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Wow! So he breaks the law (according to a court ruling) and then -as he’s appealing the court ruling against him- tells NYSUT to back down or he’ll just change the law altogether.

I really really wish NYSUT would just call his bluff, let him start the war with Silver that everyone is talking about and make him change the law.

That said, the guy is a brilliant politician.

I hope the UFT and its members, for their own sakes, understand what is gong on here and why they have to stand fast and if it means the city loses the money, then so be it.  Precious little of that money will be going to the kids anyway; much of it will be used to develop assessments in the many many subject areas, especially on the secondary level, where assessments do not presently exist just so they can have ammunition to declare more teachers ineffective.

Let them go to the new turn around reform.  Don’t be scared when they start talking about half of the teachers in a given school losing their jobs.  Because these teah=achers will not be losing their jobs.  They will simply go into the ATR and keep their jobs waiting for the day when the Emperor is finally out of office along with lackey Walcott.  In the interim, they keep their jobs.  Giving in now and not having a proper appeals procedure in place, will allow the many Principals from the Leadership Academy as well as those who should know better such as Ms. Reidy to continue terrorizing teachers with their new found power.  Of course, just like police officers, they will be given quotas of finding vast number of teachers either developing and ineffective and without the ability to protect the members from thee arbitrary ratings, they will lose their jobs.  That is the ultimate goal of the Emperor and his lackey.  And of course the $20,000 bonus promised.  How many teachers will the Emperor allow each Principal to so designate.  One per school?  Makes for a great deal of collegiality, doesn’ty it.  Mulgrew has got to stand up to the Emperor, lackey Walcott, Cuomo and whomever and not give in on this issue.  Dare them to take away the money.  It won’t be going to the kids of teachers anyway, not one cent of it.

I hope the UFT and its members, for their own sakes, understand what is gong on here and why they have to stand fast and if it means the city loses the money, then so be it.  Precious little of that money will be going to the kids anyway; much of it will be used to develop assessments in the many many subject areas, especially on the secondary level, where assessments do not presently exist just so they can have ammunition to declare more teachers ineffective.

Let them go to the new turn around reform.  Don’t be scared when they start talking about half of the teachers in a given school losing their jobs.  Because these teah=achers will not be losing their jobs.  They will simply go into the ATR and keep their jobs waiting for the day when the Emperor is finally out of office along with lackey Walcott.  In the interim, they keep their jobs.  Giving in now and not having a proper appeals procedure in place, will allow the many Principals from the Leadership Academy as well as those who should know better such as Ms. Reidy to continue terrorizing teachers with their new found power.  Of course, just like police officers, they will be given quotas of finding vast number of teachers either developing and ineffective and without the ability to protect the members from thee arbitrary ratings, they will lose their jobs.  That is the ultimate goal of the Emperor and his lackey.  And of course the $20,000 bonus promised.  How many teachers will the Emperor allow each Principal to so designate.  One per school?  Makes for a great deal of collegiality, doesn’ty it.  Mulgrew has got to stand up to the Emperor, lackey Walcott, Cuomo and whomever and not give in on this issue.  Dare them to take away the money.  It won’t be going to the kids of teachers anyway, not one cent of it.

I hope the UFT and its members, for their own sakes, understand what is gong on here and why they have to stand fast and if it means the city loses the money, then so be it.  Precious little of that money will be going to the kids anyway; much of it will be used to develop assessments in the many many subject areas, especially on the secondary level, where assessments do not presently exist just so they can have ammunition to declare more teachers ineffective.

Let them go to the new turn around reform.  Don’t be scared when they start talking about half of the teachers in a given school losing their jobs.  Because these teah=achers will not be losing their jobs.  They will simply go into the ATR and keep their jobs waiting for the day when the Emperor is finally out of office along with lackey Walcott.  In the interim, they keep their jobs.  Giving in now and not having a proper appeals procedure in place, will allow the many Principals from the Leadership Academy as well as those who should know better such as Ms. Reidy to continue terrorizing teachers with their new found power.  Of course, just like police officers, they will be given quotas of finding vast number of teachers either developing and ineffective and without the ability to protect the members from thee arbitrary ratings, they will lose their jobs.  That is the ultimate goal of the Emperor and his lackey.  And of course the $20,000 bonus promised.  How many teachers will the Emperor allow each Principal to so designate.  One per school?  Makes for a great deal of collegiality, doesn’ty it.  Mulgrew has got to stand up to the Emperor, lackey Walcott, Cuomo and whomever and not give in on this issue. 

As a teacher who is currently facing a prospective “turnaround” I will go right out and say that I am willing to risk losing my position at my school and becoming an atr in order to ensure, that I will not just get fired altogether when I become too expensive down the line.  If we give in to a new evaluation system it will be the end of life long teachers as we know it.

Jeff S…..

Can you repost your last comment. I think I may have missed your point?

First they came for the ATR’s, and I did not speak out because I was not an ATR. Then they came for those who did not have tenure, and I did not speak out because I had tenure. Then they came for the transformation/turnaround teachers, and I did not speak out because I was not a transformation/turnaround teacher. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. (Bottom line, all NYC teachers will be expendable if this new evaluation system goes into effect. The UFT must not be swayed by blood money which will never be used to benefit our students in any meaningful way)

Folks..once  you  “post.” if  it  doesn’t  go through…  wait…  even  if  the ” error”  message  appears..your  post  will  have  been  submitted….

You  are  absolutely   correct.  This  new  evaluation  law  was  only  created  to  fire  teachers.  It  will  allow  districts  to  keep  the  turnover  rate  high,  and  keep  the  labor  costs  low.

It’s a gambit, not a bluff.  (He’s not bluffing, and he’s probably on solid constitutional ground.)  

If the union accepts the gambit and digs in, this is the war:  the legislature can (1)  accept the budget as presented by Cuomo; (2) modify the budget by “reducing” or “deleting” specific appropriations (as long as they do NOT otherwise alter them substantively); (3) reject Cuomo’s appropriations and pass its own budget, which Cuomo is free to veto; or (4) refuse to act on the budget and negotiate a new one with Cuomo.  If Cuomo knows how that plays out, then maybe he is a brilliant politician.  Very interesting stuff. 

The UFT needs to get a better Madison Avenue advertisement agency to really reach out to the public at large.  By in large, the biggest failures that IT had delivered to ITSELF has to be with the ineptitude of the public outreach done by what mom’s and pop’s agency it has hired in the past.  I call their choice of ad companies a self defeating blunder no worse that the last worst place NBA or NFL team out there hiring the worst defensive coach…it is not for the lack of money or talent.  There are only so many mistakes that the UFT can make and still be intact for the future.  This challenge that the Deformers have thrown at cannot be met with the same ineptness it has used in the past.  It should join forces with all the other unions that are on the line for the beating or worse, demise they might face if they cannot successfully bring out the truth to the public. 

You might want to tell the medical malpractice bar about this concept.

Flerp Your useless

Who is crazy enough to be I life long teacher

Flerp.

There  is  NOT  a jury  anywhere  that  would  award  damages  for  malpractice  based  upon  a  patient’s  death  as  I  described  below.  However,  because  of  the  new  teacher  evaluation  law  thousands  of  teachers  will  lose  their  livelihoods  based  upon  their  students’   poor  performance  on  standardized  exams.  Which  in  most  cases  will  be  more  due  to  a  student’s  lack  of  effort,(for  whatever  reason)   than  a  teacher’s  “lack  of  instruction.”  “Good  luck”  finding  teachers  for  urban  school  districts  in  another  5  years.

What  medical  students  would  ever  specialize  in  oncology  or  cardiology,  if  their   license  to  practice  was  dependent  on  their  patients’  survival  rates?  We  would  have  a nation  of  “eye  doctors”  and ” foot  doctors’ ..Too  bad  cancer  and  heart  disease  are  the  illnesses  that  kill  the  vast  majority  of  people….

This  scenario  will  be  the  same  for  urban  school  districts  trying  to  attract,  and  retain  teachers  where  their  employment  will  be  dependent  on  students’  test  scores

There’s always something in the file to scare the insurer enough to settle.  People make good livings on this kind of frivolity, second only to the frivolity of securities class actions.

Analogies aside, are you making a specific argument about specific problems with “the new teacher evaluation law”?  The one that’s in effect now, that limits the role of standardized tests in evaluations to 20% (assuming the trial court’s decision holds up)?  If so, I don’t follow your argument that standardized exams will be the sole determinant of teachers’ careers.  But I may have misunderstood you.

I saw the writing on the wall three years ago and finagled my way into non-regents subjects.  As many have pointed out (but no one has the guts to tell the public), you can be ‘superman’ but if you are put in an impossible classroom situation, you will look like a ‘poor’ teacher.

What is an impossible situation?  1/4 of your students are drug addicts or abuse alcohol.  1/4 are so low IQ that it is a tragedy.  1/4 are ‘sweet’ human beings but have no work ethic at all.  The final quarter are dispirited or from terrible home situations.  Add to that almost all of them following the thug ‘gangsta’ ethos which derides education and book learnin’ and what do you think you can do?  

So I see no future in this profession, even for the ‘supermen’ of the world.  All it takes is one or two ‘bad’ evaluations or 1 or 2 days in which the students bomb the tests, and then – you’re out the door!  Why would anyone go into teaching today (unless you teach non-regents classes or plan to teach in lily-white or asian suburbs)?

Jay, all I can say is WOW! I thank you for your honest post. You have clearly demonstrated yourself as a racist who holds no respect for the students, families or community that pay your salary. If you honestly feel this way…yes, please do find an alternate career. We do not respect you, want you near our kids, or need you in our schools. I only wish that I could file for a refund of the taxes I have paid to support your salary…clearly those students unfortunate enough to have found themselves in front of you never had a chance. They simply don’t meet YOUR standard. What a waste of taxpayer money your salary and pension are.

1) What exactly is a “teacer”?
2) I highly recommend the use of a thesaurus; surely there are more creative ways to verbally assault and cast aspersions upon teachers.
3) Here’s a novel concept: teachers are “the public,”teachers are “citizens,” teachers are parents and teachers are taxpayers.
4) It’s very shortsighted and ignorant to blame teachers or unions for all that ails the public schools.

Teachers MUST go on the offensive here before something is imposed on them that is unfair and unwanted. This is what I suggest:
 
If standardized tests are to be used to measure students and evaluate teachers, insist that these tests are designed to do both. Make certain that the test can measure the progress of each child in the class, including the sixth grader who reads at a first grade level. Insist that this high stakes test be treated as one with the same security as the SAT and GRE. The test should new each year and should be administered by outside people. No school person should see the test until the day of administration.
 
Teachers should insist that other professionals (administrators, teachers) be familiar with the progress of every student in the class. These people should come in the fall and test each child so as to get an idea of where each child is. Throughout the year, these individuals should check student’s progress on compositions, bench mark tests and other measures of progress. The teacher should ask, “Are my students showing satisfactory progress?” If the answer is No, ask the person to give you specifics and suggests ways to improve. Get it all in writing. Ask the professional to model a good lesson for you. Try to get everything in writing.
 
If a child is out of school three months of the year, make a note of this in his file (e.g. Jose went to Mexico Dec. 18 and came back March 21).
 
If your students show excellent progress on a daily basis but do not score well on the standardized test, now you have evidence that they did progress satisfactorily. If you are judged “Ineffective” on the basis of students’ low test scores, you now have “evidence” to show an attorney.
 
Teachers, it’s absolutely essential for you to play “hardball” too. If you do, you will “win” because the data is on your side. Good luck!

YES!  Not to mention “then they came for the DC-37 workers and I did not speak out because the UFT never mentioned who Bloomberg DID layoff when he didn’t lay us off.

I am a 61 year old veteran teacher. Been teaching for 31 years. My abilities to cajole reading skills and love of learning into my students now are in a stratosphere I wasn’t even aware existed when I began teaching. It took a good 20 years to get to this place, and I am not a slow learner.
 Bottom line is that the government and the 1%ers do not want to pay pension, do not want an educated populace, and above all, are using the creation, publication, and administration of the tests as a vehicle through which to make yet more money. The Race to the Top funding is not intended for anything other than evaluations and testing. The public should be aware of this extremely important fact. The media is shaping information to bias those who need to most be aware of the truth, and the whole truth.No one is saying it but the whole idea is to pit the 99% against each other. “Oh, You have a pension, I don’t have one, so you shouldn’t have one either. Oh, You have medical insurance, I don’t have that, so you shouldn’t have it either”.  Point is, we should all have both, along with the social security that we’ve contributed to our entire working lives.

Wake up America! Too soon will be too late.

Beautifully rephrased!  Pastor Niemoller would be proud of you.  I would like to have your permission to use your statements at my next chapter meeting.

If we have to be Wisconsinites in NYS, then let’s bring it on!

Cuomo will NOT be re-elected and he will go down in shame with Bloomberg.