Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Bloomberg Compares UFT To NRA

From NY1:

ALBANY - An recent ad from the United Federation of Teachers that attacks Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a reminder that with less than two weeks to go, there is still no deal on teacher evaluations.

"It just doesn't seem like the teachers' union wants to come to a teacher evaluation deal," Bloomberg said on his radio show Friday. "I am told they are starting running ads against me today. If you want a contract, that's not the kind of body language you'd think that would get you one."
...

During his weekly radio show, Mayor Bloomberg was also critical of the UFT's leadership.

"Teachers want to work with the best, and most of them are not in sympathy with the union," he said. "The NRA is another place where the membership, if you do the polling, doesn't agree with the leadership."

Oh yeah - very nice, comparing UFT rank and file with gun owners and members of the NRA.

Mulgrew responded this way:

"The mayor comparing us to the National Rifle Association is clearly inappropriate, especially considering all that's happened in Connecticut," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. "It also, it shows you how difficult he is to deal with at times."

Indeed, it is inappropriate to compare UFT members with NRA members and indeed it does show how difficult Bloomberg is to deal with.

Why don't you take to the airwaves with that message, Mike, instead of the lame ad you put up?

You might point out how the evaluations Bloomberg has used on teachers in the past had a 52% median margin of error, an 87% maximum margin of error, but he STILL published the names of those teachers in the papers with all that inaccurate data attached to them.

You can then point out how the mayor defended gun owners in NY State who had their names published in the papers last month and ask why it is the mayor thinks it's okay to publish the test-scored based teacher evaluations with the 87% MOE in the papers.

You could finish up by pointing out that Bloomberg doesn't want to fairly evaluate teachers, he wants a system that is error-riddled, needlessly complex, and puts ALL of the onus of education on teachers for student performance when it is clear there are many other factors involved in how well students do in school.

That would be a better ad than this piece of garbage.

As for the UFT rank and file not agreeing with the leadership, Bloomberg's increasingly right about that.

More and more of us think the UFT leadership is doing a terrible job of protecting students, teachers and schools from the ravages of corporate education reform.

6 comments:

  1. Comparing the UFT to the NRA is like comparing Mike Bloomberg to Adolph Hitler. A fairer comparison would be to compare Bloomberg to Richard Nixon for their mutual lack of social emotional intelligence and their shared paranoia. What legal option does the citizenry have to remove a disturbed political leader? At the very least , Mayor Bloomberg owes the UFT an apology for his loose cannon remark and bullying conduct.

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  2. He will not be respected by history. He is a weakly little bully who does not lead, just intimidates to attain compliance. What a sniveling little creep. He will never apologize either

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  3. Way to go Mikey B! You have the chutzpah that Mikey M. doesn't! Just when I was wondering why the UFT didn't flood the radio, internet, and TV with simple ads ("Remember Our Teachers" or a bit more pointed: evaluation-conscious, "Remember Teachers Can be Evaluated in Many Ways"; or about the release of gun owner info by the Westchester newspaper: "Where was the Furor When Teacher Names Were Published") after Connecticut, Mikey B. takes the reins! He and fellow honorable capitalists (Gates most exemplary) will smash unions once and for all in this country! Then we'll see about minimum wage in McDonalds! Then we'll have a discussion about whether charter-school salaries are "low."

    On the same day, the mayor could also be investigated for his actions during Sandy, Mikey M. is calling a press conference. But he just does not have that chutzpah Mikey B. has. Mikey M. is probably just miffed he has to leave his cushy office at 52 Broadway to actually do something. But that's what a foot in the mouthy will do. . . .

    On the Monday after news was released about how the city was hit with an enormous overtime bill by fire, police, sanitation, and parks for Sandy, will Mikey M. remind the public that teachers work, on average, about 13 hours a week on their own time and often spend their own money on supplies? Amazingly, or maybe not so "amazingly" when you consider the proximity of Mulgrew's office to City Hall, the answer will be, "No." After all, what the teachers got out of Sandy was lost vacation time in February. Those schmucks.

    You go Michelle Rhee! You go Mikey B! You go Mark Zuckerberg! You go Bill Gates! And Melinda too! Crush those teacher-twits! They just don't have what it takes to make it in this capitalist world. If they really have the "best interests of the children" at heart, make them work the summer! And for free!

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  4. I wrote the previous post. I would like to delete the comma at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph. "Foot in the mouthy" is also a typo, but I actually like the way that sounds.

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