President's perspective

In case you missed it during the break, Mayor Bloomberg has announced that he is now working with Joel Klein, former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, Eva Moskowitz and a cast of other characters from the so-called education “reform” movement to form a new statewide organization, StudentsFirstNY.

hat the governor and state Legislature have done by enacting pension “reform” is a slap in the face to public-sector workers in New York City and across New York State. Current public-sector workers and retirees will not be affected by the sixth pension tier that the politicians in Albany have created, but future hires will have to work longer and contribute more to receive a smaller payout after they retire.

The UFT has been working for two years to create a new evaluation system because we know that a new system, done right, can support teachers and make them better classroom instructors. On Feb. 16 we took another significant step in this long journey when we reached an agreement in Albany on an appeals process for teacher
ratings that includes third-party, independent validation.

It has been a decade of disaster for New York City children and schools on Bloomberg’s watch, and now as the legacy of the so-called “education mayor” is going up in smoke, he is looking for scapegoats and distractions from his record. I wrote the following letter to parents, which ran as an ad in the Daily News on Jan. 9, to set the record straight.

The reliance on ever more standardized tests to determine everything from graduation requirements to teacher tenure to school closings is the holy grail of the so-called education “reform” movement, but testing does not improve education. In fact, testing harms education in many ways. Forcing teachers to teach to the test distorts instruction and impoverishes the curriculum.

Last month, a 14-year-old boy in Buffalo took his own life after years of relentless bullying. In school, classmates hurled anti-gay slurs at him. Online, they told him to kill himself. And so Jamey Rodemeyer became another victim of “bullycide.” It’s chilling that we even have a term for what happens to kids who are literally tormented to death.

We face many challenges this school year, starting with the hard realities of more budget cuts and austerity, exploding class sizes and increasing poverty and homelessness among our students. But in the face of challenges, the members of our union always make our schools work, and I cannot thank you enough for all that you do.

It’s been a hell of a year. Despite the many battles and the constant barrage of attacks on teachers, we are standing tall and standing strong as we near the end of it. But it’s not over yet. Layoffs of thousands of teachers, which would do irreparable harm to our children and devastate our own families, are still on the table.

We became teachers and educators to help children. Whether it’s preparing lesson plans, helping students one on one, talking to concerned parents or working with colleagues on schoolwide programs, everything we do is about helping children. Working hard and going the extra mile for our students is in our DNA. It’s who we are.