Author Archives: Peter Goodman

Back in my union rep days a few  teachers would complain, I wasn’t tough enough, I didn’t yell at the superintendent, I didn’t file enough grievances. I didn’t represent the angry member, I represented all the members.  I had to build a relationship with  the superintendent: having the personnel director moving my issue to the topContinue reading “UFT Politics is Getting Nasty (and Dangerous)”

A bad week for the Mayor and the Chancellor, a really, really bad week. A four day weekend, Easter, you would think a quiet time and only one week before the Spring break. Wrong. The Chancellor had an announcement: The highly regarded Carolyne Quintana, the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, the division in chargeContinue reading “What Is That Rancid Aroma Coming from Tweed? Is the Department of Education Crumbling?”

Don’t all answer at once! During the Question Period at last week’s Delegate Assembly a member asked a question criticizing the use/misuse of the Danielson Frameworks. Mulgrew agreed and suggested more the misuse, although suggesting there might be more meaningful methods of assessing/improving teacher performance. For decades teacher assessment was an S (Satisfactory) or aContinue reading “Do Supervisory Observation Reports Improve Effectiveness As a Teacher?”

The New York State Education Department Social Studies Frameworks describes “How a Bill Becomes a Law” and teaches us a sanitized view of history and government. From John Adams appointment of “midnight judges” after he had lost the 1800 presidential election to Joanne Freeman’s “The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road toContinue reading “Realpolitik in Albany: Will Tier 6 Be Fixed?”

A story, maybe apocryphal, Al Shanker was asked his reaction to sharply declining test scores after the forty day 1968 strike, he replied, “thank goodness” Excessive student absence, now called Chronic Absenteeism, (usually defined as absent 10% of a school year, in New York State eighteen days) has been getting more and more attention. PerhapsContinue reading “Egad!! Did You Know That Chronic Absenteeism Impedes Student Learning?”

The Board of Regents predates the approval of the Constitution, established in 1784 Board members included John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. Over 200 plus years the Board has gone through many changes and currently is a seventeen member Board “elected” by both houses of the state legislature for five year terms. New York State isContinue reading “Selecting Members of the Board of Regents”

As we move closer to the April 1 budget deadline one battle will dominate, the issue is totally bi-partisan, the issue is school funding.  New York State both leads the nation in per capita school funding and the inequality of the funding, with little interest in repairing, or more accurately defining what you want toContinue reading “Where is Robin Hood When We Need Her? The Battle Over Equitable School Funding in New York State”

This weekend hundreds of folks advocating for a wide range of policy initiatives trekked up to Albany for the annual Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislators weekend conference, panels, workshops speeches and parties and the opportunity to meet with legislators and advocate for your issue. CUNY college presidents concerned with perhaps dramatic cuts inContinue reading “Lobbying: Communicating with any Public Official for the Purpose of Influencing Legislative Issues”

The closing days of the Albany legislature session are called “the Big Ugly,” hundreds of bills are passed with no debate. The leadership, the Speaker in the Assembly and the Majority Leader in the Senate and key committee chairs control the flow of legislation. If you’re a legislator in the minority party you’re lucky toContinue reading “Is Threatening a Strike the Best Strategy to Fix Tier 6?”