad with Lederman's principal telling New Yorkers that if Cuomo gets his way on the rating reforms, one more "ineffective" rating on the inscrutable, unexplainable NYSED VAM will have Lederman fired and her students losing a highly effective, well-respected teacher.
Asking Cuomo to visit classrooms and learn what a great education New York kids get as the basis for an ad?
That doesn't get at the root of the problem in this evaluation fight, nor does it explain to New Yorkers just how damaging Cuomo's education reforms will be to their children and their children's teachers.
If they're going to run "anti-Cuomo" ads, then they ought to be running ones that really explain the problems with the Cuomo reforms.
I agree 100%. Teachers do NOT care about our schools getting more money that is simply going to be squandered and not end up in our classrooms. We DO care about our working conditions and our careers. The job of a teacher union is to protect the interests of it's teachers. Our interests are not being showcased in these lame ads.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more. When I saw the ad over my morning cup of coffee this morning, I thought, "That's all the public needs to think - that we're always asking for more money." It's a silly ad that doesn't go far enough to address the real problem with schools - principals who are accountable to no one, with very little actual teaching experience, empowered to fire the teacher you and your child love. The UFT is willfully stupid.
ReplyDeleteUFT is not willfully stupid. They are willfully corrupt. The leadership is placing their own interests above their members.
DeleteI agree - they could fight this on a very legit level, as I pointed out in my post. But they ignore that and instead fight it with some generic "Give us more money!" ad. The governor's already said he'll give you more money - if you agree to his reforms.
DeleteAs if what we need is another observation...
ReplyDeleteGood point!
DeleteI just saw the lame ad. It is worse than I expected from your description.
ReplyDeleteThe smart money is always on "Boy that sucks worse than I thought it would!" whenever the UFT is involved.
DeleteThank you for exposing the ad for what it is .... LAME and a waste of dues money. Sad to say that the current UFT and NYSUT leadership are incapable of coming up with anything better because none are the sharpest folks around. It's hard to take their leadership and their message seriously when the fact is they ran the last NYSUT leadership out of town simply because that leadership was finally going after Cuomo effectively. Once in power, they sat on their hands in November 2014 and squandered opportunity when that was the time to rally behind Teachout and then Hawkins to mortally wound a bully governor at the time that it mattered, Not sure if the word stupid or corrupt best describes the folks in charge of UFT and NYSUT now ... .maybe let's just say it's a sprinkling of both.
ReplyDeleteAnd the ad has to include the amount of bribes he gets from charter schools. The ad has to show that he is a corrupt governor. But the board of ed policy now is not to attack the charter schools and tip toe around them. That's why the message becomes blur.
ReplyDelete11:46
ReplyDeletePeople seeking a seat at the table are not going to run an ad exposing the corruption of their patron.