How the teachers-union empire strikes back

By Post Editorial Board

Modal Trigger

Mona Davids, founder and president of New York City Parents' Union, with her son Eric and daughter Mymoena.Photo: Robert Kalfus

Mona Davids, head of the reform-minded New York City Parents Union, is a major thorn in the side of the teachers unions. So the unions and their allies in the city school system are striking back.

Most notably, Davids is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the state’s teacher tenure law. Last week, a state judge rejected (for the second time) a motion to dismiss that suit — and the union empire struck back by moving to push her and her allies off her son’s school’s Title I Parent Advisory Council, which oversees how the principal spends nearly $1 million a year in funds. The parents had been questioning use of the money to pay two teachers-union offices to be “floaters” in the school.

It’s far from the last act of apparent retaliation by her own principal and other union allies — with the city Department of Education playing along.

The latest move comes complete with allegations of embezzling — even thought the committee doesn’t actually control the funds. (The principal does.)

This follows the school’s illicit replacing of the PS 106 Parent Advisory Council, which respected Davids, with a “Parent Teachers Association” that’s actually teacher- (read: union-) dominated.

The parent group had ruffled feathers by setting up an after-school tutoring program and calling for an “extended learning” day to try to improve PS 106’s rotten performance: More than 80 percent of its kids fail on state tests.

The school’s principal, Eugenia Montalvo, has already made her allegiances public. Back in February, The Post reported that Montalvo used the school morning announcement to read UFT talking points opposing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support for teacher accountability and charter schools.

The situation has gotten so bad that Davids fears for her son’s safety; he has endured harassment from teachers, and now hears slander that his mom is a thief. She has gotten a protection order for him.

Mona Davids is what New York needs more of: a parent who’ll do everything she can to improve the learning conditions for her children.

It’s shameful that the system not only stands in her way, but works aggressively and underhandedly to undermine her at every turn.
http://nypost.com/2015/11/01/how-the-teachers-union-empire-strikes-back/