Every once in a while, I read an article that is so packed with insight and new information that I want to share it. In the past, I would use Twitter to send it out. Now that I have this blog, I can not only share it but tell you why I think it is important.
The article tells the story of how Stand for Children came into Massachusetts, did some constructive work in a few communities, then launched its now-typical campaign to reduce teachers’ rights and status. It brought the Massachusetts Teachers Association to its knees by threatening to put a heavily-funded initiative on the ballot that would be far worse than a negotiated agreement. In the present anti-teacher climate, MTA capitulated to Stand’s demands.
What’s new in the article? The revelation of the big money players behind Stand; the Machiavellian techniques that it employed in Massachusetts, echoing its bare-knuckle campaign to crush the Chicago Teachers Union; the bald-faced presumption of an out-of-state organization imposing its will on teachers in the nation’s most educationally outstanding state.
And what’s familiar is the nagging question: Why did Jonah Edelman sell out? Why did the son of iconic figures in the civil rights movement become a pawn for big money and big business? Was it for money? Was it for power? I try not to speculate about people’s motives (usually unknowable) and to judge them by their actions, but this puzzle is just too puzzling and too hard to crack.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When will the folks in this country wake up to the fact that the big money players couldn’t care less about the students, teachers and the teaching and learning process but only their bottom lines?
When will the teachers and administrators grow some “cajones” and stand up to these bullies?
Shout them down, call them out, expose their lies we must do with an ever growing urgency.
They may have the money, we have the numbers.
“Shouting down” is not the optimal approach. This only reinforces the perception, broadcast 24/7 in mass media, that union advocates are “thugs.” Unions and their leaders must learn to use media better and more often. See my comment below.
It may not be the “optimal” approach but I have decided to very vociferously confront these bullies who make up the public educational deformers, their minions and ordinary folk who repeat the lies, distortions, prevarications, etc. . . . Bullies and ignorants need to be confronted. We’ve gone too long with playing nice!!
Diane,
I am really disappointed that MA is allowing this to happen. I worked in the Boston school system as a TA for three years, and now I am currently attending Grad. School for Special Education. My hope was to return to Boston and teach, but if this legislation passes I may have to reconsider.
The law would not guarantee “A good teacher in every classroom”. What it would do is allow administrators to transfer teachers they may not like (regardless of how effective they are), or make it easier to fire more experienced teachers who usually cost more. It is really unfortunate when I hear people say that teachers should be considered part-time employees because they only work “9 months a year”. Most teachers I know are taking some type of professional development during their summers or are working on ways to make their classrooms better for the next school year.
VT is looking to be a better place for teaching each day. I do hope Pasi Sahlberg can be persuaded to visit. He could give school districts around the state a lot of advice, especially Burlington since they are transitioning towards a Finnish type system that focuses more on the equity of their students and encourages teacher collaboration.
check out this from the Boston Globe.. http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/06/07/teachers-union-strikes-deal-with-education-reform-group-curb-seniority-rights/mFUTCSaBXOcYuxDOTL325I/story.html?p1=News_links
If you read the last few paragraphs you might have an answer to your question… our union caved because …
“That battle would potentially drive greater numbers of anti-union, conservative voters to the polls, a bloc of the electorate that would likely oppose US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren in her battle to unseat Republican Scott Brown.”
Hmmm…in the wake of the Wisconsin recall…the teachers union figured it better to cave… and Deval Patrick doesn’t want anti union voters ( supporters of Stand for Children) to put Fauchohontas Elizabeth Warren in any more jeopardy after her ridiculous claim, checking off the “Native American” box in order to be considered a person of color when applying to Harvard.
Our union threw us under the school bus with this. They had no choice, they say. Of course they didn’t because the money backing SFC is ocean-sized. Massachusetts is now the forefront of the privatization movement now that good, experienced (read higher-salaried) can be thrown aside to make up a bottom line come budget time.
What? You don’t agree with your principal on some matter of policy or discipline? All the more reason to get rid of you.
We teach our students to value education as a critical component of our freedom in America, but if you look at world history, any place where access to education is curtailed or removed, one finds dictatorship and abject poverty for the majority of that country’s citizenry. This is our future if we don’t wake up.
I too am puzzled by Jonah’s actions. Dinner table conversation and visiting with the parents has to be interesting, if not strained. More so due to his mothers quip, in February 2012: “Edelman said with one third of all Mississippi children classified as poor and part of failing school districts, a charter system can create much needed competition in providing a higher quality education. But creating them can lead to problems, if not done correctly.”
“The bottom line is in the details. And we’ve got to make sure that this stays in a public sphere and that it is not used to profit, it’s not used to re-segregate, it’s used to create higher quality education for children.”
Perhaps her son’s influence has had a profound influence on mom’s thinking. In any event, it seems that charters by their very nature denies all except the operators their civil rights, and at the moment has targeted students of color in urban areas, not middle class or affluent suburbs. Educational apartheid? Most definitely! I hope we wake up before it’s too late.
What voice the average American Family has in our government today is due, in large part, to the stand the Teacher’s Union made in the Wisconsin Recalls. While ASCME contributed some money & facilities, it was the Teachers themselves who drove participation and organization. And while corporations and billionaires from around the world opposed every move and every election, they still managed to flip the Senate to a Democratic majority. So they lost a very close State Supreme court race and couldn’t regain the governorship, they achieved much.
The cost was not minimal, however. Unrelenting shadowy corporate money has made ”Union” a dirty word, much like popular media made ”mother” a dirty word back in the eighties. This trend allows the \”conservative\” majority on the Supreme Court to feel comfortable in abandoning precedent and bullying unions in their ”judgements.” In my humble opinion all unions must actively engage the public and their members in the media. They must become media experts to demonstrate union necessity for civil commerce, environmental security and social stability.
The best countries and industries in the world have the best unions. Americans have allowed the China model to destroy not just our economic well being, but also our perception of American liberty and justice. I am humbled by the gallant and unyielding efforts of the vaunted public teachers of Wisconsin.
I think that a clue to the puzzle can be found here —
Karen Horney • “The Search for Glory” = Chapter 1 of Neurosis and Human Growth : The Struggle Toward Self-Realization
They’re all over the place: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-emanuel-school-ads-0622-20120622,0,3201969.story
Here is MTA President Paul Toner’s statement on the sell-out deal.
http://www.massteacher.org/news/archive/2012/sfc.aspx
And here’s Bellweather Partners’ November 11 announcement of the same Paul Toner’s membership in in the Aspen Institute’s “New Teachers Leaders Fellows Program.”
http://bellwethereducation.org/aspen-teacher-leader-fellows-2012/
Yes, our own Paul Toner, like Edelman, is an Aspen member. He added the distinction to his MTA bio. Please read the whole paragraph that begins:
“Toner was recently named a Teacher Leader Fellow by the Aspen Institute…”
so you can see what he’s really leading.
http://www.massteacher.org/news/Media/toner.aspx
The MTA is rotting from the top down, and every educator in Massachusetts now shares the mission of uniting to defeat the insider corruption in our own union. There is a way to stop this kind of preemptive surrender of every principle, and Chicago Core has shown it to us. Demand open process and democratic votes in our union, and take back our leadership.
Cripes! This is almost as bad as our former union (Washington Teachers Union, Local 6) President, George Parker who while negotiating our rights away; due process and tenure among others, became seemingly so enamored with Michelle Rhee that he ended up forgetting to get petitions signed so that he could be renominated and run for WTU President. Low and behold, after refusing to vacate his office and attempting to do an end- run around the electoral and union’s constitutional process, he soon found himself selling the “new-unionism” of Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst as a Senior Fellow.
Here’s a blurb form the website.
In 2010, Parker worked with Michelle Rhee to negotiate a ground-breaking collective bargaining agreement that featured innovations in teacher compensation, professional development and evaluations. The agreement was rooted in the shared belief that DCPS leaders must raise academic and teaching standards while also treating teachers fairly and giving them the tools and conditions to work effectively with children.
Currently, our union has all but imploded. The new President has attempted to fire the duly elected Vice-President. He has revoked her leave and she has returned to the classroom. Not usre what is going on. There has been at least one court hearing or appearance.
With MTA there is some hope of salvaging your union. I’m not so sure if the same can be said about the WTU.
Dear Chem Teacher:
I have no idea who you are since you choose to post annonymously. I have run for local and state office repeatedly for the past decade and have won every election in open and fair elections. You have the convenience of making allegations without ever looking into the facts.
Sorry you disagree with the MTAs alternative legislation but it was discussed, debated and voted on by our delegates to Annual Meeting and by our Board of Directors.
Sincerely, Paul Toner