Our Disconnected Union Leadership Praises Chancellor Carmen Farina. What Were They Smoking?

It.s obvious that our disconnected union leadership does not listen to the classroom teacher and the hostile environment we operate in under the DOE.  In the latest edition of the New York Teacher, the union's propaganda newspaper,  their editorial page praises Chancellor Carmen Farina for her bringing back sanity to the New York City schools.  Moreover, the editorial goes on to say she brought "dignity" and "respect" to teachers.  Finally, the editorial goes on to say that the Chancellor urged collaboration within and across schools.  If you read the editorial you would be led to believe that Chancellor Carmen Farina was the solution to the Bloomberg appointed Chancellors.  The truth is that Chancellor Carmen Farina was part of the problem and not the solution Let's look why.

First, Chancellor Carmen Farina retained 80% of the Bloomberg policymakers and kept most of the destructive DOE programs intact, like Fair Student Funding, Charlotte Danielson, and the ATR pool.

Second, class sizes actually rose under Chancellor Carmen Farina and she funded schools at 87% to 90% of their fair funding.

Third, she failed to remove vindictive and or incompetent principals while teachers facing 3020-a hearings were as high as during the Bloomberg era.

Fourth, by her own admission when she visited schools, she was looking for poorly performing teachers.  Furthermore,  under her veteran teachers are targeted for removal and termination.

Fifth, She has made ATRs who were disciplined second class citizens.

Finally, Chancellor Carmen Farina has allowed the DOE Central Bureaucracy to remain bloated as schools scrounge for resources.

From a vantage point of the classroom teacher, Carmen Farina was just a continuation of the destructive policies from the Bloomberg Administration.