Bloomberg & Black Are Trying To Divide Teachers Based Upon Age & Experience In Their "Education On The Cheap" Policy.

There is little doubt that the Mayor4Life, his Emperor, Michael Bloomberg and his puppet Chancellor, the unqualified Cathie Black, have made a full court press in trying to split the teachers by age and experience. Their cynical complaints that seniority in the form of "last in, first out" will harm the children is not only baseless but is just a blatant attempt to further their "education on the cheap" policy that would advance their goal of a replaceable teaching staff. By having such a teaching staff, few teachers would qualify for a pension or retiree health benefits. This would save the City large amount of money in pensions and the ever-increasing health benefits. The ex-Chancellor Joel Klein admitted as much when he was quoted by UFT President Michael Mulgrew in saying ‘I’m going to pit new teachers against older teachers and I’m going to do it by trying to make it look like we’re doing layoffs''.

Bloomberg stated that if he could eliminate seniority, it would be good for the children since he would need to layoff less teachers, keep the best, and eliminate the ATR pool. However, what he fails to say is who would determine who is an "effective teacher"? We all know the answer, it is the Principal. Therefore, a teacher's continued employment will primarily depend on how he or she gets along with Principal and not what the parents or students feel about the teacher. In the Bloomberg/Klein era parent complaints were ignored and students were used as a tool to advance their propaganda against school staff.

That brings us to the stooges at the Excellence4Education, who were formed by two "newbie" ex-teachers who are now independently paid by the Bill Gates foundation through the Al Sharpton/Joel Klein misnamed Education Equity Project. They think of themselves as a force or reform but what they are is a divisive force that plays the fool for the Bloomberg Administration. They want everything that Bloomberg wants, elimination of seniority ("last in, first out") , merit pay, a teacher evaluation system, and an ATR time limit. All of these positions are contrary to the union's position and is well-aligned with the Bloomberg Administration and the non-educators at Tweed. What about class size? How about the studies that show it takes a minimum of five years to be an "effective teacher" and eight years to plateau at their highest teaching level? What about inept and incompetent Administration. E4E is very quiet about these issues.

I am sure we have all noticed that the teacher evaluation process does not presently involve peer review and based upon the "double standard" the DOE uses between teacher and Administrator, you can guess that a teacher has just as much chance to prevail against a vindictive and insecure Principal out to get him or her then a falsely accused Soviet citizen had in the "Stalin Show Trial". I bet that whatever teacher input that is eventually allowed in the teacher evaluation process will simply be a "fig leaf" for the Principal to do what he or she wants.

"Children First"? Don't make me laugh, it is simply all about saving money, ageism, and a reduction in future benefits paid to retirees. Let's say it as it is "children last" in the Bloomberg/Black campaign to implement their "education on the cheap" policy.