Meanwhile, principals and other administrators can do whatever the fuck they want. There's NOBODY around to hold them accountable. School boards don't count, either.
States are rolling over and playing dead on this issue because a) they are desperate for money and b) it is unlikely that people like Bloomberg or the Governator--or Duncan-- have a clue about the abuse they are permitting.
Duncan's enthusiastic championing of a "reform" that has been shown not to work very well--charter schools--can only be taken as an instrument for union busting. If the NEA and AFT won't stand up to this abuse of testing, they deserve to be busted.
As I found in my own experience, unions are basically worthless in defending individual teachers. They are nothing but subsidiaries of the districts.
_____
The New York City public school district is arguably the worst and most corrupt in the United States. Apparently there were scads of so-called "U-ratings" of teachers, which translated means "unsatisfactory" and threatens teachers with termination if not stripping them of their licenses. This is a notoriously abusive system of an institution which already has numerous abusive public school districts, thanks in large part to "reforms" of the past thirty years forcing privatization models and schooling inept administrators in the worst aspects of businesses. I like this response from a dissent teacher explaining all of those "U-ratings":
On 7/25/09, And how many are bogus? wrote:
> My guess is about 80%.
>
> What's the definition of an "unsatisfactory" teacher?
>
> Anyone know?
Re: 1,554 U-Ratings Given Out in the NYC Schools for 2008-2009
Unsatisfactory Teacher TO THE *AGW'S :
*(Administrators-Gone-Wild)
One who questions.
One who asks too many questions.
One who points out wrongdoings.
One who reports wrongdoings.
One who campaigns for a better way of doing things.
One who doesn't work after work or on Saturdays as much as
they'd like.
One who reports violence or crimes, rather than covering them
up.
One who is out when they are ill, rather than allowing viruses
to spread.
One who tells the truth about the performance of the child or
the school.
One who asserts their rights.
One who defends the union contract.
One who defends the public trust.
One who is opposed to abuse of other teachers, students,
parents, community.
One who files a grievance. One who tries to organize staff.
One who distributes information to help the staff.
One who the principal conswiders a threat because they don't
appear at their parties.
One who is tenured, experienced and/or over 40 years of age.
One who appears eccentric or of with an accent, or with a
cultural or religious difference that the AGW's find
unacceptable.
One who is not content with Everyday Math or The Workshop
Model.
One who's had the misfortune of a combination of illness,
death in the family, religious observances, someone to care
for, etc., which caused latenesses or absences, which
inconvenienced the principal (supposedly inconveniencing the
school).
One who has an either too fast or too slow but deliberate
delivery of a lesson.
One whom the principal wants out so they can stick a friend in
to replace.
One whom a parent or child or other staff member complains
about for standing their ground.
One whom the principal dislikes for any reason whatsoever and
would seek to "gun for", harass, humiliate, belittle, villify,
retaliate against arbitrarily, capriciously and/or
maliciously.
And then there are cases of real incompetence in perhaps 5%.
Polo Colon
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