Intercepts

The Sequoia Union High School District in California is upset with the Summit Preparatory High School, a charter school seeking to operate under the district's jurisdiction. Why? In the school's current sophomore and junior classes, there are no students in the "far below basic" category in English on the state standardized test results.

"This was not the intent of the charter school law," said Sequoia Superintendent Pat Gemma.

Gemma wants Summit to recruit more failing students in its freshman classes. This shouldn't be difficult, since a district with such an institutional attitude probably has a lot of failing students.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:55 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) EIA Exclusive: Latest NEA Membership Numbers, All Categories Plus Fee-Payers
2) EEOC Followed Trail in Alaska Harassment Case
3) Teamsters Won't Challenge Election; Something in the Works?
4) EIA Coverage of the NEA Representative Assembly Begins July 1
5) Last Week's Intercepts
6) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:14 | Permalink | Comments

At 5'7" and 185 pounds, high school senior Anna Brown had trouble passing her physical education classes at Max S. Hayes High School in Cleveland. But she was physically imposing enough to trap PE teacher Karen Bartlett in her office for 45 minutes, "chest-butting" her twice to keep her from leaving, and snatching her cell phone from her.

Bartlett finally managed to escape, and Brown was arrested on suspicion of abduction, criminal trespassing and committing a criminal act on school property.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:32 | Permalink | Comments

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:10 | Permalink | Comments

Headline and lede from this morning's Pittburgh Post-Gazette:

Teacher accused of having sex in school gets $58,000 package

"McKeesport Area School District has reached a $58,000 settlement with a teacher who district investigators said had sex with another teacher in a classroom and a men's room during school hours."

The backstory is here.

"You know how they can drag out with appeals and everything else," said district Solicitor Jack Cambest. "If you get the same resolution of getting those individuals out of the classroom, sometimes it's quicker and more economic to do it other ways."

So, McKeesport teachers, why waste time with all those bothersome negotiations for retirement benefits? Just have sex at work! You'll receive a four-month paid vacation and a lump sum payment of $58,000! Even these guys can’t beat that.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:18 | Permalink | Comments

I can't find an education story that inspires me to write, so I thought I would just mention that the title of the television show Lost appropriately describes how I feel when I watch it -- particularly during last night's season finale. Jonathan Storm of the Philadelphia Inquirer gets it right:

"It's not hard to imagine two or three consecutive subpar episodes dissolving the throng that has put it into America's top 15 TV shows and made it an international phenomenon," Storm wrote.

It's no secret that Disney executives hated Lost when it was pitched to them. According to a Wall Street Journal story, it "kindled bad memories of Twin Peaks," which was a huge cult hit that "devolved into an incoherent mess."

Dancing dwarves, anyone?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:55 | Permalink | Comments

NYC Educator is hosting the 68th edition of the Carnival of Education. Plus points for the photo of a crooning Alfalfa.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:04 | Permalink | Comments

Because you get an awful lot of this, and none of this.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:42 | Permalink | Comments

Gwendolyn M. Hemphill, part of the Barbara Bullock mob that stole millions of dollars from the coffers of the Washington Teachers Union, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

After her conviction Hemphill suddenly developed a mental illness, which included visions of being stalked by "a small, dark-skinned person with a thin Roman nose, small lips and a spear, who is dressed like a native African."

EIA revealed Hemphill's vision was of none other than the Zuni Fetish Warrior from the 1975 TV movie, Trilogy of Terror.

Prosecutors said Hemphill's only real mental condition is "anxiety that her gig is finally up."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:35 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) EIA Exclusive: District Hiring Practices Keep NEA Growing
2) "Great Public Schools Are a Basic Right"
3) Reading CTA's Tea Leaves
4) NEA to Send $2 Million to Oregon to Fight Ballot Initiatives
5) Former NEA Alaska Employees Settle Discrimination Suit
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quotes of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:45 | Permalink | Comments

"Some progressive union leaders, facing this economic reality, have come to the same conclusion. Others are holding fast. Their behavior is partially a function of internal politics — and sheer habit. Not unlike members of Congress, union leaders are in the business of asking for more. That's what their mentors and predecessors and heroes did. It's very difficult to turn around and say that 'more' is not always possible." -- George McGovern in today's Los Angeles Times.

You'll love the part where he defends Wal-Mart.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 10:52 | Permalink | Comments

The Miami Herald is reporting that the Miami-Dade school district and the United Teachers of Dade are planning to overhaul the collective bargaining agreement, which may include some form of performance pay.

Meanwhile in Rhode Island, the Westerly Sun is running a four-part, comprehensive look at the teacher contract, inspired by the latest study on collective bargaining in the state by The Education Partnership.

The more scrutiny, the better.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:25 | Permalink | Comments

If you ask your kid, "What did you do at school today?" and he or she says, "We went on a field trip," or "We had a guest speaker," it might be a good idea to delve a little deeper.

The kids at Beverly Hills High are headed to the movies, while students at Tucson Magnet High heard a riproaring speech by Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers.

And a little fun to ring in the weekend -- this has been around awhile, but is now getting the blogosphere buzz: The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 13:17 | Permalink | Comments

Michele over at AFT’s NCLBlog is tired of all the photos of Erica Lee in a bikini. So EIA Research went to work and found a photo she can really sink her teeth into.

The rest of us may want to adjust our Internet filters.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:31 | Permalink | Comments

The Stafford Education Association (SEA) in Virginia is upset about district efforts to close a $14.2 million budget deficit by cutting positions, increasing fees and eliminating programs. In response, the union organized a rally billed as "The Funeral for Quality Education: Death by a Thousand Cuts."

One SEA member used the district's e-mail system to publicize the event, which is against policy. The superintendent is reviewing the incident.

So, with 1,200 members, big budget cuts and a wide (if not exactly kosher) e-mail blast, you would expect a major event. Evidently The Free-Lance Star did, since they sent a reporter to cover the rally. She ended up filing a story with the headline, "Few attend Stafford schools 'funeral'."

"No more than a dozen people showed up for a rally outside the Stafford County Courthouse yesterday to protest cuts to the 2007 school budget," the Star reported, adding that while the event was "sparsely attended, those present were passionate."

I'm organizing a protest against rabid foxes in Stafford County. If I can get 11 people to join me, we can get our names in the paper! Who's with me?

Scheduling Note: Duty calls, so no blogging tomorrow. I will return on Friday afternoon, but you'll already be gone for the weekend and you'll miss a big scoop on the Vanuatu Teachers Union. I don't want your death by suspense on my conscience, so here it is.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:45 | Permalink | Comments

Erica Chevillar, the Florida teacher recently outed as a member as the U.S.A. National Bikini Team (under the nom de lingerie Erica Lee), told reporters she posed for the photos because she can’t make ends meet as a teacher.

As you can see from the accompanying photo, she could barely afford enough clothing to cover herself, but apparently had saved enough to invest in, um... er, "teacher development."

Chevillar's destitution prompted Sun-Sentinel columnist Howard Goodman to write the sort of agonized editorial on underpaid teachers that union officials love.

So Intercepts has the perfect solution for all involved: the Florida Education Association should hire Chevillar as an organizer!

With her experience, her empathy, and her other assets, education employees will join FEA in droves.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:31 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) More Bulletin Board Material for Charter Schools
2) TURN Leader Turned Out
3) NEA to Unveil "New External Message Platform"
4) Unions and Majority Rule
5) Last Week's Intercepts
6) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:24 | Permalink | Comments

Connecticut Education Association Vice President Phil Apruzzese was elected president by delegates to the union's representative assembly by a tally of 292-239. That's not surprising; it's the most common method of gaining a teacher union presidency. What was unusual is that both the term-limited president, Rosemary Coyle, and the preceding president, Daria Plummer, endorsed Apruzzese’s opponent, William Murray.

Sitting CEA Secretary Sheila Cohen was elected vice president.

I'm working on an adaptation of Richard III that takes place in a state NEA affiliate:

"Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set the secretary-treasurer and the vice president
In deadly hate the one against the other."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:13 | Permalink | Comments

Teamsters Local 14 received 2,711 votes to represent education support employees in the Clark County, Nevada, school district. The incumbent union, the NEA-affiliated Education Support Employees Association (ESEA), received 1,932 votes. "No union" received 93 votes.

Clear win for the Teamsters, right? Nope. Under Nevada law, the challenging union has to receive a majority of eligible voters, not just a majority of votes cast. So ESEA remains the exclusive bargaining unit.

To win the election, the Teamsters needed 5,259 votes. But only 4,736 total votes were cast.

"There is not a politician or a judge in Nevada who could win an election under similar circumstances," said Gary Mauger, chief executive for Teamsters Local 14, in a prepared statement. "Why should we be held to a different standard than other unions or individuals seeking a fair and impartial election?"

The Teamsters are expected to challenge the law in court.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:36 | Permalink | Comments

In 2004, Heather Casey (upper left) was chosen as America's hottest teacher by FHM magazine (see item #5, How to Solve the Male Teacher Shortage). Thanks to The Education Wonks, we now know that Erica Chevillar (above), a first-year social studies teacher in Florida, once posed for the U.S.A National Bikini Team. Halle Berry (left) was never a teacher, but she looks pretty good in a bikini.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:15 | Permalink | Comments

M.G. Terrell noted in the comments section of the previous blog entry that Richard Ingersoll, the dean of teacher retention studies, has a 2004 report that shows annual teacher turnover in urban high-poverty schools at 22 percent. Terrell stated this is still below the turnover rate in private sector employment, and that is correct. However, we still have to point out some crucial facts in the Ingersoll study.

You have to read Ingersoll's work because he is diligent, and perhaps the only academic spending time on this issue. But the Ingersoll study also relies heavily on the School and Staffing Survey of 1993-94. His 2000-01 numbers (see bottom of page 4) he calls "preliminary estimates."

Ingersoll also lumps together "movers" and "leavers." He addresses the reasons why in the 2004 report, and he is persuasive. But NEA and AFT are hardly going to tout as a problem the practice of teachers who leave inner city schools for better positions in the suburbs.

Let me emphasize that Ingersoll studies urban high-poverty schools, which, when it comes to teacher retention, have problems that cannot reasonably be extrapolated to all schools, such as the Reuters story tries to do. And they are a small percentage of all schools. Nevertheless, why do teachers move or leave? Ingersoll found the answers are:

1) "school staffing action" (they are laid off, non-renewed, fired or transfered);

2) "family or personal" (babies or illness);

3) "dissatisfaction" (more on that in a minute);

4) "to pursue another job" (in or out of education);

5) "retirement."

So, let's do a little number crunching.

In a year, 22 of 100 teachers in urban, high-poverty schools leave or move. Of the 22, 20.4 percent cite "dissatisfaction" as the reason for leaving or moving. That's 4.5 teachers of the original 100. Of those 4.5 teachers, 26.9 percent cite "poor salary" as the reason for their dissatisfaction. That's 1.2 teachers of the original 100.

So, out of every 100 teachers teaching in an urban high-poverty school, one left or moved primarily due to salary dissatisfaction.

You want to solve the teacher retention "problem?" Stop firing them, tell them not to have babies, and don't let them retire. Those reasons account for 90 percent of your turnover.

Perhaps when we get some recent data, we will have learned that the picture has changed. I doubt it. Until that time, this is a phony issue.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:09 | Permalink | Comments

With a tax revenue windfall this year (evidently due in large part to Google stock sell-offs), California had enough money to restore billions to the education budget and silence the California Teachers Association for about 10 minutes. Gov. Schwarzenegger's office thinks this will ease his ongoing battles with the public sector unions.

"I would think there comes a point where their membership begins to question why they would continue to spend [millions of dollars] to oppose a governor who has been a friend to education," said Rob Stutzman, Schwarzenegger's former communications director.

I don't know if Stutzman actually believes this, or if he's saying it for effect, but the "membership" didn't spend the $60 million to defeat the governor's initiatives. The members merely watched as additional money was taken from their paychecks. It was two dozen officers of the CTA who spent that money, with the rubber-stamp of 800 of CTA's most committed activists.

Here's how the math goes: $5 billion is added to the education budget; roughly half will end up as salary increases to CTA members; whose dues will rise in proportion to salary (and pay off CTA's debt); whose contributions to the PAC will rise in proportion to dues; which will fund the campaigns of the governor's opponents.

The real issue here isn't even the money. It's why the governor and the legislature of the State of California need a private organization to approve the state budget (see Are Teacher Unions the Fourth Branch of Government?, item #3).

Phony Teacher Retention Stat Media Update: In emphasizing the old age of the "half of teachers quit in five years" claim, EIA has failed to sufficiently emphasize that the original claim is that about half of new teachers in urban districts quit within five years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 29 percent of teachers work in urban districts.

Nevertheless, the Reuters story continues to be replayed, having filtered down to the education blogs and even to the China Daily. You'd think those guys would recognize propaganda when they saw it.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:52 | Permalink | Comments

May 9, 2006 Education Week ($) headline: "National Board Teachers No Better Than Other Educators, Long-Awaited Study Finds"

The study, conducted by William Sanders of "value-added assessment" fame, found "basically no difference in the achievement levels of students whose teachers earned the prestigious NBPTS credential, those who tried but failed to earn it, those who never tried to get the certification, or those who earned it after the student test-score data was collected."

Sanders told Education Week that to choose a board-certified teacher over a non-board-certified teacher would be "only trivially better than a coin flip."

The Stone study and the Goldhaber study had similar findings years ago. In criticizing the Stone study in 2002, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards touted the upcoming Sanders study. Now they’re slamming it.

Millions of dollars are spent annually by teachers, organizations, and school systems to pay the costs of getting certified. Hundreds of millions more in bonuses are paid to teachers who achieved national certification. The studies do not conclude that they are bad teachers, only that national certification for them does no additional good for their students. Let's spend the money elsewhere.

"New" Study Update: Congratulations to the Boston Globe and ABC News for picking up the bogus Reuters story on NEA's "new" study from 2003, based on data from 1996 through 2001. Sploid made fun of it, but still accepted it as real. But today's big prize goes to the Detroit Free Press, which did an original rewrite of the NEA press release, but still managed to repeat the old data. I'm sure you're all sitting around the lounge talking about how journalistically irresponsible those blogger guys are.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:03 | Permalink | Comments

Congratulations to NEA. It sent out a press release touting data that was mostly five to 10 years old, and Reuters picked it up, found a teacher who fit NEA's profile, and ran it with the headline, "Half of new teachers quit within 5 years: study."

"According to a new study from teachers' union the National Education Association, half of new U.S. teachers are likely to quit within the first five years because of poor working conditions and low salaries," Reuters reported.

Let's see how many things are wrong with that sentence. The study isn't new, it isn't from the National Education Association, and it says nothing about whether teachers are likely to quit.

In fact, you'll find the study cited on many union web sites, but you'll have a hard time finding the study itself.

In 1996, Linda Darling-Hammond and E. Schlan wrote "Who teaches and why? Dilemmas of building a better profession for twenty-first century schools." In it, they wrote:

"In urban districts, close to 50 percent of newcomers flee the profession during their first five years of teaching."

A problematic claim even for 1996, this sentence is widely cited, and even more widely misquoted. It tells us nothing about today, or the future. Darling-Hammond and Schlan wrote about it in 1996, meaning their data had to be even older.

Just for a little perspective, in 1996, only Bill Clinton had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky.

Then the Washington Post picked up the Reuters story, and made it worse by changing the headline to read, "Half of Teachers Quit in 5 Years," and publishing it on page A7.

Well, there's no help for it now. I guarantee in years to come we'll see people writing about teacher retention who will use the 50 percent figure and cite Reuters or the Washington Post article in 2006 as their source.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:56 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) NEA Uses Old Numbers to Support Present Agenda
2) NEA, NYSUT Approve New York Merger, Rumore Lays Out Options
3) Union Staff Troubles in California and Indiana
4) Beat the Rap, Then Endorse Me
5) Thai Teachers' Union Musters Its Troops... for Real
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 16:33 | Permalink | Comments

Eduwonk describes his trip into "the dragon's lair" - a place in apparent danger of an absence of teacher union talking points. The dragon will probably respond by breathing flames later today.

UPDATE: That didn't take long.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:44 | Permalink | Comments

The wheels of justice turn sloooooowly in the McKeesport Area School District. District officials finally suspended two teachers who "routinely had sex in a classroom and a men's bathroom during school hours while two other teachers served as lookouts."

As Intercepts reported previously, McKeesport fourth-grade teachers Patrick Collins (described as a former teachers' union president) and Angela DiBattista allegedly had sex several times at school 1999 and 2001, while two other teachers stood lookout.

Believe it or not, that's not the most appalling part of the story. The district fired Collins in September 2004 because DiBattista claimed that Collins was harassing and stalking her. Collins was reinstated with back pay by an arbitrator in August 2005. In his arbitration defense Collins disclosed the consensual sexual liaisons with DiBattista as evidence that he wasn't stalking or harassing her.

The district placed the two teachers on paid leave in January 2006, which means they've been receiving full paychecks during a four-month district investigation, and they're still only suspended, not fired.

Where else could sex on public property be so lucrative?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:05 | Permalink | Comments

"To celebrate the wide release of the inspirational family film AKEELAH AND THE BEE, currently in theatres across the country, Lionsgate, NEA (National Education Association) and their partners are showing their support of education by donating $100,000 to the U.S. school (k-12) which collects and submits the most AKEELAH AND THE BEE ticket stubs by June 6, 2006." - from a Lionsgate press release.

"Only legal residents of the United States who are five (5) years of age or older are eligible to send in a Submission....

"By participating in the Hunt, in addition to any other grants which may be granted in any other agreement entered into between Sponsor and any entrant or any Eligible School, each entrant irrevocably grants the Sponsor and the Promotion Entities and their respective successors, assigns and licensees, the right to use such entrant's name, likeness (as applicable), image, biographical information (as applicable) and Submission in any and all media for any purpose including without limitation advertising and promotional purposes for the "Akeelah and the Bee" motion picture as well as in, on or in connection with the Website or the Hunt or other promotions, and hereby release the Sponsor and the Promotion Entities from any liability with respect thereto. In connection therewith, Sponsor shall have the right, in its sole discretion, to edit, composite, morph, scan, duplicate, or alter, each Submission for any purpose which Sponsor deems necessary or desirable, and each entrant irrevocably waives any and all so-called moral rights they may have therein....

"The Winning School(s) shall be solely responsible for all federal, state and/or local taxes, and the reporting consequences thereof, and for any other fees or costs associated with the prize....

"By participating in this Hunt, each entrant and each Eligible School agrees that any and all disputes the entrant or Eligible School may have with, or claims entrant or Eligible School may have against, the Sponsor and/or the Promotion Entities relating to, arising out of or connected in any way with (i) the Hunt, (ii) the awarding or redemption of any prize, and/or (iii) the determination of the scope or applicability of this agreement to arbitrate, will be resolved individually and exclusively by final and binding arbitration.... Each party hereby waives any and all rights and benefits which it might otherwise have or be entitled to under federal law or the laws of California or any other state to litigate any such dispute in court, it being the intention of the parties to arbitrate all such disputes. EACH PARTY EXPRESSLY WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO A JURY." (emphasis in original)

-- from the contest rules.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:03 | Permalink | Comments

The late legendary bluesman McKinley Morganfield - better known as Muddy Waters - spelled out the facts of life in his classic "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" when he sang, "You can't spend what you ain't got."

The Cincinnati Public Schools never got the message.

Evidently the state overpaid $4.8 million to Cincinnati based on an inflated report of how many charter school students were in the district. Now the state wants the money back. The only problem is that the district already budgeted the money and has gone to court to avoid reimbursing the state.

"We have a lot of elementary schools struggling to balance school budgets," said Cincinnati schools Treasurer Michael Geoghegan.

So, it's true. Charter schools can destroy a school district's budget. Only in the opposite way of what is usually alleged.

Extra: The May 4 Contract Hits is up, featuring the collective bargaining agreement of San Diego City Schools. Enjoy reading the procedure created in case a teacher decides he or she can't abide using the school's standard lesson plan format.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:10 | Permalink | Comments

U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell ruled that Utah’s paycheck protection law, enacted in 2001, is a violation of the First Amendment. It looks as though the state will appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, yet another reporter gets plus points for examining teacher contract negotiations and discovering union release time! This time it's Brent Killackey of the Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin.

"Taxpayers' money is being used to support the union," said Jim Morrison of the Racine Taxpayers Association. It's not known whether Morrison also mentioned that "people are strange."

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:10 | Permalink | Comments

Kathleen Casavant stepped down from her position as secretary-treasurer of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO to become the assistant director of organizing at the national AFL-CIO's Unity Partnership Team.

So what? Well, Casavant's primary mission will be to encourage teachers and their locals to join AFL-CIO's central labor councils (CLCs) in 13 states, including Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

''I will be going around the country talking to unionized teachers and bringing them into the AFL-CIO," Casavant told the Boston Globe.

Funny, I thought this whole partnership thing was only to grease the skids for NEA locals who were dying to get into CLCs. Now we hear the financially strapped AFL-CIO has set up an entire national apparatus to recruit NEA members into the federation.

Fortunately, delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly will have an opportunity to vote on this whole AFL-CIO relationship. Oh wait a minute. That's right. No, they won’t.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:41 | Permalink | Comments

EIA maintains a Dead Drop page on the web site that allows people to send me news tips anonymously. It is used frequently and has even prompted several story leads.

Someone really embraced the concept by sending me the following message through the dead drop:

YWZRF VSTDH FBRMT EFBKI WORRQ IGGFR IBJDC LHELP RYJEE

QGBAI PVGVS MPZWP TCTVM VSAFI IFYNT PSGJE YUSIJ NQKJR

BECGH NPEYD MYJEM CQXYO FPWGJ DDVOG JSLPR ATWWQ QNYEO

KBOQA NMQNR ECCQN XETPH UJCWQ GRYOQ JWFGE OTCBR.

It took me an hour and 15 minutes to crack it, and it was a pleasant return back to my days writing a column on unknown ciphers for the American Cryptogram Association. Have a whack at it if you like.

HINT: It's not a simple letter-substitution cryptogram like the ones printed in your daily newspaper, but it isn't so complicated that it requires one of these, either. The solution has nothing to do with public education or teachers' unions, but rather, with the history of espionage in America.

If you decipher it, let me know and we'll trumpet your accomplishment right here. Good solving!

UPDATE: I'm disappointed, readers. No budding cryptanalysts out there? Here's another hint: How is Sean Penn associated with spying?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:58 | Permalink | Comments

Eduwonk reports that William Sanders, of value-added fame, has completed his study of nationally certified teachers... but that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is, well, slow to release the results. EIA isn't plugged into these circles, but if you spot a mob of media relations, marketing and PR firm professionals in the lobby of NBPTS headquarters, it may mean they need some help with the spin cycle.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 11:16 | Permalink | Comments

April 5 Intercepts: "Having challenged ABC News' John Stossel to teach in a New York City public school for a week, the union and district officials couldn't bring themselves to pull the trigger. Stossel provides his slant on the failed negotiations here. I expect UFT to follow with its own version, blaming Stossel's producers."

April 27 New York Teacher: "John Stossel won’t be teaching after all. After publicly accepting the UFT’s challenge to walk in a teacher’s shoes for a week, privately Stossel threw up roadblocks that made it impossible, according to union and school officials."

UFT complains that Stossel "insisted on bringing cameras into the classroom, which school and Department of Education officials ruled out because it would be disruptive."

Strange. We didn't hear that complaint when it came to filming Climbing to the Crest, UFT's paean to its own charter school.

The union even accused Stossel of only considering the teaching idea "as a television stunt." Oh, the irony!

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:11 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) 65% Solution? Reduce School District Size
2) NEA New York Delegates Approve Merger
3) We're Number 49! No, We Are!
4) Good Week for Education Labor Reporting
5) One More Dues Hike
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quotes of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:56 | Permalink | Comments

Reporter Jennifer Smith Richards of the Columbus Dispatch followed up last week's excellent piece on enrollment and spending in Ohio’s schools with a report today about the efforts of Ohio's unions to organize charter schools.

The stripped-down version is that while the Ohio Education Association, Ohio Federation of Teachers, and Ohio Association of Professional School Employees are all interested in any charter schools employees who seek them out, they are not making any great efforts to organize charters, and are having no success when they do. None of Ohio's approximately 300 charter schools is unionized.

But the Dispatch article really shines with its quotes from officers of the three major Ohio education unions.

OFT President Tom Mooney said charter schools "will inevitably start to unionize." Good answer, Tom. Why organize when you have inevitability on your side?

Mark Hatch, spokesman for OAPSE, said, "At first blush, I think people would say (the interest in organizing charters is) hypocritical. We're challenging the existence of charter schools on one hand, and yet remaining open to organizing."

Ya think?

But my personal favorite came from the mouth of OEA Secretary-Treasurer Bill Leibensperger, who told the Dispatch, "Naturally, we would like to have more members. But the OEA believes in quality. We are not going to just add members for the sake of adding members."

I don't know what to make of that statement. What's a "quality" union member? Has anyone had to take an aptitude test or undergo an interview to join the union? Or do you just have to allow OEA access to your paycheck?

Whatever the union's standard for "quality" is, evidently charter school employees don't meet it. Remember that next time the UniServ director comes a-calling at your school.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:44 | Permalink | Comments