Tomorrow is a UFT Town Hall. I think these town halls show the UFT is being proactive somewhat and somewhat transparent. But how much of it is substance and how much of it is for show? 

Something like this should have been done a long, long time ago in a reality that was too far away. Mulgrew or whomever was UFT president should have had these town hall face to face in each borough every month. The ATR meetings in November I have appreciated but instead of once a year should have been every month. 

Each town hall I have pressed zero to ask a question. I used to get Rasheed, lately it seems like some retiree. It used to be that someone from the upper echelon of the UFT emailed you back. But that is if you weren't amongst the chosen to formally ask Mulgrew a question. No longer, now you get some anonymous hack emailing you back a question. One thing did improve, we don't hear the same Flat Stanley question time after time in a town hall.

My gut tells me the teachers that get to ask question publicly and their questions are pre-screened. It just makes sense. The numbers I have heard on a town hall phone call are over 10k. How is it that of all these town halls, all the pissed off teachers, all the thousands of teachers there has not been one teacher to dare question Mulgrew's leadership? To scream? To rant? To curse? To mock? Statistically, this is impossible. How many callers would call Mike Francesa to mock him and/or rant in just a single hour?

So last month I came up with a good question. It was about the arbitration hearing with our retro pay. I asked this question due to Mulgrew sharing this at last month's town hall...

Many of you have written me about it. We always anticipate bad things. We plan for bad days as teachers. Didn't talk to city about it at all, and then on October 2 I asked for confirmation they were processing payment. Asked again. I then called, knowing members would check paychecks.

 October 2nd he had a hunch what was going on. He could've shared this with us. He didn't. But, I thought, the arbitration meeting, it must've been transcribed. I asked (click to enlarge)...

I asked if there is a transcript of the arbitration hearing and if so when can the rank and file expect to see such transcript. The email I received was dated October 20, 2020, and I followed up on November 18, 2020. As of today, November 22, 2020, I have heard hide nor hair from the UFT concerning my transcript request. If there is a transcript, the DOE and/or the city must have said transcript. Perhaps a FOIL request can be filed? 

Transparency. That's not very much to ask for. Let's see the transcript. Why is it taking so long to respond whether or not a transcript exists? Or even just an audio recording of the arbitration. There is enough skepticism about the process last month with our retro. Prove the skeptics wrong. Release the audio and/or transcript of the arbitration. 

A lot of us got really screwed with half a retro check this year. I think it is only fitting that we know the full truth on how we are out half our retro.

In September of 2012, Betsy Combier put through a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request requesting any and all emails from DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal of PS 154 in the Bronx for any and all emails with my name featured. In November of that year the request was granted and
11 irrelevant emails were shared with Betsy.

In March of this year, Francesco Portelos requested the same. However, instead of just my name in the emails he made it broader, using more keywords and asked for a wider array of information;

Dear Mr. Baranello,

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, please send me copies by Email of the following records:

Following information on Principal Alison Coviello and Superintendent Yolanda Torres.

1. Personnel files

2. Per session time cards from January 1, 2008 to March 15, 2013

3. All school expenditures Principal Alison Coviello has made since April 29, 2012.

4. All OORS reports filed by Principal Alison Coviello since April 29, 2012

5. Allison Caviello's PPR and TDR's for school years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

6. Any email  from September 1, 2011 to present. From email accounts [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] and  personal email [email protected] (if she used this from DOE computer) as well Alison Caviello's text messages from DOE Blackberry containing any of the following keywords :

"Peter Zucker", blogger, blog,  "character education", TC, "teachers college", Calkins, Lucy, Jew, "through literacy", Kike, "blue eyes", Zuck, Peter, Zucker, Pete, PAZ, literacy, 326, "South Bronx School," Sobronxschool, SBSB, "Bronx Teacher," BT, blog, blogger, @sobronxschool

7. Any and all memorandum sent by Principal Alison Coviello from April 29, 2012 to present.

8. All emails and memos related to Alison Coviello being hired as principal.

9. Alison Coviello's licensing history.

10. How much and to whom Alison Coviello paid per session to since becoming principal.

Months passed, seasons changed, the Red Sox won yet another World Series (RATS!), when lo and behold Francesco got a reply last week from Rebecca Chasen, Deputy Central Record Officer at the FOIL Squad.

Now, we're supposdedly waiting on numbers 7,8, and 2. Number 4 is confidential records, but the interesting part is the emails. Just keep reading for the big shock. See if you get it.

When Betsy got the email records there were only 11 in total up until the end of September of 2012. When Francesco received his email records, there were a total of 19 up until the end of September of 2012. In total Francesco received 45 emails of which, I was either the recipient or the sender of 43 and the other two were to a personal director. What does this tell you?

As I have stated before on these pages I truly believe that DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal of PS 154 was part of a conspiracy to ruin my career. I believe the truth is in the emails and the text messages from her Blackberry. I do not believe in any manner at all that there were no emails between DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal of PS 154 and Yolanda Torres or any higher ups in the DOE between the time she took over as principal in May 2012 and the present.

One would assume that FOIL requests must be honored and not doing so, not sharing all what is asked for is either criminal or if that person is an attorney like Joseph Baranello, who is the records access officer for the NYC DOE, perhaps unethical and contemptible and perhaps the New York State Bar Association should be made aware of how disingenuous he is being. Perhaps the bar association is aware of his inflammatory Facebook posts that Betsy unveiled in February of 2012.

But something about this all still stinks like the New Jersey Turnpike does around Elizabeth. Just who processed those emails? DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal of PS 154 rarely uses her DOE email opting instead to use a school created ___domain through Google Apps.

I was under the impression that with the DOE email a "FOIL official" just needs to mine the servers that hold the DOE email (Please correct me if I am wrong!). But how do they get the Google Apps email? Perhaps the owner of the email would give that same official the password to their account and that official will look for the emails in question?

Today, it was explained to me by a legal eagle and several lay people. Apparently, DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal was given the task to find the emails that were requested and have them forwarded and shared for Francesco Portelos? Am I the only one here that sees some issues with this?

This is like having the fox watch the hen house. Of course, DR Alison Coviello, PhD. and Principal has shared with me on many an occasion that she NEVER LIES, so one must assume that this was done on the up and up. HA! Punk'd! I am being sarcastic.

But this leads to so many questions about ethics, accountability, criminality, morality. We all know when someone says they never lie what the truth is. It's like that guy I knew in high school who told us he had been to hundreds of Yankees games in his life, and this was in our junior year. We did the math and it was impossible. Or that guy we all know that claims to have been with hundreds of women but in reality is home on Saturday nights watching Nick Jr and eating his dinner out of a can while standing over the sink.

Anyway, there is more than one way to skin a cat and more than one way to legally obtain forbidden emails and other records that the DOE does not wish anyone to see.

Again, God will show the truth. I believe in my heart of hearts there is something out there.