ed notes fall 02 id

An in de pen dent point of view on issues affecting the educational communityNorman Scott, Editor Email: [email protected]

Education NotesComing Soon to a School Near You: Mayoral Control

Vol. 6 No. 1 FREE (Suggested contribution: $1 on Mon/Weds/ Fri., $2 on Tues/Thurs) Fall 2002From the Editor THE KITCHEN COUNTER (where else?) Belle Harbor, NY

As I sit in my kitchen on a sunny Tuesday morning on Sept. 3, I think about all the people heading back to schools after their summers off. Having retired July 1, this is the fi rst time in 35 years (other than 2 sabbaticals) that I wasnt working in a school soon after Labor Day. When you think of it, this routine of starting the new year in September begins when you enter school at the age of 5. It takes some acclimation to get rid of those September butterfl ies. People ask me how it feels. It feels fi ne. Actually, it feels wonderful, though I can honestly say there wasnt one year where I didnt go back somewhat eagerly. Other than all the chores I had left undone that would have to wait for another summer (some have been waiting for 35 years,) a summer off always seemed enough. This summer really was different. The Endless Summer. You know all those chores? They still didnt get done. But I didnt feel pressure because I now have the entire year not to do them. (Do not tell my wife I said this.) Of course, once September rolled around, it didnt take long for the emails and phone calls to start coming in complaining about the idiocy going on in the schools. A number of them asked: Are you still going to continue Education Notes? It is needed now more than ever. For 5 years Ed. Notes was a hand printed, hand collated, mimeographed newsletter (last year 7 full issues and 2 supplementary ones totalling close to 70 pages) that reached 1500-2000 people. Costs were minimal (about $100 an issue.) The newsletter was distributed by hand, mostly to delegates and chapter leaders at the monthly UFT Delegate Assemblies. It was aimed at people who were interested in and fairly sophisticated about union political matters. In other words, people who dont have a life.

Join the Ed. Notes Email HotlineShare news and views on education and union matters. Email: [email protected]

As the Union World Turns: The Continuing Saga of Debbie & Randi : Union leaders react differently to school closingsUnity Caucus primerThe Tweed Courthouse: Boss Klein in actionUFT leader says longer day=higher scores. Let s work till midnightSpecial: Seniority rights of 17 teachers at City as School HS were violated when they were notifi ed on July 1 that their Executive Internship program was ended. The program was reconstituted under another name. We report on how well the UFT grievance procedure worked

Continued on page 14

About Ed. Notes (on the back page) Editors biography (P. 12)

When UFT leader Randi Weingarten fl oated a proposal to give the mayor control of the school system in May 2001, Education Notes took strong exception, arguing that giving politicians control would only result in a system of education by the numbers in a corporate style system. Our opposition caused a breach in our relationship to the UFT leadership that has not been healed to this day. Weingarten took exception to what she perceived was an accusation that she was selling us out. We did not go that far, but we did feel that she was in favor of recentralizing the school system, thus opting for short term gains (a quick contract) while sacrifi cing the long term interests of school workers, whose ability to control the conditions under which they work decrease signifi cantly under centralized control. Mayor Giulianis scornful rejection of that deal delayed our contract for more than a year. It was the unions behind the scenes support for giving Mayor Bloomberg control that fi nally got the contract done. Did Weingarten sell out our educational interests for a pot of gold? The next few years will allow people to judge for themselves. This month, we give our readers a break from our diatribes against centralized corporate style mayoral control and turn instead to surrogates.

We reprise the article George Schmidt, editor of Substance, Chicagos independent educational newspaper, did for us in May which points to the lessons of Chicago over the last 7 years as a guidepost to the future of education in New York. PAGE 5. A group of teachers had the pleasure of meeting George when he visited us this summer. PAGE 3. We include excerpts from an article on Chicago Teacher Union President Deborah Lynch in the August Teacher Magazine. (Email [email protected] for the complete article). Lynch s story is a fascinating one and creates some interesting contrasts when a real educator rather than a politician takes the reigns of a teachers union. We also reprint Lynchs campaign speech to the Chicago House of Delegates just before she was elected. This rousing speech talks about the impact of the corporate model. PAGES 5, 6. Another Deborah (Meier) also comments on mayoral control in excerpts from an interview she gave the NY Times. Meier has been a legend as a progressive educator who seeks realistic long

term solutions to problems and doesnt just look to create the veneer of lets make things look like theyre okay like the majority of educators do. PAGE 2. Howie Schwack, editor of Rockaways newspaper The Wave, gives us his surreal account of a meeting with City Council members and points out how politicians just dont have a clue about education. Schwacks account makes the future of education in New York look bleak. But then we know that already. PAGE 2 We comment briefl y on Joel Klein and his education czar Diana Lam in Klein on the Lam. PAGE 2 Ed. Notes hasnt lost its sense of parody (Parodist Lost?) with articles entitled: Survivor: Searching for the next ChancellorBloomberg Corp. to Appoint Teach er as CEOMicrosoft sues Klein for running a mo nop o lyBloomberg calls for take over of UFT. Some say he already has PAGE 2Future editions of Ed. Notes will report on the impact of the corporate model on our schools.

Loving the New Contract? Maybe, Maybe NotNow that we are retired we have the attitude: contract? Wha s s that? Alas, some of you are still working and its not all joy in Mudville. Marian Swerdlow did some analysis back in June and writes an account of her experiences at the June Delegate Assembly where she and others in Teachers for a Just Contract were the only group to formally come out in opposition to the contract. (PAGE 9) Only 6% of the people who

voted agreed with them as 94% approved the contract. At the DA 54 people out of about 1200 voted NO, myself included. At my last meeting as a voting delegate, I didnt want to ruin a 30 year run of voting against contracts. My main reasons have to do with issues such as class size and other basic working conditions that were not addressed. Grievance D e p a r t m e n t h e a d H o w i e

Solomons description of an expedited grievance procedure at the Sept. 10 chapter leader meeting made things sound pretty good. But then again everything sounds good when youre retired. Wed appreciate it if someone would send us their own analysis of the grievance procedure for Ed. Notes.

Coming Next Edition (Dec./Jan)

Retired teachers protest RTC CL election. P 3Exec. Bd. votes UFT staff 16% raise. P 4New contract in dead sea scrolls discovered under 260 Park Ave.S. P 7Opposition groups speak. P 8

Cost of this editionPrinting: $916Production costs: labor donated

Look for interim Ed. Notes hand out at Nov. DA (maybe)

Ed. Notes available on the web as downloadable pdf at www.sec4sec.com courtesy of Lillian Varrassi

JOKES ON PAGE 15

Fall 2002 Education Notes Page 2

From the Editors Desk The Wave by Howard Schwack (www.rockawave.com) May 25, 2002 Schwack had just met with members of the City Council Ed u ca tion Com mit tee Of course, the question of education came up over and over again. I asked them if they really be lieved that education in New York City would be im proved should the mayor take over without re form ing what hap pens at 110 Livingston Street. Without im pos ing strict rules for student behavior and strict pun ish ments for im prop er be hav ior. Without chang ing the fact that su per vi sors with out any expertise in a sub ject area of ten su per vise teachers who are ex perts at that sub ject. With out chang ing the fact that teach ers are forced to pass students who do not de serve to pass and are sanc tioned by ad min is tra tors for failing too many students. They looked at me as if I were from another plan et. Those who do not work in the system do not un der stand why the sys tem is failing in many schools and succeeding in many others. The system can not be fi xed by people who do not understand what is bro ken. If you dont know the questions, you will nev er get any of the right an swers. Giving the mayor control of the schools will not change much of what is going on in those schools; not unless some systemic chang es are made at the same time.

Does Anyone Have A Clue?

Late breaking news: Bloomberg says he needs to take over UFT (some say he already has) to make school system work and will ask the state assembly (a UFT subsidiary) for control.

Deborah Meier on mayoral controlDeborah Meier has been a hero to those who wanted to see change in the NYC public school system. Meier seemed to have rational solutions to complex problems. As a teacher she ran open classrooms, started the small schools movement in NYC, and set up a progressive system at the Park East complex in Dist. 4. She fi nally gave up on the system and moved to Boston to set up a school. Now 71 she was the fi rst public school teacher to win the genius MacArthur Foundation grant.Excerpted from NY Times, 9/3/02, Jane Gross, author "I can't imagine anything they can do that would make a substantial difference," she said, except bucking a nationwide trend of more and more standardized testing. "If the only thing you want is better test scores, it poisons the game." Ms. Meier said that the current "mania for accountability," with rewards and punishments for students, teachers and administrators, was borrowed from the corporate world. "It's like Enron," she said, pointing to all the ways that educators can cook the books to make attendance, graduation rates and test scores appear better than they are. "When the goal is the numbers," she added, "it leads to distortion of the data. The connection to reality gets problematic." What would she do? She would start with a small schools movement: Clustered in networks of half a dozen schools, teachers and principals could observe and critique each others' work, design accountability systems to suit their individual needs and systematically study what worked and what did not. It would take fi ve years to arrive at effective measurements, Ms. Meier said, and probably a generation to make the small-school model and its less rigid accountability methods the norm. Her critics, she said, wanted "a faster, more guaranteed route," like the order to lift test scores annually. Her counter argument is that "being in too much of a hurry leads us to do things that are a waste of time" or to jump on the latest fads. Among them, in Ms. Meier's opinion, are putting city school systems under mayoral control, appointing chancellors who are not educators and moving district superintendents to a central location.

Survivor: Search for a Chancellor An upcoming episode of Survivor will take place in an urban setting: The Tweed Courthouse. The search for the next Chancellor has already begun and the Dept. of Education will use the format of the hit TV show. The entire process will be broadcast as part of the Survivor series.

Twenty top candidates will be locked in the Tweed Courthouse for 8 weeks. There are no qualifi cations other than the fact that they may not have one iota of knowledge or experience with education in any way. They will eat only food prepared in school lunchrooms and must eat at least one Jamaican beef patty a day without taking antacids. Every other day one of them will be voted out based on how well they complete a number of tasks. Ed. Notes spies have obtained a list of these tasks:Teach SFA (Suckcess for All) to a class.Pass all teacher certifi cation tests. Type a memo within one day.Know what ECLAS stand for.Teach a class of 35 students for an entire day.Sit through a faculty conference.Sit through a full day of staff development.Teach a class of 15 special ed students. Test them on what is taught. If students fail the test, the candidate is automatically eliminated.Take a class on a trip.Sit through 50 minutes of watching staff development videos twice a week. The doors to the roof will be locked during these sessions, as it is expected that at least one or more candidates will attempt suicide.

Bloomberg Corp. to Appoint Teach er as CEOSince Michael Bloomberg will be too busy to run his cor po -ra tion for at least the next 3 years, the Bloomberg Cor po ra tion will hold a contest to choose a teacher to run the multi bil lion dol lar en ter prise. If non-educators can run the school system, it makes per fect sense for a teach er to run the Bloom-berg business, a spokes per son de clared. The teach er will be cho sen based on scores from the lat est read ing test. The new head of Bloombergs company is ex pect ed to end so cial pro mo tion in the gi ant cor po ra tion and raise stan dards.

Microsoft has fi led suit against its former Justice Dept. nemesis and new Chancellor Joel Klein, calling for the breakup of the newly formed Department of Education (DOE--as in deer in headlights.) Claiming the NYC shool system is such a giant monopoly it makes Microsoft look like a corner Bodega, Bill Gates has hired lawyer David Boies to do unto Klein as Klein did unto Microsoft.

Ed. Notes, Spring 02: Does anyone think that any politician cares more about the children than they do about getting re-elected? Given the choice, will they put enough resources into classrooms to help children really learn? Or will they take the politically expedient way out by calling for more tests and placing the blame on teachers and school administrators when children dont produce? In light of the above, it was announced that 3 high schools in Brooklyn (Bushwick, Erasmus (for the 2nd time) and Jefferson (my alma mata--sob!) will be closed because they continue to be failing schools. Disgraced teachers and administrators will be scattered throughout the system. Were enough resources put into these schools to make a difference? When 3 schools were closed in Chicago, union leaders led protests. In New York, there is deafening silence. Heres an idea: leave the schools open with the same staffs and swap the student body of Styvesant with any one of them. Then check the scores.

Chancellor Joel Klein may have leaped from the frying pan into the fi re when he accepted the job of Chancellor, but Ed. Notes agents at Bertelsman, the giant German based media corporation where he had been CEO of American operations, tell us that he was about to be pushed. Just a few days before he accepted the Chancellors position, Tomas Middlehoff, the CEO of Bertelsman and the man who had hired Klein just a year before to be the ax man in instituting massive cuts, was himself fi red by the Bertelsman Board of Directors. Kleins days were numbered and he nimbly jumped at the chance to lam out of there into the chancellor s job. Good luck on this move!!

Speaking of being on the lam, Klein appointed Diana Lam, fresh from her jobs as Superintendent of schools in Providence, San Antonio, Dubuque

and Chelsea Mass., as deputy chancellor for teaching and learning at a salary of $250,000

a year. (Did they include stock options?) In the new corporate speak of the DOE we can refer to Lam as a short term take over artist: she comes in like a whirlwind, gets the numbers up (in corp. terms, get the scores up) and gets out before the rough stuff starts hitting the fan. On the way, she often endears herself to teachers and parents with a top down management style where she consults no one but herself. Exactly what we have been missing in New York. Did someone say that Mayoral control will be different?

Klein on the Lam


George Schmidt Visits RockawayGeorge Schmidt, founder and editor of the independent education newsletter Substance for the past 27 years and a major source of information on events in the Chicago school system, met with a group of NYC teachers at the Ed. Notes palatial estate this summer in Rockaway Beach. It was Georges fi rst return to Rockaway since he went out on a date to Rockaway Playland in the 60s.Schmidt, accompanied by his 14 year old son, Danny, regaled his audience with tales of the Chicago corporate model of mayoral control, how school workers took back the union and shared his experiences at the AFT convention (attended by 800 Unity Caucus members at your expense) held in July in Las Vegas. George also gave us advice on how to make Ed. Notes a more viable and effective source of information for school workers in NYC. See Georges article on Mayoral control on page 5 and the stories on CTU President Debbie Lynch on pages 5 and 6.

Schmidt discusses events in Chicago

Retired teachers protest Tom Pappas elec tion as chap ter lead er of RTC Sept. 19,2002Dear President Weingarten:

It was announced at the UFT Executive Board meeting of September 9, 2002 that Tom Pappas has been chosen by the executive committee of the Retired Teachers Chapter to be that chapters new Chapter Leader.

As members of the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter,we strongly object to the decision of the Retired Teachers Chapters executive committee and the agreement with this decision by you and other UFT offi cers. The selection and/or appointment of Tom Pappas to the vacant position of chapter leader is in clear violation of Article IX, Section 8 of the UFT Constitution which states: If the position of chapter leader becomes vacant or if the chapter leader becomes an acting supervisor, the President shall assign a person to conduct an election.

When a chapter leadership is vacant, the entire chapter votes to fi ll the vacancy, not just the executive committee of the chapter. Having a chapter executive committee fi ll chapter leader vacancies in a chapter with over 30,000 members is counter to the democratic wishes of the chapter as a whole and gives the incumbent an unfair advantage when the full term election will be held in the spring of 2003.

The entire process raises questions about this fait accompli procedure: No election announcement or notice of the meeting was made to the entire chapter. No one else was given an opportunity to be nominated. No list has been distributed as to who attended the meeting or how they voted. No minutes of the meeting has been made available to the members.

In light of the above, we call upon you to immediately appoint someone to conduct an election of the entire chapter for a new chapter leader for the Retired Teachers Chapter.

Paul Baizerman, Philip Bernie, Mary Dowling, Bruce Markens, Ira Goldfi ne, Mel Hauser, Bob Norman, Ellen Norman, Vera Pavone, Loretta Prisco, Sheila Rashal, Paul Reese, Norman Scott, Merry Tucker

The group of retired teachers requested a quick response from Weingarten. If not satisfi ed, they will follow up by taking the issue to PERB.

Putting a VIP at the level of Pappas in charge of the RTC is part of the Unity Caucus strategy to maintain an iron grip on the union. With the amount of retirements going up, the RTC will be the largest voting block in the union and the UFT leadership has always paid particular attention to the members. (Randi Weingarten makes regular pilgramages to Florida.) The chapter has always voted overwhelmingly Unity (85% in the last election.) A large group of retired people having so much power to decide the fate of people who are still working raises interesting questions which we hope to address in future editions.

High School VP Election Ex poses Lack of Democracy in UFTWhen John Soldini retired as Vice Pres i dent of the Ac a dem ic High Schools, the UFT Ex- ec u tive Board held an election on Sept. 9 to choose his re place ment. Brook lyn HS Dis trict Rep. Frank Volpicella was the Unity nom i -nat ed can di date (which means he was hand cho sen by Randi Weingarten.) James Eterno was supported by New Action and PAC. When the votes were count ed, Volpicella won by a count of 75-5. With such an over- whelm ing vic to ry youd get the im pres sion that the sen ti ment of high school teach ers would be over whelm ing ly for Volpicella. Youd be wrong. If a pop u lar elec tion was held in the high schools, Eterno would win by a sig nifi cant mar gin.

In the last UFT election in the spring of 2001 HS teach ers vot ed for the NA/PAC slate by a 54% mar gin. (The opposition also won the Academic HS vote in the 95, 97, 99, 01 election.) Yet NA/PAC only has 6 Ex ec u tive Board seats. Uni ty owns the rest. Uni ty also controls the HS vice presidency even though their candidate loses the vote among HS teachers. How can this dis crep an cy be ex- plained? Sit down boys and girls and let us regale you with:

THE BALLAD OF AT- LARGE VOTING

Prior to 1995, divisional vice presidents were elected only by their con stit u ents. El e men ta ry teachers vot ed for their veep. Jun ior High Schools voted for their veep. Ditto High Schools.

Thou sands of academic HS teach ers are disenfranchisedThe op po si tion be gan to win HS Exec. Bd. seats back in the 80s which cul mi nat ed in Mike Shulman ac tu al ly win ning the HS Veep elec tion in 1985 and be com ing the fi rst (and only) non-Uni ty mem ber of the ruling Ad- min is tra tive com mit tee (the Adcom). This so shocked Uni ty, they forced one of the UFTs found ing fa thers George Altomare to re tire for dar ing to lose. Uni tys new can di date

John Soldini re cap tured the Veep po si tion in the next elec tion. In 1991, Shulman nar row ly lost to Soldini (by about 100 votes) while NA won all HS Exec. Bd. seats. The Uni ty brain-trust cast about for a way to pre vent this from hap pen ing again. The had their chance when they nar row ly re- cap tured all the Exec. Bd. seats in the 93 elec tion. They rammed through a con sti tu tion al amend ment where the di vi sion al vice presidents were elect ed by the en tire membership rather than the members of their own division. This is known as at-large vot ing. Thus, re tired teach ers and paras and el e men ta ry teach ers and Junior High Schools teach ers and guid ance coun se lors, etc., etc., get to vote for the ac a dem ic HS Veep and Unity gets to keep a monopoly on the Adcom. (Fol low all this? dont wor ry, well re peat it in future editions of Ed. Notes.)

That is how Eternos 5 votes (1 NA member has left teaching) out of 80 cast at the Exec. Bd. meet ing on Sept. 9 is so misleading and so un fair to high school teachers. And this is one way Uni ty Cau cus con trols the en tire ma chin ery of the UFT.

If Gore really won, then Eterno re al ly wonIt s pretty funny to hear Randi Wein-garten often joke that Al Gore really won the presidential elec tion. Well the next time she does, tell her that James Eterno also re al ly won the election for HS Veep.

Running a union and maintaining con trol is sim ple: When the op po -si tion gets close to winning or ac- tu al ly wins, just change the rules.

ED. NOTES HS VP ELECTIONSince HS teachers never got to vote in the recent election for HS VP, Ed. Notes is conducting its own election. Cast your ballot here: (open only to academic HS teachers)If the UFT were really a democratic union and I could vote for HS VP. I would vote for:James Eterno New Action/PACFrank Volpicella UnityReturn to your Ed. Notes representative in your school or mail to 518 B. 134St. Belle Harbor, NY 11694

No Midterm Elections for District Reps.In another move to squeeze democratic procedures out of the union, UFT leaders have decided not to hold elections for district reps when DRs leave offi ce before their term is up. Claiming long time precedence (not true) Randi Weingarten has recently been able to appoint 8 DRs (all Unity) with more to come. This procedure has taken away the rights of chapter leaders in the districts to elect their DRs and has given the new incumbent an unfair advantage when the elections do take place in the spring of 2003. Ed. Notes advocates the popular election of DRs where all the school workers in the district get to vote.


Promises Made, Promises Kept UFT President Randi Weingarten cooed about the wonderful new contract in her column in the NY Teacher. Ed. Notes has procured the unedited portions of the column

When we started on the road to a con tract I promised you we would fi ght for a decent contract. I am very proud to present you with the results of my Herculean efforts, frank ly, without the help of anyone else. I kept my prom is es with out com pro mis ing the basic prin ci ples that are the foun da tion of our union.

1. A double digit raise in the amount of toi let paper in teacher bath rooms. Frank ly, af ter the economy tanked, I had some doubts that I could deliver on this one. The result? The city has prom ised a 10% + 6% increase in the toilet paper al lo ca tion (The extra 6% will only go to those who spend an extra 20 minutes in the bath room.) And it wont be the cheap rough kind either. More soft Charmin like. But if some rough toilet pa per

should slip in, we have pro cured an in crease in the hemorrhoids al low ance from GHI.

2. New grievance procedure. If rough toi let pa per ex ceeds 20%, we have gotten an ex pe dit ed grievance pro ce dure. You can fi le di rect ly from the bathroom and an ar bi tra tor will be dis patched im me di ate ly from cen tral head quar ters at the Tweed Court house to visit you in the stall to make an im me di ate decision. Theres no way we could have won this with out that Hip Hop dem on -stra tion. Thank Russell Simmons for this one.

3. I promised you wouldnt lose your cars, your homes or have your family sold into sla very. Due to my efforts, none of these things are in the con tract. And this was one that Bloomberg re al ly

want ed. They blinked and backed off when we point ed out that the city had no place to put all these cars. And UFT family mem bers would be re al ly poor slaves be cause of their weak ened state from poor wages. I was go ing to make a stand on this one no matter what. I told them to read my lips: teachers fam i lies would be sold into sla very over my dead body. And it worked. You also had a role to play as your COPE con tri -bu tions re al ly helped kill this one.

4. I never promised you a rose gar den, but through the use of my law yer ly skills I man- aged to pro cure one for you anyway. Just take to #2 or 3 to Brooklyn Museum and walk 2 blocks to Brook lyn Botanical Gar dens. Free on Tues days.

Ed. Notes Email Hotline puts amendments in playWhen we received notice on Sept. 7 that the Exec. Bd. was going to vote 16% raises for union staff, we sent out an immediate notice on the Ed. Notes hotline. Responses came in almost immediately, suggestions for amendments among them. These suggestions were sent back to the list. New Action s James Eterno collated them and bought them to New Action Exec. Bd. members for approval and 4 amendments were formally presented to the Exec. Bd. at the Sept. 9 meeting. Randi Weingarten categorically rejected 2 of the amendments (we dont have space for them here) but expressed willingness to accept the 2 others with only slight modifi cations. New Action huddled quickly and offered to drop the offensive amendments as a compromise. Weingarten accepted. Here are the amendments: 1) That the NY Teach er print all sal a ries (Board of Ed plus UFT plus oth er dis burse ments) of of fi cials and staff each year. 2) That the NY Teach er in form its mem bers that they are en ti tled to see or ob tain a copy of the LM-2 re port fi led each year and give clear pro ce dures of where and how to ob tain the report. (See below if you cant wait for the NY Teacher report.)

Ed. Notes will not accept contributions from Unity Caucus members who are also union employees until their 16% raise has kicked in. We will continue our policy of accepting food.

Oh Those 16 % Pay Raises for UFT StaffWhen union employees were vot ed a 16% raise by the UFT Ex ec u tive Board (many

of whom are them selves em- ployed by the union in ei ther a full-time or part time capac-ity--- Unity cau cus mem bers only, of course) on Sept. 18, eye brows were raised. Randi Weingarten took the fl oor and made an im pas sioned de- fence of this raise. She talked about how hard the staff had worked to get rais es in the new con tract and how much of them selves they gave. She was per turbed at 2 of the 4 amend ments placed be fore the Exec. Bd. by New Action Exec. Bd. mem ber James Eterno. (See Ed. Notes Hotline... on this page.) In the end, a com pro mise was reached and she agreed to parts of the oth er two res o -lu tions: that the NY Teach er print all sal a ries (Board of Ed plus UFT plus oth er dis burse -ments) of of fi cials and staff each year and that the NY Teach er in form its mem bers that they are en ti tled to see or ob tain a copy of the LM-2 re port fi led each year and give clear pro ce dures of where and how to ob tain the re port. (We pro vide that same info. on this page)

It is standard operating pro- ce dure for union staffs to get the same base raise as was won by the peo ple they rep- re sent and even many critics of union lead ers (including Ed. Notes) have not au to mat i cal ly jumped on a band wag on of outrage. Of course a signifi cant chunk of the raise was the 20 minute ex tend ed day. Weingarten an swered that by proud ly pro claim ing that union staff would not work 20, but 30 min utes more a day (union Head quar ters will open at 9:30) and a num ber of peo ple (her self in clud ed) will work 7

more days a year.

Fall into the gapNew Action Exec. Bd. rep. Ed Beller made the point that this ex tra time re al ly can not be compared to teach ing or the kind of extra time peo ple in the schools were ex- pe ri enc ing, but the Exec. Bd. was in no mood to hear that kind of ar gu -ment. Beller also point ed out that since UFT staff-ers were start ing from a high er base (for ex am ple, many full-time fi eld reps make 93,000 a year + ex pens es as re port ed in the 2000-2001 LM-2 re-port) the 16% raise was cre at ing a larg er gap between peo ple who work in the schools and those who rep re sent them. The new salary will bring a vast num ber of UFT staff ers (70 or more) into the $100,000 plus range, a salary teach ers will not see for a very long time, if ever. In oth er words, if UFT staffers never feel the pain, how des per ate will they be to get the gain?

ED. Notes will duck the is sue of union staff sal- a ries for now. Our gen er al ob ser va tions have been that a clear ma jor i ty of the union staff work very hard and are very dedicated to their jobs. We may have enor mous dis agree ments with them from Randi Weingarten (who works 24/7 and nev er lets up) down but we also have great re spect for their abil i ties and their effort

(even though that effort is all too often mis di rect ed.) If youve dealt with peo ple run ning the DOE there is no com par i son with the ca pa -bil i ties of the peo ple work ing for the UFT, mainly be cause many of them have been teachers (just one example of why teach ers should run schools.) Can you imag ine the night mare if the DOE ran the incredibly well-run Wel fare Fund in stead of the UFT?)

Who gets the jobs?Our criticism has to do with who gets union jobs and how they get them. Jobs are nev er posted and they are open only to Unity cau cus mem bers (to the vic tor be long the spoils?) A myriad of abuses aris es in any po lit i cal system of job dis tri bu tion where jobs are award ed, or even cre at ed, to pay peo ple off for loyalty or for long time ser vice. Can any one for one minute doubt that there are UFT po lit i cal jobs or that nepotism has reared its ugly head? It happens in the school sys tem. It happens in the UFT.

So lets as sum e that UFT staff deserve the 16% raise. How are union leaders to be held accountable for the ra tio nale of these jobs, for po lit i cal mo ti va tions or nep- o tism, or for the tainted process by which they give out jobs? In an un dem o crat ic world, one per son makes these de ci sions: The UFT President. And peo ple who get union jobs owe their pri ma ry loyalty to that per-son, not to the many peo ple they are ostensibly hired to serve.

Getting the LM-2All unions are required to submit fi nancial reports and other data to the Department of Labor. These reports are available to anyone who requests them at the DOL web site (www.dol.gov). The process is a little confusing and http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/rrlo/lmrda.htm will get you there more directly. The UFT registration number is: 063-924. The LM-2 lists the salary and expenses of every UFT employee. The reports cannot be read online (even though the impression is given that they can be read online) and you have to order a copy. Make sure to click on that button. DOL will bill you .15 cents a page (it will cost about $15.) The latest UFT report avalable is for the 2000-01 year. The 2001-02 is due in November, so it makes sense to wait until the end of the year.

"The difference be tween stupidity and ge nius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein


Mayoral Control in Chicago Disaster for Unionby George Schmidt, Editor of Substance www.substance.com (reprinted from Education Notes, 4/02)Dear Brothers and Sisters in New York,No teacher union should support mayoral control of the school system -- especially

if the "Chicago Model" is invoked to justify that control. Chicago's version of urban school governance based on a supposed "business model" of how things should be run is actually the major form of "deregulation" aimed at the heart of public education (and the unions representing teachers and other school workers) in the urban north. More than vouchers, charters schools, or the antics of Edison Schools Inc., the "CEO model" for urban school governance is an attack on democracy, on public school teachers, and on the unions that represent the men and women who work in public schools. Despite the massive propaganda (including regular reports in The New York Times) praising Chicago's version of "School Reform," the model is based on shoddy public relations and relentless attacks on democratic public schools and democratic unions.

In 1995, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law (the Amendatory Act) which gave Chicago's mayor complete control over the governance of the school system. At the time of the legislation, the Republican Party's most conservative wing controlled both houses of the Illinois General Assembly and the governor's seat. Thanks to the legislation he wrote with the Republicans, Chicago's mayor was able to abolish the old (appointed, but with many guidelines) school board, appoint a fi ve-member "School Reform Board of Trustees", and appoint a "Chief Executive Offi cer" to replace the credentialed superintendent of schools. The legislation also prohibited collective bargaining on class size, abolished tenure, and took away other rights which Chicago teachers and other union workers in the city's public schools thought had been secured forever.

The Chicago system immediately went into an orgy of union busting, privatization, and teacher bashing. In July 1995, Mayor Daley appointed his former budget director (Paul G. Vallas) as Chief Executive Offi cer of the school system. Vallas, a career bureaucrat with no private sector experience, had no teaching experience and no other credentials to run the newly deregulated school system. President of the School Board went to Gery Chico, a lawyer who had most recently been the Chief of Staff for the mayor.

The key to the "success" of the Chicago "CEO Model" was control of public relations. From the very beginning of the Vallas administration, a careful campaign of slander and disinformation was launched against the unions representing those who worked in the public schools. Thanks to a sweetheart contract with the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union, by the fall of 1995, the mayor's propaganda people made the false claim that the new "CEO" (Paul G. Vallas) had ended what was claimed to be a $1 billion "defi cit." The "defi cit" had actually been created on paper by infl ating estimated expenses and defl ating estimated revenues. Within a year after taking over the school system, the mayor then announced that test scores had begun to go "up."

Deregulation in Chicago's schools was based on the same types of manipulation of numbers that served the executives of Enron (and other crooked corporations) so well in the private sector during the "Dot.com" and stock bubble manias of the late 1990s. The manipulation of fi nancial information (the budget "defi cit" claim) and test score information ("trending up" was what Chicago's school administration called the test score reports during the same years the stock market bubble was being infl ated) reduced the integrity of the school board's financial and educational data to a shambles. But that was no problem in the short term, because Chicago-based Arthur Andersen was doing for the fi nancial data (through the annual audit of the ending fi nancial statements) and many educational programs (through multi-million dollar "consultancies" to "audit" everything from pre school programs to some high school academic programs) the same jobs it was doing during the same years for Enron (and before that for Chicago-based Sunbeam and Waste Management, both of which cooked their books and cheated their shareholders and workers years before Enron did).

For the union to support the rampant teacher bashing and union busting that comes with mayoral takeovers like Chicago's the union leadership has to be willing to become a company union. The company is City Hall.

By January 1999, the mayor's team at the Chi ca go school board had bust ed several of the union's that rep re sent ed Chi ca go school em ploy ees and was ready to attack the heart of teacher rights: ten ure. In Feb ru ary 1999, af ter safe ly getting a new contract from the lead ers of the Chi ca go Teach ers Union (af ter a high ly ques tion able ref er en dum), the school board fi red 137 ten ured teach ers, ex er cis ing its new pow er to ter mi nate even those with ten ure. When the union lead er ship chal lenged the fi r ing in fed er al court, the school board, sup pos ed ly run by our friends from City Hall, not only used its own $8 mil lion le gal de part ment but paid hun dreds of thou sands of dol lars to the blue chip law fi rm of Jenner and Block to de feat the union's federal court chal lenge to the ab o li tion of ten ure for Chi ca go teach ers. (To date, Jenner and Block has been paid more than $1 mil lion to de fend the school board against the union's chal lenge in the main fed er al case, Shegog et al v. Chi ca go School Re form Board of Trust ees).

Throughout the entire attack on union and teacher rights, the union lead er ship refused to criticize the City Hall school "team" that was undermin-ing the unions and slan der ing teach ers and other school workers on an al most dai ly ba sis.

Critics within the union grew in size and strength dur ing the six years (July 1995 through June 2001) that Paul G. Vallas served as May or Ri ch ard M. Daley's hand picked "CEO" of Chi ca go's vast public school sys tem. On May 18, 2001, the mem bers of the 36,000-mem ber Chi- ca go Teach ers Union got their fi rst chance to vote on a ref er en dum on the may or's take over. Paul

Schmidt continues on next page

A More Perfect Union By Ben JoravskyTeacher Magazine, August 2002 Only a year ago she was teaching. So she can relate to the rank and fi le. "Under [former school CEO] Paul Vallas, we were the fall guys," she adds. "We were the ones who took the blame. Well, we utterly reject that message. We have erosion of pay. We are not treated as professionals. And they wonder why we have 1,100 vacancies. They bad-mouth the schools. They bad- mouth the teachers. But I know better. You know better. We are the solution. We are not the problem."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her mission as head of the CTU is unprecedented: She wants to change the culture of education in Chicago by overturning a hierarchy in which teachers are lodged somewhere near the bottom. She wants to win her members new rights, higher wages, and greater responsibilities. "I want teachers to be treated as professionals, not as workers," is how she puts it. "If they're going to hold us accountable, well, put us in charge." Such talk, in this city (and many others, no doubt), is revolutionary. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1997, for example, she wrote and disseminated an open letter to then school CEO Paul Vallas that was as much an indictment of Reece as of the school board. It began with her account of a recent professional-development day, during which 120 teachers were forced to sit on "hard, wooden, nailed-down seats for a mandatory six-hour workshop on team building," while a well-paid consultant chided them for talking out of turn. "The day reminded me of an article I read about 20 years ago, comparing teacher professional development to the insemination of Flossie the Cow," she continued. "Like Flossie, [the teachers] endured but didn't enjoy it very much. It just happened."----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Lynch began teaching] at a public school on the South Side of Chicago. And although she adored her students, she quickly took note of the repressive education hierarchy and its unwritten rules. "The lessons you learn are to be quiet, don't ask questions; only troublemakers ask questions," she says. "I saw how teachers were beaten down."By 1979, after fi ve years in the classroom, Lynch had enough. She wanted to stay in education but attack the problem from a different angle. So she took a job as a professional-development specialist in a federally funded program and went to graduate school at the University of Illinois at Chicago, earning a master's degree and then a doctorate in education (her dissertation topic: "Power and Powerlessness in Teaching"). She also crossed paths with John Kostakis, a fi eld rep for the CTU, who, she says, "talked about how a union could be more than just reacting to negative things. He got me to think about the toll of working in a huge, impersonal system in which curriculum is dictated from the top, where you are a robot who follows orders."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lynch hammered Reece for isolating union members from the decision making process. The system, she claimed, had undergone two contradictory reforms in seven years. First, in 1988, the state legislature passed a law giving elected local school councils control of the city's schools. Then, in 1995, the legislature reversed itself, stripping the councils of power and handing the schools over to Mayor Daley and his handpicked CEO, Paul Vallas. "Debbie pointed out that in each case, those laws were passed without consulting the teachers," says [one observer.]The 1995 law also swept away many such time-honored bargaining rights as seniority and class size. "Thanks to the new law, Vallas could basically cram 35 kids into a class and get away with it," says Lynch. "Despite the union contract that limits class size to 28 or 30, there's nothing the union could do about it."To heighten her profi le, she wrote an autobiography, A Labor of Love: One Chicago Teacher's Experience-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[When CEO (Chancellor equivalent) Arne Duncan, closed 3 schools without consulting the union in spring 02, Lynch countered:] "This is not partnership, this is not leadership. This is not an administration working with teachers to fi gure out what's best for the kids," Lynch says today. "This is trying to look

like you're doing something instead of taking the years of hard work it takes to turn around a school."Within a day of Duncan's announcement, Lynch had visited all three schools with crews of television reporters in her wake. What she heard and saw from teachers and students only solidifi ed her point of

view. They were three predominantly black schools in tough neighborhoods. "I'm not saying poverty is an excuse for low achievement; I would never say

More Lynch on next page

Deborah Lynch wants more than just decent wages for Chicago's teachers. She wants them to be in charge.

"I have devoted my whole life to working in systems with high concentrations of poverty. I am saying that poverty is a predictor of low achievement unless you put in appropriate strategies.


Vallas, the school sys tem's CEO, endorsed Chi ca go Teach ers Union pres i dent Th o mas Reece, an in cum bent with a war chest on more than $200,000 and con trol of every one of the more than 40 jobs at the CTU's head quar ters. The Chi ca go Sun-Times (cir cu la tion 500,000 dai ly) told Chi ca go's teach ers to vote for Tom Reece and his "team."

When the results of the election were announced on May 25 af ter a hand-count of the paper bal lots, the op po si tion slate from the Pro Ac tive Chi ca go Teach ers and School Work ers (PACT) cau cus had won the election with 57 per cent of the vote to Reece's 43 per cent. On the day they vot ed, all fi ve of the PACT can di dates for city-wide union offi ce were teach ing in their schools (or, in the case of Maureen Callaghan, can di date for trea sur er, work ing in the school offi ce where she served as sec re tary). Deborah Lynch (now CTU pres i dent), Howard Heath (now CTU vice pres i dent), Jacqueline Price Ward (now CTU re cord ing sec re tary), James Alexander (now CTU fi nan cial sec re tary) and Maureen Callaghan (now CTU trea sur er) all had to clean out their class rooms (or desks) be fore they re port ed to the down town of fi c es of the Chi ca go Teach ers Union on July 1, 2001, to be gin lead ing one of the largest locals in the Amer i can Fed er a tion of Teachers.

The victory of PACT in the May 2001 CTU elec tion was an over whelm ing vote of no con fi dence in the union lead er ship that had al lowed the once pow er ful Chi ca go Teach ers Union to be come a com pa ny union un der the dom i na tion of Chi ca go's City Hall. The vic to ry of Deborah Lynch Walsh (who dropped the "Walsh" from her last name recent ly) and the other mem bers of the PACT slate (in clud ing 40 of the 45 mem bers of the CTU ex ec u tive board, was a vic to ry for the rank-and-fi le and for the se cret bal lot and

that because I don't believe that," Lynch says. "I have devoted my whole life to working in systems with high concentrations of poverty. I am saying that poverty is a predictor of low achievement unless you put in appropriate strategies. Where are their plans? There are no plans. They do not even know where they are going to send these kids."

On April 24, Lynch led a group of about 250 protesters parents, teachers, and activiststo a board meeting held, ironically, at a public school on the city's West Side, not far from Dodge. The board members sat on a stage beneath a mural of African American leaders, including the late CTU president Jacqueline Vaughn. As the protesters' chants of "save our schools" subsided, Lynch addressed the board in a voice that crackled with emotion. "We stand here today in the tradition of an African American leader," she told its members. "We stand in her footsteps. Jacqui Vaughn would not take the closing of three schools serving the poorest children quietly, and neither will we."She pleaded with the board to turn the schools over to the union, promising to lead teachersall summer and around the clock, if necessaryin the establishment of a new reading curriculum. Eventually the three schools could serve as models of teacher-parent collaboration. "We're asking to be allowed to work harder and longer and truly be held accountable for our actions," said Lynch. Despite her plea, the board unanimously voted to close the schools.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By 3:30 P.M.. on this day in early June, Lynch is in the lobby of one of the city's union halls on the Near West Side, greeting CTU delegates as they pass through the doors on their way into a monthly meeting. This is, by now, a familiar scene, and she's surrounded by familiar faces: a socialist peddling his papers, Ted Dallas handing out fl iers (this one calling Lynch's fi rst year in offi ce a colossal failure), various activists passing out leafl ets. The delegates seem supportive. They shake Lynch's hand, pat her back, return her hugs. She distributes copies of a newspaper article describing the high points of her fi rst year. Her smile never fades, and she shows no sign of weariness. After an hour of hand-shaking, she enters the union hall----[For the full story on Debbie Lynch, send email to [email protected] or go Teacher Magazine web site.Related Education Week stories:"Long Passage," June 5, 2002, "Teachers' Union Launches School to Train Teachers," April 10, 2002, "Powerful Reforms With Shallow Roots," Commentary, Feb. 27, 2002, "Illinois Union Leaders to Quit in Wake of Local's Charges," Sept. 12, 2001, "Challenger Topples Chicago Teachers Union President," June 6, 2001. "Change Afoot for Chicago's School Team," June 6, 2001. Related Teacher Magazine stories:"Interview: Union Dues and Don'ts," March 2001, an interview with Deborah Lynch Walsh.

Schmidt continued Lynch continueddem o crat ic union ism. The be tray al of the teach ers and oth er union mem bers in Chi- ca go by the former union ad min is tra tion was de ci sive ly re pu di at ed on May 18 in what was the most ex cit ing union elec tion in re cent Chi ca go mem o ry.

The hard work began im me di ate ly. The new lead er ship of the CTU is re build ing a co a li tion of more than a doz en unions rep re -sent ing those who work in Chi ca go's pub lic schools -- from jan i tors and school en gi neers to truck driv ers and lunch room work ers. With an eye towards the ne go ti a tions for a con tract which ex pires on Au gust 31, 2003, Deborah Lynch and her col leagues in the union lead er ship have been mo bi liz ing their union mem ber ship in un prec e dent ed ways.

Not only has the election of Deborah Lynch pro vid ed a re pu di a tion of the pol i tics of union bust ing and teach er bash ing in Chi ca go's pub lic schools, but it has begun to lead to an un prec e dent ed era of mo bi li za tion and hope among a for mer ly de mor al ized mem ber ship of the once mighty union. With ev ery step the Chi ca go Teachers Union takes to wards get ting its strength back after years of con- va les cence in the isolation ward of com pa ny union ism, teach ers and other union mem bers add their voic es, votes and hard work to the mas sive job of re build ing the city's public schools af ter years of mis man age ment by the po lit i cal cro nies of City Hall.

Check out www.substance.com for more information

BARGAINING RIGHTS BACK IN CHICAGO Inside AFT Online 9/9/02AFT locals in Chicago and other school-related unions are poised to reclaim many of the bargaining rights stripped by the Illinois Legislature in 1995. A coalition of unions met with the city throughout the summer and reached an agreement on restoring a number of protections and giving employees a renewed say in school operations at both the preK-12 and community college levels. The agreement was overwhelmingly approved the CTU House of Delegates Sept. 4; the agreement now will be crafted into language that the state Legislature is expected to pass by year's end. "The restoration of these rights has been one of the top priorities of the CTU offi cers," Deborah Lynch, CTU president and an AFT vice president, reported in an Aug. 26 letter to union delegates. Enactment of the School Reform Act of 1995 dealt a severe blow to members' rights at both CTU and the Cook County College Teachers Union/AFT and crippled the unions' ability to bargain on a range of issues, including class size, assessment policy, privatization of services and staffi ng.

Lynch SpeaksDeborah Lynch made the following campaign speech to the May 2, 2001 Chicago House of Delegates (excerpts courtesy of SUBSTANCE) just weeks before she was elected President of the CTU. When the Board of Education unilaterally imposed an arbitrary and unfair discipline code....When it reconstituted six of our high schools and 188 CTU members lost their positions....When the Board imposed probation...,and remediation, reconstitution, re-engineering, and intervention (the list of reforms goes on and on), the current offi cers did nothing. The silence has been deafening.On their watch, our contract has been eroded, our benefi ts diminished, our rights trampled, our dignity denigrated, our professionalism impugned, our colleagues fired, our co-workers privatized, our seniority eliminated, our due process

violated, our work year lengthened, our class size increased. Through all this, the current offi cers have steadfastly done the bidding of the mayor and management, at the expense of the membership. The public thinks it has met the enemy and the enemy is us. The current offi cers have not made our case, have not pressed our concerns, have not addressed the misperception that we are the problem with the public schools. As a teacher said: They havent made the case that we are the good guys. Were the ones who show up every day.Enough! we say. Enough of the sham of the Chicago reform miracle.Enough of the blame-assigning and scapegoating of CTU members over student achievement and reform plans gone amuck.Enough of the political game-playing over dubious, high-stakes decisions about teachers and students and schools, using a single test which even the test publishers warn against.

These indefensible decisions are ruining the careers of the dedicated, hard working professionals in those schools and destroying morale throughout the entire system.Not once have the current officers called for the publication of the schools poverty rates along with their test scores. If teacher quality is the best predictor of student achievement, why do we not have certifi ed, qualifi ed teachers in all our classrooms?...When all the class size research in the world shows that lower class sizes have dramatic effects on student achievement in urban schools, particularly for poor children, why havent they taken a stand against the unconscionably high class sizes in schools serving our poorest students? Why havent the current officers worked to ensure the kind of working conditions that would keep good

teachers in the system and attract new ones to stave off the teacher shortage that has already hit us? PACT certainly intends to.Were the ones who opposed the travesty of the anti-union, anti-teacher sham called reconstitution and predicted its failure. We said then that you couldnt replace experienced, dedicated teachers with neophytes, give them the same lack of resources and poor resources and expect results...We have pushed for the elimination of anti-member reforms and have opposed the misuse of standardized testing.....As [one of our candidates] put it so vividly, You either stand up and be counted, or bend over and be_____. Together we will stand up and be counted.


IF: Researchers recently uncovered the following ancient text in dead sea scrolls discovered under 260 Park Ave. SouthIf we hadnt picketed schools on the last day of school in June 01, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suf fi cient.If UFT truth squads wearing black t-shirts hadnt shadowed Giuliani ap pear anc es, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If we hadnt endorsed Alan Hevesi for Mayor, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suf fi cient.If we hadnt endorsed Farrar for Mayor, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If we hadnt endorsed Green for Mayor, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If we hadnt taken our Unfair labor prac- tice com plaint to PERB, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If the March DA hadnt agreed to con-

sider recommending strike authorization to be voted on at the April DA, the con tract we doth re ceived would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said con tract suf fi cient.If 1500 UFTers hadnt lobbied in Al ba ny, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If the April DA hadnt set a May 8 dead line, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If parents hadnt joined teacher pick ets who had signs such as I dont want to strike. Dont Force Me, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If 3000 NYSUT RA delegates (800 of them Unity cau cus members get ting days off from schools and using UFT dues money to stay at the Hilton) hadnt ral lied to urge the May or to close a contract deal, the con tract we doth received would have been the same

and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If the May DA hadnt approved the member ship strike au tho ri za tion ref er en dum, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If the UFT hadnt rallied at the Board of Education, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT leaders would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If Governor Pataki hadnt received the John Dewey Award at the UFT Spring Con fer -ence the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If Strike authorization ballots hadnt been sent to UFT mem bers the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said con tract suffi cient.If there had not been 20,000 hip hop kids and be wil dered teach ers at the City Hall rally the contract we doth received would

Secretaries For Secretaries: What "Lies" Beneath? By Lillian M. Varrassi www.sec4sec.comSecretaries For Secretaries was formed as a network for secretaries to communicate on a daily basis, to bring to the fl oor new issues, and to assist new secretaries with ideas on how to best handle the overwhelming workload that has accrued over the years. The SFS website has been a source of information, inspiration and important issues. Experienced secretaries throughout the city have contributed to the site. The effectiveness of the site has spurred the UFT web site, which had buried news for secretaries, into fi nally adding a secretarial webpage which does not require one to search aimlessly for information. This came after they had tried to co-opt our page. But we wouldnt go along with their demands for total control.The offi cial UFT Secretaries' Chapter, which should be defending the interests of secretaries, promotes mandates dictated by union leaders. SFS, as an independent entity, owes its allegiance to one group and one group only - the secretaries.

We are pro union. The problem lies with the people running our union. They have promoted the lie that SFS believes secretaries should form a new union. Do not believe it. The people running our union derive their power from those who accept the status quo. They use trickery and deception, while those of us who seek change in a system gone awry, face retribution and harassment. The last several months have exposed the mask of deceit perpetrated by our union leaders.

As we approach the beginning of another school year, it is time to take stock of what the union has accomplished on behalf of secretaries in the new contract. We are hard pressed to fi nd at least one issue that can be deemed successful to the needs of the school secretary. The borough meetings we had to endure may have seemed genuine, but the truth is that they were just "good theater." The concern everyone showed regarding our plight was disingenuous. The Secretaries' Chapter leader was condescending and manipulative in addressing our concerns. She may rule with an iron fi st, but union leaders dictate the agenda - one that clearly disassociates itself from our immediate needs.

The new contract, which is promoted as a milestone vis a vis the workload issue for secretaries, has come up short. If a secretary fi nds her workload to be overwhelming, she will now have to fi le a grievance with her principal, subsequently with the superintendent and, fi nally, the chancellor. How ludicrous can you get? To put the onus on principals is unfair and quite laughable since everyone knows the workload comes down from the Board

of Education. Our union leaders, in a bogus attempt to make it appear it has corrected the workload issue, has actually created more problems for secretaries. Instead of demanding that the Board of Education hire more secretaries or provide proper technology training or make a clear distinction as to job descriptions, they continue to address our issues in a backhanded manner. Increasingly, secretaries feel that they are not considered important enough, worthy enough, or their cause suffi cient in content to be dealt with in a meaningful way.

To add insult to injury, a $1000.00 check was given to secretaries towards the contractual increase. Teachers received $2000.00. Union leaders still persist in promoting their notion of secretaries importance in the system by consistently demeaning our role at every turn. Equity among all union members is non-existent, and their particular disrespect of secretaries rears its ugly head time and time again.

It is unclear what lies ahead for us this school year. With the additional 20 minutes, a workload solution that will lie dormant, a raise that is still unworthy of our talents, inadequate working conditions, non-uniformity and lack of up-to-date equipment, the new contract cannot, under any circumstances, alleviate the stress that we face every day. However, we always had and still have - choices.

This school year, we will be able to make that choice in the upcoming Secretaries' Chapter election. We can either accept what is and endure another three years of hardship, or make a stand for change. It can be done - it already has. During the last election, secretaries were suddenly thrust into the limelight, and it will happen again. Do not lose the ability to see the light of truth, even through a pin prick in the darkness. Do not use fear as a reason to sit in silence. This is what our union leaders impose, and how they can disenfranchise members to the point of extinction.

have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said contract suffi cient.If no free CDs had been given out at the ral ly, the contract we doth received would have been the same and UFT lead ers would have deemed said con-tract suf fi cient.

If none of the above hath occurred, any con tract we doth re ceived would have been deemed suffi cient for UFT lead ers to rec om mend to the mem ber ship.

If the UFT leadership had negotiated a con tract that had even a mi nus cule of impact on any thing that goes on in schools and class rooms or addressed the de te ri o ra tion in work ing con di tions that have left teach er, para and secretary mo rale in worse con di tion that it has been in al most 40 years, it would have been more suf fi cient than the con tract that was ne go ti at ed.

Weingarten Praises Retired Secretary Chapter Leader Berg, We Think Source: The NY Teacher, 9/11/02Berg worked so tirelessly to improve working conditions that even management no longer denies that the secretaries in this system are overburdened and overworked, union President Randi Weingarten said. Huh? A little parsing of this statement leads us to the conclusion that all of Bergs efforts have resulted in overburdened and overworked secretaries. Weingarten may have really meant to say that Berg had successfully publicized the plight of secretaries as opposed to actually improving their working conditions, proving once again, that in the UFT, Public Relations is more valued than results.


Teachers for a Just Contract"Teachers for a Just Contract" formed in April 1992. Our goals are a more democratic union, and a militant strategy to stop givebacks and improve our pay, benefi ts and working conditions. In 1994, we started our newsletter, "Class Action," which we publish between contract periods. We demonstrated against the proposed contract of 1995. In 2000, we launched a campaign against the longer work day, including petitions and demonstrations, which culminated in our opposition to the contract reached in June 2002. Email us at JustContract @ aol.com or call 212-831-3408.

Ed. Notes invited all groups that have been critical of the union leadership to write a summary of their basic point of view.

The Progressive Labor PartyThe Progressive Labor Party is a revolutionary communist party. Teachers and other educators are members of the working class. We believe that all of the problems we have--terrible conditions in the schools, homelessness, our economic struggles, racism, sexism and imperialist war--are due to capitalism. We believe that as a class workers need to fi ght to get rid of capitalism--we can and should struggle to better our conditions, and those of our students--however, ultimately we will fi ght those battles over and over again until we achieve communisn, a system that works for all working people and not the bosses. We need to fi ght together for our class by fi ghting for our students, fi ghting racism and defeating the bosses' attempts to win us to support fascism and imperialist war. Contact Joan Heymont: [email protected]

Progressive Action Caucus (PAC)Progressive Action Caucus (PAC) initiated the legal battle for thousands of teachers who have lost their licenses due to the punitive use of the NY State Certifi cation Exams. These tests are unrelated to job performance and have a disparate impact on Black and Latino teachers. Teachers who have worked in classrooms with satisfactory ratings should have their licenses reinstated. Progressive Action Caucus has expanded to fi ght for public schools in which every student has the resources and opportunity to succeed academically, and to develop her or his full potential. We cannot achieve this goal alone. Our natural allies areparents, students, the communities they come from, and progressive educators. We fi ght in the union for demands such as smaller classes that will insure quality education for students and give teachers better working conditions.Contact Dave Poleshuck at 718-448-2647, email: [email protected]

New Action/UFTNew Action/UFT is one of the two major caucuses within our union. We have been in existence for almost twenty years. For the past four UFT citywide elections we have won the majority of the high school division. Currently six high school members of our caucus serve on the UFT Executive Board. Over the years we have worked within our union to improve our salaries, working conditions, school safety and equalize pensions for all.

We are proud of the role we played in helping to win the current contract and the impact we had on the fi nal package - - making salary parity a priority, defeating merit pay and opposing pattern bargaining. We were a major force behind the mobilization of members and parents. Our action proposals which were adopted included: letters from school chapters to Mayor Bloomberg, informational picketing at 1,100 schools, a rally in front of the Board of Education, a more aggressive public relations campaign, and a mass rally at City Hall. By working together with the union leadership we helped establish starting salaries of $39,000.

Now there remain areas of concern that we must address:*monitoring for potential abuses of the new extended day*continuing the struggle to achieve salary parity and ending pattern bargaining*lowering class size*making every school and classroom safe*allowing for professional discretion regarding teaching styles*ensuring members are not harassed by administrators*guaranteeing due process for all members*fi ghting for realistic student standards*improving working conditions*achieving tier I pension for all*assuring real union democracy*involving community groups and parents in the fi ght for public education*working on common issues with the rest of labor in NYC

We will continue to work with the union leadership to improve conditions. Where we disagree New Action/UFT will take a fi rm, aggressive, and independent stand.

In Their Own Words

Would we leave Unity Caucus out? Even though they have the entire propaganda machine of the UFT at their disposal, we didnt want them to miss out on reaching out to the infl uential Ed. Notes readership.

Join Unity and See the World!Earn extra cash too!!

By not joining Unity, you missed a trip to Las Vegas to the AFT Convention in the summer of 02. And were going Washington in 04 after you elect 800 or more of us in the next UFT election. Don t forget the NYSUT conventions somewhere in upstate New York. Maybe even at the Hilton in NYC. All at the members expense. And you can get elected without having to be re spon si ble to the mem ber ship because of AT-LARGE VOTING! You only have to run every 3 years. (Don t you wish it were 10?)

YOU CAN EARN EXTRA CASH AFTER SCHOOL WITHOUT HAVING TO TEACH AD DI TION AL TIME!Join Unity and become eligible for an after school union job. Get the same pay as all those non-Unity teachers slav ing away in after school pro grams. And you get an extra UFT pension. Don t worry about competition from non-Unity mem bers. These jobs are never posted and are re served solely for YOU!!! Dem on strate total loyalty and you can get the big en chi la da: A FULL-TIME UNION JOB!

Heres all you have to do: Take a blood oath to be loyal to whatever policies the leadership hands down. Vote the way you are told to at AFT and NYSUT conventions and at the Delegate Assembly. Now for the easiest part: convince yourself that any dissent from the leadership s views are destructive and anti-union. If you do a good job, you can come to believe that anyone who criticizes Unity caucus is a disloyal idiot! Best of luck! UNITY CAUCUS: WE STAND FOR DEMOCRATIC UNION ISM


CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Educational Intelligence Agency Reports on AFT Con ven tionMany union members are not aware of the UFT s parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers or the fact that a portion of the dues they pay goes to that organization. Or the fact that 800 elected Unity Caucus delegates go to conventions at our expense. Or that they exercise caucus dis-cipline and are told how to vote. Or...We can go on and on. Mike Antonucci of EIA gives us his unique per spec tive on the AFT Con ven tion held in Las Vegas July 15-18. Mike also covered the NEA convention in Dallas two weeks before and provides some interesting comparisons between the 2 largest or ga ni za tions rep re sent ing teach ers in this country. We have culled what we consider the most pertinent aspects from the per spec tive of NYC teachers and have added our comments at various points in Mike s reports. Space limitations forced us to leave out a number of his juicy ob ser va tions. For his full re ports, email [email protected] or contact Mike to get on EIA s email list ([email protected].)July 15,2002 Welcome from Las Ve gas, where the 77th Con ven tion of the Amer- i can Fed er a tion of Teach ers opened to day. EIA knew it would be dif fer ent, but how dif fer ent! I might ac tu al ly get to eat reg u lar ly. The morn ing ses sion last ed for 90 min utes, most of which was con- sumed by the key note speech of AFT Pres i dent Sandra Feldman. We even man aged to squeeze in an in vo ca tion, the Pledge of Al- le giance, the Star Span gled Ban- ner, and two vers es of Amer i ca the Beau ti ful. Af ter Feldman's speech, we broke for a two-hour lunch. The del e gates re turned af ter wards for a two-and-a-half-hour breakout ses sion de vot ed to their spe cifi c job ti tle. These were closed to the press. The del e gates are log ging a lot of slot ma chine time.

July 16, 2002Delegates Vote to Create Sol i -dar i ty Fund, a special ac count to be used to battle bal lot in i -ti a tives and leg is la tive measures the union doesn't like. The debate was pro for ma, since only one person spoke against the mea sure citing cost con sid er ations. The voice vote was over whelm ing ly in fa vor. An ac com pa ny ing pro vi sion raised AFT's "per capita tax" (its na tion al dues) by $1 per month to $11.95 per month for the 2002-2003 school year, and an ad di tion al 40 cents per month to $12.35 for the fol low ing year. Of that ad di tion al dol lar, 67 cents will go into the Sol i dar i ty Fund. That would amount to rough ly $6.4 mil lion per year. If a state af fi l i ate sets up a sim i lar fund,

AFT will re turn 25 cents per-mem ber per month back to the af fi l i ate. Got all that? Be cause there will be a quiz lat er.

Ed Note: Do you know a Unity Cau- cus delegate who went to Ve gas at your ex pense this past sum mer? Ask them how they vot ed or were told to vote on this one. Let s see: .67 X 12=8.04. X 140,000 UFT mem bers= $1,125,600. Over a mil lion dollars tak en away from our mem bers. How about put ting that mon ey in a strike fund so the next time we are taken through the sham of strike au tho ri z-a tion votes we have some real teeth (and money) to back us up?

Action on Resolutions. After sit ting through the AFT res o -lu tions de bate, I am more con vinced than ever that the two unions will not

merge. Each side's way of do ing things would drive the oth er side nuts. Imag- ine the up roar at an NEA con ven tion if some one sug gest ed a man da to ry vote to close de bate af ter 15 min utes. That is stan dard AFT pro ce dure. How would NEA del e gates like their adored new busi ness items vetted by a stand ing com mit tee, which would then stamp it with a "con cur" or "do not con cur" be fore it went to the fl oor? This is also stan dard AFT pro ce dure, and an im por -tant one. Of the 24 votes taken to day, none went against the com mit tee's rec- om men da tion. Some voice votes were close, but there was not a sin gle call for di vi sion----- AFT Vice Pres i dent Nat LaCour would say "all op posed?" when call ing for votes but he stopped waiting for the an swer, sim ply de clar ing the mea sure passed. An gry NEA del e gates near ly ran Reg Weaver out of Or lan do on a rail in 1999 for rush ing through

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I entered about 10 to 15 minutes late, because I was distributing "Vote No" leafl ets in the corridor. Our group, Teachers for a Just Contract, was the one and only group giving out literature against the proposed pact. This was partly because the largest opposition group, New Action, supports this proposed contract. But, to be fair, other groups and publications may not have had time to produce a negative piece: the pact was unveiled merely 48 hours before the DA. That's short turnaround time for those of us with day jobs. The other interesting part was the unusual hostility on the part of those going in. Since I was stationed at the top of the escalator which was the only entry route for the hall, I got a good look at the crowd, and it was even more predominantly old and well-dressed than the usual DA. Unity had been extra careful to

get as many as possible retirees and other non-classroom people into the hall. And they were hostile. Many balled up our leafl ets and tossed them on the fl oor or yelled such comments as "You gotta be kidding," or "Get a life!" In general, the people who looked worn out and tired (i.e., who had spent most of that very hot day in a classroom) politely took the fl yer. Later, several people told me that Weingarten had led off her report by making disparaging remarks about the "two groups" (so her math stinks) outside opposing the contract. "She hit you upside the head," one sympathizer described it. So Unity, top to bottom, was in no mood to tolerate any dissent. She had also touted the fact that the Executive Board vote in favor of the proposal had been unanimous, indicating that the 5 New Action and the one

Progressive Action Executive Board member voted in favor. When I came in, Weingarten was in the midst of explaining why certifi ed teachers were getting larger raises than non-certified teachers, "We could not get them totally off a differential between certifi ed and non-certifi ed teachers. We said everyone has to get at least 16%. Everyone is getting at least a 16% raise," (there she was misleadingly calling the 6% pro-rata longer day a "raise.") "We have not seen fi gures like this since 1972." Of course, in 1972, there was no extended time for those raises. Regarding the extended time, she introduced the touchy subject by saying, "Let me give you a sense of what management wanted." (This is always a favorite approach of union leaders discussing givebacks: Let me tell you how much worse it could have been, so you won't be so upset about how bad it is, and I can show how hard I fought for you.') "First, Mayor Bloomberg wanted total control over

when it will happen and what will happen. We faced two problems. First the police made a deal about soft and hard productivity and somehow compared themselves to teachers, and second, I pushed hard on self-directed activity and they pulled out all the schools where no one is doing professional activities. (And whose fault is that? Supervisors can enforce it. But it's too much of a headache for most of them to bother. Besides, what do they think those teachers are doing instead of "professional activities"? Playing pinochle? Dancing the cha cha? Watching videos? No, they are probably marking tests and homework, making up lesson plans, talking to guidance counselors and parents, in sum: professional activities!) So, I could not win that battle." (Not her fault, the fault of the rank and fi le teacher, see?) However, " they bl inked Monday morning. The parameters on when this time would be worked. There could only be a limited number

Notes from the Delegate Assembly by Marian Swerdlow, UFT Delegate, FDR High School Wednesday, June 12, 2002 Brooklyn Marriott Hotel (These notes were prepared for the Teachers for a Just Contract mailing list and are reprinted with the authors permission. Edited by Ed. Notes.)

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new busi ness items.Ed. Note: Democracy in action. Mike ought to come see a UFT Ex ec u tive Board meet ing.

July 17, 2002Antonucci comments on the AFT s (ba si cal ly neg a tive) re port on Char ter Schools. Lack of space pre vents us from in clud ing these com ments. Check his web site or email Ed. Notes if you wish to re ceive his anal y sis. Here, con tra -dic tions in the report are raised.

One AFT Report Throws Light on An oth er One other claim in AFT's char ter school re port de- serves closer scru ti ny: that char ter school teach ers are less ex pe ri enced and low er paid than the av er age pub lic school teach er. This claim comes com plete with a ta ble. But of course, less ex pe ri ence means low er pay in the tra di tion al sal a ry scale. AFT ad mits this by say ing, "Char ter school sal a ries tend to be com pet i tive with other public schools at the be gin ning teach er lev el." So the question really is not why char ter school teachers are paid less. The ques tion is why char ter schools attract and hire less ex pe ri enced teach ers. AFT pre fers to con clude the rea son is char ter school op er a tors want to save money on teach er salaries in

or der to spend it else where. But a dif- fer ent AFT re port pro vides a different in ter pre ta tion. A Report of the AFT Task Force on Union-Spon sored Pro fes sion al De- vel op ment details the AFT ver sion of new union ism, though AFT's name for it is "pro fes sion al union ism." In short, the idea is that, as the re port states, "a pro fes sion al union bal anc es teach ers' le git i mate self-interests with the larg er in ter ests of teach ing as an oc cu pa tion and ed u ca tion as an in sti tu tion." The re port's rec om men da tions were approved to day by the del e gates. What makes the report in ter -est ing is its de lin ea tion of rea sons why pro fes sion al union ism is nec es sary for the or ga ni za tion. It cites Harvard ed u -ca tion pro fes sor Su s an Moore John-son, who wrote, "Stud ies have shown that, as a group, (re tir ing teach ers) val ue job se cu ri ty, pre fer au ton o my to team work, tol er ate iso la tion, eschew com pe ti tion, re spect ad min is tra tive au thor i ty op pose dif fer en tial treat- ment with in their ranks, and ex press lit tle in ter est in ca reer ad vance ment." On the other hand, new teach ers like jobs that "fea ture va ri ety, team work, risk-tak ing, en tre pre neur ial op por -tu ni ties, and high pay. They often fi nd the val ues and pri or i ties of the re tir ing gen er a tion puz zling and out mod ed." Which of those teach ers do you think will leave a reg u lar public school to teach at a char ter? The people who wrote AFT's

char ter school report should take a look at this re port. "Many of the is sues that mo ti vat ed the drive for col lec tive bar gain ing three decades ago are not sa lient to new teach ers," the task force re port reads. It calls upon the AFT to pay at ten tion to the needs of young teachers. "We fail to heed their message at our own peril," it con cludes.

Ed Note: Has the UFT heeded their mes sage in New York City where many new teach ers com- plain of the lack of au ton o my in their class rooms, the lack of con- trac tu al pro tec tions for uncertifi ed and untenured teach ers, the lack of team work, the dis cour age ment of risk tak ing and the total lack of en tre pre neur ial op por tu ni ties in the schools?

Bob Chase Preaches Merger to the Con vert ed NEA President Bob Chase addressed the del e gates this morning, and was greet ed with a stand ing ovation from the record 3,684 del e gates. Though most of his re marks were culled from his key note speech to NEA del e gates two weeks ago, Chase did open with force ful de fense of NEA-AFT merg er. "The biggest dis ap point ment of my six-year tenure, with out a doubt, was the vot ing down of the

merger by the NEA Rep re sen ta tive As sem bly in 1998," Chase said. But he want ed to tell "the cynics who be lieve that merg er will nev er take place" (who, me?), that merg er be tween NEA and AFT "is a dream that will not die." It was a powerful and per- sua sive speech, but it's worth not- ing that it was de liv ered to this au di ence and not the NEA Rep re -sen ta tive As sem bly. AFT del e gates ap proved the Prin ci ples of Unity by a vast mar gin in 1998 (al though it oc curred af ter the NEA con- ven tion, ren der ing it mean ing less and sym bol ic). Nei ther Chase, NEA Pres i dent-elect Reg Weaver, Vice Pres i dent-elect Dennis Van Roekel, NEA Sec re tary-Trea sur er-elect Lily Eskelsen, nor any one else with ac cess to a mi cro phone in Dal las [at the NEA con ven tion] two weeks ago even men tioned the word "merg er," nev er mind placed it on any fu ture agen da.

AFT delegates approved Res o -lu tions 12 and 14, which are AFT's strat e gies for dealing with the standards move ment and stan dard ized tests. The lengthy policy is sim i lar to that of NEA, but del e gates defeat ed an amend ment that would have spe cifi cal ly op posed high-stakes test ing and any stan dard -ized test that led to "pu ni tive" mea sures. One of the pro vi sions

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of options. We totally won." (If this is victory, I'd hate to even contemplate defeat) "There are two alternatives a Superintendent can choose from. The two 50 minute blocs have to happen between 8 AM and three-thirty." (This applies only to "single-session schools." Weingarten neglected to mention that fact.) S h e w e n t o n , " T h e parameters about what time was used for was just as big a fi ght. The two 50 minute blocs which could be used as class had to be consistent with the Fact-Finding recommendations, which means they had to be consistent with the Extended Time Schools, which meant, half for professional activities (not in the sense of circular six, I don't think), half for small group instruction." She continued, "We also wanted to jerry-rig this in some ways. We knew that multiple

session, it would mean for those people the 50 minutes will not work. We did not want a Superintendent to start ruining people's lives. So the 20 minutes extra would be applicable to multi-session schools and District 75 [the special ed district]." Here Weingarten was not sticking to the facts. First of all, she was contradicting what the Memo of Agreement itself said. It clearly gives a Superintendent a choice of which form to impose, and has nothing to stop a Superintendent from imposing the two fi fty-minute blocs on a multi-session school. In fact, the following week, as the balloting was ending, high school superintendents throughout the city began ordering principals to program their schools for the two fifty minute blocs, and principals began announcing this to teachers.

These orders were not rescinded until the weekend of June 22 - 23, probably mainly thanks to opposition and pressure from the CSA. She went on to list what she saw as the exceptional victories: a no-layoff clause, useful mainly for paraprofessionals and secretaries. Two days of provisional for illness in the family, still, however to come out of the CAR. (Most people had simply taken these as self-treated days.) Expedited class size grievance. (Has timeliness of class size resolutions been a problem recently?) Revamping of dismissal procedures. Verbal abuse of a student is now distinguished from physical abuse (However, verbal abuse is still a transgression and can be disciplined.) Verbal abuse cases must be fi nished quickly, and you must receive a letter that you have been exonerated. In cases where teachers are suspended

without pay, "they must be put back in their rightful place, inclusive of medical benefi ts." (For once, the reality was better, not worse, than Weingarten portrayed it. The memo says medical benefi ts are maintained while the teacher is suspended.) Weingarten defended the new, tougher disciplinary code by saying, "It puts management instead of the union on the fi ring line on dismissals. It ends the abuse of the rubber room by saying (teachers can be kept there) no more than six months." "Circular Six has been maintained, with two changes. If a teacher volunteers in lieu of teaching (i.e., compensatory time) they can be used to supervise the lunchroom. A principal may create one, two for larger schools, dean's positions." On the unpardonab

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