Deconstructing Jerry
Feb. 03, 2016
Jerry Jordan has been on the staff of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers since 1987. During that fourth dimension, he has held positions of increasing responsibleness culminating with the presidency in 2007, a position he's held since. He has as well served in various capacities of the American Federation of Teachers, PFT's parent organization. He has, past all accounts, ably led the instructor'southward marriage and fought hard for all Philadelphia students.
Simply his recent Daily News editorial attacking the Philadelphia Schoolhouse Partnership—where I spent three fruitful years from 2022 until mid-2015—and more especially its executive director Mark Gleason, is and then unmistakably a shift away from actual substance that I fear effective dialogue nearly schools in Philadelphia is all but finished.
One the one manus, Jordan's new personal blows are hardly surprising. As the result of his union's heavy influence in the recent victories of Governor Wolf, Mayor Kenney, and Councilwoman Gym, Hashemite kingdom of jordan wields tremendous political capital letter. Relatedly, now that Governor Corbett (Jordan's previous arch-nemesis) is no longer around, Jordan must notice another prime number target at which to straight his bow. Jordan also is facing an upcoming electoral challenge from an insurgent caucus, and I imagine he's feeling somewhat vulnerable. Information technology will no doubt be office of his campaign message that union in-fighting is counter-productive when faced with a seemingly common enemy like PSP.
But his movement away from actual substance to personal attacks is important in another, more fundamental, respect, because it reveals deep animosity for parents who choose to disagree with him and his spousal relationship. In his editorial, Jordan claims that "[westward]hat took place at the January 21st School Reform Committee coming together was theatrical at best and rooted in deep manipulation at worst."
Manipulation, no doubt, requires two: he manipulating and he beingness manipulated. To Jordan, the manipulator is clear. But he as well is surprisingly candid about those beingness so easily manipulated. It includes not just Commissioner Sylvia Simms, who was just a pawn in the theatre functioning "orchestrated by the Philadelphia Schoolhouse Partnership and its political allies." It also includes each and every pro-Mastery parent, all of whom also were (according to Jordan, though without a whiff of evidence) mere pawns, enticed into attending by "free dinner, t-shirts, and talking points." I would have expected Hashemite kingdom of jordan to try a bit harder to support such a disrespectful merits.
Moreover, such an allegation is difficult to square with Jordan's later merits that he doesn't "begrudge a single ane of the parents who spoke concluding Thursday on either side of the outcome." But not begrudging merely means that Jordan doesn't resent those parents. Absent from Hashemite kingdom of jordan's oral fissure is any back up for those parents' voice; that those parents, who don't accept dedicated cavalcade space in the Daily News, are entitled to an opinion, too.
To Hashemite kingdom of jordan, Commissioner Sylvia Simms was just a pawn in the theatre operation "orchestrated past the Philadelphia School Partnership and its political allies." And every pro-Mastery parent was also a mere pawn, enticed into attending past "gratis dinner, t-shirts, and talking points."
Hashemite kingdom of jordan says he believes that "every parent at the meeting was at that place considering of a deep-seeded conventionalities that their child, their most precious nugget, deserves the world." No doubt that's truthful. Merely it's as well a platitude, and one that gets messier every bit Jordan continues to his particularities. Jordan stakes out the rather awkward position that while all parents want "the world" for their child, "the world" can never be lease. Whatsoever parent claiming to be pro-charter is a sham—coaxed into attending a coming together by a human being providing a repast and a shirt. And, says Jordan, these parents, past being provided talking points, can't even call up or speak for themselves. This seems to be the only way to reconcile Jordan's seemingly divergent positions, though I would welcome some other proposition. In whatsoever event, I once more would have expected Jordan to try a bit harder to back up such a disrespectful claim.
Such condescension is not limited to Jordan. Shanee Garner, a staff member of Councilwoman Gym, tweeted a photograph from the SRC meeting showing Gleason and a colleague allegedly smirking. Gardner'due south explanation said that the just matter "more painful than black [people] fierce each other apart [is] snide white guys smirking in the center of it." Such allusion leaves no room for constructive dialogue, though constructive dialogue is not what she, or Jordan, wants. Such innuendo leaves no room for nobody, unless he'south wearing Red.
Nonetheless, call up the words I used in describing the differences between the PFT and PSP—seemingly enemies. This formula allows for the possibility that the disagreements between the two may not actually run very deep, that they may be largely a matter of them using dissimilar vocabularies to limited their views of sound education policy than nosotros use to limited ours.
Jordan mentions in his piece that the PFT'due south "work as a union is grounded in the belief that a neighborhood school is the hub of a community and must be heard, recognized, celebrated, and funded." This I know to be true. In fact, a couple of years dorsum, I accompanied the PFT on a day-long trip to New York to explore the community schools model. The day began at the American Federation of Teachers headquarters and ended at a KIPP Charter School that was sharing building infinite and wrap-around social services with a traditional New York Metropolis public school. It was an excellent visit.
Over the next months, there were a number of productive workings meetings led by Jordan's deputy. Given Mayor Kenney's community schools platform, information technology seems the PFT has continued to work hard on the project. I remember at the fourth dimension that PSP would have been interested in funding such a project and, despite Hashemite kingdom of jordan's mud-slinging, I imagine they would remain interested today. Moreover, during my time at PSP, Gleason and the management team spent long hours alongside a diverse array of Philadelphia school stakeholders trying to develop and implement a fair funding formula, something Jordan seems also to want.
There is yet another point of agreement. Jordan is certainly correct that the nature of these public processes is awful; "engineered to pit parents against each other." That, I remember, is a problem harder to fix. But Jordan is not the one to carry that flag; he and his supporters have played prominent roles in creating the acrimony.
Every bit just one case, albeit related: the PFT spent weeks in the leap of 2022 picketing in front of Steel Unproblematic after Steel was set to be turned-over to Mastery. After Steel parents voted to reject Mastery, the Inquirer reported that "Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which was heavily involved in organizing parents to reject the lease option, urged Hite and the SRC to honour parents' wishes." Jordan continued by praising the clear voices of the parents who wished to proceed Steel a traditional public schoolhouse. "The parents at Steel have chosen a collaborative transformation plan for the schoolhouse, and are sending a clear bulletin to the SRC, the Schoolhouse District, and the city: We believe in the promise of neighborhood public schools in Philadelphia."
Fair plenty. But Jordan should explain, like he should explicate in a higher place, why contentious processes are praised when the result is pro-marriage but condemned, every bit he did in his Daily News editorial, when the result is pro-charter.
Make no fault. The Philadelphia Schoolhouse Partnership was, and seemingly still is, influential. Office of the reason, I am certain, is that it has many millions of dollars in the depository financial institution, though less everyday, every bit it continues to invest in Philadelphia's schools. But the PFT has 15,000 members and a Mayor and a Governor. Call it at least a draw. The primal problem with the recent public meeting and the SRC in general, so, is that until the schoolhouse board is returned to local control, Jordan can go along to lay blame as he pleases. Until the SRC is disbanded, Jordan and the PFT volition never take to take a loss on the mentum. Until the SRC is disbanded, the PFT will never exit a vote lost redoubling its delivery to convincing parents that Philadelphia'southward traditional public schools, which have been dominated past Hashemite kingdom of jordan's union forces for decades, are the right option to brand. Jordan will just expect for some other man to blame.
Kevin Trainer, who worked as an Investment Analyst for the Philadelphia Schoolhouse Partnership from 2012-2015, is a 2nd year student at Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Header photo: Austinxc04
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/guest-post-deconstructing-jerry/
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