Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Times Union, Neira, and me

Tena Tyler's Times Union Blog featured a December 23rd piece written by Maria Neira. Out of all NYSUT leaders, she is who I admire most. But even she leaves some very important things unsaid. Here is her very prudent and accurate point of view.



My response, sent this morning as commentary to tucommentary@timesunion.com ...I just had too much to say to pack into a mere 200 words, and figured if Neira got all those words-maybe a pointed response would get equal time. I am not opposing Neira. After all. she is one of the few I can point to and say "YES! Finally someone with the guts in NYSUT to say exactly what and who the problems are...not namby-pamby funding and testing issues. I mean, Christ, this is a TEACHERS union, not a politicians union.

So here's how I sent it first time:

"Time to pause..." (Dec. 23rd The Observation Deck blog entry) featured commentary from NYSUT VP Maria Neira regarding the lack of careful planning in the implementation of the education reform agenda. I am proud of Ms.Neira's willingness to repeatedly take Commissioner King to task on the policies he has been appointed to promote and defend, but blame for hasty implementation extends beyond King and Chancellor Tisch. 
     The reform  juggernaut was predictable for any thinking person who has paid attention to politics post "plausible deniability" and failed "trickle down". As soon as "shared sacrifice" became the suggested cure for the ravages of the private investment casino expecting access and entitlement  to public dollars, you had to know that the gamblers themselves weren't interested in sacrificing, and sure enough: public servants including the police, firefighters, and public schools became the scapegoats. The narrative that followed the huge bailouts and bonuses for the few targeted the public's resources-and "education reform" was carefully framed to place blame for the dire economic conditions and joblessness on public schools (e.g., they cost too much, teachers' salaries and pensions are too great a burden, they are the reason you all don't have jobs and make more money...especially if those teachers belong to a union...).
     Despite federal imposition into state education policy, and a governor clearly willing to use a heavy critical hand early on (although he has more recently begun a cautious political backpedal in the face of public concerns), NYSUT signed its members on to the teacher evaluation agreement in February of 2012. An offensive had been clearly launched, an agreement was coerced to attain desperately needed funds (much of which was diverted to the very evaluation structures themselves), now schools and teachers are left on the defensive. A just defense, with plenty of evidence demonstrating the special interests and destructive political, social and economic agendas driving reform from the beginning, but still defense. Giving up ten yards with the promise you might fight back for five is not playing smart ball.

     It is time to play a smart offense. It is time to stop backing political candidates that may put a capital "D" next to their names, but will do us no good. And it is time to take our sights off of spokespeople like King, Tisch and the Regents who are appointed-and move on to those who appoint, inform, and direct them. These "appointed" folks are merely the Charlie McCarthy, empty of their own philosophy or goals. We need to be targeting and exposing the agendas of the Edgar Bergens who have their hands stuffed up their backsides-giving them all the silly stuff they have to say.


The response came soon-I opened it after a pre-dawn run to urgent care with a Christmas Eve morning ear-infected child. Fingers crossed for a happy Christmas!


Tyler, Tena <ttyler@timesunion.com>
7:29 AM (2 hours ago)
to me
Thank you for writing. This won’t be published as a commentary, which means its only route to publication is as a letter to the editor. As a letter, it’s too long. We ask that letters be closer to 200 words to ensure a variety of voices and issues are heard. If you’d like to trim and resubmit, I’ll consider it. Tena Tyler


Senior Editor / News and Information Services

Ouch. I have a lot of opinion to fit into a brief 200 words. How to do it? Well, I tried. Here's what I came up with. I do appreciate Tena for reading and responding before 7:30 AM. She clearly cares about what she does.

So here is what I did and resubmitted:

Done, and thank you. What would make writing more likely to be considered "commentary"?

I am proud of Ms.Neira's willingness to repeatedly take Commissioner King to task on the policies he has been appointed to promote and defend, but blame for hasty implementation extends beyond King and Chancellor Tisch. Despite federal imposition into state education policy, and a governor clearly willing to use a heavy critical hand early on (although he has more recently begun a cautious political backpedal in the face of public concerns), NYSUT signed its members on to the teacher evaluation agreement in February of 2012. 
     It is time to play a smart offense. It is time to stop backing political candidates that may put a capital "D" next to their names, but will do us no good. And it is time to take our sights off of spokespeople like King, Tisch and the Regents who are appointed-and move on to those who appoint, inform, and direct them. These "appointed" folks are merely the Charlie McCarthy, empty of their own philosophy or goals. We need to be targeting and exposing the agendas of the Edgar Bergens who have their hands stuffed up their backsides-giving them all the silly stuff they have to say.

Just checked my re-send, and got an auto-reply. Ms. Tyler is out until the 6th. Do you think the "hands stuffed up their backsides" was too much? I don't always adhere to rules of formality... 

Also, I'm not sure I like Blogger and what it's doing to me. Any suggestions?

2 comments:

  1. http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/nysut-agreed-to-rating-teachers/27076/

    a link to what was published...I took out "...hands stuffed up their butts (changed from what I really wanted to say)", changed "butts" to "backsides"...and they totally sterilize the whole thing. Man, unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/nysut-agreed-to-rating-teachers/27076/

    a link to what was published...I took out "...hands stuffed up their butts (changed from what I really wanted to say)", changed "butts" to "backsides"...and they totally sterilize the whole thing. Man, unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete

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