I found this group on Facebook quite by accident. After reading some of its decidedly cowardly and divisive messages I left some comments essentially asking them who they were and why they were so hot to crucify our union leadership yet too chicken to say who they were? As you might have guessed the next morning my comments were scrubbed and I was no longer able to comment on their postings. for kicks I messaged a colleague/acquaintance whom I figured might have some clue as to who these clowns were.
Were they really BTF members plotting a palace coup against Phil or were they charter school hacks looking to sow some fake seeds of dissent among union members who've been notoriously unified for going on 7 years of incredibly dysfunctional City Hall behavior?
A strange thing happened. The person I messaged never responded which I found odd since we spoke in the hallway at Bennett when everyone was there in May for the APPR conference with Debbie Sykes and Amber. The posts stopped. Almost immediately. Am I good or what ? Apologies to Mark Naison whose postings appear here, by the look of his message he is a mensch who cares about positive change and I would not connect him to the b.s. posted by the person hiding behind the rotten apple avatar. Notice too the dis they put on Lack City teachers asking why we make less than they do ? Implied is the idea that they suck worse than us so why do they make more ? Oh it's Rumore's fault...There is no place for this kind of spineless bullshit among professionals when we are under attack from a carefully orchestrated interstate conspiracy by Republican governors and our own jackass donkey Democrats who've been swept up in the charter school kool aid and the billions available from hedge funders like DFER. As Franklin said we need to hang together or we will surely hang separately.
Buffalo Teachers For Change
By the way did you see who was third in the pay ratings? LACKAWANNA! Couldn't we do a "bit" better than 67? The answer is yes, we can do a lot better, but you have to get involved!- Funny how Phil Rumore and Amber Dixon have found so much time to discuss the APPR yet we have not heard a word about contract negotiations for a LONG time......Wouldn't it have been a good opportunity for Phil to have used the APPR agreement as leverage for a new contract? It sure would have, but after eight years without a contract looks like he has us giving up more!! Wake up BTF members!! There is something fishy going on here and it's not in the lake....
Buffalo Teachers For Change shared a link.
Well folks, it's time to thank Phil Rumore for letting us be ranked SEVENTY SIXTH in teacher salaries!!! THAT'S 76.... The time is now to band together and do something about this. PLEASE spread the word!!! LINK:http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/feature/schools/2012-wnyschools/2012/06/04/western-new-york-teacher-pay-rankings.html?page=all
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September 9, 2010
Joined Facebook
Founded in 2010
Teachers must constantly be made aware of the efforts of the education deformers on both national and local levels to dismantle the teacher unions. This is one of the major pillars of the deform program and is supported by all of the billionaire reformers, NYSED, Arne and Obama, etc. In fact, the APPR itself will put in place the foundation by which we will lose our seniority rights, first, among other collectively bargained rights. I believe this group that you have stumbled upon is an effort by our local deformers to discredit Phil and try to elicit a public smear of anything "union" from the teachers. Once there is even a smidgeon of verbal dissent from the union ranks, the local deformers and the Buffalo News will run with it in an attempt to sway the opinion of our members, especially the newer members. We know that there is a small percent of deformers in our school buildings now. They are powerless at present and allied with the local deformers. BuffaloDeformeEd has worked relentlessly with college students and a national movement, called Students for Education Reform, has local campus chapters and is allied with ReformEd, actually attached at the hip. The deformers have no shame about using the naivete and (free!) energy of college age youth to espouse their anti-union, corporatization policies. It is shameful, but the movement as a whole is shameful. I thank you for bringing this group into the light because it is very important to know the players in the deform game. As a union, we must stay educated to the tactics of the deformers and "out" them at every turn. They are powerful, educated at the best schools, funded by billionaires and utterly soulless. They have succeeded in Buffalo beyond their wildest dreams. They have completely coopted The DPCC, rendered it useless to the majority of parents, and used the DPCC leadership to espouse Deform in Buffalo while taking precious grassroots leadership from the school parents. They will succeed with this current Board of Ed in stealing two of our public school buildings this year. What is next?
ReplyDeleteBut wait! I thought charter schools were going to save our education system, stop global warming, and bring an end to nuclear standoffs?
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. Never mind. Charters just create a race to the bottom condition, where schools get to boast about perfect scores, and get to pick and choose which students they help, while blaming public schools for all the problems left when they're only left with the poor performing students.
This is why I wondered what the hell Marc Bruno was talking about when he bitched to Mary Pasciak about the way Phil handled the meeting the time that sniveling so called union rep wrote Mary a tear stained email whining about being intimidated and bullied by the other members. As far as I knew MB was a straight shooter and then he went and blasted Phil publicly, totally threw me off. I think the only reason anyone claiming to be a union rep would do such a thing would be to set themselves up as the next President. Who is in the wings anyway ? I was severely unimpressed by the last anti-Rumore candidates.
ReplyDeleteYes the charters are going to cure cancer and end strife in the middle east too while turning a profit.
ReplyDeletehmmm.... A closer look at the Buffalo Teachers for Change website shows a link that says "Non-Profit Organization". Doesn't that just smell like all the other Deform "non-profits"? Non-profit status is the slimy loophole that the deform movement uses to make money and pay (sometimes quite outrageous) salaries. However, I could not find a 503(c) registration by that title. Anyway, the link is so poorly written and includes a "mission" and a "company overview". (haha). It's worth reading for comic relief. Does not sound like a BTF person to me. We know that BuffaloReformEd would chew their right arms off to get involved in our public school buildings and our union. They also have a staff member who subs in the District, ala Maxwell Smart. This whole effort is so pathetic that I can only surmise it is a stupid pipedream of the Deformers. I would hope that when BTF election time comes, our proud, intelligent members will not be soliciting the help or input of DFER's, Deformers, Student Deformers, The Buffalo News, etc. There are honorable ways to run elections. Solidarity, not sellout or shame.
ReplyDeleteP Squared I never even found a website, their FB stuff was shittily tossed together and their anti Phil message so fake and fraught with the inflammatory chickenshit rhetoric of cowards who try to incite others to do their dirty work for them. It's essentially the root of passive aggressive behavior.
ReplyDeleteIt is highly likely that the Control Board had a helluva lot more influence on our salaries being # 76 than the non-contract position we have been in since 2004.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of negotiation meetings is the fault of the Board(s) and James Williams....not Phil. Their position has been to impose their will on the Union in exchange for ...well letting them have their way.So , in exchange for NOTHING.
When wages are "frozen" ( Control Board) and step levels from 12 years ago are still in effect, then it should be no surprise that we are not nearer to the top of the list.
History lesson : We have never been close to the top!
The BTF has always been ready to negotiate. the Board has historically tried ,( and lost) ,to have the courts impose their positions on the BTF instead of negotiating.
Someone must have noticed that even after a 10 year battle in court, the BTF under Phil's leadership,won a decision. The BTF has always won in court, sometimes when the judges wanted to rule against us. Phil would have made a wonderful lawyer if he wanted to follow that course of action.
The Boards of Ed. don't give a krap about the contracts it signs. Half the board members don't ( or can't ) read or understand the reports etc. that they are provided with prior to meetings, let alone the contracts.
Phil's only problems are that he is getting more "mature",and he hasn't been cloned yet.
If their web site is indicative of their "talents", the Bflo Teachers for Change are a group of folks recently discharged from a "28 day program" after completing only 14 days .If they take over the BTF, the "F" will be the past tense of a popular verb.
Amen Chalk. Remember the Comerford Doyle Board in place when they simply agreed to a contract then refused to fund it. We got paid about 8 years later something like .17 cents on the dollar we were owed.
ReplyDeleteI am not overly impressed with the intelligence level of the would be next Presidents. It always strikes me as someone who really wants to put Phil Rumore in his place for whatever personal grievance than someone who believes they have a clear vision of where this union needs to be on various issues especially now.
I enjoy your blog, and have enjoyed reading your comments on the News message boards, Sean. I miss the BuffaloSkoolMess site and look forward to your site filling that void.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I think the BTF needs to do a much better job educating its members, and the public, on what exactly it does and how it has helped us through all these years. Anyone who sits in a Union meeting hears Phil explain why we can't have a contract now. The control board would never approve one. I don't want a contract that an outside group of rich, corporate a-holes has to approve. Now that the board is advisory we can move forward. That's just one issue. Obviously this group has another agenda, but if the BTF were out front with their motives, methods, approach to issues, etc. I think (or at least hope) most teachers would stand pat, support us, and understand the comings and goings of the Union.
The problem is there are loud voices out there shouting us down and no one on our side standing up for us. We are always reacting to issues rather than being proactive. I respect what the BTF Public Relations Committee does, but there needs to be a more aggressive approach to communicating with its members exactly what the Union does for us.
Thank you.
Kevin I am glad you made it. I missed Skool mess too when it folded but I think its anonymous status hurt it. As long as we feel we need to be anonymous we are agreeing with the powers that be that our viewpoint is invalid or that we have no cred. I really have to wonder how far that blog could have gone if the author had simply come out and said this is the damned truth and I have no reason to hide from anyone who doesn't like hearing it. I agree the time for passive union membership has flown. We are in a fight whether we chose it like or not and if too many of us sit on our asses bitching about the lack of paper towels in the faculty lav instead of getting active we are doomed.
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