More on "biting the hand..."

Gates set to speak at AFT convention in Seattle

More on "biting the hand" as Bill Gates preps for his "innovation" speech at the AFT meet in Seattle. $3.3 million for union's Innovation Fund courtesy of Gate/Broad gives him an entry point as the Ownership Society forces pull out all stops to head off a repeat of the NEA RA in New Orleans.

But at ground zero, AFT members are losing jobs in mass-- contract, schmontract. Biggest story yesterday was the RIFing of two veteran, master teachers in Chicago. They thought they would use their years of experience to take leadership positions outside the classroom. This gave Huberman's wolfpack a chance to cut them from the herd and get rid of two veteran salaries. 

"My trust in CPS is gone, literally gone," says master special-ed teacher Deborah Domes. "If I asked someone down there what time it is, I probably would look at the clock to double check. That's how much I don't trust them "

Huberman says, don't worry, "it's for the kids." Let's see how the new CORE union leadership responds.

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In L.A., oversized Fremont High reopened after mass teacher firings. Lots of  "good, experienced, strong teachers" were reformed out. Of those not coming back, about 70% had refused to interview for their former jobs, says the Times. 

Most of the teachers in one such academy, the Humanitas program, have left, including lead teacher Stephen DeMarco, whose absence was mourned by students waiting outside for school to start. (Tuesday was the official first day of the school year because the 4,500-student campus operates on a year-round schedule.) "The Humanitas teachers supported us," said senior Alex Giron. "Now that we're seniors, we need them more than ever."

Diane Ravitch, an advisor to L.A. Supt. Cortinez when he headed N.Y. schools, called the approach wrongheaded.

 "There is zero support in research or practice for this mindless, punitive scheme to demean teachers," said Ravitch. "Improve schools. Don't fire teachers without individual evaluations."

Tom VanderArk popped up to criticize the Fremont re-opening from the right. VDA headed the education division of the Gates Foundation and currently runs a charter school consulting company.

"Close and replace is the best option," he said. "There's only one thing wrong with the large, struggling high schools of Los Angeles — and that's everything."

So the stage is set for the AFT meeting in Seattle. Should be some interesting fireworks. Stay tuned.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

The real cost of war  

IT BELONGS to every citizen to have in mind what the nation’s present wars are doing — not only to US troops, Iraqis and Afghans, and the faceless enemy, but to the American character. We have come to understand that the brutalities of combat can shatter participants psychologically as well as physically. (James Carroll, Boston Globe)

Race to top forces firing of top principal

“There is no one in the federal government that knows what kind of leadership De Ann Currin is providing, and there’s lots of people in Lincoln, Nebraska, that do." (Answer Sheet)

Closing 2 dozen alternative schools in L.A. 

"It's hard for me to stay out of the streets," said Gabriel, who, like other students in the programs, can't be fully identified because of their status. "When I'm here, it takes my mind off things. If the school closes, I worry it might be a big fall for me." (L.A. Times)

Philly Small Schools

Science Leadership principal Christopher Lehmann said that 116 of the 117-member senior class at the school, at 21st and Arch streets, graduated last week. The one student who didn't graduate will get a diploma after completing a summer course.

"I'm very proud of what the kids have done," Lehmann said. "We hope we have built a school that matters." (Philly Daily News)

Who's failure?

"If it is the job of administration to hire, fire and evaluate teachers and yet they fail to do so, why are unions blamed for this? (Retired teacher comments on Answer Sheet)

'Don't worry. It's only 100,000 teachers--not 300,000'

WaPo liar Lane sounds like BP's Hayward

Lane's Post Partisan blog is anything but. Here he echoes the very partisan teacher/union bashers and tries to run the big lie past us, that firing hundreds of thousands of teachers is no big deal. 

Well, 300,000 teacher layoffs would increase the national student-teacher ratio in public schools from 15.3 to 1, to 16.6 to 1 – roughly where it was in 1997. And 100,000 teacher layoffs would increase it to 15.6 to 1 – the 2005 level. Neither number portends educational apocalypse.

Lane must not read the Chicago papers. CPS class size is projected to increase to 35/class. In L.A. the Times reports class size has already swelled above the 50 mark.

Lane is a class size deny-er. He's the schools' version of  BP's Tony Hayward who also told us not to worry, the "environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest." The loss of 300,000 (or even 100,000) teachers jobs is indeed, something to worry about.

A major court victory in L.A.

 Tim Sullivan, principal of Markham Middle School in Watts

How many other inner-city schools will follow suit?

Calling it a "major victory," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed a judge's decision to issue an injunction blocking district-mandated layoffs at three Los Angeles Unified middle schools where civil rights groups said job cuts would deprive inner-city children of their right to an education. (AP Wire)

“'Today's landmark decision carries on the ideals of Brown v. Board of Education that no child may be deprived of the right to learn,” said Mark Rosenbaum, chief counsel for the ACLU of Southern California. “

 The class action suit was filed in February 2010 by students at three Los Angeles middle schools who alleged that one round of layoffs had already stripped their schools of many teachers, and that another planned round would devastate the quality of their education.

The Los Angeles Unified School District and the State of California were among those named as defendants. In 2009, LAUSD sent Reduction in Force (“RIF”) notices to 60% of the teachers at Liechty, 48% at Gompers, and 46% at Markham.  Many other LAUSD middle schools had less than 15% of their teachers laid off.  In 2010, LAUSD was set to lay off 49% of the teachers at Liechty, 21% at Gompers, and 30% at Markham.  At the same time, over 30 of the 69 LAUSD middle schools would lose less than 10% of their teachers. 

The evidence presented made it clear that the affects of the firings hit the hardest at schools in the poorest and most racially isolated neighborhoods--a clear violation of civil rights. The question is, how many other urban schools and community groups will file suit modeled on the one in L.A.  in order to prevent devastating RIFs before they occur?

The plaintiffs were represented pro bono by a team of lawyers from law firm Morrison & Foerster, as well as by the local chapter of the ACLU. Sean Gates, a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office, was co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

“Our case was so strong that the Governor and the State Board of Education, defendants in the case, agreed with our position,” Mr. Gates said. 

 A copy of the injunction with names and phone numbers of the winning lawyers, can be accessed here: http://www.rippmedia.com/Reed.RevisedPreliminaryInjunction.pdf