Saturday, June 28, 2014

Make Big Bucks, Rat Out Your Colleagues, Get Their Asses Fired! Be a Peer Validator!


Oh But We Love Our Peer Validators

Here in Buffalo, known to Cuomophiles as BuffHochul, the city's teachers haven't had a contract since, oh since about the time George Dubya was getting his second term on. Pockets of giddiness were reported last week as certain folk claiming to have an inside track were dancing and tittering that BTF would have a new contract by September. I haven't vetted these squeals of delight with any of the people I know damned well DO know, maybe because I am content to live in the present unburdened with the certainty of the obnoxious concessions we are sure to endure.

Awww, why so serious? You may query in your best Heath Ledger's joker snivel. Why is my cup half emtpy? Why did my teacher in seventh grade point at me when a kid asked what "cynical" meant? Well, the good union people down in New York City were stuck without a contract for a bit too. And things weren't going so well. That was when Randi Weingarten's (member her?) handpicked successor Mike Mulgrew decided to start trashing NYSUT President Dick Ianuzzi. This caught the attention of some people who could help speed things along with the contract. It also led to the NYSUT Revive caucus's emergence onto the scene heralding an end to the same old same old of the Ianuzzi way of doing business. The Revivers were going to jump start our union and get us feeling good about all those goddamned dues we pay to people who find ways to screw us in return. Yes, Sir, with Andy Palotta, whether he bought that $10,000 table at the Billy Joel birthday performance or not, and Karen Magee in full trim we would sail to victory and it would be a new world.

And so it is. A Brave New World of sorts if you favor the dystopian reference. In fact the new contract in New York is so Brave and New it even contains special new duties for really great teachers who are talented, highly effective, or maybe just effective it  all depends. They must be able to work in situations with "a high degree of ambiguity" which sounds funny until you realize they are being hired for extra pay to do "unannounced" observations of  fellow teachers who were rated "ineffective" the previous year.  If you've ever had a Principal who preferred the "unannounced" method, you'll understand there's a certain message involved in it. Peer Validators will earn their contractual salary plus $15,000  -- and 30 pieces of silver. And since these "ineffective" teachers being observed are already behind the 8 ball with one bad evaluation, the "peer validators" (wtf?) may now enjoy the thrill of administering the coup de grace to their colleagues. Psshaww you say, teachers running down fellow teachers, landing the death blow to their careers? Who ever heard of such a thing? But what's really sad, scary and disgusting is when you ask yourself what teachers do I know who could do this to their colleagues and you realize within a minute you've run out of fingers. That's the part that really sucks.

I am not clever enough to cut and paste from a pdf so I will link the thing HERE for your perusal.

Remember this contract also has a provision for a special "No Waiting Express Lane  as it were, subjecting ATR teachers in NYC to a one day 3020-a hearing so they can be fired with microwave like celerity. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think someone negotiating on the union's side was cool with seeing teachers fired or at very least didn't much give a fuck if they were. Revivers were all over Facebook patting themselves on the back in smug congratulations for this contract. If this is the kind of unionism we can expect from Magee, Palotta, Messner et al in Revive, then I guess there's really nothing to fear from the anti-tenure lawsuits to come. We'll have one foot in the ground and the other on a Revive banana peel before StudentsLast! or whoever can even get to our tenure. I don't know if it's too late for this battle, I suspect it is. But until then I wonder if maybe we teachers might want to learn to pull together for a change before some of  us start taking money to pull others of us apart. 

17 comments:

  1. Our peer validators in Newark hale from Connecticut. They come down for the week and stay in a hotel.

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  2. Maybe our TFA'ers will be our "peer validators". They will know so much after 5 weeks this summer. I am willing to assume that some of our newer (did not say younger) colleagues will be all over this gig. For $15,000. dollars some will sell out anyone. Plus, many newer (I did not say younger) teachers really take this APPR evaluation to heart. They really think that if they are Effective, they are BETTER than a Developing teacher and worse than a Highly Effective teachers. They BELIEVE it! So I can see some teachers going for this. The only thing Buffalo will have in it's favor is a slightly better chance of solidarity when it comes to a NO vote on having something like this in our contract. Slightly better due to our lower number of member and perhaps an easier time of organizing AGAINST this type of organized 'teacher shaming'.

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  3. Teachers nearing retirement might go for this also, to boost their FAS. It is amazing what humans will do for money.

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  4. The peer validator position has already been established with the new UFT contract so the argument for or against it is irrelevant. Candidates will be chosen by a joint committee made up of DOE and UFT. You're assuming that anyone who applies for it is looking to get teachers fired. If a teacher is being targeted by an adminstrator and is, in fact, a good teacher, isn't it entirely possible that peer validators will be able to actually help the teacher keep his/her job? Let's say you got that position, what would your criteria be?

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  5. Where did I tell anyone to protest it being inserted into the contract? It’s a fait accompli and one worthy of scorn and rebuke. I can tell by your serpentine tone that your application is already on file though. Oh well what’s done is done, I may as well make some money off my colleagues misfortunes...What bullshit. And if you think anyone is dumb enough to believe that people are taking these gigs to save other teachers careers you are simply too far gone for words. As for your hypothetical, it doesn’t stick. I would never “get the job” because I have a spine, self respect and a conscience that would prevent me from participating in a scheme aimed at fellow teachers. I hope you’re as glad to see the fellow teachers who come to evaluate you when the time comes and don’t say it can’t happen to me. If these bastards get their way it’s going to happen to a lot of people. Have fun helping them.

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  6. Oh, right, Anonymous. "You're assuming that anyone who applies for it is looking to get teachers fired". No, I would assume anyone applying for it is looking to make money. Period. Exactly like our building administrators who will go along with ANYTHING, silently, to keep their salaries. Anonymous, so you really think that because you will be chosen by a joint committee made up of DOE and UFT that there won't be loads of string attached to what you will be asked to do? And how will any of this help students? NOT AT ALL. It's just more BS from BSville and you know it. Now, go make your $$$$, silently, obediently, but don't try to justify it.

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  7. My buddy got raked over the coals by the Connecticut peer validator. She was in tears.

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  8. During my first 2 1/2 years teaching, I received satisfactory observations and year end ratings. Then I had a disagreement with my principal and began to receive unsatisfactory observations, letters in my file. and a U for my year end. Did I sudden become a bad teacher after 2 1/2 years? I would have benefited by having an independent evaluator. I believe that the only way to have a fair evaluation is if the person doing the observation is independent and unbiased. Otherwise, personalities and relationships can impact the process. Therefore, peer validators could be a teachers's best friend.

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    1. I find it hilarious that anyone in this climate -- where teachers' careers are now on the block after 2 highly invalid and unreliable assessment methods have been thrown at them -- thinks anyone is looking out to help teachers. The goal of this little effort is to fire teachers, same as the goal of Cuomo and all the so called ed reform camp. Fire them, not help them. And if they have to resort to quackery like VAM scores, which were taken from agriculture where they were used to predict jelly output from a given acreage of strawberries. Do you want the $15K THAT BAD? That you are willing to pretend Mulgrew and Co. are suddenly interested in the welfare of rank and file teachers? Get real.

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  9. So, you are seeing the peer evaluator as a white knight charging in to help unfortunate teachers who were unfairly attacked by Principals? I think you just highlighted the problem with the unfair evaluation process. You are describing the reason why we need tenure. The peer evaluator will NOT be superman, and will NOT be able to override a Principal's unfair evaluation. Do you really think that Principals would allow that? It will NEVER happen. I understand your magical, wishful, thinking and naivete, but take a more realistic look. Peer evaluators will be playing the same game as admins, and will be making more money than you and feeling superior to you. Stop waiting for help. It is not going to happen. Organize, pay attention to BS coming from our admins, unions and corporations. Work together to highlight the problem with the evaluation process, call BS on our admins who have no scruples, and don't buy into your crappy evaluation. Putting a score on teachers is the same game as putting a score, or rating, on an impoverished school. It is wrong. And one more thing: I find it interesting that teachers in NYC allowed this to happen. The peer evaluator "process" has not even been delineated, so what did teachers even vote for? Another ridiculous promise form DOE/AFT. Thanks to NYC, I hope other bargaining units will look more carefully at contract negotiations and reject the validation of any APPR by our unions. Peer evaluation is VAM, without the VALUE, it is junk food for reformers, totally without calories. Stop buying in to crap, please.

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  10. 9:42

    You are idealistic. Peer validators are paid. They are not independent and unbiased. They resemble attack dogs. How are discrepancies between administrators and validators to be resolved?

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  11. If the validator rules for the teacher, then the burden of proof in a 3020a hearing stays with the Board of Ed even after two ineffective ratings. If the validator validates what the administrator says (most likely based on a similar program called PIP+), then the burden of proof will be on the teacher to prove they are not incompetent in a 3020a hearing. Good luck winning that hearing.

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  12. So, if you were a teacher who had been rated ineffective two years in a row and you believe that you were being unfairly rated for whatever reason, would you rather have a DOE evaluator rate you or a peer evaluator? Me, I'd rather take my chances with a peer evaluator and hope that I get one who is fair.

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  13. Your effort to find a silver lining to this traitorous shit carpet is truly stupefying. Let's see if I can spell it out clearly: any asshole willing to sell out colleagues for the price of a Kia knows up front that his/her true objective is to FIRE teachers. That's the point of this entire charade. It was forged with the Quisling Vichy help of a first class traitor and shithead, Mikey Mulgrew who learned from his predecessor Randi Weingarten that the true value of a classroom teacher is nothing. Keep whistling in the dark and praying for rainbows and happy face stickers and maybe all of your dreams will come true. I hope that helped.

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  14. I'm a NYC Teacher just completing my peer validator essays. I googled peer validator to see if anything insightful pops up & boy did it. Honestly, I'm close to retirement need the extra $15,000 and have had a year of hell with 5 preps, lunch at 9:30 and students with no skills. I thought this has got to be better than what I've been doing, maybe even rewarding and satisfying. I can see potiential, effort, skill and someone that has been set up by their administration - hell I have been there!

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    1. 5 preps, lunch at 9:30, yeah, o.k. did they serve you rats too? so full of shit it stinks, you are lying your ass off but nobody here is dumb enough to believe any of it

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  15. Trolls are for some reason banging this post hard with their remarks all of a sudden weeks after the fact.You're all full of shit and so is the guy posting as anonymous above so save your keystrokes I am not posting any more of your nonsense. I love the carefully crafted scenario above where everything just falls into place to make this traitorous, shitty, divisive piece of a terrible contract look like something a stand up guy would do. You're full of shit. All of you. Nobody but a scumbag would do this job.

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