Randi Weingarten

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten isn’t buying David Paterson’s argument that his new round of budget adjustments is only slowing the rate of increases in funds for education, not making cuts.  read more »

One of Christine Quinn’s spokesman has taken a leave of absence and is now the interim director of communications for Democrat Mike McMahon’s Congressional campaign.

The spokesman, Anthony Hogrebe, was listed as the contact on a campaign press release announcing that McMahon has been endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers, which, according to the release, has 12,000 members in the district. McMahon is seeking to win the seat currently occupied by Vito Fossella, who is not running for reelection.

In a public statement, UFT's president, Randi Weingarten, said McMahon "is a champion for children and working people."

Before joining Quinn’s operation, Hogrebe worked on Gifford Miller’s 2005 mayoral campaign.

In other Quinn staffing news, her chief of staff, Maura Keaney, is expected to return from maternity leave in early September, according to another Quinn spokesman.

In 1979, when Joe Bruno was still new to the State Senate, his office was next door to that of State Senator Norman Levy, head of the Labor Committee. Levy’s intern at the time was a young Hofstra student named Randi Weingarten.

“I watched him, as a leader, mature,” Weingarten, now the president of the United Federation of Teachers, told me. Bruno, she said, “will be sorely missed.”

There’s been speculation about what Bruno’s retirement meant for the unions and business interests he had political ties to.

“I was able to work with George Pataki. I was able to work with Eliot Spitzer.  read more »

Here are some lines from last night's birthday roast of United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, who turns 50 on December 18:

“I’m sure many people have gotten you Depends and other things like that, so get used to it.” -- Bill Thompson

“I do remember, and will always remember, that you left me, for Joel [Klein].” -- Former Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew

“She runs through relationships like she runs through her staff directors.” -- Finance Commissioner Martha Stark

More after the jump.  read more »

Last night it was Eliot Spitzer. Now, it's Sheldon Silver's turn to show off his support heading into the upcoming legislative session.

A group of influential labor leaders are hosting a breakfast reception with the Assembly speaker on Thursday, December 6.

A partial list of attendees is after the jump.  read more »

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. endorses Hillary Clinton. [CNN]  read more »

Here's a clip of United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten at last night's candlelight vigil outside the Tweed Courthouse. In the clip she criticizes the Department of Education's new improvement plan, which includes the "Teacher Performance Unit," a committee of lawyers to help school principles deal with sub-par teachers, particularly those with tenure.
 read more »

In the clip, Weingarten references a letter Schools Chancellor Joel Klein sent to teachers yesterday. After the rally, a spokeswoman for the education department emailed that letter to reporters.

Excerpts from the letter after the jump.

Here's some of the current reaction within public education circles to that new merit pay pilot program that Michael Bloomberg and Randi Weingarten announced yesterday.

The UFT’s official blog says the deal has “ ‘shut the door‘ on individual merit pay programs,” because it’s actually a school-wide program.

Democrats for Education Reform says kudos.

Some more skeptical opinions include that of the Independent Community of Educators blog, which finds hypocrisy in Weingarten's opposition to merit pay on a national scale while accepting it at the local level. They write:

“While Randi has been urging us to write faxes to Washington opposing individual merit pay, she was negotiating a deal with Bloomberg that will give us school-wide merit pay for student achievement gains in up to 200 low performing schools this school year and 400 next year.”

NYC Educator says “It will cost you 1.85% of your salary, virtually all of the 2% ‘raise’ you just got (the one that didn't even meet cost of living).”

And skeptical teachers will meet on Friday at Murray Bergtraum High School to discuss the issue.

Yesterday was National Coming Out Day, and it also marked the first time labor leader Randi Weingarten publicly discussed the fact that she is a lesbian.

Weingarten, the head of the United Federation of Teachers, made her remarks on the subject last night at the Empire State Pride Agenda’s fund-raiser, where she won the group’s award for community service after being introduced by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

But when I spoke to Weingarten right after the speech, she said no, she didn’t consider it her ‘coming out speech.’

“I think it's just a big room and you know, I used this to make a point, but no," she said. "I've been--anybody who knows me knows I've never been hidden about who I am.”

I also asked Weingarten, who has led the UFT since 1998, why she had chosen that moment to make her most public comments about her sexual identity.

“I won the award tonight," she said. "I rarely talk about my personal life, but it felt important to make the point about tolerance, respect and equality. And sometimes, in order to make a point you got to walk a walk. But anybody who knows me knows I've never been hidden about it.”

A reader emailed me this invitation to a fund-raising roast in December in honor of Randi Weingarten, the head of the teacher’s union.

The money is going towards the union’s charter school, the Council for Unity and the Educational Priorities Panel.

And in other Weingarten news, she’ll be honored later tonight at the Empire State Pride Agenda’s fall fund-raiser.

All in all, a decent couple of days for Weingarten.

Crain's published its list yesterday of the 100 most influential women in New York City business.

Topping the list in the Power 25 category were the head of the teacher’s union, Randi Weingarten, and powerhouse lobbyist Jennifer Cunningham.

Also honored were lobbyist Suri Kasirer and fund-raiser andimmigrants' rights advocate Chung-Wha Hong.

UPDATE: I just noticed that in her little profile, Cunningham manages to get in a little dig at Spitzer’s persona: “It was an odd assumption that because there was this new 'tough guy,' we would have any other response than to do right by health care workers and patients.”

Bill Thompson is making another education-related announcement today, unveiling a program that will “invest millions of dollars to create affordable housing for educators in New York City.”

Joining him for the roll-out will be teachers union head Randi Weingarten.

About two weeks ago, Thompson issued an audit saying the city’s education department underreported violent incidents at schools.

Lots more to come from him on the schools issue, I suspect.

The head of the teachers’ union, Randi Weingarten, has had a pretty good working relationship with Michael Bloomberg, who has made education the cornerstone of his mayoral legacy.

But in a television interview airing Sunday, Weingarten, showed some daylight between her vision of school and Bloomberg’s.

First, she offered a pretty good analogy explaining her objection to City Hall’s strategy of evaluating teachers based on their students'performance.

According to a transcript of her interview with Jay DeDapper, Weingarten said:

“I say to them because a lot of us have had cancer in our family, would you want your oncologist, or your mom or dad's oncologist to be graded on the survival rates of his or her patients?”

And on the issue of cell phones in schools, Weingarten sided more with the City Council than with City Hall.

"The dilemma is that in the world we live in right now, parents--cell phones are a connection between parents and kids. And so the truth is that most schools have a don't ask, don't tell policy. And that's the truth, that's what's going on, and ultimately the council was smart because they said parents can have their cell phone--kids can have their cell phones to school."

At a joint appearance on the Upper West Side to recommend improvements to city middle schools, Christine Quinn and Michael Bloomberg announced a push for expanded school days, raises of as much as $10,000 for some teachers, Regents courses in all middle schools by 2010 and clarified disciplinary powers for educators.

UFT president Randi Weingarten said the recommendations could turn around every middle school in the city.

"Let’s make this real,” she said. “Let’s turn around our middle schools.”

Robert Jackson, chairman of the City Council's Education Committee, made his own comment on the current state of the city’s middle schools. On his way into JHS 100, he said, "What, no air conditioning?"

City Comptroller Bill Thompson is co-chairing a fund-raiser for state Senate Democrats tomorrow night with Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, which is one of the more vocal unions in the city and an organization whose help will be sought after by just about everyone in 2009.

(Thompson, as most of you probably know, is interested in running for mayor.)

The theme of the event: “Democrats in the State Senate are on the verge of winning a majority for the time in decades…”

Among the people standing with the mayor at his news conference today about his "learning environment survey" was United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, whose organization Bloomberg blasted a few weeks ago as a special interest group on par with the National Rifle Association.

Weingarten said that getting feedback from teachers was important.

"That's why I'm standing here today," she said.  read more »

A whistleblower protection bill supported for so long by UFT president Randi Weingarten easily passed the City Council's Education Committee early today.

The bill had exactly one opponent on the committee, Peter Vallone, Jr.

His explanation: "Very strong whistleblower protection laws already exist."

The bill comes up for a vote in front of the full Council tomorrow.

-- Azi Paybarah

At a panel discussion about women in politics in lower Manhattan last night organized by the state organization of Young Democrats, UFT President Randi Weingarten said that "if women act like men acted publicly, many times they're viewed as shrill, harsh, tough --"

"The b-word word," a few people yelled out.

"A bitch," continued Weingarten.

Chuck Schumer's deputy state director, Teri Coaxum told the mostly female audience that the key for women in politics is to maintain a certain level of decorum.

"People will, you know, ask inappropriate questions. And my thing is stand for something or fall for anything. Keep your integrity in tact, never compromise your values, and, I'm going to be a little bit blunt: you can't sleep with everybody you meet. I'm sorry.

[skip]

The main point is, we're already seen as sex symbols. End of story. We all talked about it. We're already seen as sex symbols. You have to keep your integrity in tact. This is business."

Fellow panelist Gigi Georges, a longtime Hillary Clinton adviser, agreed with Coaxum -- to an extent.

"Women have a lot of power in who we are. Frankly, in some ways, women have a lot more power then men in who we are because we're able to be tough when we need to be, and at the same time, be charming and gracious and yes, a little flirtatious when it works for us."

State Democratic Party Chair June O'Neill, who introduced the panel, also had some advice for women in politics: Learn to shake hands. "It's a code," she said.

-- Azi Paybarah

There's a "hostile anti-union climate in our city--and especially at the D.O.E." according to campaign literature from Randi Weingarten, who is running for re-election as the president of the United Federation of Teachers.

Her opponent in the race, according to Weingarten's literature is a group that is "running on a combined slate headed by militant Socialist Kit Wainer," who she labels "The Man With No Plan."

-- Azi Paybarah

From today's school funding decision, which lowers the level of mandated state aid for city schools and kicks the issue to the legislature, here are two passages that's sure to infuriate people who pushed the issue into the courts:

"On the question of accountability, the Referees concluded that existing State systems, identifying schools that perform poorly and sanctioning failing schools, already provide adequate accountability, and that no new Office of Educational Accountability should be created. They recommended, however, that the current system should be enhanced by the development of a comprehensive 'sound basic education' plan, by the New York City Department of Education."

And:

"We have neither the authority, nor the ability, nor the will, to micromanage education financing."

UFT president Randi Weingarten and others involved in the lawsuit will hold a 1:30 press conference to respond to the decision, which presumably, they don't like and want to fight.

More interesting is the question of how this affects Eliot Spitzer, who walked a fine line during the campaign on this issue.

-- Azi Paybarah

At 8:30 a.m., John Faso speaks to at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association on 85 West St.

At 9 a.m., Eliot Spitzer tours the UFT charter school with UFT president Randi Weingarten.

At 11:15 a.m., Vito Lopez and union officials protest on the City Hall steps over 421-a Exclusionary Zoning.

At 11:30 a.m. in Queens, Eric Gioia discusses a national hotline where kids can report weapons threats at their schools.

At 1 p.m., The City Council's Health Committee raising legal age to buy tobacco products and prohibiting sale of flavored cigarettes; Hearing Room,

At 1:30, the Port Authority holds their monthly meeting on Park Avenue.

At 3 p.m. the Council's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee holds a hearing on Ground Zero insurance proceeds.

At 6 p.m. FCC Commissioners discuss diversity in media at Hunter College.

In Brooklyn, there's a march against police brutality starting on President Street and Nostrand Avenue.

At 6:30 p.m., Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Mike Bloomberg and NBC News anchor Brian Williams attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria.

And Comptroller candidate Christopher Callaghan speaks with the editorial boards at the Times Union and Troy Record and then attends the Genesee GOP County Dinner.

-- Azi Paybarah

So tomorrow is the day for Carl Andrews' big press conference to display support from political heavyweights including his former boss Eliot Spitzer, Randi Weingarten, retail union leader Stuart Appelbaum, Public Employees Federation VP Pat Baker, and New York State Credit Union League president William Mellin.

We wonder if this show of institutional strength is aimed at the public or at the other contestants -- amid continuing pressure from some black leaders to unite behind a single black candidate -- and whether any of the VIP's at tomorrow's event will wade into the race issue.

—Nicole Brydson

The 9/11 Memorial: Dignity, Not Dollars    read more »

The 9/11 Memorial: Dignity, Not Dollars  read more »

In the morning, Randi Weingarten will lead UFT members in a rally demanding smaller class size at P.S. 1 on Henry Street.

Then, the Directors of the Empire State Local development Corporation will meet at the headquarters of the Empire State Development Corporation.

David Paterson and Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat push for legislation to protect poor communities from beings unfairly impacted by hospital closings on the steps of City Hall.

The president and nurses from the New York State Public Employees Federation are scheduled to testify at an Assembly hearing on staffing shortages and mandatory overtime for nurses at 250 Broadway.

The State Assembly holds a hearing on the status of redevelopment in Lower Manhattan at 7 World Trade.

And Eliot Spitzer will be the keynote speaker at the Queens Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

—Nicole Brydson

Dennis Rivera, president of the city’s hospital workers’ union, controls the most powerful and s  read more »

Dennis Rivera, president of the city’s hospital workers’ union, controls the most powerf  read more »

In place of IMterviews from now on, The Politicker will be putting up Friday late-afternoon items of special interest to observant Jews. Just to make people's lives complicated.

OK, not in general, but just today: Apparently Teachers Union chief Randi Weingarten has met with officials of Agudath Israel, the Orthodox group, as she shapes a response to a tax credit plan which, for some in her camp, looks a little too much like vouchers. There's some suggestion that she's looking for the non-public schools support on the state-financing lawsuit known as CFE in exchange for her support for the tax credits. Couldn't immediately reach Randi for comment.

Good Shabbos! Will try to get back on the interviews next week. Just a busy day.

UPDATE: UFT spokesman Stu Marques (my old boss!) says it was an open discussion, but there were "no commitments, no quid pro quos."

Backers of education tax credits are ratcheting up the pressure on Teachers Union president Randi Weingarten with the introduction of an unhappy Bishop.

His Eminence Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn and Queens, who is big on immigrant and labor issues, apparently tried to set up a meeting with Randi last September, and hasn't heard back.

Says tax credit organizer Michael Tobman: "Tax Credits are a reasonable effort designed to help lower through middle income families. What's not reasonable is the UFTs refusal to speak on this issue with the representative of nearly two million New Yorkers, mostly immigrants, from Brooklyn and Queens."

But wait! Weingarten's aides say she'd "love to" meet with His Eminence, and they produced a letter dated March of last year suggesting that they chat about ways to help non-public schools.

So maybe it's just a missed connection. They can work it out on Craigslist.

In yesterday's Daily News, Randi Weingarten laments the eager embrace of Joel Klein, who has been uncorking big, metaphorical bottles of champagne over a teachers' contract that is still pending approval by...drumroll...the teachers.

Randi also complains that Klein further inflamed a sensitive issue when he "gloated" about the contract provisions on a blog.  read more »

As our friends at The Wonkster point out, Randi's reaction is rooted in a Politicker post from last week, in which Klein asserted that he hadn't lost out in the deal, as one of our sources had suggested.

All of which underscores an oft-posted sentiment in the comments section: Yes, Virginia, this really is a small and circular world.

Mayor Bloomberg and United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten will announce a contract settlement later today, and my early impression of this is that Randi winds up looking pretty smart for holding out until a month before Mike's reelection bid.

The outline of the deal: Teachers get a 15% raise over a 52-month period, compared to (corrected) the arbitrators recommendation of 11% over 3 years.

There's no sweeping overhaul of work rules, though schools chief Joel Klein gets some of what he wants, notably an end to "seniority transfers," by which good teachers abandon struggling schools. There's also a compromise version of a proposal to add ten minutes of class time, and a bit more cafeteria duty for teachers.

Absent from the deal are two top items from Klein's wish list: merit pay and an end to tenure.  read more »

One insider's take: "It's win-win for the Mayor and Randi -- the one who didn't get what he really wanted was Joel."

As the teachers' contract fight intensifies, a correspondent reports another sighting the day after union president Randi Weingarten breakfasted with Freddy: 1199 chief Dennis Rivera, lugging his backpack into the UFT's headquarters for their gathering this morning.  read more »

The Post's scoop that health-care workers' Local 1199 was in backroom negotiations with Mike to sell him their endorsement only slightly tarnishes their reportedly forthcoming announcement that they'll be backing Freddy. (Out of pure principle, of course.)

But Mike's facing some friction on another front as well: When the Working Families Party's laborite leadership met this weekend, they couldn't agree on an endorsement, and had planned not to endorse at all, The Politicker is told.  read more »

But Teachers' Union chief Randi Weingarten -- who at one point appeared very close to a deal with Bloomberg for a contract and, presumably, an endorsement or neutrality agreement -- convinced the party to defer its decision by a couple weeks.

The Politicker is told she wanted additional "leverage" against the Mayor.

Mike has never been much of an ideas guy. Lots of practicality, effective belt-tightening, technological wizardry, but very little ideology from the top, though some of his deputies certainly have strong ideas.

In the Wall Street Journal today, Diane Ravitch, the educational historian and official in the first Bush administration, writes that she wishes he had thought about the whole thing a little more. (Ravitch is usually cast as a conservative, though she's turned up as an unlikely ally for Randi Weingarten in some of the fights over just how much control the Mayor should have.)  read more »

In the clearest critique to emerge from the many quibbles with the mayor's attempt to turn around the schools, she argues that Mike blundered into what she considers trendy educational gimmickry out of ignorance.

"Neither Mr. Bloomberg nor Mr. Klein knew about the war of ideas that had been raging among educators for many years," she writes. "Business leaders who want to reform schools should educate themselves about the issues or risk being co-opted by the education establishment. Who would have believed that smart, pragmatic Mike Bloomberg would become a champion of constructivist pedagogy?"

Rudolph Giuliani's onetime police commissioner and current business partner, Bernard Kerik, certainl  read more »

Teachers' Union chief Randi Weingarten sets a December 1 deadline for contract negotiations, which are currently on "life support."

If they fail, she could be a potent enemy for Mike Bloomberg.  read more »

She blames Eva Moskowitz and Post columnist Ryan Sager, who gleefully takes credit.

When East Side City Council member Eva Moskowitz decided to confront the city's public-school unions  read more »

When Rudolph Giuliani left City Hall, almost no one thought that crime would continue to go down.  read more »

Not long after his humiliating defeat on the Independence Party line-the first-ever defeat of his po  read more »

In the days since Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled his plan to cut services to help plug a $4.7 bill  read more »

Teachers' Union: Greedy in Time of Grief It ought to come as news to nobody that times are tough, an  read more »

The only New Yorkers who will remember the 2000-1 school year with any fondness will be the graduate  read more »

Dennis Rivera, president of the city's hospital workers' union, controls the most powerful and sophi  read more »

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, standing before a lectern at Gracie Mansion on Nov.  read more »