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The fire, should he get re-elected, would be that it’d be a grassroots group of locals who got him elected, not Mulgrew. It’s an unlikely scenario at this point but it beats more of the same. I can certainly feel your frustration as it is something the bulk of our membership is feeling.
While I understand the “lesser of two evils” vote, I am less than enthusiastic about the “new” Dick Iannuzzi. Why did he wait so long to denounce King? The sit and stare thing is good, but easy, weak, and late. And he has not withdrawn support for CCSS, only asked for more time to “get it right”. Even now, when he realizes that he has to fight for his political life, he won’t come right out and denounce Common Core. Where is our Karen Lewis, our Albert Shanker? We are in sad shape indeed if the best we can do is hold our collective noses and vote for a weasel like Iannuzzi. And we better have a pretty hot fire to hold his feet to if we expect any real change from him.
Tim…
Unfortunately we don’t have Beth Dimino as a choice (though the PJSTA is fortunate to have her as our local president). What we have is a choice between Iannuzzi, who is no longer beholden to the Mulgrew/Weingarten tandem that has been behind much of his presidency so far, or the Pallotta slate, which is Mulgrew/Weingarten’s new team of puppets. Personally, given the choices, I would take my chances on the Iannuzzi who is no longer beholden to Mulgrew and Weingarten. The Iannuzzi we have seen recently who has issued the no confidence vote in King, the one who has withdrawn support for the CCSS, and the one who has strongly spoken out against “sit and stare” policies. I’d prefer we elect him and hold his feet to the fire than elect the slate who wants to cozy up to Cuomo, Flanagan, and continue to do the bidding of Mulgrew/Weingarten.
They’re kidding with “negotiated the best APPR agreement in the country”, right? This is the same Dick Iannuzzi who has stood shoulder to shoulder with Weingarten for the last several years telling us that we all support Common Core, and that all we need is more time to “get it right”. That we only need to delay high stakes testing used for teacher evaluations for a couple years to give us more time for professional development and to give the state more time to “correctly implement the Common Core”. The same Dick Iannuzzi who accepted millions from Gates to promote the Common Core. Everything that King, Cuomo and Tisch have done to attack, degrade, and demoralize teachers in this state has been done with Dick Iannuzzi’s approval. What we truly need is new leadership, someone who actually represents real teachers. Someone like Beth Dimino. I have lost all trust in Iannuzzi.