The 2 groups filing lawsuits in NY against teachers' due process are fighting each other.

[madfloridian]

Two women with separate lawsuits to challenge teacher tenure are at odds

A judge consolidated a pair of lawsuits challenging teacher tenure in New York on Thursday — but the two people behind the cases couldn’t be farther apart.

Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union, who filed the first legal action, made wild accusations Thursday against Campbell Brown, who filed the second.

“This is our lawsuit. We will not be bullied by Campbell Brown,” said Davids, who passed out fake dollars bearing Brown’s likeness at a bizarre press conference outside Staten Island Supreme Court.

Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News Mona Davids has filed a lawsuit seeking changes to teacher tenure, but she doesn't see eye to eye with Campbell Brown, who also filed similar legal action.

And the article is more favorable to Campbell Brown, which just illustrates the state of journalism lately. This is a news article, not an editorial.

Brown sought to stay above the fray. “Our view has always been, the more parents, lawyers and families supporting this effort, the better,” Brown said.

A group that gathered at the courthouse to support tenure said the mudslinging and lawsuits distracted from important issues.

Campbell Brown

More from Capitol New York.

Anti-tenure plaintiff attacks would-be ally Campbell Brown

A would-be alliance in the battle over New York's teacher-tenure laws fell apart Thursday, as parent-activist Mona Davids held a press conference to attack CNN anchor-turned-education reformer Campbell Brown.

The drama between Davids and Brown, who are each suing to invalidate the state's tenure laws, threatens to delegitimize their shared legal argument which has, at least on its face, a chance of succeeding considering the positive result for anti-tenure reformers in the Vergara vs. California case earlier this summer.

....Davids, head of a group called the New York City Parents Union, accuses Brown of trying to steal the spotlight and divert resources away from her case.

"Campbell Brown is is trying to reform her image and make herself relevant on the backs of black and Hispanic children, our children. This is our lawsuit," Davids said at a press conference where members of her group held up fake $100 bills with Brown's screaming face in the middle and signs that read "Campbell Brown does not speak for NYC parents."

The Parents Union which has formed nationwide is the group which pushed the Parent Trigger Act in which a group of parents can take over a school, decide which charter group will get the nod. Actually it was formed by charter school groups. (The parents risk losing their power when the charter group takes over, I fear.)

This is not a healthy situation for students or teachers or parents. But for those funders who back the lawsuits there is much profit at stake if unions have less power.

[TygrBright]

1. I can haz steel cage match? ::makes popcorn:: n/t

[madfloridian]

2. ......

[madfloridian]

3. More...turning into quite a battle.

I feel sorry for the NY teachers with all these groups targeting them, making them the enemy.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/now_its_davids_v_goliath_in_ne.html

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The legal battle over who will get to represent New York schoolchildren in the historic case to change the state's teacher tenure laws came down to a "Davids v. Goliath' scenario in St. George Thursday, between two rival advocacy groups seeking to bring the case to court, with the "little guys" scoring the first legal blow.

The New York City Parents Union, whose president, Mona Davids, a Bronx mother, and vice-president, Sam Pirozzolo, a Castleton Corners father of two, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit known as "Davids v. New York" which was filed in July in Staten Island Supreme Court, St. George.

The second advocacy organization, Partnership for Educational Justice, founded by former CNN news correspondent Campbell Brown, has thrown its support and resources behind the "Wright v. State of New York" lawsuit filed in Albany in August on behalf of seven New York state parents.

...Ms. Davids said the Brown suit is "backed by rich hedge-funders who believe New York City parents are not articulate, and don't know how to speak for themselves and their own children."

"We will not stand by and let Campbell Brown reform her image and career on the backs of poor, black and Hispanic children and families," she said.

[BrotherIvan]

4. Campbell Brown, backed by hedge fund managers I understand her motivation

To be wealthy, famous and powerful. But what is Ms. Davids' motivation? Does she think she is somehow improving her children's school by busting the teacher's union? Why isn't she fighting for supplies and computers in her school instead? Why isn't she fighting for after school programs and Head Start programs? Why isn't she working to make the curriculum better and get rid of the numerous testing days throughout the year that merely subtract from education? Why isn't she doing anything that will actually benefit the children she supposedly cares for so much?

[madfloridian]

5. Remember when Jeb became governor?

Last edited Fri Sep 19, 2014, 01:07 AM - Edit history (1)

It was a classic example of the reformer tactics. He announced that low income and minority students were not getting good educations. He did not have to prove a thing...the media went along. He had a rally in Tally to which he had bused only minorities and he staged it in such a way as to make it sound like public schools were discriminating.

Here's a write-up of that long ago rally in Tally.

Note the picture accompanying the article from The Ledger.



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2512

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS/602160386/1005/NEWS02

TALLAHASSEE -- Invoking images of God, civil rights and apple pie, Republican leaders urged thousands of cheering parents and children to lobby lawmakers for what may be a final battle over the nation's only statewide voucher system. The state's Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Opportunity Scholarship Program is unconstitutional. The program uses taxpayer money to pay private school tuition for about 700 children in schools that fail to meet testing guidelines.

While some detractors say the program violates the separation of church and state by using public money to send students to church-run schools, the court didn't address that issue. Instead, it ruled the program unconstitutionally created a separate but unequal school system because private schools don't have the same requirements as public schools, such as teacher qualifications and the mandated use of the FCAT assessments.

It was a striking scene Wednesday as a predominantly black crowd outside of the Capitol cheered as white, millionaire politicians promoted the voucher plan as an antidote to class and racial inequalities.

"In Florida and the United States today, if you've got money, you can make a choice," said Gov. Jeb Bush. "What about the children whose parents don't have the ability based on income to make that choice? Don't they have the same dreams? God gives every child the ability to learn. God does that."

Edited to correct the link to the 2006 article at The Ledger.

[BrotherIvan]

6. I wish more articles were written in a similar, truthful manner

I completely understand parents wanting to help give the very best education to their children. I really do. But they are being used. They are being used to put money in people's pockets who couldn't care less about their children. I always wonder if Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, who have shown themselves to be liberal in other causes, ever figured out eventually that they were being used in the parent trigger campaign? I wish more people understood that the place they need to be picketing is their state capital and boards of education, the people who are mandating curriculum and withholding funds.

As always, thank you for keeping us updated.

[madfloridian]

7. I still can not watch those 2 actresses at all. Yes, they should have known they were used.

I can not watch a movie or show with either of them in it.

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. My *guess* is money. ( What else?) But truly....

... I'm stlll trying to figure it out.

>>But what is Ms. Davids' motivation? >>>>

[BrotherIvan]

11. She wouldn't be the first person who has been unwittingly used by powerful people

I hope she takes a good long look at her goals. Does she honestly think that once teachers' lose due process that everything will be fixed?

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Kick, Rec.... and as Celeste Holme said in All About Eve....

"I'm trying *hard* to follow."

Wow.

[H2O Man]

10. Recommended.

The war on public education should concern all of us. This attack upon teachers -- who are considered an easier target than students -- is all part of a larger movement to destroy the educational opportunities of everyone below the top economic segment of society.

Your continued focus on this issue is greatly appreciated.

[madfloridian]

12. Your comments...

much appreciated. Means a lot.