What am I doing here? A friend, Kit Frieden, recommended your newsletter, and I’ve been reading it and felt moved to comment on this point. I actually agree with much of what you’ve written. No clue what you meant by “getting paid.” Happy to continue conversation offline Michael dot urbanist at gmail
So disingenuous, Jim. You’ve been around Miles long enough to know how vindictive and petty he is.
“For the children,” right?
Or did you forget his recent attempt to forbid district employees from “liking” anything even slightly negative about HISD on social media? That was only reversed by a potential lawsuit.
I can tell you that my students in DISD had grievances - in fact, they had a petition going around - about my not being able to teach them the following year, when Miles eliminated my position by fudging/lying about enrollment projections.
FMM likes to bolster his pet projects even beyond whatever extra budget & staffing he has been allotted through proper channels/the Board.
Mike Miles took around half a dozen teaching positions from our campus so that he’d be able to add more faculty to his “Imagine 2020” initiative - which flat-out failed.
Our campus was not affluent or overflowing with resources. Enrollment was definitely increasing the following year. I verified this with district admin, and at one point, had a local reporter go through the PEIMS data (verified that enrollment was up.)
My kids weren’t part of Miles’ little showcase du jour, so he simply STOLE THEIR TEACHERS - no one would stop him.
“union protections?” Texas teachers are forbidden by law from collectively bargaining. Read more.
TENURE! LOL - What world are you living in, Yale?
“Teachers’ status quo” what? Miles’ crap strategies are well over a decade old, & they weren’t proven to work back then. They’re fairly standard corporate charter chain fare, made more formulaic and rigid. Very status quo, one-size-for-all.
Is the HISD union contract public, and/or any relevant documents related to discipline for employees? I'd love to hear what it has to say on protections for speech and criticism.
I’m well aware that there are branches of what, in 45 of 50 states, are actual teachers’ unions.
Texas teachers can join association versions of these organizations. State law forbids us from collectively bargaining through the unions, so they aren’t unions in the full sense of the word.
As for “my own,” I don’t bother joining anymore. They’re toothless, as I found out firsthand when Miles came to Dallas.
But you know all of this, and play the same games as Corey DeAngelis and other members of thr Betsy DeVos set.
most join these branches to gain access to things like liability insurance. My exwife joined in Virginia for that reason alone
"play the same games as Corey DeAngelis and other members of thr Betsy DeVos set." sounds like you've been thoroughly indoctrinated by the teachers' unions even though you aren't a member. what abut DeAngelis and DeVos do you not like
Is that supposed to be a joke? “indoctrinated by the ‘union’” - the one I can’t join - because I am against DeVos and her uncivilized minion? You must live on another planet.
Do you even know any teachers or people with kids in public school?
Betsy DeVos is a billionaire who uses her family wealth to push for heavily Christian education, would love to see public education dismantled, public education money available for profiteers and Christian Nationalists. She and her insanely shady brother Erik Prince are a threat to this country.
Corey DeAngelis is a lobbyist and propagandist who unrepentantly portrays teachers as “the problem,” while scrambling for public money, despite his supposed libertarian values. The man lacks ethics, and considers this all a game.
Yeah well, the rest of the world not living and dying with the intricacies of TX Ed Code chapter 21 provisions tends consider anything other than "at-will" or "probationary" as pretty darned solid -- "continuing" if it suits you better than "tenured".
The complaint records Jim has attempted to obtain via Open Records Request (that the district will redact under condition that he accept their copies instead of taking cell phone snapshots during "inspection" in which case the complainers' names will NOT be among info redacted) kind of subvert the protections the media has offered those who gripe to the paper anonymously. Put their names on the line to be terminated -- insulted with ugly names, worked over with a rubber hose, whatever -- in a formal complaint but keep the name secret when gossiping to a journalist? This sort of disconnect is good evidence that teachers are not among the most logically consistent operatives in the system.
I wasn’t aware that teachers still have continuing contracts in Texas.
You have such odd concerns about the teaching profession, as if you get all your information 3rd hand.
What’s the rest of this reply supposed to be, complaint that you and Jim Schutze can’t out every teacher who has a complaint?
Then you wrap it up with a false assertion of “evidence” to insult teachers’ logical consistency. Don’t you have any way to dismiss all members of a mostly-female profession that doesn’t fall into misogynistic cliché?
The last paragraph in the Chron story was very ironic. When a child in the Learning Center (formerly the library) finishes her work, she grabs a book and reads. So, there must be at least one spare book floating around the room.
“I personally like how the (learning coaches) can check our work and see if we're correct or not,” Guadalupe said. “And it's like, really, really quiet, so then when we're done, we can grab a book and read.”
Reading that Chron story this morning was more of a shock than a double large espresso. I really think you have had an impact. The other side got heard!
Kudos to Menchaca, who I am sure will get flooded with static from the unions and patronage machine. I hope she sticks with the story over the course of the year.
Teachers requested anonymity for the obvious reason that they feared retribution. Students and parents don’t face that threat, as you know.
Autoworkers speak on the record about their employers. Cops talk by name. Nurses talk. And, Mike, what are you doing here? Getting paid?
Sorry, Mike. I still struggle with BPS (bad personality syndrome).
What am I doing here? A friend, Kit Frieden, recommended your newsletter, and I’ve been reading it and felt moved to comment on this point. I actually agree with much of what you’ve written. No clue what you meant by “getting paid.” Happy to continue conversation offline Michael dot urbanist at gmail
Sorry
So disingenuous, Jim. You’ve been around Miles long enough to know how vindictive and petty he is.
“For the children,” right?
Or did you forget his recent attempt to forbid district employees from “liking” anything even slightly negative about HISD on social media? That was only reversed by a potential lawsuit.
But you speak only of the grievances of adults.
That was the topic being discussed.
Wow, did they send you away to corporate edu “reform” re-education camp? I see your “adults vs children” talking point deployment, lol.
I’ve been trying to get you to speak of the grievances of students since 2012! Are you finally ready? let’s goooo!!
"the grievances of students " maybe you could inform the rest of us what those grievances are?
I can tell you that my students in DISD had grievances - in fact, they had a petition going around - about my not being able to teach them the following year, when Miles eliminated my position by fudging/lying about enrollment projections.
FMM likes to bolster his pet projects even beyond whatever extra budget & staffing he has been allotted through proper channels/the Board.
Mike Miles took around half a dozen teaching positions from our campus so that he’d be able to add more faculty to his “Imagine 2020” initiative - which flat-out failed.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2015/07/07/dallas-isd-s-imagine-2020-effort-fails-to-prop-up-troubled-schools/?outputType=amp
Our campus was not affluent or overflowing with resources. Enrollment was definitely increasing the following year. I verified this with district admin, and at one point, had a local reporter go through the PEIMS data (verified that enrollment was up.)
My kids weren’t part of Miles’ little showcase du jour, so he simply STOLE THEIR TEACHERS - no one would stop him.
To reprise a theme I will ask: "What kind of retribution do 'they' fear? Beatings with rubber hoses"?
Maybe 'they' fear being called ugly names, like bigots? Sophists? Boomer, Groomer, Rubber roomer, got no humor, brain's a tumor...
Oh, surely not. So given union protections and in many cases tenure, what does a spokesperson for the teachers' status quo ante have to fear?
“union protections?” Texas teachers are forbidden by law from collectively bargaining. Read more.
TENURE! LOL - What world are you living in, Yale?
“Teachers’ status quo” what? Miles’ crap strategies are well over a decade old, & they weren’t proven to work back then. They’re fairly standard corporate charter chain fare, made more formulaic and rigid. Very status quo, one-size-for-all.
finally, to your other ignorant, snide comments:
https://twitter.com/krislytle/status/1698725009114497255
Please see your own union's recent litigation against HISD in which it refers to itself multiple times as a union.
Is the HISD union contract public, and/or any relevant documents related to discipline for employees? I'd love to hear what it has to say on protections for speech and criticism.
I’m well aware that there are branches of what, in 45 of 50 states, are actual teachers’ unions.
Texas teachers can join association versions of these organizations. State law forbids us from collectively bargaining through the unions, so they aren’t unions in the full sense of the word.
As for “my own,” I don’t bother joining anymore. They’re toothless, as I found out firsthand when Miles came to Dallas.
But you know all of this, and play the same games as Corey DeAngelis and other members of thr Betsy DeVos set.
most join these branches to gain access to things like liability insurance. My exwife joined in Virginia for that reason alone
"play the same games as Corey DeAngelis and other members of thr Betsy DeVos set." sounds like you've been thoroughly indoctrinated by the teachers' unions even though you aren't a member. what abut DeAngelis and DeVos do you not like
Is that supposed to be a joke? “indoctrinated by the ‘union’” - the one I can’t join - because I am against DeVos and her uncivilized minion? You must live on another planet.
Do you even know any teachers or people with kids in public school?
Betsy DeVos is a billionaire who uses her family wealth to push for heavily Christian education, would love to see public education dismantled, public education money available for profiteers and Christian Nationalists. She and her insanely shady brother Erik Prince are a threat to this country.
Corey DeAngelis is a lobbyist and propagandist who unrepentantly portrays teachers as “the problem,” while scrambling for public money, despite his supposed libertarian values. The man lacks ethics, and considers this all a game.
Yeah well, the rest of the world not living and dying with the intricacies of TX Ed Code chapter 21 provisions tends consider anything other than "at-will" or "probationary" as pretty darned solid -- "continuing" if it suits you better than "tenured".
The complaint records Jim has attempted to obtain via Open Records Request (that the district will redact under condition that he accept their copies instead of taking cell phone snapshots during "inspection" in which case the complainers' names will NOT be among info redacted) kind of subvert the protections the media has offered those who gripe to the paper anonymously. Put their names on the line to be terminated -- insulted with ugly names, worked over with a rubber hose, whatever -- in a formal complaint but keep the name secret when gossiping to a journalist? This sort of disconnect is good evidence that teachers are not among the most logically consistent operatives in the system.
I wasn’t aware that teachers still have continuing contracts in Texas.
You have such odd concerns about the teaching profession, as if you get all your information 3rd hand.
What’s the rest of this reply supposed to be, complaint that you and Jim Schutze can’t out every teacher who has a complaint?
Then you wrap it up with a false assertion of “evidence” to insult teachers’ logical consistency. Don’t you have any way to dismiss all members of a mostly-female profession that doesn’t fall into misogynistic cliché?
I was concerned that he might be indulging in some cleverly disguised bigotry against short people.
The last paragraph in the Chron story was very ironic. When a child in the Learning Center (formerly the library) finishes her work, she grabs a book and reads. So, there must be at least one spare book floating around the room.
“I personally like how the (learning coaches) can check our work and see if we're correct or not,” Guadalupe said. “And it's like, really, really quiet, so then when we're done, we can grab a book and read.”
Reading that Chron story this morning was more of a shock than a double large espresso. I really think you have had an impact. The other side got heard!
Kudos to Menchaca, who I am sure will get flooded with static from the unions and patronage machine. I hope she sticks with the story over the course of the year.
Her story about 24 people amongst a district of tens of thousands? *shrug*