Last week Arthur Goldstein shared on his blog how the Stronger Together caucus Michael Lillis to run for NYSUT president whilst at the same time trying to make a deal with Unity.
nominated

Arthur is not please with ST because ST is not only keeping the UFT out but, refusing to include MORE. Arthur writes;

"My best guess right now is that Stronger Together doesn't wish to be mixed up with weirdos like us in MORE, because we are pretty much one of the last bastions of vibrant resistance to top-down unionism. Being mixed up with us would hurt ST's chances of a deal with Mulgrew, who didn't send us Christmas cards this year."

But there are more (no pun intended) machinations happening within NYSUT this year.

The Crack Team has learned from an extremely reliable source NYSUT that Andy Palotta, NYSUT's executive vice-president will be throwing his hat in to be the next NYSUT president.

Now you may ask, what about Karen Magee? The Crack Team's source shared that Unity has never been happy with Karen because she has not been "the puppet" they had wanted.

At press time we here at SBSB do not know if Karen is running for president. Some have said she is, while some sources have shared with The Crack Team she is not.

If she is not running, it is entirely plausible that she is being forced out, told not to run by Unity. Unity holds the cards.

Our source also shared with The Crack Team that along with Unity, the Yonkers Federation of Teachers will vote en masse for Palotta but the key to stop this so-called coronation is votes from Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. This can be difficult.

The NYSUT RA this year is being held in Manhattan. Whom does this favor? The UFT and Yonkers. Not too far to travel for either delegation. And basically free. No reason to shell out big bucks for travel and Manhattan hotels.

We here at SBSB are sure this is going to get much more interesting.

So today, it was Campbell Brown's turn to have her moment of attention in Albany. She , along with her followers, er, parents, filed a lawsuit today, Wright v NY, (In fact the lead plaintiff was written about on these pages in 2012) attempting to do away with tenure and due process for teachers. We know it is a frivolous lawsuit, we know that it's a copycat lawsuit, we know that MichelleRheeFirst and Wall Street are behind it and we know that those, like Campbell Brown and Mona Davids are desperate for relevancy and attention.

About a month or so ago when Campbell announced her intentions, she cited a family in Rochester that was allegedly treated appallingly by their daughter's (Then in 7th grade) teacher after the girl (The girl's name, as well as the family's name and teacher's name will not be published here) had written an essay about Fredrick Douglas.

The Nation of Islam has shared their version of the story. What happened? According to the story the student was;

...recently forced to endure the chastisement of her teachers, principal, and other school administrators for her response to a district-wide activity where students were asked to read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and write a brief essay explaining what the narrative meant to them.

Why? The student;

...composed a powerful essay comparing her own educational experiences with those of Douglass. Like him, she lamented that her peers did not like to read, and how difficult it was to obtain a decent education.

Hey, if she can write such a powerful essay, something very right must be happening in the classroom, no?

So what is the problem? It seems that;

According to the girl and her family, the following day the teacher approached Jada and stated that she was offended by what the student wrote.

When the student asked her why she was offended, the teacher stated that the student had used the term “White teachers,” according to the family.

The student says she told the teacher that she was talking about another teacher. The teacher’s response was, “Don’t talk about my colleague like that! Have you ever had a Black teacher? Did she teach you?” according to the young girl.

Remember the game telephone? This story can seem somewhat fantastical.

According to sources deep within the Rochester schools, the teacher said two things to the student. The teacher mentioned that she was disappointed that the student decided to paint all teachers will the same brush and that the student was stereotyping teachers. The teacher also asked the student;
"Don't I care about you?"

The teacher in question cared very much for the student. She was doing as any good teacher, or adult was doing, or I have, when dealing with a student or our child.

We try to impart that to make a blanket statement about a group of people is wrong. Not only that, but we need to base our statement, especially when we write or give our opinion, not supposition but on facts. The teacher was doing her job, the same way any parent would do, or the same way our employer would ask us to do if we had written something.

According to sources,  the student went home and mentioned this to mom. Either the student did not tell the whole story or did, and the proper context was not used, but the mom still got quite upset.

Our sources shared that even though the student loved the teacher and the teacher loved her, the mother, who had a great deal of respect for the teacher as well, insisted that the child be removed from the school post haste. The mother was given her choice of schools to choose from and the mother made the decision on where the student will go to school.

But it didn't end there. The mother then went to a extreme fringe group our sources tell us, could it be the Nation of Islam? Well whatever group it was, that group got in touch with another extreme group. The guys at The Blaze. Yep, Glenn Beck. Yes, the Glen Beck who has made such caring quotes about minorities as found here and here.

What happened? The student and her parents appeared on the Glen Beck Show. Since when does Glen Beck care about the people of the inner city? Since when does Glen Beck care about the people of color in this country? Glen Beck is an opportunist. Glen Beck, even when he is on his meds, is meshuga.

The family is being used. First by the NOI, next by Glen Beck, and now by Campbell Brown.

The teacher involved loves her job, loves her students, and this is the price that she must pay, for something that is just miscommunication?

Where is the verification of this incident having happened the way it was reported? If this truly happened the way it was reported why then is the teacher still teaching? Where are other stories of this teacher acting in the same manner? Were students in the class interviewed as part of the investigation? Were other teachers?

This incident is still under investigation and we don't know the entire story. Yet, Campbell Brown has no problem deciding what the truth is. Campbell Brown has no trouble using people to advance herself.

Think about it. Read the story in again. Read this. Make your own decision.

This lawsuit is about power, control, and money. Nothing more, nothing less.