Professional Development

This week's episode features some musings on podcasting as a medium for use in the classroom as well as a behind-the-scenes look into how Professional Development is made. To hear the full episode, head over to patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week Lydia Howrilka joins us to discuss practical steps in transferring schools for the teacher looking to find a new position within the DOE before the start of next school year. Hint: don't keep hitting refresh at the Open Market site. We get into her history in the DOE (which includes some successful transfers), her work with the Solidarity Caucus of the UFT, and how she went about putting together this collection of job hunting resources: https://solidarityuft.org/?page_id=6206

Matt Driscoll, an 18-year veteran teacher, chapter leader, and at-large candidate for executive board with the UFC slate joins us this week to discuss the newest iteration of e4e's shadowy anti-union activities within the UFT. For more background on e4e, check out episode 19 of the show.
***To active UFT members: be sure to listen carefully to the part at the very beginning if you have yet to receive your ballot as of today, April 18th, 2022!***

Good news, folks; Norm is back! In this episode, we talk trends in the data from previous UFT elections and what we might glean from developments in other teachers' unions across the country, non-teachers' unions, and New York City politics in the present day.

This week, Rebecca makes another appearance on the show to discuss the overlap in endurance sports and teaching. Be sure to check out part 2 at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week I am joined by Jane Rubio, a New York City public school teacher in the Bronx and first-year chapter leader. We discuss what generally goes on at the UFT chapter leader training weekends, and more specifically what happened this past weekend when she asked Michael Mulgrew a question following his presidential address.

This week’s episode features a conversation with Sean Ahern and Daniel Alicea, two leading opponents to the mayoral control of NYC public schools from within the educator community. Sean is a recently retired NYC public school teacher organizing with the NYC Coalition to Finally End Mayoral Control (nycmayoralcontrolnot.org) and Daniel is a current public school teacher in Queens, co-host of Talk Out of School (talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com), and a Middle School Executive Board candidate running with UFC in this year’s UFT elections. We discuss the many problems with mayoral control and what our next steps are in bringing the system to an end.

This newly-unlocked former Patreon-exclusive episode is a primer on mayoral control. What does it mean that Eric Adams is in charge of schools? What did it mean for Michael Bloomberg, under whom mayoral control first took effect? For further reading/viewing on the subject:

>>https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2020/12/understanding-mayoral-control/175347/

>>https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2019/12/16/21055594/state-lawmakers-begin-examining-mayoral-control-of-nyc-schools

>>https://www.city-journal.org/de-blasio-retains-control-nyc-schools

>>https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2022/1/2/22838729/albany-2022-education-agenda-foundation-aid-cte-mental-health-vaccines-mayoral-control

>>https://www.nycmayoralcontrolnot.org/

>>https://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/archives/377-seven-years-of-mayoral-control

>>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/nyregion/new-york-school-control.html

>>https://progressive.org/public-schools-advocate/bloombergtrashedpubliced/

>>https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/education-michael-bloomberg/

>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snt7KONSelk

>>https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06

>>https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/eric-adams-press-conference/971205543?fbclid=IwAR3CIZEqXDXuhlHYL6CApC1edg1FBalTBa-Zcn8YrKe-PwquHeaDeNinxIw

>>https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/school-reform-putting-kids-first/article_e2f0ca31-3cb5-5816-9ff6-1383a70e73f5.html

>>https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/30/nyregion/report-says-city-is-paying-too-much-to-build-schools.html

This week Tyree Alexander (of episode 5 fame) stops by to take us behind the scenes on the award-winning computer science program he started at his public school in the South Bronx. We discuss the conditions that lend themselves most favorably to starting and sustaining exciting new programs at school that go above and beyond what is required of teachers but support some of students' most pressing needs. This is part 1 of a two-part episode: to hear the second part, meet us at patreon.com/professionaldevelopment

This week Norm Scott, a retired NYC DOE teacher, long-time unionist, and blogger, stops by to tell us all about Mulgrewcare, a foiled (or is it?) attempt by the UFT leadership to deprive retirees of their proper, hard-earned benefits OR balance the books after a poorly-executed contract negotiation by collecting their hard-earned money in the form of new, illegal premiums for the same coverage they have always had. We discuss the parallels between Unity's willingness to privatize healthcare and the neoliberal drive to privatize schools, most notably via the charter movement, and much more!

Read more of Norm's work at ednotesonline.com