Educators 4 Excellence
STOP THE PRESSES! An incredibly exciting new organization, Educators 4 Excellence (www.educators4excellence.org), just launched and is hosting a happy hour TODAY at 4:30pm in NYC (I wish I could be there, but am about to board a flight). Here are the details:
April 9, 2010 - 4:30 pmE4E Happy Hour
Where: Bar Coastal, 1495 1st Ave btw 78th & 79th St
Join us for drink specials ($3 well drinks, BudLights and Budweisers), a raffle to help you improve your classroom (or your private!) library, and the chance to mingle with a great community of teachers. Bring a friend who is not on our mailing list and get your name entered into the raffle twice!
Learn about "Last In. First Out" Laws, and get information on what you can do to help fight against these unfair practices that hurt not only the prestige of our profession, but most importantly, hurt our students.
Here's a message from the founders:
Calling All Educators:
Educators 4 Excellence (E4E) is a new organization of education professionals who seek to provide an independent voice for teachers in the debate surrounding education reform - a voice that puts students first.
One of the first projects they are working on is the possible firing of up to 8,500 NYC teachers due to the current budget crisis in New York State. Currently, State Education Law Section 2588 requires that teachers be laid off in order of "reverse seniority." These "Last In, First Out" laws fire teachers without regard to merit, classroom effectiveness, or the best interests of our students. The effect this will have on the quality of education in our city will be simply devastating. As educators, we need to act now - please sign E4E's petition to help fight against this unfair state law that punishes both teachers and students. (http://www.educators4excellence.org/forms/lifo/)
For more information, please visit the Educators 4 Excellence website at www.educators4excellence.org.
If you have questions, or want to find out how to get more involved, please e-mail info@educators4excellence.org.
And finally, the first article about E4E was just published at GothamSchools.org:
New York City's teachers union likes to say that it speaks for all teachers. But two young teachers at a Bronx elementary school are starting an organization with a distinctly different point of view.
Both in their third year of teaching at P.S. 86 in the Bronx, Evan Stone and Sydney Morris started "Educators 4 Excellence" last month out of frustration with how their work is supported and evaluated.
One of their first battles will be against the state's "last-in, first-out" law, which forces the city to lay off newer teachers in advance of their more experienced colleagues.
"We want it to be the ostensible solution to a lot of screaming on both sides," said Stone, 25.
Only a few weeks old, the organization mainly exists though its website, which asks teachers to sign a petition in favor of repealing the last-in, first-out law. So far, the group has 520 fans on Facebook. The organization is holding happy hour gatherings on Fridays, unconsciously modeling some of the United Federation of Teachers' founders, who gathered for whiskey sours in Al Shanker's one-bedroom apartment on Friday nights.
Educators 4 Excellence is also generating enthusiasm from more established advocates such as Democrats for Education Reform
posted by Whitney Tilson at 6:39 PM
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