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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pandering to the UFT?? Nothing New from NYC’s Mayoral Hopefuls

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Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson receives a ringing endorsement from UFT President Michael Mulgrew
Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson receives a ringing endorsement from UFT President Michael Mulgrew
As New York City’s mayoral hopefuls gear up for a summer of pounding the pavement and pressing the flesh as part and parcel of the standard fare involved in politicking, we need to draw a deep breath as the school year ends and summer vacation begins.

As we watch our highly dysfunctional public school system on the brink of becoming moribund, we acknowledge that the only thing that makes us even more ill is the sight of obsequious, self-aggrandizing politicians pander before the fiefdom of school autocracy; better known in common parlance as the United Federations of Teachers.

For those not in the know, for 60 plus years, the UFT has had a virtual stranglehold on the city’s public school system. Despite the exorbitantly high drop-out rate, compounded with more and more schools being classified as “poor performing”, horrific Regents test scores and consistent efforts to bilk the hard working taxpayer at every opportunity they can, the UFT remains strident in its insistence that the city’s demand that teachers be periodically evaluated is something they will fight tooth and nail.

It is time to stare the cold, hard facts in the face. The UFT wields the kind of power that is eerily reminiscent of a totalitarian monolith, or a mafia conglomerate. While they raise the banner high and mouth the duplicitous mantra, “It’s All About the Kids” – it is clear that this blatantly self-serving union cares for no one other than themselves, and yes, everything comes at the expense of “the kids”. Moreover, the UFT has morphed into a tragic paradigm of the devolution of venalities that has come to define its legacy.

Let’s recall that Communist-affiliated UFT leader Albert Shanker led not one, but two illegal teachers strikes in the 1960s and served as the progenitor of dramatically reducing the standards that students were expected to live up so that teachers won’t have to work so hard as they wile away the years before collecting their hefty pensions; courtesy of the New York taxpayer.

Now we have the Democratic mayoral candidates lining up to “jump through hoops” to please those who won’t even consider the possibility of the city investing its time and resources into charter schools as part of a major overhaul in the education reform department.  Reform groups should be realistic about the organizing and fundraising power of the UFT, as well as the candidates’ desire to win its endorsement.

Even though the UFT have bestowed their highly coveted endorsement on Bill Thompson and he is in their proverbial pocket for better or worse, it is noteworthy to mention that others such as Public Advocate Bill de Blasio set the tone at recent mayoral forums by lavishing praise on the UFT’s resoundingly mediocre leader, Michael Mulgrew.  De Blasio is also said to have “offered the least support for issues of concern to education reform advocates,” while Comptroller John Liu has “the toughest” path to victory of all the candidates.

The reality may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the facts are as clear as day. Our public school system is abysmally failing for our students. Miserable report cards, violence, and truancy have now replaced the the “golden rule” of yesteryear. Teachers who really care; who choose to spend their time revamping a broken and potentially harmful system while passionately creating an educational portrait that can be an example to the nation and the world no longer exists.

During his 12 years in office, Mayor Bloomberg put up a formidable challenge to the insatiable demands of the UFT and their “hands off us” policy as they deftly played the role of the “put upon” proletarian with such style. Along with others, he saw the public school system slipping away from both students and parents and knew what an egregious impact it would have for the future of New York City. He demanded that teachers be held accountable for their ability to effectively instruct children and impart, at the very least, the necessary educational requisites. For that, he became a most despised figure and one that was fought at every turn.

So, as we look forward to another mayoral election, let us draw yet another deep breath and hope that the candidate that prevails in the September election will be one who has the very best interests of the students of New York City at heart. A mayor who cares about the future of our city and our society and who is genuinely troubled that our educational system is run by a gang of thugs who use the children they teach as shields for their own reprehensible behavior. Let’s throw our support behind a candidate who advocates educational reform as we re-visit the success of the charter school and all that it can offer our students.

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