GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

he said he said

January 22, 2013

Bloomberg renews criticism of UFT in ongoing teacher eval spat

by Philissa Cramer, at 5:23 pm

Addressing the collapse of teacher evaluation talks for the first time since state education officials criticized his role, Mayor Bloomberg today blamed the teachers union again.

Last week, Bloomberg said he could not accept a teacher evaluation deal because the union wanted only a temporary evaluation system — an objection that State Education Commissioner John King said city officials had not raised earlier in negotiations.

“That comment from the mayor was, from my perspective, a new issue that was raised after they walked away from the table,” King said on Friday.

Speaking this morning at an announcement about an affordable housing project, Bloomberg dialed back his emphasis on the “sunset” issue. The union “was just deliberately trying to throw as many procedural roadblocks up that it would be so impossible to remove a teacher, even if the deal didn’t expire,” he said.

Despite his harsh criticism of the UFT, Bloomberg said he had asked Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott to reach out again to the union today. The city will be cut off from hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds without a new teacher evaluations system.

But UFT President Michael Mulgrew signaled that he was not in the mood to talk.

“Welcome to Bloombergland,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “Most people would be embarrassed that the state’s highest education official has directly contradicted their statements about a new teacher evaluation system. But not the mayor. … And people wonder why negotiations haven’t been successful.”

Here’s what Bloomberg said during his public appearance, via City Hall’s press office:

“Before we take other topics, let me just briefly talk a little bit about negotiations for a teacher evaluation agreement, which I’ve gotten a number of questions about.

“As I said last week, I am extremely disappointed, but I will say I’m not surprised, that the UFT walked away from our negotiations last week.

“I’m disappointed because they have blocked our teachers from having the kind of useful feedback and accountability that is helping teachers – and children – in other parts of the country, and I’m disappointed because the UFT is costing our schools hundreds of millions of dollars.

“But I’m not surprised because I always have been skeptical, as you know, that the union leadership would be willing to accept a deal that made meaningful distinctions about the quality of teaching.

“Those distinctions would enable us to attract, retain and reward the best teachers, and make it easier to remove teachers who, even after two years of extra support, are ineffective.

“We have 75,000 teachers in our system – and the great majority of them are hard-working and talented, and they really make a difference in the lives of our kids – and they deserve credit for our successes over the last decade: rising graduation rates, narrowing of the achievement gap, progress on state tests that outpaces the rest of the state.

“But the truth of the matter is, with 75,000, not every teacher is effective – and all teachers can benefit from the kind of feedback that a fair evaluation system provides. And blocking that system, as the UFT has done, hurts teachers, and it especially hurts our children.

“The Obama Administration knows that. That’s why they promoted Race to the Top as a means of encouraging real evaluation systems. And that’s the kind of deal we were seeking: identify the good teachers and the teachers who need help, help all of our teachers excel, give special help to those who need it most, and for the few who still don’t perform up to standards, replace them.

“That’s why we wanted a deal, and still do – and it’s why the UFT leadership did not.

“For an entire year, the UFT leadership has been dragging their feet and throwing up roadblocks – and they have been trying to inject issues that are entirely unrelated to an evaluation deal into the discussions.

“Then, last week, at the very last minute, they introduced new demands designed to undermine the evaluation system and torpedo the deal. They demanded that the deal expire before bad teachers could be removed from the classrooms. They wanted the deal to go out of existence before it could go into effect.

“It was just deliberately trying to throw as many procedural roadblocks up that it would be so impossible to remove a teacher, even if the deal didn’t expire. Neither is something that we could ever live with.

“The UFT’s demand that we revert to the old system after two years, and its demand for a new grievance process, are not contemplated in the law and are clearly designed to undermine everything else the law requires.

“When we refused to go along with these demands, they held a press conference and unilaterally declared negotiations over. Despite this, I will say, we did make one last attempt last week late at night – and that too was rebuffed.

“Some have suggested that we should accept their last offer, pretending it was adequate, and taking the State’s money. We will not do that. We are not going to be complicit in a fraud.

“For decades, the system was run for the benefit of adults, and our kids suffered from a system that was a dysfunctional failure. We spent the last decade making sure that the system is run for kids. We will not go back by making a deal that protects adults at the expense of kids, nor will we do a deal that purports to do one thing when we all know it’s impossible to do it the way they want it structured.

“We’ve changed, and we aren’t going back.

“Furthermore, it would be irresponsible for me to give the UFT a huge hammer over the next mayor in contract negotiations.

“The UFT would be able to say: Give us what we want, or we’ll let the evaluation system expire, and I’m not going to put our 1.1 million schoolchildren in that position.

“Other states have dealt with this issue differently. They passed bipartisan legislation that gave districts and unions an opportunity to negotiate, but they insisted on implementing fair evaluation standards even if no agreement was reached by the deadline, even if the union objected.

“Unfortunately, when our evaluation law was passed under Governor Paterson, our State gave the union a veto over that process. That proved to be a terrible error, as some of us said back then, because the union is content with the status quo.

“And the union, if there is no deal, suffers no consequence. It is the children who suffer the loss of up to $450 million, and it’s up to the City now to figure out how to address it. That will mean moving monies around and doing less. We always try to do more with less, but there’s a limit to how much we can do.

“The union will always, on the other hand, put its own interest ahead of the interest of kids – no matter how much money is on the table.

“I spoke over the last several days with the Governor, with Merryl Tisch, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. They have urged us to resume negotiations – and we tried to do last week, after the union walked out.

“Again this morning, Dennis Walcott called Michael Mulgrew and suggested they meet.

“We are always willing to talk, and we will do everything we can to reach a deal that is good for our children. But we cannot – and I will not – accept a return to the days when the system functioned for adults and call it ‘reform.’

“We will not be party to any transaction just for the sake of getting State money or Federal monies that says they’ve got a deal, which we all know is not possible to work.”

Print Print
  • East Sider

    Would both parties agree to expedited binding arbitration?

  • I noticed that…

    Bloomberg:

    You’ll huff and puff but you cannot blow the union house down.

    Signed,
    On behalf of an extremely large population of effective teachers

  • BH

    At this very
    moment, just as I am reading this article, I really see clearly just how lucky
    I am to be alive and working and functioning in today’s society.  What I mean is, with all the shitty teachers
    I had over my life, I still have persevered.  
    The funny thing is, I had no idea of just how bad they were, and truth
    be told, I even thought that the majority were very good and actually referred
    to some of them as excellent on more than one occasion.  But then again, just how were they being
    evaluated?  Maybe not right now, but I
    plan to get in touch with some old classmates and see if they can possibly shed
    some light on this subject.  I mean, I
    don’t know if this if the right forum for this, but I wonder if there are any
    remedies possible, and if there is, is there a statute of limitations on these
    sorts of things?

  • Ellen

    How many of the 75,000 teachers have been hired since the Mayor took office?  60%? less?  more?

  • I noticed that…

    Look at the attrition rate.  The number of teachers who retired, left the system, or changed licenses (teacher becomes a GC or an AP, etc.) since 2002. 

  • http://twitter.com/leoniehaimson leonie haimson

    Such pretentious self-righteous twaddle!

  • Nycdoenuts

    “…and THEY deserve credit for OUR success … ” good heavens I feel appreciated! Thank you, mayor!!

    And to think, this is PRELUDE to budget season!! This is the stage that is set for the real show -his last budget fight! I can see why everyone is calling it “Scorched Earth”!

  • Philip Nobile

    “We are not going to be complicit in a fraud.” Mayor Bloomberg

    And Nixon wasn’t a crook. Bloomberg’s boast of historic graduation rates is surely fraudulent. He knows, everybody in the system knows, that Regents cheating has perversely inflated grad rates under mayoral control. When the Wall Street Journal confirmed the system’s dirty little secret (Feb. 2, 2011), Bloomberg, Klein, Walcott, and Suransky had no comment. Why not? Because they know their stats are a lie. The DOE, I predict, will have no response to this accusation. Not that the UFT has clean hands. When I asked my District Representative for help in blowing up a Regents cheating ring at the Cobble Hill School of American Studies in Brooklyn, he advised me to cover up lest grade changing members suffer. I successfully lobbied for their immunity. Only the administrators got in trouble. In the end, presumably with the agreement of his general counsel Michael Best, corruptly exonerated the guilty parties without benefit of an audit of the tampered exams!

  • wise owl

    What is the mayor’s “obsession” with this evaluation? He really has more important things to accomplish. I would imagine that the bus strike in and of itself would keep him busy, his new “brilliant idea on mini apartments” Sandy, guns, the economy,etc. No offense teachers (I’m one myself) but how did WE become the number one thing on the mayor’s “to do list”?  I wish that I could give the public a survey to do and let them choose what they think is the most important topic for the mayor to be spending time on.  Not everyone has kids in this town and I doubt that they would say the teachers. As a matter of fact people are tired of hearing about it.
     Mayor Bloomberg,
     Please change the subject. And if you can’t lead then maybe it’s time you moved on before I rate you ineffective.

  • Mike

    Do we know what was in the deal?

  • Vote NO!

    You  can’t  blame  the  mayor.  His  experience  with  the  UFT  over  the  past  7  and  a  half  years,  is  that  it “caves  in” on  just  about  everything.  Look  at  all  the  negotiations  between  the  UFT  and  the mayor  from  the  2005  contract  to  now.  The  UFT, (really  the  membership)  has  had  its  “clock  cleaned,”  every  time  they  tried  to  negotiate  with  Bloomberg.  I’m  afraid  he’s  probably  right  again.  The UFT  leadership  will  probably   sell   the  classroom   teachers  out  on  this  too.

  • Noel1981uconn

    Half the school year is over! See you in September then the vote in 2 months later. Enough of this Shmuck already. Mulgrew is doing just great. Hold form Mike. Do not agree to anything, especially trying to talk to a DOPE like Walcott(showpiece for minorities).

  • GUEST

    I am sure they are worried that if they give in on this, the next UFT election might not be as easy as it has been up until now.  One has to be quite sure that Randi W. is not happy at what is going on as it makes the union look bad to the media but Mulgrew right now is caught between a rock and a hard place.  He just can’t give in on this as much as Randi W. might like him to.

  • Clay

    Bloomberg is a liar!

  • YoTeach!

    Rather than allowing the mayor to present his perspective unchallenged, some follow up analysis would have helped your readership. Most of his rhetoric is almost pathetically easy to deflate. 

  • Invictus

    only if the arbitrators come from a third party that does not have direct financial interests in both the DOE and the Union…..unlike the arbitrators that are now used….former principals that are under the monetary auspices of the Tweed. 

    The present system is almost like having the jury and the judges be from the same blood family as the accused murderer you might be confronting in court.  Good luck with justice served!

    No wonder why the Supreme Leader was furious in rejecting the deal that the DoE stuck with the UFT hours before the last deadline. 

    He does not like the fact that some of those people who are rated “ineffective” to actually have a fighting chance at exoneration via neutral arbitrators.  It is against his EGO.  Tough luck Supreme Leader, you will be less Supreme within 10 months time. 
     

  • Just Some Teacher

    If Mulgrew and UNITY’s neck was not on the line because of the upcoming election and the rising popularity of Julie Cavanaugh and the MORE caucus things would be playing out a lot differently. I recognize Mulgrew’s behavior from when he was UFT president elect, and once he got his position permanently, that’s when the dirty deals started to flow. Perhaps this is all just a little bit of political theater to make Mulgrew look like the guy in the white hat, so the next Mayor can have a complacent sloth like union leadership. We deserve Ms. Cavanaugh and we deserve MORE!

  • East Sider

    Arbitrators are jointly selected by the parties, u r confusing with U-rating hearing officers who r DoE employees.

  • jone doe

    Its amazing to me how this terd mayor rambles on about how it is the fault of the union causing the breakdown of negotiations.  But as Mulgrew put it, its bloombergland and again he does not get it, he continues to babble on as he believes the general public can be manipulated.  Want a good laugh, listen to poodle walcott on wor radio with gambling program.  I feel sorry for walcott now because you can tell that its really not him making the statements its just repeating what his boss bloomy wants him to say…cmon, walcott is a low key, mellow dude trying to act like this bllomdoe madman out of touch. old cruddy mayor who needs to put on glasses

  • Flerp

    If the DOE won’t mediate, the DOE probably won’t agree to arbitrate. 

  • Philip Nobile

    *last clause should read: “Klein corruptly exonerated the guilty parties …”

  • JACK23

    If i were president of the UFT I would not make a single miniscule deal with this bloomdoe administration.  If you read some of the UFT officials recall how the Bloomdoe tried to sandbag the UFT at the last minute inserting a complex rating sheet for the evals…….WAIT FOR THE NEW MAYOR MULGREW,,,DONT WASTE TIME TRYING TO NEGOTIATE WITH PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LISTEN

  • Gimmy52

    now bllomdoe has instructed his poodle chancellor to call mulgrew for another meeting……hey terd, were not backing down on the sunset provision…..what do you not understand

  • Suzyqz

    Bloomberg needs to wear glasses people……What 70 year old plus do you know that does not wear glasses……he is a fake!!! Where are his glasses?? Dude is 70 years old?? Cruddy and old and no glasses????  Well, anyone have any answers??

  • Anonymous

    My father is the exact same age as the Mayor and only wears glasses for driving. My father-in-law is older than the Mayor and used to wear glasses but had Lasik surgery (which the Mayor could certainly afford). My mother-in-law is older than the Mayor and doesn’t need glasses for anything. Also, there are these things called contact lenses that you may have heard of. Honestly, there are a million reasons to criticize the Mayor, but this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel of ridiculousness.

  • SUZYQ

    hey anonymous, stop sticking up for the law changing mayor….the point is that he is a FAKE…WHETHER HE USES CONTACTS, LASIK OR ANYTHING ELSE, IT IS FAKE AND NOT NATURAL……AND, you have inlaws with the most incredible eyes Ive ever seen???  He is a FAKE AND A LIAR!!!!1 JUST ASK MULGREW

  • Koozy14

    he doesn’t drink 32 0z sodas, smoke within 200 feet of a building, doesn’t eat transfats (except in Bermuda), doesn’t ride a bike in the bike lanes he created, and takes the train 2 stops to work (the train that’s never late and never has kids dancing in it)…that’ how…

  • Koozy14

    there’s also this stuff called Viagra….

  • http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/ Norm

     Walcott has supported every single thing Bloomberg has done since the day he took office. He is as much a liar and even worse in that he should know better. I’d take Cathie Black over him in a heartbeat.

  • Guest

     Maybe you should sue and ask for part of their salaries. it is a miracle you survived all that bad teaching. Imagine where you would have been if you had had good teachers. And then you would be able to share your wealth with them since I’m sure you would be giving them the credit for your success.

  • http://nyceducator.com/ NYC Educator

     Actually he has two SUVs drive him to his preferred subway stop.

  • http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/ Norm

    Really, printing Bloomberg’s entire manifesto without analysis is a bit much. Might as well print principles of honest living from scientology tomes. He and Walcott have been proven to out and out liars. How do you allow them to get away with this? In fact nothing they say should be believed by anyone. When the press knows people are lying but pretends they don’t how is this honest reporting? How can people claim to be neutral? People ask why Bloomberg is so obsessed with this — it is not because of the money he will lose — it is the fact that he full well knows that any agreement is the key to unlocking tenure and will allow the DOE to put a bounty on the heads of the highest salaried teachers. Bloomberg is willing to lose temp money in exchange for the long term ability to reduce salaries drastically. Call the loss an investment in the future of sorts.
    And here Mulgrew attempts to sell this to the teachers despite the howls from the schools about the outrages committed by so many of the principals Bloomberg has appointed. In 11 years much of the personnel has been turned over and what are the results?
    And the  press just passes so much of this by.

  • Vincent Muccioli

    In a conversation today with another teacher at the new-fangled centralized Regents grading centers, we discussed how the emphasis of teacher evaluations is on getting rid of bad teachers.

    Why is it that we can’t submit right now to a teacher evaluation plan that has no negative consequences? The emphasis of the plan being on identify ways to help EVERY teacher. There is no reasonable teacher out there that would claim they are perfect. And it is the top ones that strive even harder to improve. 

    I teach at a school that makes use of many, many observations a year. So far, I have been observed 5 or 6 times this year, and I already have tenure. The observations serve to show places in which I can improve or opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on related materials or practices. It takes a serious time commitment from administration to pull it off, but it pays large dividends down the road.

    If in 2 or 3 years, there are teachers that are in desperate need of improvement and have either failed to improve substantially or simply chosen not to then let’s roll that issue into the next contract negotiations. You get the positives of the mayor’s plan and avoid the negative consequences of principals botching evaluations or using evaluations as a tool to remove those teachers they simply dislike.

  • Night Rider

    You have been observed 5 or 6 times so far this year and you have tenure? How many of these observations were formal obs if I may ask?  (It is the end of January, do you expect these observations to continue?) I don’t know about you, but as a veteran teacher of well over 15 years, I would not be too happy having so many observations unless I was so unsure of my teaching skills that I would probably want to pick a new career. Of course all teachers, no matter what their experience is, want to improve. However, I think that most teachers who have a lot of years on the job know what their weakness is and do not need somebody who is half their age with half their experience telling them what their weakness is. But at the end of the day, whatever floats your boat is the name of the game.

  • Vote NO!

    ” I teach at a school that makes use of many, many observations a year. So
    far, I have been observed 5 or 6 times this year, and I already have
    tenure. The observations serve to show places in which I can improve or
    opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on related materials or
    practices. It takes a serious time commitment from administration to
    pull it off, but it pays large dividends down the road.”

    I’m  sorry  but  having  an  administrator  in  a  teacher’s  class  that  many  times  will  only  serve  to  drive  most  teachers  out  of  the  profession.  The  multiple  observation  format  that  has  been  used  in  many  other  schools has  been  nothing  more  than   a  tool   for  intimidation,  harassment.,  and   “U  rating”  teachers.

Tips, questions, feedback?

Contact us at .

Word from Our Sponsor

Follow GothamSchools

RSS
Subscribe to the daily email digest:

Chalk It Up

Recent Comments

1 comment so far today
View all comments »

Events Calendar

RSS Feeds

Newsroom posts Community posts All GothamSchools content

Archives

May 2013
M T W T F S S
« Apr  
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Copyright Notice