Is Mulgrew About To Sell Us Out?

I got an email, as I am sure others have, from El presidente de por vida de UFT Mike Mulgrew thanking all for the Sandy clean up effort and stuff like that. Nice.

However, towards the end of his email he reminded us that we still have to make up days that the students were out of school. OK, we know. The rumor floating around is that the days will be made up during the February vacation.

What really got The Crack Team's knickers in a tizzy was these lines;

We will have to make that time up. We have had to do this before on several occasions. Most recently, in the early 1990s, members had to give up vacation days to make up days when schools were closed because of the asbestos crisis.

Yes Mike, we know we need to make these days up, or at least some resolution needs to come about. But that is not what we, the dues paying members of the UFT wished to hear. Certainly not this as well;

We are talking to the state Education Department and the city Department of Education about what needs to be done to be in compliance with the law.

Wrong answer as well. We need to be talking with the leaders of the State Assembly and State Senate so they, and only they, can pass a waiver freeing not only the city from making up those days, but the rest of the districts that closed for the week due to Sandy.

In fact last year, the legislature passed a bill waiving the 180 day minimum for districts affected by Hurricane Irene;

On Friday, Assembly Education Chair Cathy Nolan introduced legislation in Albany that would grant the state education commissioner authority to waive the 180-day requirement for up to 10 days for schools dealing with extreme circumstances like the storm.
The bill is nearly identical to one passed after Hurricane Irene, the Daily News reports, and can be voted on when the legislature reconvenes in January. 

But Mike, why not wait and see how this plays out before there is any negotiating. Or making statements like this which are unnecessary at this point (not that we here at SBSB love to bust Uncle Mike's balls);

 Given this mayor’s track record, we expect to have to face off against him again in the months ahead.

Or even more botarded statements such as;

We’ll be ready.

Yeah, right. You and Unity will be ready to sell us out.

This bill will and should be passed. Why? Because the parents who live in Roslyn, Scarsdale, Great Neck, Chappaqua want it passed. They all have monies invested in their vacations and don't wish to lose out. Another reason it will be passed is that if school time is made up during a vacation break the student absenteeism in the districts will be so high that no one will want to lose out on funds.

If Mike really wants to be useful, he should stay quiet, let the suburban districts take the lead, and things should work out fine.

But The Crack Team is offering you a freebie here Mike. Call for the state cancelled this year. That will give us six full days of instruction and that is not to mention the months of test prep that won't be needed freeing up more instructional time.