The Offical Website of the PJSTA

Posted on January 19, 2014 by thepjsta

More on Andy Pallotta

We told you earlier of this week of the war brewing inside of NYSUT between NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi and Executive Vice-President Andy Pallotta, who is believed to be backed by UFT President Michael Mulgrew. This morning we have a few more layers of intrigue to add. In response to things posted on the Revive NYSUT Facebook page (and subsequently removed), Iannuzzi was quoted on the Revive NYSUT Slate Lies page (Yes, there is a “Revive NYSUT” and a “Revive NYSUT Slate Lies”).

Via Revive NYSUT Lies…

BREAKING: Dick Iannuzzi responds to lies posted on Revive NYSUT

Carla McLaud, at large nysut director, called Dick directly to seek the truth regarding the NYSUT table at Cuomo’s fundraiser. Dick asked to be quoted on the misinformation being posted on Revive NYSUT.

“This is a lie. Either the writer or his source is lying. Andy authorized the table without consultation with the officers or the approval of the V/C committee. In fact, as of Friday, a request still has not been forwarded to the V/C Committee. For this reason I have frozen all contributions over $5000 to statewide parties or candidates without prior approval. This lack of judgment is why officers that provide a variety of views and insights (not 4 hand picked by one officer) is the checks and balance needed at NYSUT. This is not micro-managing, it’s good common sense. Had this come to the five officers, I am confident Maria, Lee, Kathleen and I would have opposed a $10000 contribution to Cuomo’s reelection fund.”

Richard Iannuzzi, NYSUT President

In addition we came across the memo below, distrbuted by Pallotta. A memo with plans that Iannuzzi apparently didn’t have knowledge of…

MEMORANDUM

TO: NYSUT Board of Directors

FROM: Andy Pallotta, Executive Vice President

DATE: January 15, 2014

RE: NYSUT’s Legislative Reception

On Monday evening, January 27, 2014, NYSUT will host a Legislative Reception and briefing in the Observation Deck of the Erastus Corning Tower at the Empire State Plaza. The reception will be held between6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

The Governor and his executive staff, members and the executive staff of the Senate and Assembly will be our invited guests.

Light refreshments will be served and a cash bar will be available.

A copy of the invitation is attached. If you are interested and your schedule allows, please RSVP to Karen Rhatigan at (518) 213-6000 x6626 or by e-mail, krhatigan@nysutmail.org.

On Saturday evening PJSTA President Beth Dimino delivered the following message to the members of the PJSTA…

For the record, the PJSTA will NOT endorse a slate of NYSUT Officers, led by Andy Pallotta, that endorse and use our vote cope money to pad Cuomo’s war chest! The PJSTA is leading the charge against this heinous act and will support individuals that oppose Pallotta and Cuomo!

Beth Dimino, President PJSTA

1 Comment

Posted on January 17, 2014 by thepjsta

Burgeoning NYSUT Civil War

Those of you who monitor your statewide union via Twitter will have noticed a flurry of activity this week that is sure to continue until the elections at the NYSUT RA in April. It began Tuesday evening with the creation of the @ReviveNYSUT Twitter account. Originally and anonymously dubbing themselves a “grassroots” group seeking change within out parent union, they were later revealed to be led by current Executive Vice-President Andy Pallotta (who has been largely ineffective in regards to his role as director of legislative action… see Tax Cap, Tier V, Tier VI, etc.). Pallotta, frustrated with NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi’s resistance to allowing Pallotta to have unlimited access to Vote Cope funds, apparently cobbled together a slate to run against the current NYSUT leadership. To add gasoline to the fire it has been revealed that Pallotta used $10,000 in Vote Cope funds to purchase a table at King Andy Cuomo’s birthday bash. In addition to the expected Pallotta and Ianuzzi, members of the slate Pallotta is running against Iannuzzi also attended. They include Karen Magee (President of the Harrison Teachers) who is running against Iannuzzi for NYSUT President. The $10,000 paid for the table went to “Cuomo 2014”. There has been some discussion that Pallotta’s slate would seek a Cuomo endorsement, or at the very least contribute further Vote Cope funds to Cuomo 2014 should they win.

This situation reminded me of Pallotta’s trip to the PJSTA’s Union Conference Day a couple of years back (2012 I believe?). When a PJSTA member questioned whether he could be assured that NYSUT would not endorse Cuomo for re-election in 2014 Pallotta was non-committal. That exchange may very well prove to be prophetic.

In a separate, but possibly related story, at the UFT Delegate Assembly on Wednesday evening, the UFT’s Unity Caucus voted down a motion “that the UFT not endorse Cuomo’s reelection nor provide him with any COPE money.” (Thanks to James Eterno for making the motion and blogging about it on the ICEUFT Blog. Reality-Based Educator chimes in with “Why The UFT Will Probably Back Cuomo“) Where this connects to Pallotta is that he is a former UFT member who was, in essence, tapped by UFT leadership to take the NYSUT Executive Vice-President position (traditionally this has always been held by a UFT member, dating back to Albert Shanker). Additionally in the profile of their @ReviveNYSUT Twitter account, they are now admitting who they are and that they are “Unity Caucus members.”

It is a twisted and tangled story that is only getting started. Norm Scott of Ed Notes Online does a much better job than I do of explaining it so be sure to head on over to his blog to read about it. Mike Antonucci wonders about Revive NYSUT’s viability here.

PJSTA President In Radio Interview

This morning PJSTA President Beth Dimino was on the Chuck Morse Radio Show fighting out against the Common Core. Click here to listen. Dimino’s part begins at 51:35.

MORE than a Test Score!

Our friends from the MORE Caucus of the UFT will be hosting a forum on standardized testing on Saturday, February 1st in Manhattan. Rob Pearl and I will be headed in to represent the PJSTA. We’d be happy to have any other PJSTA members join us.

Here are the details via MORE’s Facebook page…

Find out how you can stop the overuse of High Stakes Testing in your school, and join the citywide effort to focus on real teaching and learning.

Panel and workshops will discuss:

What are the effects of high stakes testing on students, teachers and school communities?

What are solid alternatives to standardized testing that already exist?

How can we be active in the fight for a better educational system for ALL students?

Hear and speak to educators and students from schools where standardized tests are not used to make major decisions. There’s overwhelming evidence to support that collaboration trumps competition when it comes to bringing out the best in all of our students.
Together we can stop the corporate standardization of education and create a responsive educational system that serves the needs of our young people and communities.

11:00-11:15- Welcome and Introductions!

11:15-11:45- Key Note Speakers

11:55-12:55- Workshops Round 1 (Diverse range of workshops for everyone)
* Portfolio Based Assessments (Middle/High School): Presented by educators from a Consortium High School (Non-regents based public high school)
* High Stakes Testing 101: The Truth About Testing- Presented by Change the Stakes
* Why the UFT should fight “Advance”: Presented by MORE’s Contract Committee
* High Stakes Testing and Zero Tolerance Policies- Promoting Restorative Justice
in our schools: Teacher’s Unite
* Building Student Voice and Empowerment: NYC Student Union: Building Student Unions on your own campus. Let’s build a network of collaboration for collective action to have our educational demands met.
* Portfolio Based Assessments in Elementary Schools- Presented by elementary school educators in the current progressive network

1:00-2:00- GET PLUGGED IN! Round 2 (Great place for people who are already plugged in to different community based groups and for those who are looking to learn more about how to get actively informed.)
* MORE- Movement of Rank and File Educators:
* Change the Stakes
* NYC Student Union
* Teachers

2:00-2:30- Endnote Speakers and Closing

2:30-3:00- Mingle and Meet- bake sale and connect at the water cooler

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!
*Workshop organizers subject to change depending on demand.

Change the Stakes http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/
Movement of Rank and File Educators http://morecaucusnyc.org/
Teacher’s Unite http://www.teachersunite.net/

Tuesday Notes & Links

A few things you may be interested in…

Reality Based Educator comments on Empress Merryl Tisch’s refusal to back her puppet Ed Commish John King.

While he attempts to escape “Bridgegate” and now an investigation into how he misused Hurricane Sandy relief funds, Chris Christie is “screwing teachers, students, and schools.”

The Gates Foundation is threatening to pull back $40 million if Pittsburgh’s teachers don’t surrender to a junk science APPR plan.

Finally, this story has been kicking around for a few days, but we hadn’t mentioned it yet here. From the same people (NYSED) who brought you a phone sex line this fall, now bring you to the “Sexy Bitch” quiz in order to “make test prep fun”. Via the Washington Post…

Student resources that are linked to vulgar and offensive Materials

Anna Shah is the mother of a kindergarten student. While looking on the Engage NY site for materials on the Common Core, she encountered highly offensive materials on the Student Services Page. The NYSED link called “Make test prep fun,” took the student to a site with quizzes to determine if they are a “sexy bitch”, “evil”, “freak” etc. The site also included racist and homophobic slurs. Some quizzes were supposed to determine if “you were a true Mexican,” a “slut,” or gay. Ms. Shah immediately notified the department and they took the site down. Apparently the link had been up since October 2012. Prior to its removal, I took screen shots of some of the pages,which you can see here. Please be warned, it contains offensive language.