Thursday, January 1, 2015

UFT/NYSUT Signal They Will Cave To Cuomo On Teacher Evaluations/Charter Cap

I saw that Peter Goodman, Unity functionary, posted a blog piece today that lays out the blueprint for the UFT/NYSUT cave on the charter school cap and teacher evaluations, but I didn't get a chance to blog the story yet.

Norm Scott took care of it for me in this post:

As a history teacher I’m reminded of “Going to Canossa (“Canossa” refers to an act of penance or submission), Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, dressed in “sackcloth and ashes, humbled himself in the snow outside of the castle of Pope Gregory seeking absolution from the threat of excommunication. Henry retained his throne.... Charter school quotas and the teacher the evaluation system are negotiable, and, the core issues are the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the property tax cap, the union has to seek absolution from Pope Andrew and move on to resolve the core issues..... Peter Goodman, https://mets2006.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/education-politics-is-a-blood-sport-chancellor-tisch-responds-to-the-threatening-cuomo-letter/

As Norm notes:

 Goodman is like an advanced scout for UFT/Unity leadership thought process...Goodman represents the general thinking in the UFT for the past 50 years - no spine. But Goodman's job is to diss the idea of militancy, the kind that Beth Domino and Stronger Together espouse (OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR TISCH).

I'm sure most Perdido Street School blog readers and Ed Notes readers aren't surprised the fight between Cuomo and the teachers union leaders is over before it even started.

But it is.

The UFT/NYSUT will fold in the fight, you will see a "toughened" teacher evaluation system with a "strengthened" teacher removal mechanism and a charter cap increase coming from either an overall lift or a movement of some of the upstate slots to the city.

In return, the unions will get some crumbs related to funding and declare victory.

They'll say the deal is so good, it scrapes the skies.

Or they'll say it was the best they could do in a tough environment.

Either way, they will cave.

You can also bet Andrew Cuomo knew that was EXACTLY what would happen.

Whenever you hear tough words emanating from the UFT or NYSUT leaders, it is nothing but empty rhetoric.

As always, I hope I'm wrong with this concern.

If so, I'll happily write a post saying so.

But experience tells me, I won't be writing that apology - ever.

13 comments:

  1. Why are we paying dues to the UFT?

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  2. Dude, what kind of "crumbs" can be given?

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  3. Mario Cuomo is now dead. He raised a bastard child, Andrew Cuomo to follow in his tradition of phoniness.

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  4. McWho I hear is inviting Sheriff Andy to visit our classrooms so he will love us for being such nice people. McGrew is probably making another Faustian bargain in a dark corner of Andy's Westchester fixer upper. Time for these two slugs to go.

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  5. Mulgrew has a job for life. No one in NYC votes and if they diid, UNITY would fix the vote.

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  6. The State initiated the Gap Elimination Adjustment six years ago to steal money from local boards of education to fund the state deficit in the aftermath of the fiscal crisis.

    The State has been rolling in dough for the last three years so, yes, expect some "give up" on the GEA in return for capitulation everywhere else.

    Mulgrew will say something similar to what he told the DA at the meeting last May when he announced the contract: I was just letting them strangle on their 20 point Danielson framework--now I got it down to eight points. That was my great plan, all along. You don't like APPR? Neither do I but it's better than the subjective evaluations of arbitrary principals. I let them have 20% state and 20% local proportions in the student growth algorithm. You hated the MOSL, didn't you? That was my plan. I let them strangle on the MOSL and now we just get one test--still the same 40%, still the same pass/fail, still the same 13% of "ineffectives" will get UFT representation, but now the rest of you will be gone without a hearing so the pain will be so much shorter and a few years from now you'll all look back and laugh.

    We're brilliant. We rage against "Cuomo and the hedge fund managers" and look what we got?

    You guys are never satisfied. I do this for YOU and nobody ever says "thank you" to me. Bunch of ingrates. I'd be glad to throw most of you out of the profession like my friend Andy wants to but, freak it, I need your dues. Oh well...

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  7. It was very useful for me. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for, and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us.

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  8. Wait until Cuomo calls for a constitutional convention which is the only way to reduce the 7% interest rate down to zero as a way to attack pensions, TDA fixed rate people, etc.
    I don't know what it will take to turn the average teacher into a politically conscious tiger to the extent that Unity can be seriously challenged. Having been in the trenches of that battle for most of the past 45 years, there have been glimmers at times. It looked possible after the 75/76 layoffs and the opposition was gaining a little toe-hold but was so divided it had no chance. Since the mid-90s when the 95 contract was voted down, nothing much. Some excitement when ICE formed in 2003 but that faded. Some excitement when many groups came together in MORE in 2012-13 but that has been stagnant. At some point it becomes clear that only when most teachers feel absolutely threatened with not having a job will something develop. Until then people are getting what they ask for and Unity will prevail with a minority hold and a retiree controlled union. I'm posting historical content on ed notes for the interested/activist people in the UFT so they can see the big picture and where it may go in the future.

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  9. Thank you for your continued candid and thorough coverage of all that is going on. What a shame that at a time we are most vulnerable and need to demonstrate a strong moral compass and resolve, we have to divide our energy fighting our NYSUT leadership. The sad reality, but our reality still, is that we must change that leadership if we will ever be an effective and significant force to be reckoned with. The NYSUT officers in Albany right now are empty, corrupt and weak. Led by MIchael Mulgrew's puppet, Andy Pallotta, a simple and vindictive man, this leadership team is impotence personified. This has to change.

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  10. Maybe instead of heckling and harassing Cuomo we should be doing it to McWho and McGrew?

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    1. When you have colleagues that support the ridiculous contract...you can't.

      Unity in the UFT fixes everything in their favor, to rid us of the cancer that is Mulgrew is enormous.

      When veteran teachers are rated developing, they will never see 2020 and 100% of that bullshit contract that my colleagues supported.

      NYc's brightest are NYC's most ignorant. Show us the money and we'll do what you want.

      What a joke!

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  11. Many Superintendents support the quicker removal of Teachers and are looking for ways to cut costs. Many have taken courses through the Broad Institute. The philosophy of "Divide and Conquer" by the Cuomo Administration is at play here.

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  12. Head of union members are old. They only want to protect their own pensions, nothing else.

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