Scandal-Plagued Adams and Mulgrew Stage a Diversion

They resolve a 100% avoidable issue created by their incompetence

Yesterday, Mayor Adams came to UFT HQ at 52 Broadway to make what he labeled an “education-related announcement.” Maybe this would be a major improvement. Lord knows we’re due for one. It’s been a long year, and it’s not even over yet.

What could it be? There’s that class size regulation, with more holes in it than Swiss Cheese. Are they going to actually find enough space for kids to learn in a reasonable class setting? Or are they going to allow exceptions for this, that, whatever, and let the process drag on for even more years?

Special education complaints are through the roof. NYC’s been ruled out of compliance with court orders. Maybe Mulgrew and Adams have finally worked out a way to review the complaints and fix them. After all, special education students are among the neediest in the city. And the city’s been in corrective action for 18 years already. Doubtless Mulgrew will say it’s the city’s fault. Adams will blame previous mayors, I suppose (or whatever seems swaggery). The buck stops nowhere.

Illustrative math, a program that’s been foisted upon high school teachers and students, doesn’t seem to be working out. Teachers are calling it a “complete disaster.” Students aren’t getting it, aren’t passing tests, and teachers appear to be tied to scripted lessons. As far as I can determine, that’s a violation of Article 8 of our contract, which states that lesson planning is under the purview of teachers. What has Mulgrew had to say about that?

HMH, a program in elementary schools, has resulted in great micromanagement with questionable impact. Teachers tell me they’re twisting themselves into pretzels to meet the mandates of this program. I hear they’re reading short passages, sometimes for an entire week. How tedious is that? Entire books seem not to be a thing. I don’t know about you, but I cultivated a love of reading by tackling whole books, not isolated passages. Why can’t we select or create our own reading materials? Aren’t we best able to convey a love of reading when sharing things we love to read?

Teachers are bogged down in an observation process that’s frequently demoralizing and punitive. Our system is riddled with crazy supervisors whose talents would be better utilized as schoolyard bullies. When conflicts arise, principals call “legal,” a group of lawyers who seem unfamiliar with the contract. They largely direct principals to do whatever they golly gosh darn please. Our grievance process drags on interminably, with Bloomberg leftovers denying virtually everything at Step Two, merits be damned. Could they be getting rid of those Bloomberg hires?

Maybe they’re going to empower teachers, instead of just talking about it. Could they be ready, finally, to give up scripted lessons altogether? Teacher voice is a very real thing. Are Mulgrew and Adams going to to acknowledge that at last? I mean, if they aren’t, why don’t they just hire teenagers to read the scripted lessons, and have tests graded on computers? And if we’re not aiming to raise the human spirit, why not cut out students entirely, close the schools, and have computers write and take their own tests?

Or wait—could it be? Are they actually going to scrap their dumpster fire of demeaning our health care? Have Mulgrew and Adams at last got a grip on fundamental economics? Have they concluded that a 10% cheaper version of in-service health care can’t possibly be as good as what we have now? Have they realized that it’s already tough to find doctors on Emblem/ GHI?

Have they finally decided not to dump retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan? Have Mulgrew and Adams agreed to stop blaming one another and instead respect the needs of retirees? Will NYC Retirees no longer need to defend the decisions of multiple courts? Have they decided to rescind the upcoming Mulgrew Tax?

Of course, they came together to announce none of the above. Instead, they finally agreed to close schools on Monday, December 23, thus correcting an error neither of them should have made in the first place. I wrote about this back in August. Unity had boasted about having negotiated three years of calendars. Another brilliant victory!

Despite this great achievement, they didn’t bother to avoid a mistake they’d made before, most recently in 2019. Back then, the late James Eterno predicted it would recur, and both Mulgrew and Adams proved him right.

Yesterday, in a joint announcement with Mayor Adams (largely painful to watch except for the student who identified the issue), Mulgrew praised student voice. I found this curious from the man who just iced out rank and file almost without a trace from the UFT Delegate Assembly. (Hopefully, twenty years ago when he was in a classroom, he treated students better than he treats us.)

Mulgrew’s Very Smart People could have fixed this when they negotiated the calendar. Alternatively, they could’ve written into the contract that schools would close on 12/23, if it occurred on a Monday. That would have been a long-term fix. They did neither.

Instead, Unity and the DOE ignored this predictable, obvious problem, yet again, waited until a seventh grader started a petition, and hoped for the best. But hey, it gave Mulgrew and Adams a chance to stand up on a stage and tell how much they value the students. Sure you do, guys. That’s why class sizes have not come down in over half a century. That’s why you make it tedious all the way to terrifying for their teachers to do their jobs

Regardless, make sure you don’t think about the scandals swirling around Adams, let alone any of the other issues cited above. They’re not going to be resolved any time soon. None can be corrected with a simple announcement.

Mayor Adams and Boss Mulgrew would like you to focus on 12/23, and 12/23 alone. Their vision is we forget about all the above issues, and focus solely on this, what they deem a great victory. They succeeded in correcting the avoidable and predictable screw-up they themselves created. Because leadership.

Just not the kind of leadership any thinking person wants or needs.

Next year, let’s make sure we dump them both. Otherwise, the next screw-up will be on us.