Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

Leo Casey is a special representative for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. He has been one of the union’s leading lights for many years. He is well-respected and has even received favorable mention in these pages. He is known for being the lead contributor to UFT’s EdWize blog.

Yesterday afternoon Leo posted “Disney and Me: On Being Erased From Official Corporate History,” which begins:

“On the Disney Company’s corporate website, the reader will find a honor roll of teachers from across the United States who have been recognized by the American Teacher Awards, starting with the first class of 1990 and concluding with the last class of 2006. A close examination will reveal that there is no teacher listed as the 1992 honoree in the category of Social Studies. Two of the three Social Studies finalists are listed, but the teacher who was actually named Social Studies Teacher of the Year is missing.*

“I am that missing teacher. My name disappeared some time after I organized a public letter, signed by twenty-five American Teacher Award honorees, protesting Disney’s sponsorship of John Stossel’s Stupid in America, an ideological broadside against public education and the teachers who labor in our public schools.”

The asterisk at the end of the first paragraph refers readers to screen shots of the current Disney page and the Google cache of the page as it used to look. And, sure enough, Casey’s name is missing from the current page. Casey posted these, he states, “in anticipation that this listing might change once again in response to this posting.”

Casey’s story was picked up and championed as evidence of the petty evils of corporate America by The Daily Gotham, AFT’s NCLBlog, Daily Kos (with, at last count, 182 credulous reader comments), BuzzFlash, and Democrats for Education Reform (shame on you, Joe!). Only Eduwonk expressed some skepticism.

That Leo’s name is missing from the current page of Disney honorees is indisputable. That the omission has anything to do with the “Stupid in America” letter is easily disproved.

Exhibit A) Of the 25 honorees who signed the letter, Casey is the only one who is missing from Disney’s web page. The letter lists the signatories in alphabetical order, giving Casey no special recognition as the composer of the letter.

Exhibit B) The Google cache page is dated October 1, 2007. It sometimes takes up to two months for Google to update a cache page, depending on how often the original page is updated, but it’s still hard to believe that Disney was so angry about the letter, that it would erase Leo Casey alone more than a year after it was sent.

Exhibit C) A comparison of the current page to the Google page reveals a significant difference – the current page lists the honorees in chronological order, the Google cache page lists them in alphabetical order, regardless of year. This may explain why Leo and the blogs who cited him didn’t bother to check whether any other honorees were missing.

Surprise! I only checked through “H” and I still found 14 other Disney honorees whose names, like Leo’s, didn’t make it to the new page. They are:

Karen Butterfield, 1993 honoree for Visual Arts
Colleen Mary Callahan, 1991, Performing Arts
Lauradis Cardet, 1990, Foreign Language
Todd Coleman, 1993, Early Childhood
Carolyn L. Cotton, 1990, Vocational Arts
Judy Darden, 1992, Early Childhood
Beverly Y. Davidman, 1994, Mathematics
Stephen Fox, 1991, Physical Education/Health
Katherine K. Fujii, 1991, Science
Rebecca Goldman, 1992, Early Childhood
John E. Guardia, 1990, General Elementary
Janet Walton Hayes, 1990, Physical Education/Health
Herbert Lee Holland, 1991, Performing Arts
Virginia Honomichi, 1991, Athletic Coach

I could have continued to “Z,” but why? As far as I can tell, none of these teachers has reason to fear petty retribution from Disney, yet they, like Leo, are also missing. The fact that all the names are from the early 1990s suggests transcription errors, rather than some ridiculous conspiracy theory.

It’s pathetic that Leo himself spent so much time and energy writing up his little corporate persecution story without the smallest attempt to see if it held water. But what’s worse is that so many people ran with it without bothering to ask such simple questions.

UPDATE: See Leo Stands By His Fantasy.

NEA was unhappy with its role in the 2004 Democratic primaries. Its own activists and state affiliate leaders split among the various candidates. Although the national union strongly supported John Kerry in the general election, NEA played no part in getting him nominated in the first place.

NEA discussed various measures to get behind a candidate earlier. Its idea for a “nominating convention” devolved into invitations to the presidential candidates to speak at the NEA representative assembly last July.

It’s likely a presidential endorsement will come out of the union’s board of directors meeting on December 7-8. But will it matter anymore?

Just as in 2004, NEA’s state affiliates have filled the void with their own endorsements. The Connecticut Education Association endorsed Christopher Dodd. The Delaware State Education Association endorsed Joseph Biden. The North Carolina Association of Educators endorsed John Edwards. Linda Nelson, president of the Iowa State Education Association, personally endorsed Barack Obama, prompting Edwards to trot out other ISEA activists who personally supported him.

All of this without the complication of AFT endorsing Hillary Clinton, which at least ostensibly puts NEA’s merged affiliates in Florida, Montana, New York and Minnesota in her camp.

So when NEA finally makes its choice, it will receive national headlines, but what difference will it make on the ground? If NEA endorses Hillary, will the union send operatives into Iowa to boost her campaign, while Linda Nelson is stumping for Obama? How will the union deal with its national and state officers campaigning on opposite sides?

The only ways to avoid that scenario are to delay the endorsement until the field thins out, or issue a multi-candidate endorsement. Either one is less than ideal for NEA, but now it can only make the best of a bad situation.

Francine Lawrence, president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers, unveiled her plan for a teacher-led school before the school board last night. The key segment of the story follows:

David McClellan, president of the principals’ union, blasted Ms. Lawrence’s
idea and efforts, claiming she subverted the district’s school improvement
committee by presenting the idea to teachers at Pickett Elementary and even
worse, that her idea would violate his union’s contract.

“I will fight this as hard as I can,” Mr. McClellan said. “It is a clear violation of our contract and if they go through with it, I will file for an unfair labor practice.”

State law that requires administrative leadership, particularly for disciplining students, and the Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel union’s contract states there will be a principal in every school.

Ms. Lawrence wants two “teacher leaders” in the school – one for instruction and the other for operations.

“I am not going to be derailed by roadblocks,” she said. “This is not intended to be against Mr. McClellan or his model … People throughout the country are looking for different models and they need to be creative.”

It’s an idea I can get behind:

“The Toledo Public Schools teachers’ union president wants to take the district’s lowest-performing school, remove the principal, and let teachers supervise themselves.”

Sure, there will be a lot of scoffing out there, but the proposal would allow the school to choose teachers from a pool of applicants. It would have significant community involvement, and teachers would receive additional pay for working in this hard-to-staff school.

District and state officials are supportive and even encouraging. But there is one roadblock, and you have to love the irony.

In Toledo, school principals are unionized.

“It is a very obvious violation of our agreement, and we are not going to let that happen,” said David McClellan, president of the Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel.

I wish the Toledo Federation of Teachers well in their endeavor, and hope – win or lose – they gain a greater appreciation of the obstacles faced by those who just want to open a good school.

Click here to read:

1) New Jersey Leads in NEA PAC Fundraising
2) NEA Sends Big Bucks to Missouri
3) Washington Teachers Union Trades Silver for Green
4) Last Week’s Intercepts
5) Quotes of the Week: Union Democracy Edition

The headline of the Birmingham News story reads: “Layoff of beloved teacher a sign of Birmingham schools’ problems, parents say.”

It begins: “Teacher layoffs last spring dismayed two Birmingham parents. On the layoff list was Shasta Wyatt, second-grade teacher at Epic for the children of Monica Hill and Majella Chube Hamilton.”

It continues: “How in the world could Birmingham schools let a teacher – a remarkable teacher in Hill’s and Hamilton’s eyes – go?”

OK. Why was she let go?

The story tells us 398 Birmingham teachers were laid off when the district discovered a $19 million budget shortfall.

Got it. Why was Shasta Wyatt one of the 398?

“Last May, Hill wrote to Birmingham Superintendent Stan Mims to tell him how Aysiah bloomed in Wyatt’s class. Hill said she felt saddened by Wyatt’s departure, and told Mims that ‘…given the reputation of the Birmingham City Schools, I do believe losing Mrs. Wyatt is a great loss.’ Hill said she got no response from the superintendent.”

Wow. So Wyatt was dismissed for no reason?

“Hamilton waited through the summer. She decided to publicly share her concern in a Commentary article in The Birmingham News on Oct. 28. In the story, she praised Wyatt’s ‘nurturing classroom, where much was expected, everyone was valued and treated equally within a calming and fun environment.’ Hamilton asked in the article: ‘… how could you let go of this amazing second-grade teacher?’ and ‘Where, oh where, is Ms. Wyatt?’”

The News found her, and reports she’s doing a great job teaching first-grade in Jefferson County.

Aha! So Wyatt was laid off at random, right? That’s intolerable!

Oh, wait a minute. In the 28th paragraph of a 35-paragraph story we finally get to this:

“Tenure laws are the reason Birmingham loses teachers like Wyatt, said Birmingham school board member Phyllis Wyne. The system has to let untenured teachers go first.”

Journalism 101: Don’t describe the crime in the lede, then wait until the end to identify the culprit.