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Thursday, July 17, 2014

7-17-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:








Primi Akhtar’s Valedictory Address, Queens Metropolitan High School, June 2014
I dare anyone to meet 18-year old Primi and not have enormous hope for the future. Primi is a founding member of NYC Student Union (and my adopted granddaughter) and she just graduated and will be going to Columbia. Does this age her out of the high school based Student Union? She will still be involved, though I imagine she will be raising some hell in college.Jeff Kaufman sent this in. His wife


Teacher Diversity Committee Launches Petition at Harlem Book Fair
Sean Ahern, a long time friend, and one of the original founders of the idea of creating ICE (in a bar), has focused his attention for a decade on the teacher diversity issue. And that work is bearing fruit. Check out the numbers on the drop in hiring of black teachers posted in the petition. And the TDC has noticed that the number of white teachers has dropped too because many of the new "id


Right WingNuts - AFT Commies, Include GEM Truth About Charters in Attack
Thanks to Jeff Kaufman for this gem about the GEM pamphlet being part of the Maoist AFT. Among the literature cited was a GEM pamphlet. See front page story second document. https://americarisingllc.app.box.com/s/nhc8m8cn227vrwcb19ht/1/2203186595/19026564373/1American Federation of CommunistsPro-communist literature handed out at AFT conferenceShareTweetEmail Chinese protestors touting picture

Speculating on Karen Lewis Challenge to Rahm: Who Will Get the Jewish Vote
Two Jewish candidates to square off in Chicago. (If you don't believe me ask Karen to show you her CHI.Someone emailed me when I was in LA, cocerned that Karen and Chicago crew weren't challenging Randi enough - that was before the Common Core shootout (AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle B....).We pretty much got word from Chicago that Karen Lewis will be off and running for Mayor aga
Defense of Tenure - It Ain't Only About the Teachers
At the MORE UFT history event, a teacher who I first met about 6 weeks ago and is new to MORE asked why we don't see campaigns defending teachers and tenure. The UFT spends millions on ads but tenure is not mentioned. Interesting that at the AFT on Monday just before the convention ended, AFT press people came over and asked some of us to attend a press conference upstairs on this very issue.The e


7-15-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Aft report: My Last Red-Eye - It's 2 AM and I'm Still Not EX-LAXThe AFT convention has reached its high point. It's the middle of the night and I'm surrounded by hordes of Unity Caucus delegates stranded from 2 fucked up Delta red-eyes. It's like an endless nightmare. I call the question but they are still here. On checking into security with my priority check-in - let's see - at