UPDATE: Forgot to clue you in to this story in Rochester where former NYC Kleinite and grad from Eli Broad Academy of Ed Deform Jean Claude-Brizard had a 94% no-confidence vote by the teachers:
So much going on I am tied into knots just trying to figure out what to put up. I could do 10 posts a day but I'm wearing you out already, so I'll try to combine them.
I'll try to get to it later but make sure to read Jeff Kaufman's excellent take-down of E4E bullshit misleading manifesto at the ICEUFT Blog
I'll try to do more in depth on Jeff's story - make sure to find his report on his attendance at an E4E meeting - Jeff's school is a hotbed of E4Eers.
On Wisconsin: There's no point in my adding to some of the superb posts out there by other bloggers and commentators. I loved the Ed Show Friday night live from Madison where he called out the right wingers - note how they exempted police and fire but they were turning out anyway to support the teachers. Loads of stuff out there:
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Diane Ravitch: Teachers are rallying against Wisconsin plan to cut their benefits, union rights
- She says teachers have been singled out for blame on America's education problems
- Ravitch: How can we improve schools while cutting funding and demoralizing teachers?
"Walker then used the deficit he'd created as the justification for assaulting his state's public employees." 12 Things You Need to Know About the Uprising in Wisconsin | AlterNet
Paul Krugman has a great piece in the Times today: Wisconsin Power Play "
"What’s happening in Madison isn’t about the state budget"
RBE at Perdido St. School
Many Pro-Union Demonstrators Outnumber Anti-Union Demonstrators
The wingers brought in Joe the Plumber and Andrew Breitbart to rally the corporatist forces in favor of the Walker plan to bust the unions - but they were outnumbered four-to-one:
And NYC Educator: How Far Is Wisconsin? I left this comment:
In GEM's new film responding to Waiting for Superman a parent says, "First they came for the auto workers." Paul Krugman points out how they went after the private sector unions first.
We have to look at Wisconsin as part of "The Plan" to undermine and destroy teacher unions not only in this nation but around the world. Lois Weiner has been doing workshops on this issue for a long time and has a book out about it, all dovetailing with the work of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. Teachers are the focus because when they are organized they theoretically have the ability to reach into the homes of every parent with children in this nation. As a political force the right wing considers teachers especially dangerous as a force to battle their ideology. Of course they don't take into account the Randi Weingartens of this world - you make an excellent point - the unions have already given in to so many of the demands the right smells blood. Negotiations start right there instead of from a point where we will compromise on how much to give. Any fiscal crisis can be manufactured for political and ideological reasons and I believe we have a similar situation here in NY. Note how Bloomberg is manufacturing the layoff crisis to end LIFO.
It will be interesting to see how the union reacts here when things get stickier - look for the same - "we give" on many issues other than the ones that might weaken their control over the members - as a yearly election or end to dues checkoff would do. I've heard some anti-Unity Caucus people say "good." Sure it might open up the union to other groups - but if they were to replace Unity there would not be much of a union left. How ironic would it be if it ever came to the Wisconsin law here - we would all be forced to stand with Unity to help keep them in power, well, forever.
NY Post on the NY Testing Con
From the NY Post, no less - but it places most blame on former State Ed comm Richard Mills - come on, Meryl Tisch and the other Regents are off the hook? There was some great commentary on the NYCEdNews listserve. I extracted some of it and posted on Norms Notes.
New York's school testing con: Commentary on Sue Adelman NY Post
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.
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