Spam the schools chancellor!
That’s the order from teachers-union boss Randi Weingarten.
Klein – seeking to improve communication with teachers – launched a monthly newsletter to discuss educational issues with the teachers. He also set up a new e-mail address (chancellor- teacheremail@nycboe.net) for teachers to bring matters to his attention.
“I am very interested in your views on our efforts, and I hope you will let me know your thoughts through e-mail or letter,” Klein said in his first newsletter of the new year.
Now, United Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten is urging her members to give Klein a piece of their minds about micromanagement, safety woes and other problems in their school
“We want 50,000 e-mails from members and parents to go to Klein and [Mayor] Bloomberg during the month of January about the micromanagement and mismanagement issues that make your job more difficult this year,” Weingarten said in union leadership meeting minutes sent to members.
“January will be ‘micromanagement month.’ . . . Let’s push the mismanagement that we see.”
Weingarten said she warned Klein about the e-mail blitz, and he “coincidentally” created a new e-mail address for teachers so he wouldn’t get to avoid getting all the missives on his personal account. She also agreed to publish his three-page letter to teachers in the union newspaper.
In the letter, Klein made his case that dramatic changes at the Department of Education over the past year – particularly regarding a new curriculum – will make schools better, and exhorted teachers to hang tough.
“While it is often said that change is not easy,” Klein said, “I would ask you to stick with us because these changes are truly necessary if our schools and students are to experience significant improvement.”
“I am confident we are on the right track.”
The chancellor also denied attempting to “micromanage” classroom instruction. Teachers have complained they’ve received ridiculous edicts to put rocking chairs in classrooms and to spruce up bulletin boards.
But Klein said that with few exceptions, “This is not the case.”