Philip Nobile, an ATR with attitude, returns to the barricades
with another tale of UFT abuse. Fans of NYCATR may recall
his account of the October 26 ATR meeting in Brooklyn when
Borough Rep Howie Schoor ordered the destruction of Nobile's
contact list, an affront waved off as "miscommunication" by
Staff Director LeRoy Barr. But this time around Nobile not only
won his battle with the UFT, but got OSI to fire the coup de grâce.
won his battle with the UFT, but got OSI to fire the coup de grâce.
The Worst UFT Rep in the World
Last
March, an ATR filed an unprecedented physical and verbal harassment complaint
with the Chancellor’s Office of Special Investigations against his District
Rep, Tom Bennett, whose unbecoming conduct, including a threat to get President
Mulgrew to “beat the shit” out of him, was conceded by the UFT, substantiated
by OSI, and led to the loss his of his union job. If only Bennett or Mulgrew
had apologized, this story could not
have been written.
By Philip Nobile, ATR
1 The Silence of the District Rep
Brooklyn/S.I. District Rep Tom Bennett was the main
attraction at the School for Legal
Studies chapter meeting on the final day of school. He was making up for lost
time, having pulled out of a previous meeting at the last minute on June 4
without explanation. About twenty-five
members, including some from the two other schools on the Grand Street
Legal’s Chapter Leader Sharon Kleinfeld was part of the act.
Her unexpected announcement gave the game away: the meeting was now closed to
all except Legal people and the rest had to scram. Thus a handful of folks who
wanted only to hear from their infrequent union visitor whose salary, double
pension, and perks are paid with their dues were cast out like undocumented
aliens. One of the teachers who did not belong to Legal ignored Kleinfeld’s
apartheid protocol and stayed seated, cool but immovable.
The proceedings began with a muddled proposal about an SBO
vote regarding next year’s starting time. The issue had zero interest for
Kleinfeld because she was recently re-assigned for incompetence and awaits a
hearing. Unable to answer questions from
the floor, she turned to Bennett for help. No luck. Lounging on a chair against
a far wall, he said without emotion, “I am only here to speak to staff. I won’t
speak while there’s an intruder here.”
2 The ATR Complains to Mulgrew and thence OSI
This was Bennett’s first appearance in the building since last
February 26 when he went gangsta at a Legal chapter meeting by attacking an ATR
who had provoked him during the Q & A. As he was escorted out of the room,
he shouting back at the ATR, “I’m gonna get Mulgrew to come
down here and he'll beat the shit out of you." That same ATR happened to
be the “intruder,” the real reason for Bennett’s impromptu stage fright.
Naturally, the ATR
protested. His next day e-mail to President Mulgrew recounted the dirty details
of the incident:
Dear
President Mulgrew et al.:
I am
writing to complain about the obscene, menacing tirade that your Brooklyn
District Rep Tom Bennett went on during yesterday's UFT meeting at the School
for Legal Studies in Brooklyn . You will be
interested to know that he dragged you into the melee by yelling at the climax
of his shocking meltdown: "... and I'm gonna get Mulgrew to come
down here and he'll beat the shit out of you." Prior to this
ejaculation, he walked up to me, stuck his face in mine, and said: "You're
a liar, your whole life is a lie," and riffing on his previous abuse
at the October 26 ATR meeting in the Brooklyn Borough Office when he call me "a
piece of shit," he added this time, seething through bared teeth, "You're
a fucking pile of manure."
Tom's freakout
can be traced to the Q & A when I asked him if he would apologize for his
scatology at the ATR meeting. Proudly unrepentant, he refused saying, "You
can put that on your blog." Later, I asked him if his calling Lincoln High
School Principal Ari Hoogenboom "a son of a bitch" was also on the
record and could I quote him on that, too. Suddenly, the tiger morphed into a
mouse.
"In
the spirit of fellowship," he said with an imploring look.
"In
the spirit of fellowship?" I replied. "And you won't apologize for
calling me a piece of shit?"
"I
apologize," he said meekly.
"And
for saying that I lied about the Cobble Hill Regents case?" He made this
comment at the October meeting.
"I
didn't say you lied," he backtracked.
Unimpressed
by his shotgun contrition, I said, "You're a coward and a phony. You only
apologized under pressure." At this point I leaned on a table to make
notes on my legal pad. Tom was on the other side of the table. He pushed it
into my groin and lunged for my pad. I was able to escape his grasp. I went to
another table to make notes. He followed me in a frenzy and lunged for the pad,
once more unsuccessfully. Fearing that Tom would start punching me, some of
the teachers stepped between us and escorted him out of the room. Except for a
torn fingernail, I was not hurt, though I did file a harassment complaint with
the 90th Precinct.
If I were
a student and Tom a teacher, he would be guilty of verbal abuse and corporal
punishment, and reassigned on the spot. You must treat his conduct just as
seriously. Tom is a loose cannon and should be suspended if not fired from his
union job. What principal or teacher could respect a UFT rep of such foul mouth
and low character? Further, what UFT President could tolerate a District Rep
who threatens a member with a beatdown from the President himself?
I hope to
hear from you soon. Thanks for your consideration.
Mulgrew blew off the ATR. But on March 22,
UFT Staff Director LeRoy Barr, the UFT’s cleaner, sent letter by certified mail
to the ATR. Minus an apology, Barr conceded the charges:
I
am writing in response to your emails to UFT President Michael Mulgrew
concerning Tom Bennett. Brooklyn Borough
Representative Howie Schoor has conducted an investigation and taken appropriate
action with respect to Mr. Bennett’s conduct. …
As a last resort, and
in the absence of a sorry from Mulgrew or Bennett, the aggrieved ATR filed a
complaint with OSI. As much as he distrusted the DOE’s cops, he felt that
Bennett’s thuggery required maximum, transparent accountability. A teacher
cannot be free to Bogart another in the workplace with threats of violence. (In
2012-2013, Bennett taught one period of Social Studies at Staten Island Tech,
where he was chapter leader.)
3
OSI Investigates
OSI Deputy Director
Chris Dalton opened a second inquiry
(Case #02687), starting with the accuser who filled in the backstory.
Originally, Bennett’s rage slipped out at the October ATR meeting in the
borough office when Bennett called him “a piece of shit” in a private
conversation. “He was smarting from my Ed Notes piece on Mulgrew’s handling of
the Post’s execrable sex exposé re
his alleged, long ago, after-hour liaison with a guidance counselor at Grady
High School
If the
worst one could say about Michael Mulgrew is that once upon a time at Grady
High School
No matter this Gallic
defense, Bennett blamed the ATR for prolonging the sex story and said that his
UFT colleagues hated him for it.
Next, Deputy Dalton
interviewed two Social Studies teachers who witnessed Bennett’s freakout. The
pair confirmed everything in the
complaint. Substantiation, especially in wake of Schoor’s stab in the back, was
a sure thing. OSI’s confidential report, now under FOIL review, is bound to be
interesting. Sometimes OSI puts an exclamation point on its findings by
referring them to a committee of hangmen in the Administrative Trials Unit,
leading to a 3020-a. Other times the discipline is thrown back to the principal
or superintendent who, may place a letter of reprimand in one’s file. Where did
Bennett come out—a termination trial or a slap on the wrist? The DOE’s FOIL office has promised to respond
to the ATR’s request by August 21.
4
Back to the “Intruder”
You could almost feel
Bennett’s pain when he spotted the intruder … unless you factor in his
toplofty, no solidarity refusal to
apologize. That is why the ATR showed up at Legal on February 26-- to afford
Bennett the chance to take back his October insult. “What recourse does a
member have when a District Rep calls him ‘a piece of shit’?” he asked with all
due delicacy during the Q & A session.
A few verbal pokes later, the highly inflammable DR would explode, invoking the fists of
Mulgrew.
Persisting
on the chrysanthemum path, the ATR apprised
Bennett that he would attend Legal’s June 4 meeting, thus giving him
time to whip up an overdue statement of contrition. No such luck. As noted,
Bennett bailed instead.
The ATR
was serving out the end day of the school year at El Puente Academy in Williamsburg
Fearing a
repeat of the February blow-up, Kleinfeld was not pleased to see the ATR. She
tried unsuccessfully to lure him out of the meeting room and lock the door
behind him. Instead he dodged the trap and returned to his seat, chatting up
his tablemates, predicting an effort to disappear him. Plan A was Kleinfeld’s
improvised Legal-only rule. Plan B was the “intruder” gambit devised by Bennett
and carried out by school security summoned to the scene. But not so fast.
The ATR resisted
the guard who ordered him to leave. “On what authority, who told you to remove
me?” he inquired. The security guard did not answer, hesitating to proceed as
the commotion grew. A frustrated teacher approached the ATR and said he could
stay as long as he “shut up.” But such was not to be. A second agent, a female
Sergeant, appeared and made it clear that the ATR must exit first and ask
questions later. The members cheered their aggrieved brother’s ejection,
assuming that he was the problem rather than Stonewall Bennett.
On the way
out, the amicable agents commiserated with the compliant ATR. They were only doing their jobs. The male
agent said that Bennett had designated him an “intruder,” which is serious
business in security-speak. But when the agent spied the visitor sticker, he
realized that he had been misled. Nevertheless, the Sergeant reasoned that
Kleinfeld, as chapter leader, presumably had the right to restrict her meeting
to her members. End of argument.
5
The Worst Former UFT Rep in
the World
Neither
Barr at 52 Broadway nor Schoor in the Brooklyn
office would reveal Bennett’s UFT status. But a rep who prefers anonymity
confirmed that his office mate was history. Whether Bennett’s inglorious
departure was forced or voluntary remains unknown. But if you phone the Brooklyn office and ask what happened to him, you be told
that he left of his own accord. (Right, and Mulgrew thinks that the new teacher
evaluation agreement was a victory for teachers.)
Philip Nobile, a former staff writer
for Esquire, New York and the Village Voice began teaching in 2001 at the Cobble Hill School of American Studies in Brooklyn .
He spent three years in the Chapel
St.