Ed Notes in Bid Against Bill Gates for Educators 4 Excellence's Sydney Morris

Last update: Friday, April 15, 12:30PM

I had a lovely chat with Sydney Morris the other night at the post TFA sponsored gathering in a bar. I was duly impressed. I've become a believer in what Sydney has to say. She is all about putting children first and ahead of those nasty adults.

And she is for merit pay. She was obviously a top-notch teacher in her three years in the system before leaving with her partner Evan Stone to organize Educators 4 Excellence (she is supposedly working part-time F-status), where she gets to pontificate on the most important issue facing education and educators today: changing seniority rules.

One million school children and their parents just dream of the day when Sydney and her merry crew of hired staff at E4E win this victory so the sun can shine again and all women will be strong – Sydney clearly wears the pants in E4E – all the men will be good looking and all the children will have the achievement gap closed and be above average.

Sydney was a fabulous teacher totally dedicated to her children but also a firm believe in merit pay. I asked her how much harder she would have worked and how much more she would have closed the achievement gap had she been paid say, $10,000 more? $20,000? $50,000? Wow! Imagine, how the scores would rise exponentially as the piles of cash grew. And since E4E never even mentions class size, we could could pay her that extra money by firing the worst teacher in her school – most likely a senior teacher making a hundred grand despite spending the entire day reading a newspaper or being absent all the time. Just give her all those kids that were being denied an excellent teacher.

Sixty in a class? No problem. Sydney can handle it. As a matter of fact, when I asked why E4E never mentions class size, Sydney did admit class size can make a difference – if we could lower it to 15. "I taught 34 children", she said. "Since we might only be able to lower class sizes at best to 28 the extra 6 children wouldn't make that much of a difference." Now there's a real teacher for you. Sees no difference between 34 and 28 children in a class. I told you the woman was strong.

Well, Sydney wasn't giving me an answer to the contradiction between favoring merit pay and how her performance would have been affected by being offered merit pay.

She switched tactics - said it was all about incentives. Like luring someone from going to work for Goldman-Saks into teaching high school math instead. What a great idea. I hear many people at Goldman are already lining up to teach high school math in the Bronx. And imagine the math scores the GS guys who pulled those credit default swaps will bring in for an extra 10 Grand!

So, I tried another tactic: Getting into a bidding war with Bill Gates for Sydney's services.

"Sydney, how much do I have to pay you to lure you back into to teaching those poor kids you abandoned?"

I'm still waiting for her answer but she smiled at that, so there is hope.

Now you all know that even though I am a Tier 1 retiree, I may not be able to compete with Bill, Eli, DFER and who knows who else funnels money to E4E (check out their fancy new offices at 333 W. 39th Street). But I don't want to leave those poor kids abandoned by a great teacher like Sydney Morris.

So I am pleading for your help. Join the Ed Notes in a gala fundraiser at a time and location to be announced in the interests of children first:

SSBT: Send Sydney Back to Teaching


AfterBurn
Be sure to read my previous blog posts on the TFA/LIFO event  over the past few days.

Educators 4 Excellence Update

Oh, where to start? Maybe with South Bronx School:  The Two Faced Ramblings Of E4E'S Ruben Brosbe.

I won't be as comprehensive as SBS but just look at a few of Ruben Brosbe's comments in this post on the Gotham Community:

Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions: An E4E Take on EDUSolidarity

Shocked that Ruben and E4E support unions? You should be.

But you know E4E is all about children - when they're not all about adults - E4Eers wanting to make sure they are not laid off - for the sake of the children, of course.

Ruben tells us:

When I think of one of the most vital roles of the union however, I think of the protections that allow me to advocate for my students. At a school with more than 33 percent of students requiring special education services and an even larger number who are considered English language learners, I understand how crucial it is that I can speak up for these students if they aren’t getting legally mandated services. This is arguably the foremost job of a teacher, to speak up for his or her students. By protecting teachers who do this, the union is protecting the city’s neediest children. The union is at its best when it is in this role.

This caused me to roll around the floor laughing - since Ruben lifted this idea word for word from GEM's Julie Cavanagh who used the exact words when she debated an E4Eer on NY1. E4E loves to tell the people on its email list about the press they are getting. In their update that week they seem to have left out the NY1 debate with Julie kicking ass. (Julie tells me Evan and Sydney were in the Green room coaching their rep and cheering her up after the debate. Bill Gates' money is being well spent.)

Here is the link to the debate so you can see exactly how well Ruben can copycat:
http://www.ny1.com/?ArID=134963

What the E$E spinmeisters are doing is trying to co-opt the Real Reformers' message about the union. Maybe one day they will actually mention low class size as being good for children. But that might affect their funding from Gates who doesn't believe it - unless for his own children.

But then comes this winner from Ruben:

I know I don’t see eye to eye with the UFT on every issue. I don’t agree with LIFO.

So let's follow Ruben's logic. Or illogic.

A teacher advocates for their children. Who does that teacher advocate with? Most often the principal. Who most often gets pissed off at advocating teacher- with threat of U rating to follow if teacher doesn't stop advocating for children. Ruben's answer? Fire that teacher.

Jose Vilson, one of the most highly respected ed bloggers and an organizer of EDUSolidarity comments:

from everything I've seen from E$E (appropriate because when you hit shift+4, you get $), you really want to take down the union, not actually help it progress.You and your group have made it so a discussion proliferates between younger and older teachers would rift, not amend, the tenuous relationship between younger and older teachers in our system. As a younger teacher, I'm disappointed that your group also aligns itself unabashedly with anyone willing to corrupt our (albeit not perfect) union.

To which Ruben responds:

I don't think that the relationship between senior and newer teachers is strengthened by the current layoff system. In fact, I think when newer teachers look around and see that senior teachers are protected regardless of performance, it breeds resentment, rather than respect. Meanwhile, I have nothing but respect for the veteran teachers who continue to work hard and refine their craft. I have benefited immensely from the help of veteran teachers in my short time in the classroom

Again, a misleading lack of logic on Ruben's part. In fact LIFO protects newer teachers as much as senior teachers. A third year teacher gets priority over a first year teacher. And gets called back in the order of layoff. E$E is trying to exploit the vulnerability of newer teachers through the Gates/DFER funded political, having nothing to do with education) campaign and if we give Ruben the benefit of the doubt, he is a tool.

If Ruben has such respect for vet teachers "who continue to work hard and refine their craft" he must be talking about vet teachers who do not work hard and continue to refine their craft. Where are these people? Does he know them from his own school? Or is he talking from theory - that they must exist because Bill Gates and Bloomberg tell him they exist. And where are their principals (or principles)? Where is Ruben's principal if these vets exist in his school? Here is where Ruben won't dare go - his own school because if he is a true advocate for the children he so cares about why doesn't he campaign in his own school to remove these people? Think embarrassing the principal might have repercussions for Ruben?

There's a lot of proof out there that newer teachers who have an intention of making a career out of teaching support LIFO. Witness groups like GEM, Teachers Unite and NYCORE. Check out my co-blogger MAB and GEM's Liza Campbell (Anticipating Fight Back Friday), who also blogs at Gotham Community, as examples. Plus the people like Julie and Brian Jones who are a decade+ in the system.

In fact if you attend this Saturday's NYCORE conference (Whose Schools? Our Schools) at Julia Richman HS (67th St and 2nd Ave) Campus you will see hundreds of younger teachers there who I will bet support LIFO and seniority rules.


E$E coming to your school?
I reported on Sunday night (which you may have missed- E4E Invitation to Lunch n' Learn May Violate More than Rules of Ethics) about a principal inviting E$E into school to speak during a lunch hour. It turns out it was not an L&L but voluntary. I raised the issue of whether Tweed was working behind the scenes to help E$E gain access during the school day. Wouldn't surprise me at all. E$E has paid organizers. All our teachers actually work, so only Angel and I are available to come visit.

A contact spoke to lawyers at the CSA (principals' union) and they were not happy since the CSA supports LIFO. My contact at the school said the E$E rep misrepresented herself and the organization when she came in. I sent the contacts at the school Jeff Kaufman's pieces on E$E published on the ICE blog and they were preparing a reception. (“White Paper” on a Roll: How Ed Deformers Distort the Record on Seniority Layoffs and Up Close and Personal With An Opposition.)

They are also asking the principal if I can come in and rebut but the guys at the school seemed to have the situation pretty much under control (they sent out a mass email to the staff before the meeting.)

E$E is holding happy hours - a free drink if you sign their pledge - so if you hear of any let E$E watch central know and we might send some GEMers over to join them.

Before I go, here is a comment left on Gotham on E$E:

What I am amused at by the E4E and anti-seniority based layoff crowd is their own assurance that they will not be discriminated against and verily believe they are the "best" teachers (or most effective as they say). Unions, seniority and the civil service system developed in our history to meet a very specific need in our democracy... providing a fair and equitable way to terminate employees in the face of economic crisis. Public employers also saw advantages in using seniority since they could not be accused of discrimination or arbitrariness and at the same time keep the most experienced employees... employees who have a track record of performing their job satisfactorily. The job displacement that seniority based layoffs would create is not different from E4E proposals as allegedly poorer senior teachers would still have to be replaced... replaced by less senior, less experienced teachers. Lets face it any layoff scheme would impact our students negatively. I submit that the current retention policies including hiring teachers who have no intention of becoming senior teachers has had a much greater negative impact on students than any layoff scheme. The heart of E4E anti-seniority based layoff scheme is anti-union. The agenda is driven by the belief that the (or any) union does not belong in the workplace. In their world everyone will earn what they are worth and only the best will survive. Sounds a bit social darwinistic...or maybe they think that's a good thing.

Link to comment: http://disq.us/1ci1c3

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

E4E Invitation to Lunch n' Learn May Violate More than Rules of Ethics

How is this putting children first? How interesting that it is so easy for E4E to use time that is supposed to be for teachers collaborating together. Think I could get into schools during those times to push GEM's message? Hey, if E4E is coming to your school, ask for equal time. I received this email from a contact.

In my anger, I just wanted to share this with you.
 
One of teachers at my school invited a woman to meet our Principal, she claims to be part of an organization that encourages teacher dialogue and a fair exchange of ideas.  Sounds great.  This is just what the doctor ordered at this time.  We need to have a place for open dialogue, that doesn’t turn into a personal shouting match.  So we invited her to talk at one of our “Lunch and Learns”. 

I received an email from her, and looked at their organizations beliefs and policies.  It was “Educators 4 Excellence”.  I called her back and cancelled her meeting with us, told her that she was deceptive by not mentioning their beliefs in LIFO, and Merit Pay during our initial meeting.  The principal wants her back, and I told her that I would be the first one protesting and heckling any attempt by her or her organization to talk with my staff. 
 
The weird part is, as I confronted the young lady, she still insisted that her organization is open to dialogue and change of ideas.  I told her that’s crap because they have a statement of beliefs that say otherwise.  She didn’t see a contradiction.
 

IT gets worse. That evening a friend tells me that Educators 4 Excellence was sponsoring happy hour drinks at the local bar for her school (with the Principal joining them of course).  They were given a voucher for a drink in exchange for their signature (that they accept the principals of the organization.)  I realized how dangerous and insidious this has become.  They are actively recruiting, using almost cult-like methods, appealing to the young teachers whose rights and futures we are trying to protect.

Naturally, some principals love the E4E message - we predicted that the DOE through the backdoor would aid and abet and promote them. I have no hard facts but why not given the political climate - if they are using Parent Coordinators to organize pro-Bloomberg parents why wouldn't they use principals to get E4E into schools to undermine the union? Kudos to my contact for standing firm.

-----

AFTERBURN

Diane Ravitch in Newsweek:  Obama’s War on Schools: The No Child Left Behind Act has been deadly to public education. So why has the president embraced it?

More evidence of a shift in the MSM, with Diane given space in Newsweek to tell the truth!  Before Newsweek was completely controlled by the deformers. If we get equal time, I think we have a real chance to save public education, because we have research and the views of teachers and parents on our side. - Leonie Haimson http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/obama-s-war-on-schools.html

Gates, et al Funding Union Insurgency in UFT? ME4ME Workshop Today to Focus on School Organizing

NOTE: Must Read: Jeff Kaufman's take down of  E4E lies, distortions and outright manipulation and dishonesty at the ICE blog (and reproduced below the fold). Jeff, who works in a school full of them, termed them ME4ME - which I am changing to the more appropriate ME$ME. 

If you have an ME$ME person in your school, copy and print Jeff's statement for them because most of them know not what they do. OF course, instead of exposing them like Jeff does, Mulgrew chooses to meet with them.

Insiders in the UFT are buzzing about the upcoming challenge being presented by E4E - Educators for Excellence. This will be the first time in history that Unity will face an opponent fueled by billionaires who will pay for a high end ad and PR campaign and other goodies - there are already 4 organizers, with more to come. (They seem to be doing something similar in Los Angeles.)

As we reported (Don't Miss Educators4Excellence Party - Thurs, Feb. 24 at "The American Conference Center," 177 Prince St. on the 2nd floor), today ME4ME is holding an organizing training workshop that they are billing as:

Come join E4E to learn how to become a better advocate for kids.  E4E is hosting a two hour grassroots training event to help give you the advocacy tools you need to maximize your impact for kids.

Of course this has nothing to do with kids but is all about the adults who are funded by Gates and DFER. What they are advocating for "kids' is an end to LIFO, which will keep the adult ME$ME members in a job.

Our sources are telling us today's grassroots training is about chapter organizing with a plan to prepare for chapter leader positions in the spring 2012 elections in preparation for a challenge to Unity in 2013. The platform will be a very simple one issue campaign: getting rid of LIFO.

Now keeping LIFO alive as a hot issue is dependent on layoffs or the threat of layoffs. With Bloomberg's threat this year, ME$ME is out of synch in terms of election seasons. In my conspiracy tinged world, if Bloomberg doesn't get LIFO ended by this summer, the layoff threat will disappear until next year.

And when a ME$ME member runs for chapter leader, expect the word from the DOE to go out to the principals to grease the skids for them. Of course as a one issue group they will not be interested in protecting the rights of the members in their schools and will be suck-ups to the principals.

So how could they win a chapter leader position? Easy. Many principals run their own candidates who get elected because the chapter is afraid to elect a person who will stand up (believe me, I went through this in my school where the principal had a core of 5th columnists nipping at me for being an aggressive CL.) But in this case, they will have protection from the very top of the DOE.

And watch when they run in 2013 - bet their literature gets some "help" getting into most of the schools. Unity will no longer have a lock on the mail boxes. If ME4ME wasn't such a slime ball operation, it might bring a smile to my face.

ME$ME will attack Unity on their vulnerability when it comes to democracy, even using some of the points made by the opposition for years. Unity will use this as an opportunity to vilify other opposition groups if they run on a platform criticizing Unity as helping ME4ME. Except for New Action, of course. They have no purpose other than to be a stalking horse for Unity in exchange for 8 Executive Board seats. The issue will be whether Unity thinks it is an advantage for them to have New Action on the ballot.

What of the other opposition groups - ICE and TJC? They will be placed in an interesting position. With a lack of resources they would have to in essence battle ME$ME and Unity (and New Action). Is it worth it in an election they cannot win or even make much headway? It will be interesting to see where this goes.

What about a new group like GEM? I know that Unity sees GEM as a possible opposition group but so far GEM has focused on the bigger issues of fighting the ed deformers in the battle to save public education - one of the mantras of GEMers is that they have to do it since the UFT is not. But is that a platform for an election? My guess is that at this point GEM is sticking to the ed deform struggle. Another point is that GEM has been working with parents groups and some of those alliances do not always dovetail with an inside UFT strategy.

Since GEM has been organizing young teachers who are of the same constituency as ME$ME, GEM might take on the battle with them since they squarely fit into the ed deform category.

One thing is sure, ed notes will be there to report on these fascinating developments.

Add On
Accountable Talk has done some great work on ME$ME:  An Asshat By Any Other Name


Jeff Kaufman made some important comments on that post in defending his school:

I agree that the e4e (me4me) crowd are self-absorbed anti-union types but the name calling and divisiveness must end. What turns a me4me into a all4all are experiences where they must call upon their colleagues, Chapter Leaders or Union for help. Our "f" rated school was not based on teaching...it was based on graduation rates in a second chance high school. Costa will learn that the DOE in concocting this measure did nothing but assure that our school will close despite our teaching. The struggle must be against all misdirected and irrelevant measures included me4me's "taking ability into account for layoff purposes."

Here is his ICE Post, which by the way is another link missed by Gotham Schools (What Makes Gotham Schools (and What Does Not). Gotham posts a link when Evan or Sidney fart.

“White Paper” on a Roll: How Ed Deformers Distort the Record on Seniority Layoffs

by Jeff Kaufman

On February 14, 2011 Educators 4 Excellence, a mouthpiece for the current movement attempting to reverse the current law on seniority based layoffs issued a press release announcing what they termed a "first research-based proposal" contained in a "white paper" entitled, "Keeping Our Best Teachers: An Alternative to Seniority-Based Layoffs."

As our Union remains conspicuously silent on this issue, preferring to argue against the need for layoffs rather than the method, it is time to take this piece of alleged research apart to see what supports their recommendations and whether these recommendations truly support their main thesis; that seniority-based layoffs hurt students and cause some of the "best teachers" to be terminated.

MORE


The format of the "white paper" is fairly straight-forward containing an introduction, an explanation of the current system and recommendations.

The Law

The law on seniority-based layoffs requires all layoff decisions to be based on total seniority including substitute and paraprofessional service within license. The literature dealing with layoff scenarios misses this point. Not surprisingly so does the "white paper"." When a layoff decision is made the DOE can layoff certain licensed teachers and hold back on other licenses. Thus hard to staff licenses like special ed or ESL might be totally spared layoff or high school teachers might be laid off before junior high or elementary school teachers. Education Law Section 2588 already gives the DOE the discretion to choose which license and how many teachers to lay off.

The impact of this discretion is nowhere assessed or even discussed. Yet the "white paper" concludes in its introduction that the impact of a layoff would be greatest felt in schools with a large percentage of newly hired teachers which they conclude are more often concentrated in the lowest income communities.

The "white paper's" Introduction

In order to save our schools from being torn apart (their words, not mine) the E4E deformers recommend that layoffs be based on Chronic Teacher Absentees, Principal Evaluations and being assigned to the Absent Teacher Reserve Pool.

"These categories are clear indicators of teacher performance and student achievement," the paper claims. Yet the next paragraph cautions, "In the absence of a more comprehensive system, our framework is a better way to conduct layoffs because it protects great teachers."

This tautological expression undergirds the thesis of the paper. We can't really know who the best teachers are but somehow by laying off by measuring teacher absence, principal evaluations and the fact that you are an ATR will avoid terminating "great teachers."

The introduction continues by asserting that based on a study done last year by the Calder Urban Institute demonstrates that "most of the teachers who would be laid off in a seniority-based system would be substantially more effective than even the best teacher laid off using a value-added system, or a system that includes teacher effectiveness." Does this mean that value-added systems don't measure teacher effectiveness?

Despite the inartful wording of the "white paper's" introduction the Calder Urban Institute (a collaboration of mostly southern university ed researchers who defend Waiting for Superman and most of the ed deformer agenda) claims, as the E4E paper does that seniority-based layoffs will cause effective teachers to be laid off. But how did they determine effectiveness?

The Calder study used 4^th and 5^th graders from New York City and the "value-added" model that has been demonstrated to be inaccurate and misleading to determine teacher effectiveness. A bit more academically responsible than the E4E crowd Calder states its assumption right up front, "assuming readily available measures of teacher effectiveness actually measure true teacher effectiveness, an assumption to which we return below, the differences between seniority and effectiveness based layoffs are larger and more persistent than we anticipated."

The distortions and inaccuracies continue as the "white paper" claims that the diversity of the teacher ranks would be adversely affected by seniority-based layoffs. The paper claims, without support, that "over the last decade, New York has hired many more African-American and Latino teachers to better reflect the population of city students." Seniority-based layoffs will, they claim, cause these newer, minority teachers to be laid off disproportionally. The fact is that minority hiring has dwindled in New York City and other areas served by programs such as Teach for America. No analysis is offered to support this proposition.

What is cited is the recent Los Angeles school system case as evidence of adverse racial impact. Again inaccurate and misleading. The case has been settled in which racial impact, by law, is permissible to be taken into account in protecting certain parts of the school district from layoff. The settlement is a creature of a completely incomparable set of circumstances. The types of abuses cited by the plaintiffs have not been documented in New York City.

The Recommendations

The first recommendation is based on teacher attendance. The "white paper" suggests that absent teachers be divided into 3 tiers in which teachers absent 15 percent or higher (as measured over the previous and current school year) would be in the first round of layoffs. Tier 2 would be at 10 percent and Tier 3 at 8 percent. They exclude absences with doctor's notes and calculate that at Tier 1 for the last 15 months year you would have to absent 41 days to meet the threshold. At an average of 3 days per month it is unimaginable that a teacher, without a doctor's note, would not have been brought up on charges, placed on disciplinary probation under our new time and attendance contract provisions or otherwise separated from employment.

The "white paper" again confuses teacher effectiveness and student affect by citing a New Teacher Project paper that supports their thesis. (The New Teacher Project was founded by ed deformer poster child Michelle Rhee who recently was caught in her own teacher effectiveness misrepresentation when she admitted that her resume could have been written clearer when it suggested she magically caused her own students to increase their test performance from the 13^th percentile to the 90^th percentile).

The study cited as well as this "white paper" mysteriously neglect to mention a New York City Department of Education study, written just prior to Bloom/Klein in which absenteeism did not correlate with student performance. Other studies have demonstrated that there are more effective ways of dealing with teacher absenteeism including disincentives (termination, fine and other discipline) and incentives (buying back unused sick time).

The next recommendation involves using U ratings in layoff decisions. They support this proposed layoff criteria on the broken U rating system claiming that only 2% of the teachers get U ratings. While 2% is still 1600 there is reason to believe that this number is understated. However sine UFT and DOE statistics don't include terminated employees (both tenured and probationer) and teachers who voluntary resigned with U ratings the number is probably much greater.

The broken U rating system, however, in impeccable logic, supports the decision to layoff because, according to the "white paper," when principals give U ratings they must really mean it since they give it so infrequently. Then they take the next illogical step; if they really mean it then the teachers must really be bad. This is absurd and the very reason that seniority-based layoffs were codified into law.

U ratings are given for a variety of reasons many of which do not involve teacher quality. Political, economic, personality differences and age discrimination reasons are just a few.

U ratings rarely lead to teacher termination for tenured teachers due to the subjective nature of the teacher assessment by the principal and the incompetence of DOE administrators and attorneys. Just like students poor teachers can be taught and with the right mentoring an incompetent teacher can be taught to be competent. A U rating has nothing to do with teacher competence. Seniority based layoffs ensure that illegal and inappropriate discriminatory practices are not perpetrated in a layoff situation.

The last recommendation and my personal favorite is the layoff of ATRs who have not found a permanent job in 6 months. The chauvinism and condescension toward ATRs is evidence of the "white paper's" true mission; the destruction of the collective bargaining system as we know it.

While the ICE/TJC members of the Executive Board when the 2005 contract came up for a vote were the only ones to vote against the contract on the Board and tried to warn the membership of the dangers of this provision (just skim this blog's early entries) the fact is the membership approved of the contract after listening to the lies of union officials who promises this would do away with bumping and the open market was a much fairer way than seniority in determining teacher placement.

In the aftermath of the creation of the ATR pool we have seen overt age discrimination in the attempt to cause more experienced teachers to quit or retire. ATRs fill full teacher programs and are not hired due to the heavier financial burden they place on shrunken school budgets.

When a contract creates an economic disincentive to hire a teacher it is outrageous to insinuate that the teacher's failure to obtain a permanent position is due to incompetence. As schools close ATRs are created. While there was an agreement at one point that recognized the economic disincentive to hire experienced teachers this agreement was never fully funded and totally expired last December.

Additionally the ATR system was established as a result of collective bargaining, where teachers and the DOE traded economic and non-economic demands. What did we give up for the ATR system? Should we permit the DOE to circumvent the collective bargaining process by an end run through the legislature?
And who says ATRs are incompetent?

The "white paper" is replete with inaccuracies and misstatements. It is sad that a group of teachers, who they themselves might, in the future, be U rated, excessed or be absent buy into the ed deformer argument that old is bad, young is good.

Educators for Excellence Smoking Grassroots

UPDATE LINK: Accountable Talk:  An Asshat By Any Other Name


Well, they've won me over. Those whacky kids from E4E are doing grassroots training - it's all for the kids you know. On Feb. 24th you can learn all about advocating for kids - by attacking the rights of seniority and LIFO protections for the kids' long-time teachers. If only the kids could vote...

But as GEMers we love it when people use the expression "grassroots." Even the UFT is talking GR. So, come on now, head on over to E4E training on Feb. 24 at 2PM - do you have anything better to do during your week off? Of course for Evan and Sydney this is not a vacation week since they only work one day a week with that Gates and DFER subsidy.

They're even going to throw you a party at 4PM. It's all so much fun.

E4E planning UFT election run?
I'm thinking - Coming soon: The E4E UFT Caucus to run against Unity in the 2013 election, fueled by big bucks from Gates and DFER. There already a group in LA doing the same thing and backed by similar money. That is part of the ed deform strategy - place 5th columns in all the urban unions to create confusion. They were too late for Chicago where CORE jumped the gun and won power as a reform slate. E4E-like anti-union movements benefit from corrupt, status quo, anti-democratic leaderships, and Unity is a prime target. By sending out their message a certain way they will be able to fool many members and garner support from the increasing numbers of anti-Unity people. They won't win but manage to give the impression that there is more support for their policies than there really is.

I bet that Unity big wigs are actually happy about E4E (maybe explains Mulgrew visit) since Unity can't lose in a stacked deck and an E4E candidacy fueled by big money will drown out any other CORE-like opposition party. And don't forget the Unity-bought New Action Caucus stalking horse to further confuse things.

My advice to the usual opposition groups: walk away from this unless you can bring a strong ground game to match Unity in 50% of the schools. E4E will have no ground game but won't really need one with the big money and a few full-time organizers working the campaign.

Question: Will E4E also try to get some of their people to run for chapter leaders and delegates? I bet not as that will take them into an arena that is way over their heads.

Take Action:

• Looking for something fun to do over the Feb. break? Join us for a Grassroots Training Party so you can get the tools and resources you need to become a better advocate for your students!
  • WHEN: Thursday, February 24th (2:00 - 4:00PM with a party afterwards!)
  • WHERE: Location TBD
  • RSVP: By clicking here!

All our best,

Evan and Sydney

E4E Co-Founders

 

Thu., Feb. 24, 2011
E4E Grassroots Training Party
Are you looking for an interesting way to help your students over the February break?  

Come join E4E to learn how to become a better advocate for kids.  E4E is hosting a two hour grassroots training event to help give you the advocacy tools you need to maximize your impact for kids.

The event will be followed by a party to celebrate your accomplishments so far this year and to acknowledge your continued commitment to students. 

Location: TBD
When: 2:00 PM
Ends: 4:00 PM

Tickets

Level	Description	Price	#
E4E Grassroots Training Party	Come get the tools to help you advocate for your students!	FREE	click here!12

If you are going, send reports of all the fun. Reports that the location has been discovered and there will be pickets outside are unsubstantiated.

Mulgrew to Speak to Restricted E4E Event

I posted this at Ed Notes this morning:

The Dudes Are Out at Educators 4 Excellence: Funded by Gates, A Fact Ignored by Gotham Schools

Now we get their invite to meet Mulgrew. But you have to sign the pledge and enter a lottery. Can you imagine - a lottery to go hear Mulgrew? This pledge commits you to support core E4E principles. Or you can't attend. But then again if you start scratching how the UFT has functioned you may end up there anyway. Maybe Mulgrew might even sign. Oh, yes, E4E is funded in part by Gates and other secret donors. Hmmm, Mulgrew should be right at home. Here's the pledge:As educators, we demand a system that:

1. Recruits, retains, and supports the highest quality teachers by offering
   • A higher starting salary
   • Encouragement and opportunity for continued intellectual development
   • High level professional development and support
   • An evenhanded merit-based pay structure to reward excellent teachers
2. Restores professionalism to education by
   
   • Evaluating teachers through a holistic and equitable system that incorporates value-added student achievement data as one component of effectiveness
   • Reestablishing tenure as a significant professional milestone through use of a comprehensive teacher evaluation system 
   • Eliminating the practice of "Last In, First Out" for teacher layoffs
3. Places student achievement first by
   • Giving students and parents more opportunity to choose great schools
   • Displaying more transparency in both fiscal choices and decision-making processes
   • Implementing an effective system of evaluating administrators
   • Adopting higher standards for students and teachers
   • Opening the education reform conversation to the voices of teachers and parents

Some fluff here to cover up the real intention - read the code - end LIFO which really ends tenure.

You and the UFT: A Conversation with UFT President Michael Mulgrew We hope you can join us for this E4E Special Q&A Event! This is an extraordinary opportunity for teachers to meet, ask questions of, and hear from President Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers. This continues E4E's series of Q&A events with important policymakers. This speaker series is designed to give teachers direct access to the individuals who make decisions that impact our profession and our classrooms. We hope you can join us to share your voice! WHEN: Tuesday, January 25th (6:00 - 7:30PM) WHERE: Location TBA RSVP REQUIRED: Please RSVP by clicking here.   *Due to limited space and the importance of maintaining a conversational atmosphere, we will be using a lottery system to select attendees for this event. Please RSVP as soon as possible to enter your name into this lottery. If selected, you will be notified by e-mail with further event details no later than January 21st. Thank you for your understanding.*

Who We Are | Sign Our Declaration | Tell a Colleague

--

The Dudes Are Out at Educators 4 Excellence: Funded by Gates, A Fact Ignored by Gotham Schools

UPDATED: Jan. 31, 2011

How much fun that Jeff Kaufman crashed the E4E party for his school the other day. Jeff refused to sign the pledge that you support everything E4E believes in before they allow you in for a drink. But they allowed Jeff in anyway - and he didn't even have to bring his gun (Jeff is an ex cop). E4E got an extraordinary amount of coverage when 2 third year teachers started organizing to end "Last in First Out" for layoffs, promote merit pay and the use of data to judge and pay teachers.

Jeff wrote all about his adventure on the ICE blog. 

When I was first asked by my colleague to attend an "Educators for Excellence" (they use a number 4 for their middle name which rubs this educator the wrong way) happy hour at a Prospect Heights bar I was very apprehensive. The RSVP required that I ascribe to their "core principals" which include much of the "ed deformers'" agenda; teacher layoffs by ability not seniority, "earned tenure" which require certain student test milestones, and teacher evaluation systems based on student data which are also tied to merit-pay schemes.

You can read the entire piece at  Up Close and Personal With An Opposition

Jeff makes mention of a story on E4E at Gotham Schools.

Attending happy hour sponsored by this group reminded me to dig a little deeper into this group. When the Gotham Schools article was posted Stone and Morris were reported to be full-time teachers in the Bronx and the organization was not funded. Well, things have changed as they are now funded by the Gates Foundation and certain anonymous donors and have 3 full time employees.

I went back to the Gotham story and found this comment from 
Teacher April 11th, 2010 9:46 am
I predict that this group will soon get funding from the Gates, Walton and Broad Foundations.

There were also many comments speculating as to whether the founders of E4E would be leaving teaching. Jeff reports:

"Educators for Excellence," it appears, is run by a couple of new teachers who now teach 1 day per week at P.S. 86 in the Bronx. There are some interesting blog entries about them and their organization and if you are really interested you can go here and here.

Strictly, not new teachers as they did teach for 3 years. Teach for America I believe. 

Editorial interjection:
You know I have to say right here that I was offered many opportunities to leave the self-contained classroom - even being told to become an administrator (so I could really make a difference) or a guidance counselor - anything but teach in the trenches - and I wanted to be with the kids, not deal with adults. It took almost 20 years before I was lured out. So when I see that people leave teaching to engage almost full time in some kind of political activity - even if it was a good political activity they were doing - I have to ask about the kind of commitment they have to children.

By the way - the same with frequent commenter Kitchen Sink - who taught in public schools for 4 years before running off to start and run a charter - this is the guy who always talks about how it should be about the kids and not the adults.

Anyway, back to the program.

Is Gotham Schools a nest for E4E?
The info on E4E led some people to wonder about the space Gotham gave them but never followed up with the new info. 

NOTE FROM ANNA PHILIPS:

I wrote a post in June saying that they were getting funding from Education Reform now. http://gothamschools.org/2010/06/03/klein-celebrates-no-layoffs-hits-the-bar-with-young-teachers/

Then comes the news that Gotham Community blogger Ruben Brosbe is also an E4E. South Bronx School is driven to mirth and merriment over Brosbe's ramblings:

The Mishegas Mind Of Ruben Brosbe Of PS 310 Bronx

But of course it takes NYC Educator to nail Brosbe, as he does in today's post:

So anyhoo, like, when I wanted to support the release of value-added grades, and everyone was all like, "Dude, they're inaccurate and invalid," and everything? Like, Gotham Schools let me write about how even though I was writing that stuff, I was, like, still cool and everything? And, like, Gotham Schools is SO KEWL, because, like, they don't even make me write in my bio that I'm a member of Educators4Excellence. So I'm, like, in a group funded by Bill Gates and stuff, and they don't even tell anybody! And I'm also in a video with Michelle Rhee, and like, at Gotham, I don't even have to say why! They just say, I'm just, like, a teacher and stuff! So, I don't look, like, uncool!

Read it all at Puke-O-Rama, Dude!

So Gotham seems to be taking a few hits lately. And not just publicly. Behind the scenes a number of activists - parents and teachers - have been whispering that charter school and ed deform money - which you can tell from E4E - is flowing into Gotham and has affected coverage. Why not? Broad, Gates, Walton, et al. and the hedge hogs will fund anything that they think can control the message of ed deform. I mean, they even fund E4E so they can throw school parties and allow the founders to have to teach only one day a week - someone tell me how to get that gig.

I don't pay that close attention and can't say I see bias at Gotham - yet - but when people can give examples I will point it out. I will say that at the Gotham holiday party in December, I felt outnumbered significantly by the ed deform crowd. Tilt!

Below the fold I extracted a few of the 150 comments on the original Gotham post last April, with some significant points made by Michael Fiorillo and a blogger - jodama - regarding charges that in the corporate world people who screw up would be gone.


jodama April 9th, 2010 8:16 pm
 
Umm kids, are we kidding here. Someone actually wrote, “In what other job do you get to keep your position when you stop performing?” Like every other profession. You folks make it sound like in every other profession people are performing at peak levels all the time or else they are fired. That is not the real world. Come on! There are crappy doctors, nurses, lawyers. There are burned-out bankers. I worked on Wall Street for 20 years before I became a teacher - do we really want to talk about a profession where people make gobs of money for a couple of meagre hours a day. Let’s see when I worked in corporate I came in, went to my desk, drank coffee, read the papers, ate a bagel, and about 10 got to work. As a teacher, I work so much harder than I ever worked as a analyst. Please. This idea that everyone in the business world is fired immediately should they stop being productive is a load of bull. Leave us teachers alone. We work hard. Nobody wanted this job and now all of a sudden everyone wants to act like we have this nice, cushy job that we do very little work for. Let me tell you - children are the toughest taskmasters - they will surely let you know if you are not doing right by them. Oh and BTW when I work late, I don’t have a town car waiting anymore to whisk me home.

 Michael Fiorillo April 9th, 2010 9:14 pm
jodama is correct.
The fact is that virtually all jobs, trades and professions are performed along a spectrum that ranges from grossly incompetent to highly superior, with the majority falling somewhere in between. How is that those who are driving this discussion, most of whom have never taught and would sooner die than send their children to an urban public school (to start, see Klein, Joel and Bloomberg, Michael) have been allowed to decree that it must be different among teachers?
How many doctors and lawyers lose their license to practice due to incompetence each year? A few years ago, a doctor in Queens was discovered reusing syringes on his patients: he kept his license. How many police officers, who carry weapons and are given license to use them, are fired for incompetence each year?
How many bankers lost their jobs for the gross incompetence - to say nothing of the outright looting - that led to the financial crisis? The very same financial crisis, by the way, that now threatens new teachers with layoffs?
Maybe these two young dupes, which is the most charitable thing to call them, should direct their anger and frustration there, rather than at the organization that defends their wages, hours and working conditions. Oh, but I forget, these are the same people who are so eager to be observed more often by supervisors who, if they are themselves TFAers or Leadership Academy grads, probably have even less classroom experience than they do. Some of these new administrators are barely out of diapers, yet presume to tell seasoned educators with many years of experience how to teach. Through the irrational alchemy of the media echo chamber, inexperience is transmuted into authority and superior ability. It ain’t necessarily so.
As a NYC public school alumnus who had his share of terrible teachers, and as the father of a current NYC public high school student who’s had likewise, I see this constant braying about the threat posed by incompetent teachers as a red herring, and as nothing more than a front in the campaign to undermine teachers, their unions, and impose a hostile takeover of the public schools.
Of course every child deserves to have an effective teacher in every class. They and their parents also deserve many other things, most of which are beyond the pale of polite political discussion. That’s the real scandal.

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Educators 4 Excellence Make an Offer You Can't Refuse: Get Your School a Free Happy Hour

How nice of Evan and Sydney, who left teaching, to take money out of their pockets and offer you all a nice school party. And WOW! Become an E4E school capitano. Get all your colleagues to call for pay based on your students' test scores and get them to back Black&Bloom when they lay off thousands of teachers to keep the newest/cheapest ones and get rid of those high priced senior teachers. What they are not telling you is that their happy hours are like those free trips to resorts where they lock you in a room for hours and you have to listen to the schpiel.

Dear E4E Members and Supporters, Happy Turkey Day! Enjoy the much-deserved time off! But before you doze off into your food coma...check out this week's latest in education! Learn:   The drama over NYC's next schools chancellor took another turn last night. Although David Steiner, the New York State Education Commissioner, has final say in deciding whether or not Cathie Black receives the necessary waiver, four out of the eight members on his advisory panel recommended to not grant this waiver. Two others voted in favor of granting the waiver and the remaining two members voted to not grant it at this time. The Wall Street Journal covers this story and Commissioner Steiner's possible compromise of co-chancellors. The New York Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg announced initial plans to cut 10,000 teachers and other city employees to balance the budget over the next two years. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, gave a speech (pdf) at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) forum, explaining that schools will need to make hard choices in the future. Schools will need to think differently about things like, "seat time, class size, and teacher pay scales."  Rick Hess explains his amazement with this speech in his Education Week Blog. Arne Duncan also gave a powerful interview with the Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Blumenstein about how to fix America's education system.  The New York Times covers the difficulty that some failing schools are having in turning around their achievement because of decreasing enrollments in a profile of Paderewski Elementary School in Chicago. Network: Want E4E to Throw a FREE Happy Hour For Your School?!?! E-mail Ryan Black, our Outreach Director, at rblack@educators4excellence.org with your name, the name and location of your school, and approximately how many staff members and we'll set it up! Take Action:  Tell your friends and colleagues about E4E to make sure the voices of all teachers are being heard and the needs of our students are being put first! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Apply to become an E4E School Captain! Share E4E with your school! We are looking for a group of motivated individuals who are interested in becoming E4E School Captains! As a School Captain, you will have the opportunity to host E4E-sponsored events for your school, get your friends and colleagues involved, and have the chance to tie policy together with practice within your own school!  All our best, Evan and Sydney E4E Co-Founders

Stuart Varney Show on Faux Business Network Invites South Bronx Teacher After Evan Stone Appearance

AD: Listen to South Bronx School internet broadcast on Evan Stone and Faux Educators 4 Excellence  at 9pm tonight: The Mind of a Bronx Teacher
Take part and get a gift certificate.

Okay. I'll admit it. Sometimes even I am afraid to look into the mind of a Bronx teacher, who runs the South Bronx School blog, never sure exactly what will fly out. But I love the guy. And not just because he joined the ICE/TJC slate in the UFT election. Some people find him a little rough at the edges, but it works for me. So follow these developments and don't forget to listen tonight.

The Evan Stone/Sydney Morris faux anti-union E4E group with the Missing 700 have been publicized by the faux press at the Wall St. Journal and Fox - from now on to be known as Faux - News.

Real teacher/blogger South Bronx Teacher, who took exception (Little Evan Stone Unfair And Unbalanced).

So did other bloggers:

NYC Educator: Ship of Fools
Miss Eyre (Educators 4 Actually Being Educators)
I took my shots too in these posts: 
She's Coming For The Ed Deformers - and ... 

The Stuart Varney show on Faux Business Network, so wants to work over teachers, they gave Evan a nice long slot to spout his position. He does have time on his hands after leaving teaching after 3 (or is it 2) years. Children first, you know. Interesting how Faux Business Network doesn't seem to be using value added for all the analysts in the business world who failed to call the financial crisis. Ahhh, that business world version of tenure. And how about that Alan Greenspan?

Well South Bronx's diatribe led to an invitation from the Varney show:

Would you be willing to come on our show next week and tell us why Evan Stone is a “dog?” We want the other side of his argument and you seem quite passionate about it. Feel free to email me anytime. We’d love to do this Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week.

Jake Novak
Senior Producer
Varney & Company
Fox Business Network
212 601 7991

Now lots of people would jump at the chance. But SBS has a few issues. First he is anonymous and a target of the DOE. At one point he used his blog to expose his school admins for covering up their own abuse of children. They sent him away for awhile but he as exonerated and they are gone while he is still there. A rare win for the good guys. Do you think the Varney show is really interested in a veteran teacher who put his career on the line to protect children?

SBS replies:
Hmmmm. Interesting. First thing that comes to my mind is what General Ackbar said as the Rebel Alliance came out of hyperspace.*

Will Stuart Varney climb into my colon as deep as he did for Stone?

SBS asked a bunch of fellow bloggers for advice:
Here's some Advice from the advisers:

1. They want you not to be vulgar but to defend what they term vulgarity. That's a no-win.
2. No way would I take that bait... Publicity is great, but fox news? What is the point of going on- its not news, its not even real debate- its all manufactured, scripted, and preplanned. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction
3. even if he has facts and arguments prepped they won't let him go there. They will use this as an assault because he has been so graphic. They will flash stuff on the screen about past even if he did good by exposing his admin and was punished for it. They have an agenda and want him because it fits their agenda.
4. I think it's a trap. They will bait you by extracting some of the most outrageous stuff you wrote and will try to make you look bad as a way to smear all teachers. I think Arthur Goldstein or Michael Fiorillo or Leonie. But I bet they wouldn't go for a sub which would reveal their true intention.

What did South Bronx School Decide to do?

Not taking any bait. Rule #1 is control the message. And that is how I plan to proceed. Their request will be honored but instead of doing it on FAUX News it will be honored on my internet radio show Tuesday night at 9PM. It will be an hour of rebuttal. Forthright, lucid, intriguing, yet delightfully and blissfully tasteful. If any wishes to join me in the deconstructing please feel free. I am offering a $5 gift card for Dairy Queen.

Earlier this week in my blog; http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com/2010/09/little-evan-stone-unfair-and-unbalanced.html I wrote about an artificial turf organizer Evan Stone appearance on FOX Business Channel https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wzwn2b25lwkt77/FBN_09-14-2010_10.16.47.wmv Evan and Educators4Excellence bill themselves as an alternative for teachers. An alternative for what should be asked. In this broadcast, I will discuss why I think Evan and his cohorts are not good for education, and most importantly students. The call in # is (917) 932-8721
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher 

I'm going to take that Dairy Queen offer and add a few shekels and go get myself a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

But I'll offer my Blizzard to Jake Novak if he shows some balls and invites Goldstein and Fiorillo (both of whom also ran against the Unity Caucus leadership - so they have some chops as critics of the UFT - on the show.

*It's a trap!!!!!!

E4E: The Missing 700

The Wall St. Journal's Barbara Martinez fawns and Stuart Varney and Fox News are jumping up and down. All of Rupert's gnomes and trolls have been drooling over the prospect of a 5th column within the UFT to undermine the union.

They talk in wonder at the 700 people, many of whom are not NYC teachers, have signed up on their web site to get updates. Gee, I am one of those 700. Whooopdeedo. Show me the money. I want to see what they've really got. Like real NY teachers with a few more than 2 or 3 years in the classroom.

To their credit NYC Educator, Miss Eyre (Educators 4 Actually Being Educators) and Michaal Fiorillo have been on the Evan and Sydney and their bogus Educators 4 Excellence for quite some time. The fact that Miss Eyre is of the Evan and Sydney generation that E4E us trying to attract and is so outraged is a bad sign for Rupert's game plan. The fact that Evan and Sydney have abandoned the children they love so much to build an anti-teacher union organization seems to be rubbing real reformers just a tad bit the wrong way, expecially those from their generation.

Here is an excerpt from NYC Ed:

Who Funds Ex-Educators 4 Excellence?

After reading the WSJ piece on the union-busting young ex-teachers, I had to wonder--how the hell do they pay the rent?  They aren't teaching, but rather spreading their new gospel.  What happens when that electric bill shows up?

It's remarkable that seems not to have occurred to the reporter.

Do they live with Mom and Dad?  Do they get an allowance?  Or do they get money from Whitney Tilson and DFER?  If so, is that really any way to run a "grassroots" movement?

Hey, NYC, the reporter works for Rupert. A lot doesn't occur to them.

Here at Ed Notes have tried to chip in when we can also.

The Ballad of Evan and Sidney

She's Coming For The Ed Deformers - and ...

In the latter piece we talked about the Real Reformers from the Evan/Sydney gen, people who are pro-union but also critical of the current UFT/AFT leadership, many of who ran against the Unity Caucus machine in the last election. Makes it tough to brand them as union flunkies.

No one has been more on the case more than South Bronx School, who rumor has it also ran on the ICE/TJC slate. So charges he is a Unity hack won't fly.

Here is an excerpt of his latest upset over the appearance of Evan on the Stuart Varney Fox Business News show. Evan is getting over exposed and beginning to look like one of those bad reverse negatives.

Little Evan Stone Unfair And Unbalanced

What a day. I was look forward to a nice relaxing evening at home. First day this week without some scheduled event. I plan on making dinner for my family, do the laundry, and then watch segue into watching The First 48. I was not planning on blogging tonight.

That changed when in my email inbox I got yet another newsletter from that "grass roots" organization, Educators4Excellence. And what is it that got my skin to crawl? Yes, Little Evan Stone appeared on Fox Business Channel's Varney & Co. Check it out here.It is amazing what a 26 year old boy can accomplish all by himself. How does he get himself on such shows?

Doesn't Evan know that he, just like Mongo, is a pawn in the game of life? That Little Evan is like a dog. Leashed and owned by the hedge fund gnomes and ed deformers?

The interview by Stuart Varney stating to Little Evan that E4E has 700 members. Wow! Impressive. I am one of those 700 members. In fact you can count me twice. I seriously doubt Little Evan that all 700 support what you and the Princess do. It's kind of like driving by the scene of a car wreck. You don't want to look, but you feel you must and you do. E4E is that car wreck.

Read SBS's entire piece which parses the entire Evan appearance.

There is some back story to this that I need to talk to South Bronx about before revealing. A back story that if it pans out will show just how low down and dirty Fox and the Varney people are in their attempts to promote their anti-union agenda.

Aftereburn
The Real Reformers will be up and running on some issues within the next week, with a lot more support from the same age group as E4E claims. Watch them get zero coverage.