NYC: MORE Caucus continues monthly General Assemblies with discussion of curriculum autonomy
New York, NY – The MORE Caucus (Movement of Rank and File Educators), the opposition caucus within the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), held their third General Assembly of the school year, December 3.
More than 40 teachers from all five boroughs gathered to air grievances and organize around the current state of teachers’ curriculum autonomy, which is the ability for teachers to exercise control over what and how they teach in the classroom. Specifically, the assembly addressed recent regulations enforcing scripted curriculums that remove the human element from teaching. These have been rolled out in different ways in different parts of the city, with some teachers being hit harder than others.
The meeting began with a brief overview of the financial interests involved in determining what students are taught, showing how public education has become increasingly privatized in the U.S. This web of interests included various “charitable” foundations, right-wing think tanks, and private institutions – names such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, and Johns Hopkins Institute for Educational Policy. These institutions all have their hands in developing and advocating for using certain curriculums in the New York City public school system, rather than schoolteachers who know their students.
The assembly included a panel where union organizers and chapter leaders shared their experiences fighting against the new aggressive regulations on curriculum. They mentioned tactics such as holding the line of non-compliance, getting UFT leadership involved, and rallying behind unfairly disciplined coworkers.
After breaking out into groups, teachers shared their different experiences across the city. Some teachers mentioned how their principals and administration seemed glad to use curriculum autonomy as a way to enforce tight controls on the teachers. Other people mentioned their dismay at having their teaching skills taken away from them by a robotic set of actions and words or being expected to teach conflicting curricula. Overall, the teachers at the assembly expressed the indignity of the situation and their drive to fight back in their schools.
To conclude, the assembly shared their takeaways and next steps to bring back to their union organizing. These included district-wide mass filing of grievances for missed prep time, starting or developing advocacy groups with concerned parents, and teachers taking control of their professional development away from administrators.