Friday, March 31, 2006
Slicing the Zucchini
If you want to know why Joe Williams is my favorite education reporter, today's work provides the reason.
First, you need to go here for a story published by the New York State United Teachers that we all thought was an early April Fool's joke at first glance, but turned out to be genuine.
Joe picked up the story and highlighted it on The Chalkboard.
But then Joe went the extra mile and did a little background work, and the result is a thoroughly entertaining and well-crafted examination of the burgeoning phenomenon that is Jack Powell Zucchini.
Perfect reading for a Friday. Don't miss it.
First, you need to go here for a story published by the New York State United Teachers that we all thought was an early April Fool's joke at first glance, but turned out to be genuine.
Joe picked up the story and highlighted it on The Chalkboard.
But then Joe went the extra mile and did a little background work, and the result is a thoroughly entertaining and well-crafted examination of the burgeoning phenomenon that is Jack Powell Zucchini.
Perfect reading for a Friday. Don't miss it.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Count Me In for Research Bribery!
I'm not much of a bandwagon-jumper-onner, but I can't help but notice that Matthew Ladner is offering to buy a steak dinner for the first person who "can send me two random assignment school-choice studies showing significant declines in either academic performance or parental satisfaction." Ladner will even throw in drinks and dessert.
In response, Sherman Dorn will give a $100 book store gift certificate to the first person who can provide "the name of a single public secondary school this year where the school had been subject for at least five years to high-stakes testing policies and where there were more students using copies of Shakespeare's plays in classes than using test-prep booklets (or their electronic equivalent) this year in reading or English."
These seem like lame ideas to me, but I'm willing to give it a go.
I will pay for a flight to Sacramento and an overnight stay in the downtown Sheraton to the first person who can provide me with the most recent Huttleston report (if you don't know what that is, you can't get hold of one, so fuhgeddaboutit). While here, my wife and I will invite you into our home, where I will cook you your choice of my famous melanzane con due formaggi or my equally spicy Thai Cowboy Steak with Roasted Tomato and Chile Salsa.
You have to agree to be photographed so that we can document the dinner, but we can put one of those little black rectangles or fuzzy blue circles over your face to hide your identity before publishing, if you wish.
In response, Sherman Dorn will give a $100 book store gift certificate to the first person who can provide "the name of a single public secondary school this year where the school had been subject for at least five years to high-stakes testing policies and where there were more students using copies of Shakespeare's plays in classes than using test-prep booklets (or their electronic equivalent) this year in reading or English."
These seem like lame ideas to me, but I'm willing to give it a go.
I will pay for a flight to Sacramento and an overnight stay in the downtown Sheraton to the first person who can provide me with the most recent Huttleston report (if you don't know what that is, you can't get hold of one, so fuhgeddaboutit). While here, my wife and I will invite you into our home, where I will cook you your choice of my famous melanzane con due formaggi or my equally spicy Thai Cowboy Steak with Roasted Tomato and Chile Salsa.
You have to agree to be photographed so that we can document the dinner, but we can put one of those little black rectangles or fuzzy blue circles over your face to hide your identity before publishing, if you wish.
Very Bad News for CTA
Former NBA star Kevin Johnson will appear on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about the charter schools run by his charitable foundation, St. Hope, Inc.
Johnson is as much a competitor for charter schools today as he was in his glory days as a point guard for the Phoenix Suns. And his nemesis -- in fact, maybe his lone opponent -- has been the Sacramento City Teachers Association (see this Quote of the Week).
Johnson is too classy to badmouth the teachers' union on Oprah, but I doubt if he'll sidestep the issue of who manned the barricades when St. Hope applied to convert Sacramento High School into a charter.
No airdate has been set, but Johnson's appearance will only boost the charter school movement in California and nationwide.
Johnson is as much a competitor for charter schools today as he was in his glory days as a point guard for the Phoenix Suns. And his nemesis -- in fact, maybe his lone opponent -- has been the Sacramento City Teachers Association (see this Quote of the Week).
Johnson is too classy to badmouth the teachers' union on Oprah, but I doubt if he'll sidestep the issue of who manned the barricades when St. Hope applied to convert Sacramento High School into a charter.
No airdate has been set, but Johnson's appearance will only boost the charter school movement in California and nationwide.
Hollywood Production Caves to Union
Regarding this story, we now know what happens when corporate liberals are caught behaving like capitalists.
A Sign from Heaven?
Members of the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) voted to authorize a strike if a contract settlement cannot be reached. Well, not all of them, because of the estimated 6,000 members, only 2,500 bothered to vote. But I digress.
UESF President Dennis Kelly described for the San Francisco Chronicle his experience at the last strike vote in 1979:
"The teachers union last held a strike vote in 1979 -- also in Kezar Pavilion. Kelly was an English teacher then. On Wednesday, he recalled sitting in the audience looking at the union's leaders seated at a table in the front, beams of light from the windows shining down on them. 'I remember pointing out to people that the light was shining on them like in a medieval painting,' Kelly said. 'You knew they had to be right.'"
Perhaps, but maybe it was God's way of giving them the third degree.
UESF President Dennis Kelly described for the San Francisco Chronicle his experience at the last strike vote in 1979:
"The teachers union last held a strike vote in 1979 -- also in Kezar Pavilion. Kelly was an English teacher then. On Wednesday, he recalled sitting in the audience looking at the union's leaders seated at a table in the front, beams of light from the windows shining down on them. 'I remember pointing out to people that the light was shining on them like in a medieval painting,' Kelly said. 'You knew they had to be right.'"
Perhaps, but maybe it was God's way of giving them the third degree.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Hollywood Liberals Flee to Canada... to Avoid Union Rules
Jackpot!
An audit of the Camden Education Association found that President Clara-liene Gordon obtained six cash advances from the union's bank account while at Atlantic City casinos during 2004 and 2005, without properly documenting why.
According to a story in the Cherry Hill Courier Post, Gordon also spent union funds to pay poll workers during the city's mayoral election, and reimbursed herself for stays in complimentary hotel rooms.
The audit had been requested by the New Jersey Education Association, whose spokesperson called the state of affairs in Camden "a serious situation."
Gordon will be term-limited out of office in July, to be succeeded either by incumbent Vice President Nick Timpanelli, incumbent Treasurer Ken MacIntosh, or PE teacher William Tisa.
According to a story in the Cherry Hill Courier Post, Gordon also spent union funds to pay poll workers during the city's mayoral election, and reimbursed herself for stays in complimentary hotel rooms.
The audit had been requested by the New Jersey Education Association, whose spokesperson called the state of affairs in Camden "a serious situation."
Gordon will be term-limited out of office in July, to be succeeded either by incumbent Vice President Nick Timpanelli, incumbent Treasurer Ken MacIntosh, or PE teacher William Tisa.
Hess, West to Join Stossel on Union's Pillory
Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute and Martin West of the Brookings Institution will release their report, "A Better Bargain: Overhauling Teacher Collective Bargaining for the 21st Century," later today in Washington, DC. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will deliver a speech in conjunction with the report's release.
Hess and West called today's collective bargaining agreements "relics form the industrial area" that "hinder efforts to recruit and retain excellent educators, restrict the ability of prinicipals to dismiss underperforming teachers, and overregulate schools with work rules that undermine sensible management."
In an opening salvo in today's Boston Globe, Hess and West correctly conclude that the problems with collective bargaining agreements do not come just from a lack of knowledge, but from a lack of courage:
"Improving teacher collective bargaining is not only a question of knowing what to do, but of persuading school boards and the public to tackle the issue. State policymakers must change the environment in which negotiations take place by maintaining pressure on local officials to raise student achievement. Local newspapers must shine light on contract provisions that serve adults rather than children. School boards and superintendents need to push for fundamental changes in contract language and fully exploit ambiguous language where it exists. Civic leaders and citizens must support management measures that may entail, at least initially, disgruntled unions and increased labor unrest."
EIA awaits the inevitable union response, which, like the response to John Stossel's "Stupid in America" report, will probably concentrate on the financial backers and professional associations of Hess, West, AEI and Brookings.
In the meantime, you can increase your anecdotal knowledge of teacher collective bargaining agreements by visiting EIA's Contract Hits page.
Hess and West called today's collective bargaining agreements "relics form the industrial area" that "hinder efforts to recruit and retain excellent educators, restrict the ability of prinicipals to dismiss underperforming teachers, and overregulate schools with work rules that undermine sensible management."
In an opening salvo in today's Boston Globe, Hess and West correctly conclude that the problems with collective bargaining agreements do not come just from a lack of knowledge, but from a lack of courage:
"Improving teacher collective bargaining is not only a question of knowing what to do, but of persuading school boards and the public to tackle the issue. State policymakers must change the environment in which negotiations take place by maintaining pressure on local officials to raise student achievement. Local newspapers must shine light on contract provisions that serve adults rather than children. School boards and superintendents need to push for fundamental changes in contract language and fully exploit ambiguous language where it exists. Civic leaders and citizens must support management measures that may entail, at least initially, disgruntled unions and increased labor unrest."
EIA awaits the inevitable union response, which, like the response to John Stossel's "Stupid in America" report, will probably concentrate on the financial backers and professional associations of Hess, West, AEI and Brookings.
In the meantime, you can increase your anecdotal knowledge of teacher collective bargaining agreements by visiting EIA's Contract Hits page.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Whatever Works
About 300 years before Machiavelli, the Byzantine historian John Kinnamos wrote: "Since many and various matters lead toward one end, victory, it is a matter of indifference which one use to reach it."
I thought of that quote today while I was sifting through the news, and came across a New York Times story describing the situation in Texas, where, the argument goes, schools need more money because of increasing enrollment.
"The state's problem is that its schools, growing by up to 80,000 students a year, desperately need more money, but finding that money is nearly impossible with no state income tax and strict limits on how high property taxes can rise," the Times reported.
A few minutes later, I came across a column from the Arkansas News Bureau, which argued that schools there need more money because of decreasing enrollment.
"So, a district that was poor to begin with, with lower teacher salaries and lower student test scores than the prosperous areas of the state, is supposed to extract nearly $300,000 from its annual budget. Yet there's not much flexibility in the costs of salaries, transportation and utilities. Those will be pretty much the same year to year, even higher via inflation, with or without 50 youngsters. You end up cutting funding to the students who are left in the poor districts, and who were underprivileged already," columnist John Brummett wrote.
It's apparent that there's little connection between spending and performance. These two-sided arguments persuade me that there's little connection between spending and enrollment. This leads to the obvious question: Is there a connection between spending and anything at all?
I thought of that quote today while I was sifting through the news, and came across a New York Times story describing the situation in Texas, where, the argument goes, schools need more money because of increasing enrollment.
"The state's problem is that its schools, growing by up to 80,000 students a year, desperately need more money, but finding that money is nearly impossible with no state income tax and strict limits on how high property taxes can rise," the Times reported.
A few minutes later, I came across a column from the Arkansas News Bureau, which argued that schools there need more money because of decreasing enrollment.
"So, a district that was poor to begin with, with lower teacher salaries and lower student test scores than the prosperous areas of the state, is supposed to extract nearly $300,000 from its annual budget. Yet there's not much flexibility in the costs of salaries, transportation and utilities. Those will be pretty much the same year to year, even higher via inflation, with or without 50 youngsters. You end up cutting funding to the students who are left in the poor districts, and who were underprivileged already," columnist John Brummett wrote.
It's apparent that there's little connection between spending and performance. These two-sided arguments persuade me that there's little connection between spending and enrollment. This leads to the obvious question: Is there a connection between spending and anything at all?
Monday, March 27, 2006
The March 27 Communique' Is Up!
Click here to read:
1) Will Charter Organizing Lead to Labor War in California?
2) More Drama in Miami-Dade?
3) Searching for Dummies
4) What a Tangled Web Site We Weave
5) Missouri Voluntary Donation May Become Mandatory
6) Enrollment Declines, Bureaucracy Thrives
7) Money for Nothing
8) Good Advice
9) Last Week's Intercepts
10) Quote of the Week
1) Will Charter Organizing Lead to Labor War in California?
2) More Drama in Miami-Dade?
3) Searching for Dummies
4) What a Tangled Web Site We Weave
5) Missouri Voluntary Donation May Become Mandatory
6) Enrollment Declines, Bureaucracy Thrives
7) Money for Nothing
8) Good Advice
9) Last Week's Intercepts
10) Quote of the Week
For the Eduwonk Who Has Everything
Congratulations to Andrew and Mrs. Rotherham of Eduwonk.com upon the birth of their twin daughters. Although Andrew is committed to education policy, there is no truth to the rumor that he named one daughter "Standards-Based Reform," and the other "Control Group."
Since I'm too cheap to buy a present, here are a few web links to prepare the happy couple for life with twins:
* National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc.
* Minnesota Twins Official Site
* Mary-Kate and Ashley.com
Since I'm too cheap to buy a present, here are a few web links to prepare the happy couple for life with twins:
* National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc.
* Minnesota Twins Official Site
* Mary-Kate and Ashley.com
Friday, March 24, 2006
I Have Returned
None the worse for wear.
My heartfelt thanks go out to Joe Williams of The Chalkboard for minding the store, and to my five "substitute teachers" this week for providing unique perspectives while meeting my deadline!
The schedule returns to normal on Monday.
My heartfelt thanks go out to Joe Williams of The Chalkboard for minding the store, and to my five "substitute teachers" this week for providing unique perspectives while meeting my deadline!
The schedule returns to normal on Monday.
Teacher Union Voices - Teaching: An Occupation in Search of a Definition
(The author, who chooses to remain anonymous, is a former elected officer of an NEA state affiliate. The views expressed here are those of the author alone.)
During my some thirty years in the hallowed halls of a major urban school district's secondary schools, I was privileged to work with ONE principal (out of a dozen or so) who was fairly universally recognized as having been an excellent teacher. She used to say, "Good homes make good schools," certainly a truism for any of us who have the benefit of an extended period of hindsight. "Good homes" in our era tend to exist in spite of the prevailing social culture, now formed to a significant extent by Hollywood related entertainment enterprises and its dominant hedonistic "values." And since we educators can't do much about those who choose to adhere like lemmings to that prevailing "culture," we can focus here on some of the folly which has become conventional institutional wisdom in our time.
Let us be very clear at the outset: This discussion is in no way intended to impugn the intentions of all who are in any way involved with American public education. There are many who struggle valiantly on a daily basis against often insurmountable odds to make a real difference for kids through their learning opportunities. My comments here, then, should be understood in the context of speaking in support of all these educators.
Having said all that, let us also be blunt at the outset with regard to general contemporary trends in American public education. Most of what has been done for a very long time and much, if not most, of what continues to be done amounts to little more than augmenting the financial and/or political aspirations of textbook writers and publishers, public school district educrats, higher education professorial elites, and a relative few enterprising teachers who also have figured out how to make a few extra bucks by manipulating their school districts' loophole opportunities which, by the way, may have little or nothing to do with classroom instruction.
AHA, you say: What about the teacher UNIONS and TENURE?!? Well, what about them? How is it that teachers have become more important in the greater scheme of things as unionized public employees than as "professional" classroom teachers? This is a complicated issue which requires a good deal more space in which to examine it fully than is available in this column. For now, therefore, we can only attempt to examine some of the key fundamentals, at least for those who aren't already expert authorities on education by virtue of having attended school.
First of all, what is a "professional?" What are the characteristics which distinguish a profession from other occupations? Are there any occupational differences between a physician and a teacher, for example, other than their respective earning potential? Most will agree that a physician is a professional in the strict sense of the term, and many seem to believe that teachers are, too. But are they? And if they are not, should they be?
For openers, a physician must be licensed, and it is physician practitioners for the most part who determine the PREservice training requirements and standards of practice for licensure to become a physician, in addition to determining the INservice training requirements and standards of practice for license retention. While most teachers in public school service are required to have a license, more commonly referred to as a "teaching credential," one can be employed as a teacher without being certificated. A physician who attempts to practice medicine without a license runs the risk of becoming a target of malpractice litigation, something a teacher doesn't have to worry about under present practice. And therein lies a key to the salient institutional disorientation of American public education.
Unlike physicians, classroom teachers have relatively little to say about common statewide PREservice training requirements and performance standards to be met in order to receive a teaching credential. Practical objective performance standards for evaluation after tenure, and even before tenure, have been virtually nonexistent until "No Child Left Behind" pupil achievement standards arrived on the scene, along with much ongoing contentious controversy.
One more question needs to be asked in this context: If teachers were to achieve bonafide professional standing and were to have the same practitioner jurisdictions as other recognized professionals over what they must do to become "licensed" and to maintain a "license," what might be the impact on education generally and on the whole "teacher union and tenure" dispute specifically, for example?
Among other things, school administrators would no longer have any excuse for blaming so much on tenured teachers who cannot be fired in many, but not all, cases unless they may have committed some felony. Indeed, if teachers were bonafide professionals with established identifiable professional performance standards, school administrators would have some objective criteria for evaluating a teacher’s classroom performance . . . assuming, of course, that the school administrators themselves are bonafide instructional leaders among their teaching colleagues . . . after all, the term "principal" began as "principal teacher" which many no longer are.
While the implications intertwined among these points are engaging, they probably are too threatening to the status quo ante among ALL components of our existing educational establishment, especially including the teacher unions, to ever see the light of day. But they nevertheless deserve more serious scrutiny if we are truly serious about endless rhetorical commitments to "reform" our educational system in any meaningful and productive fashion.
During my some thirty years in the hallowed halls of a major urban school district's secondary schools, I was privileged to work with ONE principal (out of a dozen or so) who was fairly universally recognized as having been an excellent teacher. She used to say, "Good homes make good schools," certainly a truism for any of us who have the benefit of an extended period of hindsight. "Good homes" in our era tend to exist in spite of the prevailing social culture, now formed to a significant extent by Hollywood related entertainment enterprises and its dominant hedonistic "values." And since we educators can't do much about those who choose to adhere like lemmings to that prevailing "culture," we can focus here on some of the folly which has become conventional institutional wisdom in our time.
Let us be very clear at the outset: This discussion is in no way intended to impugn the intentions of all who are in any way involved with American public education. There are many who struggle valiantly on a daily basis against often insurmountable odds to make a real difference for kids through their learning opportunities. My comments here, then, should be understood in the context of speaking in support of all these educators.
Having said all that, let us also be blunt at the outset with regard to general contemporary trends in American public education. Most of what has been done for a very long time and much, if not most, of what continues to be done amounts to little more than augmenting the financial and/or political aspirations of textbook writers and publishers, public school district educrats, higher education professorial elites, and a relative few enterprising teachers who also have figured out how to make a few extra bucks by manipulating their school districts' loophole opportunities which, by the way, may have little or nothing to do with classroom instruction.
AHA, you say: What about the teacher UNIONS and TENURE?!? Well, what about them? How is it that teachers have become more important in the greater scheme of things as unionized public employees than as "professional" classroom teachers? This is a complicated issue which requires a good deal more space in which to examine it fully than is available in this column. For now, therefore, we can only attempt to examine some of the key fundamentals, at least for those who aren't already expert authorities on education by virtue of having attended school.
First of all, what is a "professional?" What are the characteristics which distinguish a profession from other occupations? Are there any occupational differences between a physician and a teacher, for example, other than their respective earning potential? Most will agree that a physician is a professional in the strict sense of the term, and many seem to believe that teachers are, too. But are they? And if they are not, should they be?
For openers, a physician must be licensed, and it is physician practitioners for the most part who determine the PREservice training requirements and standards of practice for licensure to become a physician, in addition to determining the INservice training requirements and standards of practice for license retention. While most teachers in public school service are required to have a license, more commonly referred to as a "teaching credential," one can be employed as a teacher without being certificated. A physician who attempts to practice medicine without a license runs the risk of becoming a target of malpractice litigation, something a teacher doesn't have to worry about under present practice. And therein lies a key to the salient institutional disorientation of American public education.
Unlike physicians, classroom teachers have relatively little to say about common statewide PREservice training requirements and performance standards to be met in order to receive a teaching credential. Practical objective performance standards for evaluation after tenure, and even before tenure, have been virtually nonexistent until "No Child Left Behind" pupil achievement standards arrived on the scene, along with much ongoing contentious controversy.
One more question needs to be asked in this context: If teachers were to achieve bonafide professional standing and were to have the same practitioner jurisdictions as other recognized professionals over what they must do to become "licensed" and to maintain a "license," what might be the impact on education generally and on the whole "teacher union and tenure" dispute specifically, for example?
Among other things, school administrators would no longer have any excuse for blaming so much on tenured teachers who cannot be fired in many, but not all, cases unless they may have committed some felony. Indeed, if teachers were bonafide professionals with established identifiable professional performance standards, school administrators would have some objective criteria for evaluating a teacher’s classroom performance . . . assuming, of course, that the school administrators themselves are bonafide instructional leaders among their teaching colleagues . . . after all, the term "principal" began as "principal teacher" which many no longer are.
While the implications intertwined among these points are engaging, they probably are too threatening to the status quo ante among ALL components of our existing educational establishment, especially including the teacher unions, to ever see the light of day. But they nevertheless deserve more serious scrutiny if we are truly serious about endless rhetorical commitments to "reform" our educational system in any meaningful and productive fashion.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Teacher Union Voices - State Politics
(The views expressed here are those of the author alone.)
Hello everyone. Even though given the chance to stay anonymous I shall not. My name is Kenny and I am a member of AFT-West Virginia. I have served as a local president as well as an at-large member of the state federation’s Executive Board.
I want to thank Mike for giving me the opportunity to speak in this forum.
When asked to speak on a particular subject, I decided to choose politics. More specifically, state politics.
In WV we join unions by "choice," not by law. We do not have collective bargaining for school employees. So why join a union at all? Protection. As a teacher, it only takes three words to ruin your career: "They touched me." You don't have to be guilty. You can be completely exonerated. But you are marked for life. Legal bills can go into six figures in a flash. A union will provide legal aid and insurance.
Without collective bargaining, we have to lobby the legislature and the governor to effect changes in our salary and working conditions. This gets us into the sordid world of politics.
I am a staunchly conservative person, both fiscally and socially. So I have had to sit and stew on many occasions when my union decided to "enter the realm." When I joined the AFT in 1988 the union stayed out of all non-school issues. Their attitude at the time was that members were intelligent enough to make their own decisions concerning personal beliefs and that there was enough room in the AFT for teachers of every political persuasion. The NEA was seen at the time as being the political body that was constantly meddling into matters that didn't directly pertain to teaching.
But oh, how times have changed. Even at the state level.
I remember an Executive Board meeting where we were being asked to support the expansion of gambling into our state through video poker machines. The governor at the time guaranteed us that if we would support the video poker machine bill that we could expect a huge pay raise the following year. Most of the people around the table were excited about the idea of a large and long overdue pay raise. When asked for my opinion I remember saying, "We're selling our souls for thirty pieces of silver." Well, the majority vote was to support the bill. The bill passed and we received a hefty pay raise of… $500.00 – almost the price of those thirty pieces of silver.
Our state has paid a heavy price since. I fear that casino gambling is only a matter of time.
I have also been involved in endorsing political candidates. There is an old saying that unions love to use: "He may be an SOB, but he's *our* SOB." They didn't care about his politics as long as he would support our bills in the legislature. And any questions could be met with icy stares. Mind you, the people I have worked with in AFT-West Virginia have been extremely friendly toward me. But it was always evident that my opinion was in the "minority" as far as they were concerned.
I use quotation marks because I know that the majority of the members in my state are just as conservative as I am. But these people do not serve as leaders in the union. I have told people that I could never be a state or national leader in the union because I could never sell my morals out just to "play ball." I have seen people that I know for certain did not believe in who or what they were expected to convince the rank and file to support.
So what words of wisdom would I leave you with? Just this: When you think of the "teachers' unions" in such unflattering terms, please remember that there are many good people that are in the ranks out of necessity and have to turn their noses up at the politics to stay protected in the classroom.
Hello everyone. Even though given the chance to stay anonymous I shall not. My name is Kenny and I am a member of AFT-West Virginia. I have served as a local president as well as an at-large member of the state federation’s Executive Board.
I want to thank Mike for giving me the opportunity to speak in this forum.
When asked to speak on a particular subject, I decided to choose politics. More specifically, state politics.
In WV we join unions by "choice," not by law. We do not have collective bargaining for school employees. So why join a union at all? Protection. As a teacher, it only takes three words to ruin your career: "They touched me." You don't have to be guilty. You can be completely exonerated. But you are marked for life. Legal bills can go into six figures in a flash. A union will provide legal aid and insurance.
Without collective bargaining, we have to lobby the legislature and the governor to effect changes in our salary and working conditions. This gets us into the sordid world of politics.
I am a staunchly conservative person, both fiscally and socially. So I have had to sit and stew on many occasions when my union decided to "enter the realm." When I joined the AFT in 1988 the union stayed out of all non-school issues. Their attitude at the time was that members were intelligent enough to make their own decisions concerning personal beliefs and that there was enough room in the AFT for teachers of every political persuasion. The NEA was seen at the time as being the political body that was constantly meddling into matters that didn't directly pertain to teaching.
But oh, how times have changed. Even at the state level.
I remember an Executive Board meeting where we were being asked to support the expansion of gambling into our state through video poker machines. The governor at the time guaranteed us that if we would support the video poker machine bill that we could expect a huge pay raise the following year. Most of the people around the table were excited about the idea of a large and long overdue pay raise. When asked for my opinion I remember saying, "We're selling our souls for thirty pieces of silver." Well, the majority vote was to support the bill. The bill passed and we received a hefty pay raise of… $500.00 – almost the price of those thirty pieces of silver.
Our state has paid a heavy price since. I fear that casino gambling is only a matter of time.
I have also been involved in endorsing political candidates. There is an old saying that unions love to use: "He may be an SOB, but he's *our* SOB." They didn't care about his politics as long as he would support our bills in the legislature. And any questions could be met with icy stares. Mind you, the people I have worked with in AFT-West Virginia have been extremely friendly toward me. But it was always evident that my opinion was in the "minority" as far as they were concerned.
I use quotation marks because I know that the majority of the members in my state are just as conservative as I am. But these people do not serve as leaders in the union. I have told people that I could never be a state or national leader in the union because I could never sell my morals out just to "play ball." I have seen people that I know for certain did not believe in who or what they were expected to convince the rank and file to support.
So what words of wisdom would I leave you with? Just this: When you think of the "teachers' unions" in such unflattering terms, please remember that there are many good people that are in the ranks out of necessity and have to turn their noses up at the politics to stay protected in the classroom.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Teacher Union Voices - The Back-Door AFL-CIO Merger
(The author chooses to remain anonymous. The views expressed here are those of the author alone.)
I was an NEA staff member and UniServ organizer for nearly a decade. Earlier, I taught labor studies at the university level for about the same length of time. Now I am a professor in one of the larger universities in the U.S.
I first became aware of a behind-the-scenes plan to merge the NEA and AFT-AFL-CIO, initiated by the top leadership of NEA, as early as 1987, when the NEA national office and the AFL-CIO made what was - until half of the deal leaked - a secret pact agreeing not to criticize each other. The latter half of that deal, however, never slipped into the light. It addressed an NEA-AFT-AFL-CIO merger.
I was one of thousands of educators who were part of the "school wars," the long fights between NEA and the AFT, and I stood on the side of NEA, and opposed a merger, for good reasons:
* the more democratic structure of NEA (as opposed to the utterly undemocratic structure of both the AFT and the AFL-CIO),
* the promise of NEA to fight racism and to support affirmative action,
* the much lower levels of corruption in NEA, which distinguishes it from the mob-dominated unions of the AFL-CIO, like the Teamsters, UFCW, et al.,
* the fact that in NEA, very few local leaders are growing rich from selling out their members, while this is common in the mobbed-up AFL-CIO,
* until the presidency of the unscrupulous Bob Chase (who never had an initiative of his own succeed, despite two terms as NEA president), NEA had not adopted the Shanker-AFT model of corporate unionism,
* the tradition in NEA of splitting staff and governance, meaning staff could be truly professional and set apart from the governance role,
* the independence of NEA from the AFL-CIO and its deep ties to U.S. intelligence agencies and the National Endowment for Democracy, which snare the already corrupt AFL-CIO in a net of conspiracies designed to destroy workers' movements outside the U.S.,
* the absence, in NEA, of shadow governments that prevail in the AFT as, for example, the long influence of the reactionary Social Democrats USA, and today, the Democratic Socialists of America, who exert control in the union far beyond any reasonable base of support,
* the fact that NEA's rank and file had nothing to gain from a merger with the AFT-AFL-CIO, an organization in decay.
There were many problems with the NEA I worked for. The national leadership was grossly overpaid, meaning they lived completely different lives from the rank and file educators.
NEA leaders refuse to organize mass actions of teachers, parents, students, and others over issues that clearly tie them all together: class size, books and libraries, free supplies, a just and fair tax system, etc. Indeed, the necessity of the strike weapon even as a vital bargaining chip simply drifted out of NEA leaders' minds, to the point that there are very few people in NEA, or anywhere in the labor movement, who actually know how to conduct a strike.
It is clear to me that since the rank and file members of NEA rejected the merger with AFT-AFL-CIO, the NEA bosses have worked hard behind closed doors to achieve what they could not win in the open. I feel very strongly that the democracy that once characterized NEA is vanishing fast.
So, unless a rank and file uprising moves to overturn this maneuver, I can easily see NEA slipping fast into the same irrelevance that characterizes the AFL-CIO, following the United Auto Workers, once the most powerful union in the U.S., now having lost a million members, and doing nothing at all as those members still employed kiss away their wages, health benefits and pensions, while the UAW bosses plan their retirements. Today, the only people the AFL-CIO bosses can beat up are their own members.
The AFL-CIO cannot offer solidarity in labor struggles. It never has. Now, with about 1/3 of its membership gone, it cannot offer numbers. It cannot offer political action aid. It cannot even stop its own members from voting for George Bush.
Clearly, education workers and others are going to have to find new forms of organizations, outside the NEA-AFT-AFL-CIO, that can unite those in the community, teachers, parents, and students, in a common struggle for justice.So, this is my small tear shed for what could have been with NEA, and with that pause, I plunge ahead to see what might be in a new organization, with one toe in, and nine toes out, of the fraudulently termed "organized labor movement."
I was an NEA staff member and UniServ organizer for nearly a decade. Earlier, I taught labor studies at the university level for about the same length of time. Now I am a professor in one of the larger universities in the U.S.
I first became aware of a behind-the-scenes plan to merge the NEA and AFT-AFL-CIO, initiated by the top leadership of NEA, as early as 1987, when the NEA national office and the AFL-CIO made what was - until half of the deal leaked - a secret pact agreeing not to criticize each other. The latter half of that deal, however, never slipped into the light. It addressed an NEA-AFT-AFL-CIO merger.
I was one of thousands of educators who were part of the "school wars," the long fights between NEA and the AFT, and I stood on the side of NEA, and opposed a merger, for good reasons:
* the more democratic structure of NEA (as opposed to the utterly undemocratic structure of both the AFT and the AFL-CIO),
* the promise of NEA to fight racism and to support affirmative action,
* the much lower levels of corruption in NEA, which distinguishes it from the mob-dominated unions of the AFL-CIO, like the Teamsters, UFCW, et al.,
* the fact that in NEA, very few local leaders are growing rich from selling out their members, while this is common in the mobbed-up AFL-CIO,
* until the presidency of the unscrupulous Bob Chase (who never had an initiative of his own succeed, despite two terms as NEA president), NEA had not adopted the Shanker-AFT model of corporate unionism,
* the tradition in NEA of splitting staff and governance, meaning staff could be truly professional and set apart from the governance role,
* the independence of NEA from the AFL-CIO and its deep ties to U.S. intelligence agencies and the National Endowment for Democracy, which snare the already corrupt AFL-CIO in a net of conspiracies designed to destroy workers' movements outside the U.S.,
* the absence, in NEA, of shadow governments that prevail in the AFT as, for example, the long influence of the reactionary Social Democrats USA, and today, the Democratic Socialists of America, who exert control in the union far beyond any reasonable base of support,
* the fact that NEA's rank and file had nothing to gain from a merger with the AFT-AFL-CIO, an organization in decay.
There were many problems with the NEA I worked for. The national leadership was grossly overpaid, meaning they lived completely different lives from the rank and file educators.
NEA leaders refuse to organize mass actions of teachers, parents, students, and others over issues that clearly tie them all together: class size, books and libraries, free supplies, a just and fair tax system, etc. Indeed, the necessity of the strike weapon even as a vital bargaining chip simply drifted out of NEA leaders' minds, to the point that there are very few people in NEA, or anywhere in the labor movement, who actually know how to conduct a strike.
It is clear to me that since the rank and file members of NEA rejected the merger with AFT-AFL-CIO, the NEA bosses have worked hard behind closed doors to achieve what they could not win in the open. I feel very strongly that the democracy that once characterized NEA is vanishing fast.
So, unless a rank and file uprising moves to overturn this maneuver, I can easily see NEA slipping fast into the same irrelevance that characterizes the AFL-CIO, following the United Auto Workers, once the most powerful union in the U.S., now having lost a million members, and doing nothing at all as those members still employed kiss away their wages, health benefits and pensions, while the UAW bosses plan their retirements. Today, the only people the AFL-CIO bosses can beat up are their own members.
The AFL-CIO cannot offer solidarity in labor struggles. It never has. Now, with about 1/3 of its membership gone, it cannot offer numbers. It cannot offer political action aid. It cannot even stop its own members from voting for George Bush.
Clearly, education workers and others are going to have to find new forms of organizations, outside the NEA-AFT-AFL-CIO, that can unite those in the community, teachers, parents, and students, in a common struggle for justice.So, this is my small tear shed for what could have been with NEA, and with that pause, I plunge ahead to see what might be in a new organization, with one toe in, and nine toes out, of the fraudulently termed "organized labor movement."
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Teacher Union Voices: Daddy, What Do You Do?
(The author, a former NEA state affiliate professional employee, chooses to remain anonymous. The views expressed here are those of the author alone.)
Daddy, what do you do?
My youngest child asked me this question when she was about 5 years old. I was surprised and asked her why she asked the question. She said that the kindergarten teacher was having the members of her class share what their parents did and she did not know what to say. I asked her what she thought and she replied, "goes to lots of meetings, talks on the phone a long time, drives a cool car, and takes care of me, my brothers and Mommy."
After much thought I told my daughter that I took care of teachers and their problems and therefore I also took care of her and all of her classmates. This answer was all that she needed and we changed the direction of the conversation.
Daddy, what do you really do for a living?
This time she was 11 years old and had to write a report for her middle school English class.
This time the answer took longer for me to consider. My reply was met with more questions and even turned into an interview.
I told my daughter that I still take care of teachers and their problems.
What kind of problems?
Problems that arise from dealing with an average of 30 students in a classroom all day, grading papers and lesson assignments after school and at home, telephoning and e-mailing parents and other teachers.
Problems dealing with the principal, school secretary, janitor, lunchroom staff, school maintenance staff and a lot of people that work at other school offices called administrators.
But what do you really do for these teachers?
I give them peace of mind and comfort in that someone understands what they are going through each and every day. I give them an opportunity to yell and scream, cry and laugh and to feel good about themselves.
How do you do this?
I listen to what they have to say (really listen not just half way listen), and I try to find the answers to their questions and complaints, and help them solve problems for themselves.
Why do you do this for a job?
Because I was a teacher, because your Mommy is a teacher, and because Aunt Alice is a teacher and I know what good teachers can do when they do not have so many problems to deal with and when they can concentrate on teaching.
Because I want you to have the very best education possible and it takes the very best teachers to give you this kind of education. It takes kind, considerate, loving teachers to give you what you need to become a strong young woman who can have a good life.
Because teachers are great at taking care of others but sometimes not so good at taking care of themselves. They get caught up in helping others and forget to help themselves. They concentrate so much on preparing lessons for you that they forget to take the same time for themselves.
Does that answer your questions?
Yes, Daddy it does. I am just going to say that you are the person that makes my teacher the best English teacher in our school.
Daddy, what do you do?
My youngest child asked me this question when she was about 5 years old. I was surprised and asked her why she asked the question. She said that the kindergarten teacher was having the members of her class share what their parents did and she did not know what to say. I asked her what she thought and she replied, "goes to lots of meetings, talks on the phone a long time, drives a cool car, and takes care of me, my brothers and Mommy."
After much thought I told my daughter that I took care of teachers and their problems and therefore I also took care of her and all of her classmates. This answer was all that she needed and we changed the direction of the conversation.
Daddy, what do you really do for a living?
This time she was 11 years old and had to write a report for her middle school English class.
This time the answer took longer for me to consider. My reply was met with more questions and even turned into an interview.
I told my daughter that I still take care of teachers and their problems.
What kind of problems?
Problems that arise from dealing with an average of 30 students in a classroom all day, grading papers and lesson assignments after school and at home, telephoning and e-mailing parents and other teachers.
Problems dealing with the principal, school secretary, janitor, lunchroom staff, school maintenance staff and a lot of people that work at other school offices called administrators.
But what do you really do for these teachers?
I give them peace of mind and comfort in that someone understands what they are going through each and every day. I give them an opportunity to yell and scream, cry and laugh and to feel good about themselves.
How do you do this?
I listen to what they have to say (really listen not just half way listen), and I try to find the answers to their questions and complaints, and help them solve problems for themselves.
Why do you do this for a job?
Because I was a teacher, because your Mommy is a teacher, and because Aunt Alice is a teacher and I know what good teachers can do when they do not have so many problems to deal with and when they can concentrate on teaching.
Because I want you to have the very best education possible and it takes the very best teachers to give you this kind of education. It takes kind, considerate, loving teachers to give you what you need to become a strong young woman who can have a good life.
Because teachers are great at taking care of others but sometimes not so good at taking care of themselves. They get caught up in helping others and forget to help themselves. They concentrate so much on preparing lessons for you that they forget to take the same time for themselves.
Does that answer your questions?
Yes, Daddy it does. I am just going to say that you are the person that makes my teacher the best English teacher in our school.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Teacher Union Voices: A Grown-Up in the Room
(The author, who is a current NEA affiliate professional employee, chooses to remain anonymous. The views expressed here are those of the author alone.)
The political structure of the National Education Association and its affiliates has always been unique in the labor movement. Descended from the model established by professional societies, the Association's staff has always played a highly visible and influential role in the organization's decision-making process. NEA's executive directors have traditionally been at the center of both operational and strategic planning. And the organization has generally been fortunate in the quality of staff that has been selected to serve in this strategically vital position.
However, there is a new wind blowing through the Association. Increasingly we see elected leadership taking on responsibilities and perquisites that once had been exclusively within the ambit of the staff. This is taking place in two different ways:
1) Roles and responsibilities are being transferred from staff to leadership through political fiat; and,
2) Elected leaders are maneuvering to have themselves placed into strategically important staff positions. While it is true that the road to professional and executive staff positions has long run through the organization's political landscape, for most of its history there was a semi-formal expectation that there would be an extended "apprenticeship" period in professional positions before any person was deemed ready to assume executive responsibilities.
The transfer of authority from appointed staff to elected leadership within the NEA and its affiliates, whether it has arisen organically or as a result of the increasing connections between NEA and other more traditionally structured unions, has taken place within the context of an organization that is passionately committed to its culture of term limits. Regardless of whether or not one supports term limits, the approach clearly limits the quality, range, and extent of actual work that these leaders can experience. The clear advantage of the traditional NEA staff-driven system in this climate of term limits was that there was always a "grown-up" in the room when elected leaders were considering the strategic options facing the organization. And it is equally clear that that advantage is being sorely missed at all levels by the Association at the present time.
The dynamic at the top of the organization provides a daunting picture of what can happen when "the lunatics take over the asylum." And we see examples of both the ways in which authority has been transferred from the staff to the political functionaries.
President Reg Weaver is a great example of a political leader who has taken unto himself operational responsibilities that once were the exclusive bailiwick of the NEA Executive Director. Examples range from the details of budget oversight to hands-on dabbling in operational and staffing decisions. And Executive Director John Wilson is a great example of a staffer whose primary experience has been in the internal political realm. While he did serve a brief "apprenticeship" as executive director of the North Carolina Association of Educators, he went into that job directly from the NEA Executive Committee following his unsuccessful run for NEA President. As a politico by nature, he lacks both the experience and the gravitas to guide the elected leadership in the tradition of a seasoned executive director.
There is a widespread and growing perception throughout the Association that the National Education Association is without clear focus. For that reason, it is increasingly inclined to engage in "flavor of the month" decision making. And that is true because, more and more, when key decisions have to be made, there is no grown-up in the room.
The political structure of the National Education Association and its affiliates has always been unique in the labor movement. Descended from the model established by professional societies, the Association's staff has always played a highly visible and influential role in the organization's decision-making process. NEA's executive directors have traditionally been at the center of both operational and strategic planning. And the organization has generally been fortunate in the quality of staff that has been selected to serve in this strategically vital position.
However, there is a new wind blowing through the Association. Increasingly we see elected leadership taking on responsibilities and perquisites that once had been exclusively within the ambit of the staff. This is taking place in two different ways:
1) Roles and responsibilities are being transferred from staff to leadership through political fiat; and,
2) Elected leaders are maneuvering to have themselves placed into strategically important staff positions. While it is true that the road to professional and executive staff positions has long run through the organization's political landscape, for most of its history there was a semi-formal expectation that there would be an extended "apprenticeship" period in professional positions before any person was deemed ready to assume executive responsibilities.
The transfer of authority from appointed staff to elected leadership within the NEA and its affiliates, whether it has arisen organically or as a result of the increasing connections between NEA and other more traditionally structured unions, has taken place within the context of an organization that is passionately committed to its culture of term limits. Regardless of whether or not one supports term limits, the approach clearly limits the quality, range, and extent of actual work that these leaders can experience. The clear advantage of the traditional NEA staff-driven system in this climate of term limits was that there was always a "grown-up" in the room when elected leaders were considering the strategic options facing the organization. And it is equally clear that that advantage is being sorely missed at all levels by the Association at the present time.
The dynamic at the top of the organization provides a daunting picture of what can happen when "the lunatics take over the asylum." And we see examples of both the ways in which authority has been transferred from the staff to the political functionaries.
President Reg Weaver is a great example of a political leader who has taken unto himself operational responsibilities that once were the exclusive bailiwick of the NEA Executive Director. Examples range from the details of budget oversight to hands-on dabbling in operational and staffing decisions. And Executive Director John Wilson is a great example of a staffer whose primary experience has been in the internal political realm. While he did serve a brief "apprenticeship" as executive director of the North Carolina Association of Educators, he went into that job directly from the NEA Executive Committee following his unsuccessful run for NEA President. As a politico by nature, he lacks both the experience and the gravitas to guide the elected leadership in the tradition of a seasoned executive director.
There is a widespread and growing perception throughout the Association that the National Education Association is without clear focus. For that reason, it is increasingly inclined to engage in "flavor of the month" decision making. And that is true because, more and more, when key decisions have to be made, there is no grown-up in the room.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Thanks For Playing, Folks
Mike is gone for another week, but he's got some special guest posts lined up for the next few days. Until we meet again, be sure to check out The Chalkboard blog, and as you line up your spring reading be sure to include Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education.
Ciao!
(Posted by Joe W.)
Ciao!
(Posted by Joe W.)
Friday, March 17, 2006
San Francisco Strike?
The United Educators of San Francisco inched closer to walking out on the city's school children yesterday, declaring that a strike authorization vote would be held by the end of the month.
The district's contract with teachers expired last June.
The union wants a 10 percent raise, the bulk of which would be implemented early in the 18-month contract period. It also wants a 3 percent retroactive raise for the last year. The district has offered a 7.5 percent raise, and a 2% raise retroactive to January.
No firm date yet on when the strike vote will be set, but union leaders say it will likely be the last week of the month.
(Posted by Joe W.)
The district's contract with teachers expired last June.
The union wants a 10 percent raise, the bulk of which would be implemented early in the 18-month contract period. It also wants a 3 percent retroactive raise for the last year. The district has offered a 7.5 percent raise, and a 2% raise retroactive to January.
No firm date yet on when the strike vote will be set, but union leaders say it will likely be the last week of the month.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Rumble In Long Beach
The Teachers Association of Long Beach, Calif., engaged in a spirited contract battle with the Long Beach Unified School District, is all hacked off that the school board sent a letter to taxpayers explaining the proposed 4% raises for teachers that were rejected by the union.
The union claims the letters were a waste of taxpayer money, were improperly approved in closed session, and constitute a not-so-hidden attack on the union's slate of school board candidates during election season. (The school board elections are in a few weeks, but the letter doesn't mention the elections or the candidates.)
"What gives them the right to spend $5 of the taxpayers' money on beating up the union during an election?" TALB executive director Scott McVarish told the Gazette Newspapers. "And worse, to not do that at a public meeting?"
School district spokesman Chris Eftychiou said everything in the letter to taxpayers was factual:
"Some people might prefer that residents remain unaware of the facts in this letter... But the Board of Education has a right and an obligation to communicate with residents on important matters. The letter is factual, and the Board of Education stands by it."
Things are a bit tense between the two sides. Last month, protesting teachers blocked a handicapped entrance to the district's offices and got into a confrontation with school security personnel. The security guards confiscated signs and tables that were brought by the union, and now the union's lawyers are suing the district over the whole debacle.
There are three more bargaining sessions scheduled between the union and the district before the April 11 elections. It remains to be seen whether this will be another case where the mixture of elections and contract talks ends up smelling like the mixture of bleach and ammonia. But it is worth noting that making this stuff public, as the district is doing, can be more interesting than many people think.
(Posted by Joe W.)
The union claims the letters were a waste of taxpayer money, were improperly approved in closed session, and constitute a not-so-hidden attack on the union's slate of school board candidates during election season. (The school board elections are in a few weeks, but the letter doesn't mention the elections or the candidates.)
"What gives them the right to spend $5 of the taxpayers' money on beating up the union during an election?" TALB executive director Scott McVarish told the Gazette Newspapers. "And worse, to not do that at a public meeting?"
School district spokesman Chris Eftychiou said everything in the letter to taxpayers was factual:
"Some people might prefer that residents remain unaware of the facts in this letter... But the Board of Education has a right and an obligation to communicate with residents on important matters. The letter is factual, and the Board of Education stands by it."
Things are a bit tense between the two sides. Last month, protesting teachers blocked a handicapped entrance to the district's offices and got into a confrontation with school security personnel. The security guards confiscated signs and tables that were brought by the union, and now the union's lawyers are suing the district over the whole debacle.
There are three more bargaining sessions scheduled between the union and the district before the April 11 elections. It remains to be seen whether this will be another case where the mixture of elections and contract talks ends up smelling like the mixture of bleach and ammonia. But it is worth noting that making this stuff public, as the district is doing, can be more interesting than many people think.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Man Bites Dog
Or teacher bites student, anyway. Louisville, KY middle school teacher Caroline Kolb has been canned for getting into a fight with a 14-year-old student and biting him in the back because the kid wouldn't spit out some candy or something. School officials said Kolb had been warned previously not to get into fisticuffs with kids, which was the reason the teacher was let go.
Here's a line you don't read often in news stories about student-teacher relationships: According to court records, the boy was treated for a bite wound.
This goofy story comes via the Associated Press.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Here's a line you don't read often in news stories about student-teacher relationships: According to court records, the boy was treated for a bite wound.
This goofy story comes via the Associated Press.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Field Trips Not What The Used To Be
Now that testing season is over in the New York City schools for elementary school kids, it's on to field trip season. Living in the greatest city in the world can be an education in itself, with top-notch museums, zoos and other cultural institutions just a few subway stops away. MoMA, the Natural History Museum, Outback Steakhouse...
I just volunteered to chaperone my second-grader's class trip to Applebee's in Times Square in a few weeks. Last year I chaperoned a class trip to Krispy Kreme, mainly because I felt so guilty about missing the previous class trip to the Outback. (The good news is that my son dragged the entire family back to the steakhouse to meet the manager, his new pal. But even with a free Bloomin Onion for the table, it still set our family of four back about $100.)
When I worked in newspapers, we always figured we only needed three examples of a particular phenomenon in order to call it a trend. Kind of depressing, ainah?
UPDATE: Now THIS is the kind of museum I'd want to hit with my kids, via the New York Sun.
(Posted by Joe W)
I just volunteered to chaperone my second-grader's class trip to Applebee's in Times Square in a few weeks. Last year I chaperoned a class trip to Krispy Kreme, mainly because I felt so guilty about missing the previous class trip to the Outback. (The good news is that my son dragged the entire family back to the steakhouse to meet the manager, his new pal. But even with a free Bloomin Onion for the table, it still set our family of four back about $100.)
When I worked in newspapers, we always figured we only needed three examples of a particular phenomenon in order to call it a trend. Kind of depressing, ainah?
UPDATE: Now THIS is the kind of museum I'd want to hit with my kids, via the New York Sun.
(Posted by Joe W)
Disney Teachers Rip Stossel
A group of 25 former Disney American Teacher Award winners has issued an open letter to Disney President and CEO Robert Iger, expressing displeasure with John Stossel's Jan. 13 20/20 program "Stupid In America."
Wrote the teachers:
This broadcast diminished and tarnished your years of positive work with its propagandistic broadside against all of America’s public schools... We found no criticism designed to improve public education in Stossel’s Stupid in America. Rather, what we saw was a systematic effort to delegitimize the public schools and demonize the women and men who teach in them. Stupid in America was motivated by an ideological agenda of opposition to public service, which it described again and again in pejorative terms as a “government monopoly” and to the unions that provide democratic voice for teachers. It had one objective: to persuade the viewer that schools of, by and for the American public should be replaced with profit making institutions that are privately owned and controlled.
Disney stock went north by 10-cents a share yesterday, proving once again that Wal Mart isn't the only big corporation that seems to benefit every time these kinds of protests break out.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Wrote the teachers:
This broadcast diminished and tarnished your years of positive work with its propagandistic broadside against all of America’s public schools... We found no criticism designed to improve public education in Stossel’s Stupid in America. Rather, what we saw was a systematic effort to delegitimize the public schools and demonize the women and men who teach in them. Stupid in America was motivated by an ideological agenda of opposition to public service, which it described again and again in pejorative terms as a “government monopoly” and to the unions that provide democratic voice for teachers. It had one objective: to persuade the viewer that schools of, by and for the American public should be replaced with profit making institutions that are privately owned and controlled.
Disney stock went north by 10-cents a share yesterday, proving once again that Wal Mart isn't the only big corporation that seems to benefit every time these kinds of protests break out.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Teachers Sick Of Management (Literally)
In Denver, where public school officials are scratching their Rocky Mountain heads trying to figure out why teacher absences are up 26% compared to last year, Denver Classroom Teachers Association president Kim Ursetta believes that teachers are falling ill due to stress caused by Superintendent Michael Bennet's new school administration.
"Whenever you are more stressed, and you have more things put on you, your immune system goes down," Ursetta told the Denver Post. The article makes it sound like she said this with a straight face.
You can find a collection of older Ursetta-isms here.
(Posted by Joe W.)
"Whenever you are more stressed, and you have more things put on you, your immune system goes down," Ursetta told the Denver Post. The article makes it sound like she said this with a straight face.
You can find a collection of older Ursetta-isms here.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Faith Doesn't Round Up Votes
This morning's New York Sun reports on the political impotence that Catholic school supporters felt when they went up against the powerful (???) teachers union over what had been a rapidly developing plan to bring tuition tax credits to the Empire State. The story is here.
The upshot:
As it started to look like there was tremendous political support on both sides of the aisle several weeks ago for a tuition tax credit, the New York State Unified Teachers kicked it's machinery into gear. (The original language bandied about in the state Senate at the time was for a tax credit for parents "for costs of attending another public school, a qualified nonpublic school, or for tutoring." NYSUT regarded this as opening the door for vouchers - which, let's face it, it was.)
The union spent nearly $1 million on an intense lobbying effort that targeted Republicans, who are as scared to death of the unions in New York as they are in most places. NYSUT organized phone banks and bombarded the senate offices with calls. The union even ran a television spot including a little girl on the brink of tears and a somber African-American family, waving goodbye "to the money that our public schools need," the Sun reports.
Lo and behold, the Republican-controlled Senate emerged this week with a new plan, which would give parents a $333 per child tax credit, but makes no mention of the credit being offered in exchange for tutoring or private schools. Essentially, the new language strips the plan of any Trojan Horse voucher language, which isn't at all what Catholic leaders were seeking.
The Sun's Jacob Gershman writes:
The Senate's change in position, political observers said, points to the reality facing the tax credits' primary proponent, the Catholic Church: that the teachers unions are a more experienced and better organized interest group. The unions have an "arsenal available to them to oppose this," said James Cultrara, the director for education at the New York State Catholic Conference, the public policy branch of the Catholic Church in New York. "And it's a daunting task to advance a proposal that they oppose. ... The church is a church. We're in the business of faith."
(Posted by Joe W.)
The upshot:
As it started to look like there was tremendous political support on both sides of the aisle several weeks ago for a tuition tax credit, the New York State Unified Teachers kicked it's machinery into gear. (The original language bandied about in the state Senate at the time was for a tax credit for parents "for costs of attending another public school, a qualified nonpublic school, or for tutoring." NYSUT regarded this as opening the door for vouchers - which, let's face it, it was.)
The union spent nearly $1 million on an intense lobbying effort that targeted Republicans, who are as scared to death of the unions in New York as they are in most places. NYSUT organized phone banks and bombarded the senate offices with calls. The union even ran a television spot including a little girl on the brink of tears and a somber African-American family, waving goodbye "to the money that our public schools need," the Sun reports.
Lo and behold, the Republican-controlled Senate emerged this week with a new plan, which would give parents a $333 per child tax credit, but makes no mention of the credit being offered in exchange for tutoring or private schools. Essentially, the new language strips the plan of any Trojan Horse voucher language, which isn't at all what Catholic leaders were seeking.
The Sun's Jacob Gershman writes:
The Senate's change in position, political observers said, points to the reality facing the tax credits' primary proponent, the Catholic Church: that the teachers unions are a more experienced and better organized interest group. The unions have an "arsenal available to them to oppose this," said James Cultrara, the director for education at the New York State Catholic Conference, the public policy branch of the Catholic Church in New York. "And it's a daunting task to advance a proposal that they oppose. ... The church is a church. We're in the business of faith."
(Posted by Joe W.)
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Sitting Out The Race In Oregon
The Oregon Education Association has decided not to endorse anyone in the race for governor this year, at least not before the primary in May. The editorial board at the Oregonian says it is just as well:
In a roundabout way, that's good news. In our view, no responsible, electable candidate for governor could fully satisfy the teachers union today and still win the office in November.
It can't be done. Not if the teachers union holds to its general position that nothing ails Oregon schools that more money would not solve. Meanwhile, most Oregon taxpayers and many elected officials have decided that as long as public pensions and health-care costs eat through a big share of every new dollar that goes into schools, they aren't willing to send more money.
A sign of Democratic politics to come, from sea to shining sea?
(Posted by Joe W.)
In a roundabout way, that's good news. In our view, no responsible, electable candidate for governor could fully satisfy the teachers union today and still win the office in November.
It can't be done. Not if the teachers union holds to its general position that nothing ails Oregon schools that more money would not solve. Meanwhile, most Oregon taxpayers and many elected officials have decided that as long as public pensions and health-care costs eat through a big share of every new dollar that goes into schools, they aren't willing to send more money.
A sign of Democratic politics to come, from sea to shining sea?
(Posted by Joe W.)
Are N.J. Educrats Overpaid?
Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who has more money in his wallet right now than everyone reading this blog combined, is promising to look into the issue of educratic compensation after a report by the State Comission of Investigation found most school leaders are making way more than often appears. The report makes top school officials in suburban districts sound like a bunch of Carmella Soprano's, running around the Garden State in free cars and living the high life.
From the NY Times story:
In one instance, the superintendent of a district in Bergen County was granted nearly $600,000 in payments for unused sick time, vacation days and compensatory leave over five years, including $300,000 that was paid to his estate upon his death. And several leaders of relatively small districts earned hundreds of thousands of dollars more than New Jersey's education commissioner, whose salary, under state law, cannot exceed $141,000.
Ba-da-bing, baby!
(Posted by Joe W.)
From the NY Times story:
In one instance, the superintendent of a district in Bergen County was granted nearly $600,000 in payments for unused sick time, vacation days and compensatory leave over five years, including $300,000 that was paid to his estate upon his death. And several leaders of relatively small districts earned hundreds of thousands of dollars more than New Jersey's education commissioner, whose salary, under state law, cannot exceed $141,000.
Ba-da-bing, baby!
(Posted by Joe W.)
Mythological Union Power?
In the Orange County Register, a letter-writer named James Corbett keeps the John Stossel publicity machine on the fast-track, asking a fun question that you might want to use as an ice-breaker at the next all-you-can-drink martini fest you attend:
If teachers unions are as powerful as many people (including myself) claim, why is it that teachers have "notoriously low" pay and such "difficult" working conditions? Or, if you want to queue it up with a bit more attitude: if the unions are so damned good at what they do, why is teaching as miserable a profession as those same unions often make it sound?
I'm just going to throw the question out there. Feel free to weigh in below in the comments section, which some people think is a form of blog accreditation.
(Posted by Joe W.)
If teachers unions are as powerful as many people (including myself) claim, why is it that teachers have "notoriously low" pay and such "difficult" working conditions? Or, if you want to queue it up with a bit more attitude: if the unions are so damned good at what they do, why is teaching as miserable a profession as those same unions often make it sound?
I'm just going to throw the question out there. Feel free to weigh in below in the comments section, which some people think is a form of blog accreditation.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Monday, March 13, 2006
Green Light for UFT Charter High School
The United Federation of Teachers got the nod from the State University of New York's trustees earlier today to open a second charter school in Brooklyn next fall. Because New York has reached its cap of 100 charter schools allowed under the law (a cap that exists thanks to the diligent efforts of the union in past legislative sessions) the union didn't seek a second charter but will be amending its previous charter agreement to include the second school.
The controversial new school will eventually serve students in grades 6-12 in East New York.
Unlike the union's elementary school, which leans a bit toward the squishy/let's-all-hug-it-out-and-sing-kum-ba-ya side, the proposed secondary school leans a bit toward the disciplined/let's-all-wear-uniforms-and-set-our-sights-on-college side.
The UFT notes that the school will have "no more than 25 students per class, a rigorous college-prep curriculum that includes English, math, science, social studies, foreign language, physical education and the arts, a stiff schedule that builds in homework assistance and tutoring, a fair and firm student code of behavior and a student dress code to build school pride."
Couple of quick notes:
1.) UFT President Randi Weingarten is taking heat in some union circles for getting involved in the whole charter school thing. It obviously makes it harder to keep instinctively trashing the idea of chartering when the largest local in the nation now has two charter schools of its own. Many disagree with what I'm about to say, but you just may be looking at an example of the kind of bold leadership that has been sorely lacking in teacher unions in the last few years. Saying "no" to every idea that comes down the pike isn't exactly inspiring. Putting your ego on the line and being willing to be judged for the results of your students is priceless.
2.) The stated reason for getting involved in all of this is that the UFT wants to show that quality schools can operate under the existing labor agreement between the union and New York City. But when you listen to the people involved at their charters, they really are speaking the same language as many charter school supporters. They are sick of needless bureaucracy that the school system throws at them and they want to work in a setting where they can concentrate on teaching their students.
3.) East New York, the neighborhood that will house both schools, is in desperate need of more quality schooling options. New York City, on the whole, is in desperate need of quality middle school and high school options. Kudos to the UFT for targeting a tough area and tough grade levels.
The application still must be approved by the state's Board of Regents.
(Posted by Joe W.)
The controversial new school will eventually serve students in grades 6-12 in East New York.
Unlike the union's elementary school, which leans a bit toward the squishy/let's-all-hug-it-out-and-sing-kum-ba-ya side, the proposed secondary school leans a bit toward the disciplined/let's-all-wear-uniforms-and-set-our-sights-on-college side.
The UFT notes that the school will have "no more than 25 students per class, a rigorous college-prep curriculum that includes English, math, science, social studies, foreign language, physical education and the arts, a stiff schedule that builds in homework assistance and tutoring, a fair and firm student code of behavior and a student dress code to build school pride."
Couple of quick notes:
1.) UFT President Randi Weingarten is taking heat in some union circles for getting involved in the whole charter school thing. It obviously makes it harder to keep instinctively trashing the idea of chartering when the largest local in the nation now has two charter schools of its own. Many disagree with what I'm about to say, but you just may be looking at an example of the kind of bold leadership that has been sorely lacking in teacher unions in the last few years. Saying "no" to every idea that comes down the pike isn't exactly inspiring. Putting your ego on the line and being willing to be judged for the results of your students is priceless.
2.) The stated reason for getting involved in all of this is that the UFT wants to show that quality schools can operate under the existing labor agreement between the union and New York City. But when you listen to the people involved at their charters, they really are speaking the same language as many charter school supporters. They are sick of needless bureaucracy that the school system throws at them and they want to work in a setting where they can concentrate on teaching their students.
3.) East New York, the neighborhood that will house both schools, is in desperate need of more quality schooling options. New York City, on the whole, is in desperate need of quality middle school and high school options. Kudos to the UFT for targeting a tough area and tough grade levels.
The application still must be approved by the state's Board of Regents.
(Posted by Joe W.)
Start Your Engines
The cat is indeed away, so here we go. I'll be posting here throughout the week. Please sent all complaints/tips to TheChalkboard@nycsa.org.
I'm a little later in posting today than I had hoped. I spent the weekend in Wisconsin at a conference with education editors from newspapers around the country sponsored by these guys. I mention this only because those of you who have been closely following the news of the significant expansion of Milwaukee's private school voucher program may have been so focused on that story that you missed one of the greatest stories of the year in the Wisconsin press. Seriously, read this, and you'll understand why I miss that Great City on a Great Lake so much. (I'm trying to picture the brainstorming session where they came up with the brilliant idea: "How about we have a fundraiser at the art museum and offer donors all the martini's they can drink...") Everyone I bumped into in Milwaukee was talking about this one. Love it.
So, please, in the spirit of Martini Fest, mix yourself a drink, sit back and enjoy the week. For those of you who are interested in education and an occasional wager, I'd also invite you to join in a little blog pool we have going on over at The Chalkboard.
(Posted by Joe Williams.)
I'm a little later in posting today than I had hoped. I spent the weekend in Wisconsin at a conference with education editors from newspapers around the country sponsored by these guys. I mention this only because those of you who have been closely following the news of the significant expansion of Milwaukee's private school voucher program may have been so focused on that story that you missed one of the greatest stories of the year in the Wisconsin press. Seriously, read this, and you'll understand why I miss that Great City on a Great Lake so much. (I'm trying to picture the brainstorming session where they came up with the brilliant idea: "How about we have a fundraiser at the art museum and offer donors all the martini's they can drink...") Everyone I bumped into in Milwaukee was talking about this one. Love it.
So, please, in the spirit of Martini Fest, mix yourself a drink, sit back and enjoy the week. For those of you who are interested in education and an occasional wager, I'd also invite you to join in a little blog pool we have going on over at The Chalkboard.
(Posted by Joe Williams.)
Friday, March 10, 2006
While the Cat's Away...
OK, boys and girls. I'll be mostly incommunicado for the next two weeks, but beginning Monday you'll get to enjoy the ebullient Joe Williams, who'll be guest-blogging Intercepts.
Most of you will recognize Joe as the former education reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the New York Daily News, as well as the author of Cheating Our Kids, but did you know that Joe is a true Renaissance man, with these achievements to his credit:
* ran for Congress on the Peace and Freedom ticket in Santa Cruz, California;
* is the film critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch;
* plays acoustic guitar professionally in Newcastle, England;
* was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team;
* is one of the world’s great jazz baritones; and
* was elected in 1999 to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
We're lucky to have him, so give Joe your undivided attention!
Most of you will recognize Joe as the former education reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the New York Daily News, as well as the author of Cheating Our Kids, but did you know that Joe is a true Renaissance man, with these achievements to his credit:
* ran for Congress on the Peace and Freedom ticket in Santa Cruz, California;
* is the film critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch;
* plays acoustic guitar professionally in Newcastle, England;
* was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team;
* is one of the world’s great jazz baritones; and
* was elected in 1999 to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
We're lucky to have him, so give Joe your undivided attention!
Now You're Late AND Broke
The Snowline Joint Unified School District in California has a novel way of reducing tardiness - give late students a citation that requires them to appear before a juvenile court, the first offense resulting in a $150 fine.
Double Secret Probation
Remember NEA’s new Congressional Report Card? A bunch of Connecticut Republicans want to know why their grades are being kept secret.
Swing Your Partner!
Tired of Jay Bennish? Then head down to Miami, just so you can watch everyone change sides. Yee-hah!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Chasm in the Mountain State
Somehow, I don't think we'll be seeing an NEA-AFT merger in West Virginia anytime soon.
And the March 9 Contract Hits are up, featuring Helena, Montana.
And the March 9 Contract Hits are up, featuring Helena, Montana.
News Blackout
The AFT held their rallies yesterday to protest John Stossel's "Stupid in America" special. Eduwonk, The Chalkboard, NYC Educator, and I have all questioned whether it made any sense for the union to protest a two-month-old TV news report. As I did my news-gathering this morning, it occurred to me I missed something even more obviously wrong with the strategy:
If you protest ABC News, who will cover it?
Answer: ABC News, but not too many others.
I don't pretend to have seen every NYC media outlet, or every media outlet where AFT held a protest, but the only stories I can find are on the UFT web site, and in the New York Sun, whose report tells us that Stossel himself came out with an ABC camera crew, talked to the protesters, and filmed them.
I can't find anything at all about the protests in the other cities. If you find something, let me know.
UFT President Randi Weingarten challenged Stossel to teach for a week in a New York City public school, which was rich coming from her. The Village Voice once investigated Weingarten's teaching background and found it consisted of one full-time semester, plus part-time work (see New York City Union Chief Hammered for "Challenge").
Here's a real challenge: Demand that Stossel come in and run the union for a week. Now that would be ballsy.
If you protest ABC News, who will cover it?
Answer: ABC News, but not too many others.
I don't pretend to have seen every NYC media outlet, or every media outlet where AFT held a protest, but the only stories I can find are on the UFT web site, and in the New York Sun, whose report tells us that Stossel himself came out with an ABC camera crew, talked to the protesters, and filmed them.
I can't find anything at all about the protests in the other cities. If you find something, let me know.
UFT President Randi Weingarten challenged Stossel to teach for a week in a New York City public school, which was rich coming from her. The Village Voice once investigated Weingarten's teaching background and found it consisted of one full-time semester, plus part-time work (see New York City Union Chief Hammered for "Challenge").
Here's a real challenge: Demand that Stossel come in and run the union for a week. Now that would be ballsy.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
New Career for Bennish?
The Rocky Mountain News found Jay Bennish's education school professor, and she jokes that Bennish "may have got (sic) some of that left-wing orientation from me."Peggy Raines is a professor of education at Northern Arizona University, and called Bennish one of her "top-flight" students, though she says, "I had a feeling that Jay would be famous - or infamous."
Raines added, "My guess was that he would probably be a political activist." Pretty good guess.
Odds are Jay Bennish will get his job back if he still wants it. But if things go badly for him, the Blue Man Group is holding open auditions at The Venetian in Las Vegas next Monday. The specifications call for an ability "to let your ego go and embrace a collaborative working environment," a "dynamic, charismatic personality," and, of course, "open-minded."
Pick Your Poison
* Monica Garcia took 47 percent of the vote in the Los Angeles school board election, outdistancing candidate Christopher Arellano, who was rocked by separate scandals during the campaign. However, Arellano picked up 19 percent of the vote, ensuring a place in the June runoff.
The low turnout in the election, plus Arellano's poor showing, means that UTLA and CTA spent more than $100 per vote for Arellano.
* A high school textbook used in Australia compares the Crusaders to the 9/11 terrorists.
A school official said the book was intended to encourage discussion and prompt students to think more broadly about history.
* "Unions say, 'education of the children is too important to be left to the vagaries of the market.' The opposite is true. Education is too important to be left to the calcified union/government monopoly." - John Stossel, commenting on today's scheduled union protests against him.
The low turnout in the election, plus Arellano's poor showing, means that UTLA and CTA spent more than $100 per vote for Arellano.
* A high school textbook used in Australia compares the Crusaders to the 9/11 terrorists.
A school official said the book was intended to encourage discussion and prompt students to think more broadly about history.
* "Unions say, 'education of the children is too important to be left to the vagaries of the market.' The opposite is true. Education is too important to be left to the calcified union/government monopoly." - John Stossel, commenting on today's scheduled union protests against him.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Whose Cognitive Dissonance?
Jay Bennish, the objurgating geography teacher, appeared on NBC's Today show this morning and followed his lawyer's instructions to the letter, even to the point of appearing to claim the views he expressed were not his own. Fine. He's trying to get his job back. But you had to love, well, the cognitive dissonance of this remark:
"You know my job as a, as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically about issues that are affecting our world and our society. And you know the process of cognitive dissonance is one way to activate their minds and to get them to think about these various things."
Leon Festinger's landmark 1957 book, Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, was inspired by his study of a UFO cult called The Seekers who believed the Earth would be destroyed by a flood on December 21, 1954, and an alien spacecraft would save the The Seekers by whisking them off the planet (Festinger's book on the cult, titled When Prophecy Fails, is an excellent read).
When the world didn't end, the less devoted Seekers left the cult, but the true believers became more committed to their beliefs. And, indeed, each time their beliefs were contradicted by indisputable fact (the world continued to exist), they became more dogmatic.
This psychological phenomenon explains not only the behavior of various cults throughout history, but also the behavior of conspiracy theorists of both the Right and the Left, to whom evidence of no conspiracy is proof of just how diabolical and secretive the conspiracy is.
Because the focus of the news reporting on this has been what Bennish said about President Bush, and the ensuing skirmish in the culture war, few people have heard or read some of the other stuff Bennish was spouting:
* "Do we really want to kill innocent people? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I know there are some Americans who do. People who work in the CIA. People who have to think like that. Those kind of dirty minds, dirty tricks. That's how the intelligence world works. Sometimes you do want to kill people just for the sake of killing them. Right?"
* "The World Trade Center is the economic center of our entire economy."
* "Other archaeologists say the Hebrews didn't really come from Egypt. They were actually a group of Canaanites who decided they didn't like the other Canaanites and developed this story afterward to justify how they killed all their neighbors and took over the land."
So, decide for yourself. Was Bennish introducing cognitive dissonance to challenge his students' established beliefs, or is he one of The Seekers, overcoming his own cognitive dissonance by preaching his convictions to all and sundry, particularly his captive audience of high school geography students?
Aside: Anyone notice that, though not a member of the teachers' union, Bennish has still managed to obtain first-rate legal representation for his case? I've reread all those NEA membership benefit brochures on liability insurance and I can't understand how such a thing is even remotely possible. Am I just experiencing cognitive dissonance?
"You know my job as a, as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically about issues that are affecting our world and our society. And you know the process of cognitive dissonance is one way to activate their minds and to get them to think about these various things."
Leon Festinger's landmark 1957 book, Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, was inspired by his study of a UFO cult called The Seekers who believed the Earth would be destroyed by a flood on December 21, 1954, and an alien spacecraft would save the The Seekers by whisking them off the planet (Festinger's book on the cult, titled When Prophecy Fails, is an excellent read).
When the world didn't end, the less devoted Seekers left the cult, but the true believers became more committed to their beliefs. And, indeed, each time their beliefs were contradicted by indisputable fact (the world continued to exist), they became more dogmatic.
This psychological phenomenon explains not only the behavior of various cults throughout history, but also the behavior of conspiracy theorists of both the Right and the Left, to whom evidence of no conspiracy is proof of just how diabolical and secretive the conspiracy is.
Because the focus of the news reporting on this has been what Bennish said about President Bush, and the ensuing skirmish in the culture war, few people have heard or read some of the other stuff Bennish was spouting:
* "Do we really want to kill innocent people? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I know there are some Americans who do. People who work in the CIA. People who have to think like that. Those kind of dirty minds, dirty tricks. That's how the intelligence world works. Sometimes you do want to kill people just for the sake of killing them. Right?"
* "The World Trade Center is the economic center of our entire economy."
* "Other archaeologists say the Hebrews didn't really come from Egypt. They were actually a group of Canaanites who decided they didn't like the other Canaanites and developed this story afterward to justify how they killed all their neighbors and took over the land."
So, decide for yourself. Was Bennish introducing cognitive dissonance to challenge his students' established beliefs, or is he one of The Seekers, overcoming his own cognitive dissonance by preaching his convictions to all and sundry, particularly his captive audience of high school geography students?
Aside: Anyone notice that, though not a member of the teachers' union, Bennish has still managed to obtain first-rate legal representation for his case? I've reread all those NEA membership benefit brochures on liability insurance and I can't understand how such a thing is even remotely possible. Am I just experiencing cognitive dissonance?
Mall Invasion
The Sea Slug of Doom (and one other commenter) has a unique perspective of NEA's Read Across America.