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normsco@gmail.comhttp://ednotesonline.blogspot.com917-992-3734NormanScott,EditorPublishingsince1996Dec.2009
HistoricalPerspectiveofEducationNotes
I began publishing Education Notes in 1996 at Delegate Assemblies because I was frustrated at the processthat allowed the chair, usually the UFT president, almost total domination of the procedures. If you wanted to
get the oor to make a resolution they had total control over who got to speak and if you were too outspokenon issues not liked by the leadership, you could easily get shut out. By distributing Ed Notes before meetings,
I got to say my piece, whether I was called on or not. Ed Notes grew in size from one sheet to a 10-14-page
booklet and then in 2002 when I retired, it became a full-sized 16-page tabloid published 4 times a year.
Having come out of the oppositionmovement to Unity Caucus in the 70’s(I was mostly inactive in the union fromthe mid-80’s through the early 90’s) Ibecame active again when I replaced aUnity Caucus chapter leader in 1994 at
my elementary school, which had a “my
way or the high way” principal for over
15 years and we had butted heads allthe time. My becoming chapter leader
freaked her out and I began publishing aschool newsletter, often once a week. Thatfreaked her out even more and I began tounderstand the power of the press, even atthe most local level.I took a look at the opposition groupsand didn’t nd much that appealed to me.
New Action was the major opposition
caucus and was fairly ineffective though
it did win support in the high schools by
winning the 6 high school Exec Bd seatson a regular basis. Six out of 89 gavethem little leverage and after leading thesuccessful battle against the rst 1995
contract to be rejected by the membership,
they started fading. PAC, a smaller
opposition group was totally focused onthe teachers who were losing their licenses
when they didn’t pass the teacher exams.Teachers for a Just Contract took positions
I agreed with, but I thought they focusedtoo much on a narrow range of issues.
I would attend UFT Exec Board meetings
and was so frustrated at the way NewAction would deal with Unity, so often
cowed into submission. There didn’t seemto be enough ght in them, though a fewlike Marvin Markman and James Eternowere at times effective. But New Action
leader Michael Shulman was the dominantplayer and so often seemed to throw a
blanket over the Caucus.Thus I gured the only way to create
some change in the union was to appeal
to what I felt had to be a progressive
wing of Unity. At that time, Randi
Weingarten was about to take over the
union and presented herself as leading that
progressive force. She reached out to me,
claiming she agreed with me on so manyissues, sometimes through late night emailexchanges. Her people whispered that she
was going to make changes in the unionto democratize it and even make changedto liberalize Unity. But absolute power ---you know the drill.By 2001, it was becoming clear that Randi
was not only not liberalizing the union,
but also making it more undemocratic thanever. As a small example, the new motionperiod ever since I became a delegate in1971, took place immediately after thequestion period. Suddenly, if Randi didn’tlike a resolution I was proposing, she
either eliminated the time altogether orpushed it to the end of the meeting. Shebecame more and more of a demagogue.
In 2001, I became increasingly restive as
she started supporting merit pay schemesand mayoral control, and I becameincreasingly critical of her and Unity
Caucus, seeing that whatever progressive
wing there might be (and I had plenty of
conversations with people who came off that way) was cowed by Unity Caucus
discipline. It became clear that the caucus
was like a black hole. Once you went inyou never came out.Many of the positions Ed Notes took inthe late 90’s - opposition to high stakes
testing and the ridiculous accountabilityit engendered, unbridled principal power,drastic reductions in class size, support for
chapter leaders under attack, a strongergrievance procedure, total opposition to
merit pay, a broader curriculum not basedon standardized tests began to attractsome of the few independent delegates not
afliated with the other opposition groups.People like Michael Fiorillo.
TheNewActionSellout
For activists in the union, the dirty deals
made between Randi and New Action
Caucus in 2003 whereby they wouldn’t
run a presidential candidate against her
in the 2004 elections and she wouldn’trun Unity Caucus candidates against their6 high school Ex Bd candidates was aseminal event. Dissidents in New Action
who opposed the deal contacted me. James
and Camille Eterno, Ellen Fox and Lisa
North. They were outraged at the sell-
out, especially over the fact that all of a
sudden, New Action members were on theunion payroll.
Eterno, who had been serving as a NewAction Ex Bd member for years, turned
down that guaranteed opportunity. Wecalled a meeting of the New Actiondissidents and the independents I had beenmeeting through Ed Notes. Incredibly
impressive people like John Lawhead(now chapter leader of Tilden HS), Sean
Ahern, Jeff Kaufman and Julie Woodward.Added to that were some of the people
who I had been active with in the 70’s:Loretta and Gene Prisco, Paul Baizermanand Vera Pavone.
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