Opening Day for New School Year
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Executive Leadership Institute: Upcoming Events Schedule P.4 Oct 2017 Volume 51, Number 2 American Federation NEWS of School Administrators, COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS AFL-CIO Local 1 Borough Arts Directors Get New York City Schools To Sing BY CHUCK WILBANKS If you wanted to name a school after someone who epitomized the joy and intensity of music, dance and theater, you couldn’t do much better than the great pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington. But for years, performing arts didn’t get top billing at The Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts, a clean, compact Pre-K through fifth grade school on W. 160 St. Reading and math, yes. Dance? Band? Theater? Not so much. The school did have a smattering of arts programs, stitched together with the help of a dizzying array of partners offering help in one arts niche or another. But an emphasis on core subjects meant that when Principal Adam Stevens took over in 2015, music and other programs had CHUCK WILBANKS been relegated to secondary status. In fact, a rich trove of musical instruments had been locked away in a basement storage area. Labor On The March “Somewhere along the way the focus became n Unionized workers and supporters made their voices heard and celebrated labor’s accomplishments by marching down on math and English,” said Mr. Stevens. “My chal- Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Sept. 9 at the annual Labor Day Parade. STORY AND PICTURES ON PAGES 8-9. lenge was to keep scores up while being true to our vision.” Enter EA Rachel Shapiro. One of a cadre of borough arts directors in the Office of Arts and INSIDE Special Projects, Ms. Shapiro sat with Mr. Stevens Opening Day For and listened to his goals of reintroducing a more cogent arts program. She studied what assets the school had and how it was spending its money. The Many Ways What followed was a complete redesign of the New School Year school’s approach to arts education, from how CSA Serves You Continued on Page 5 4 Con-Con: Vote NO Election day this year, Nov. 7, presents you with one of the most important choices you will have to make in a long time. On the ballot, as it is once every 20 years, is a referendum over whether there will be a state constitutional convention. CSA, like other unions, is urging you to vote against a This Union convention. Reasons why are not narrowly self-interested: We worry about the future Saved My Life not only of public service pensions but of CLEM RICHARDSON public institutions generally, especially n From left: Bronx field director Frank Patterson, Nancy Saffer, Field Support education. For a thorough explanation of Center Deputy Director Nancy Saffer, Elisa Alvarez, Superintendent of District 7, 9 why you should vote NO, see CSA President and CSA president Mark Cannizzaro at PS 277 in the Bronx. Mark Cannizzaro’s column on page 2. And BY CSA NEWS STAFF the day at PS 277 in the Bronx, where Membership In on page 11, retired AP Morton Kugal points he joined Mayor Bill de Blasio, First out that many of Con-Con’s backers are the The first day of school found Lady Chirlane McCray, Chancellor Retiree Chapter same people who want to destroy public CSA leadership welcoming students Carmen Farina, State Board of Regents institutions and public sector unions. See and staff at schools across the city to Chancellor Betty Rosa, Bronx Borough Continues To Rise you at the polls! the new academic year. President Ruben Diaz Jr., City Council President Mark Cannizzaro started Continued on Page 3 10 2 CSA NEWS Oct. 2017 PRESIDENT’S PAGE For All We Hold Dear, Council of School Vote ‘No!’ To Con-Con Supervisors & Administrators American Federation of School Administrators, AFL-CIO, Local 1 Referendum Is Potential Disaster For Workers By Mark Cannizzaro 40 Rector St., NY, NY 10006 Phone: (212) 823-2020 he possibility of a New York State this current national political climate, a Fax: (212) 962-6130 Constitutional Convention may state convention could be hijacked by www.csa-nyc.org not be on your radar screen yet. special interests that are hostile to public President The referendum for Con-Con, education, labor unions and the separation Mark Cannizzaro as it is called, will be coming of church and state. Remember, the Koch Executive Vice President up this Election Day, Nov. 7. For many brothers are attempting to win support Henry Rubio T New Yorkers, it could turn out to be one of for a federal constitutional convention First Vice President Rosemarie Sinclair those items they don’t know much about, right now. That’s not because they want to and they may be tempted to leave the box strengthen protections for the middle class Treasurer Christopher Ogno empty. I want to make sure that doesn’t or the environment. Secretary happen to you. I am going to point out For our members, the risks of a state con- Steffani Fanizzi some unintended consequences that could vention are rife. The last time our consti- Vice Presidents affect you – as educators and union mem- tution was significantly modified, in 1938, Sam Akel bers – if the constitution is changed. unions were on the rise. Today, the trend is Susan Barnes New York’s constitution was altered in going the other way. A case that is headed Ramon Gonzalez Debra Handler the 1950s to mandate that voters decide to our Supreme Court, Janus v. AFSCME, is Lois Lee every 20 years whether to hold a con- likely to make unions far less able to fight Nancy Russo, Retiree Chapter vention. The first of those votes came up on behalf of members. At the same time, on Executive Director Operations in 1957 and a convention was rejected. the state level, many governors are trying Erminia Claudio Because of popular demand, New York held to paint unions as public enemies. In this General Counsel a convention in 1967 (and voters rejected all the proposed environment, there is real danger in opening to debate our David Grandwetter amendments). Citizens voted against holding conventions in constitutionally guaranteed rights. 1977 and in 1997. In both of those years, labor unions played Your protections as CSA members were won over decades, Executive Director Field Services a key role in defeating the referendums. but could be reversed overnight by high-powered special Sana Q. Nasser • • • interests who would commandeer a convention. These consti- Field Directors ’ve heard a few people say that holding a constitutional tutionally protected rights would inevitably be challenged: Juanita Bass, Mildred Boyce, convention might “fix” Albany or bring other changes • The prohibition of reductions in public pension benefits James Harrigan, Christine Martin, Daisy O’Gorman, Frank Patterson, Ithat would make sense. But those changes can be made by (Article 5, §7); Mercedes Qualls constitutional amendment at any time without incurring the • The right to workers’ compensation (Article 1, §18); Assistant Field Directors expense of Con-Con. Some estimate that the price tag for the • The right to be a member of a union and bargain collec- Beshir Abdellatif, Eleanor Andrew, convention could run taxpayers hundreds of millions of dol- tively (Article 1, §17). Laverne Burrowes, Kenneth Llinas lars including fat expense accounts for the 204 delegates who Whether they would be eliminated, weakened or pre- Charles Dluzniewski, Nancy Esposito, Roberto Flores, Aura Gangemi, Ellie would be hanging out in Albany for weeks on end. served, I, for one, do not know. I’d rather not find out. Greenberg, Ray Gregory, Joseph LaCascia, I’m sure that, like me, you’d rather see those millions That’s only part of what’s at stake. First and foremost, we Monica McDonald, being used in our schools. are educators of children. We value the right to a free public Dorothy Morris, Wanda Soto, MaryAnn Tucker, Yvonne Williams We would likely be facing a collection of powerfully education (Article 11, §1) that’s baked into our state constitu- backed convention delegates who have no interest in improv- tion. We view this right as the bedrock of our democracy. But ing the lives of working people. Indeed, many of the people today, when powerful interests prefer charter schools over tra- Grievance Director Robert J. Reich who are most passionate about holding a convention have ditional public schools, there is a greater chance that the right Assistant Directors a vested interest in making things worse for most of us. In to a sound education for all children could be diluted. Also Carol Atkins, Alex Castillo, Ed. D at play: A convention would reopen Robert Colon, Jermaine Garden, Dale Kelly the question of repealing the Blaine Marlene Lazar, Ph.D City & State Amendment, which bans state aid Director of Communications to religious schools. In fact, Blaine’s Clem Richardson repeal was passed by the last con- Assistant Director of Communications Corey Bachman vention in 1967, but the voters of NYC killed that in the voting booth. Director of Political Affairs Staten Island Honor Herman Merritt There is no telling how much public school funding would have Assistant Director of Political Affairs Gabe Gallucci been lost if had the vote gone the Assistant Director other way. John Khani • • • Special Assistant to President Gary Goldstein here are other worries about CSA Conference Chair Con-Con, too: For exam- Pierre Lehmuller T ple, environmentalists fear CSA Historian that the constitution’s “Forever Manfred Korman Wild “statute, which protects the CSA Retiree Chapter Adirondack and Catskill parks, could Gayle Lockett, Chair Mark Brodsky, Director be expropriated by industrial inter- ests.