I have said it time and time again. If a principal were caught in the act murdering someone, and smoke still coming out of the barrel, with a sizeable blood splatter, nothing would happen to that principal. Well nothing negative at least. 

That principal would be "promoted" to a nice cushy office job at Tweed, be given a raise, and other perks. There wouldn't even be 3020a charges. It would be swept under the rug, never to be spoken of again.

Yet if a teacher were to fart the wrong way, that teacher would be summarily sent to the Rubber Room and brought up on 3020a charges. Then have more inane charges added and face the whims of an "impartial" arbitrator of whether or not they would keep their job. What gives? 

In today's Post it was reported that...

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, who was removed as principal of Maspeth High School last July, won’t return to any city school as a principal, according to a settlement of misconduct charges. But he can stay on the Department of Education payroll for another seven years.

Under Abdul-Mutakabbir, Maspeth HS created fake classes, awarded credits to failing students, and fixed grades to push kids out the door, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools found..

In fact, read the SCI report here. It's really more perverse. But it is easy to ruminate over how yet another NYCDOE principal escaped the clutches of accountability or how there are two sets of rules; one for teachers and one for administrators. That's not my beef for today.

My beef today is the silence coming from Mike Mulgrew. The man who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. 

I have written this blog since August 29, 2008. I have written about teachers being charged and/or losing their jobs nearly fourteen years. There are teachers who have been accused of doing one tenth of what the principal of Maspeth HS has done only to find themselves at the risk of losing their jobs. 

Where is the outrage from Mulgrew how the members he represents are the sacrificial lambs of the DOE? Where are Mulgrew's words denouncing how Principal Abdul-Mutakabbir's grifting and possibly criminal behavior? Where is the defense of teachers as Abdul-Mutakabbir  gets rewarded while teachers all over the city have suffered for years with such inane 3020a charges? Never once does Mulgrew come out and say, "THIS IS ENOUGH!!!" NOT ONCE! Nor will Mulgrew ever. Mulgrew does not get our plight. Our hurt. Our suffering.

Look through these pages. How many corrupt and incompetent administrators have graced these pages? One of my favorites, Greg Papadopoulos former AP at the former IS 162 in the Bronx. Greg stole time. He did programming at home and his pal, Principal Marilyn Manzolillo signed off on his time sheets and he was rewarded with comp time. Former District 7 superintendent Yolanda Torres gave him a letter to file. And remember this. Yolanda for her incompetence of running District 7 was rewarded with a cushy Tweed gig.

Burt back to Mulgrew. This is his problem. His tone deafness. His lack of connection to the rank and file. It's as if Mulgrew is in this so called gilded tower of his on 52 Broadway or somewhere in Staten Island as he looks down upon us and literally sees what he can get away with not doing. 

How difficult for Mulgrew--at the very least--to come out with a press release denouncing the how teachers are unjustly facing discipline versus administrators. Better would be to get in front of the cameras and show some emotion!

I think the real reason why Mulgrew keeps his mouth shut is even more deviant. Years ago, I think it was 2007, Leroy Barr stopped by when I was in the Rubber Room. I asked him point blank why the UFT is silent as administrators continue to harass teachers. His answer?

"They are fellow union members. We can't go after them." I wonder if CSA Mark Cannizzaro ever reciprocated with his members?

JOE NAMATH IS A SELLOUT!!!!

 I haven't really been paying too much attention to the change over, as well as the fight over, the switch for retirees from Medicare to the new Medicare Advantage. I've basically reduced myself to reading both James Eterno's blog and Norm Scott's blog for great information. I'm also getting some information from my step-mom who is a retired CSA member. She's not craxy about my proclivity for rabble rousing so she doesn't share much with me. 

Heck, this is going to effect me in 6 1/2 years, and I should pay more attention. From what I have read I don't like the co-payments, the referrals, and more importantly the "Trust us, it's going to be great" rhetoric coming from Mulgrew. But one thing really is bugging me.

What's the rush to sign everyone up by October 31? 

To the best of my recollection, the deal was done around July, maybe a little sooner (Please correct me if I'm incorrect). As far as I can tell, retirees are going into this blindly. They don't know which doctors, which hospitals or any other providers will be available. All they get is: "Trust us, it's going to be great."

Which brings me to two personal stories. In 1995 when I started with the DOE, I signed up with Physician Health Services. The only reason I signed up for PHS was all of our doctors were on it. I paid for it, unlike GHI which then and now is free. But eventually GHI got more of our doctors on it and we went to GHI. The key was doctors, a wide selection of doctors, and hospitals and providers.

Just recently I was looking at changing out from our top notch, world renowned UFT dental plan (SARCASM). I wanted to switch to the DENTCARE HMO. I researched it and found that not only are there very few providers, but the customer service sucks as well. It wasn't worth it. 

So, back to the Medicare Advantage. Retirees are walking blind into higgedly piggdly of a plan. There is not a list of doctors and providers. No one knows if their doctors that they have had a relationship with for years will be on this plan. No one knows if God forbid they are in treatment for a chronic condition they will be able to continue receiving the same treatment. This is where the UFT and other unions screwed up.

Why the rush? If as Mulgrew claims, "Trust us, it's going to be great," why not how all how great it is. This implementation should have started with NEXT October of 2022 for the sign ins or sign outs. This way, an educated choice of knowing ALL the providers will give those a basis to make a choice.

And beforehand why not have a true year to test out the new Medicare Advantage program. Incentivize retirees to sign up now in October 2021 and this way the kinks can and will be worked out. This way when others start opting in or out in October 2022 not one retiree will be going into this blind. 

Let's not forget the retirees who live where there re a dearth of providers. What of the retiree who has retired to North Dakota? Or the Alaska? What about where there are plenty of providers such as Florida but very few providers will be on the Medicare Advantage. Would the retiree who lives in Tampa have to schlep across the state to West Palm Beach for a prostate exam?

Something smells fishy here. This rush to get everyone in just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, there are plenty of retirees who can afford the out of pocket expense of paying into regular Medicare, but there are plenty of others who can't. And we are only stronger as people, as teachers, as retirees, and as UFT members as our weakest link. These are the people we should fight for. 

The UFT rammed this through. This should have been better explained and had much more input from retirees. This change should have been voted on as a whole by the union. Too often this happens. That some change is just shoved down our throats which the very few decide for several hundred thousand. 

Too bad chapter elections have come and gone. It's time to vote out the leadership of the retiree's chapter. Perhaps a recall is due?