Gains included reduction of lunch patrol to once every six years, and then never. They included the elimination of demeaning jobs helping secretaries with filing. In fact, at one point, hall patrols were eliminated. Now they are perpetual.

Another gain was the addition of more professional C6 assignments, including one to allow extra time for those of us with three or more preps. Now they are gone.

Another gain was the UFT transfer plan, which allowed teachers, regardless of salary, to transfer schools. It allowed me to escape an abusive AP, who threatened me with a schedule that precluded my second job if I would not agree to teach five classes out of license in order to replace a teacher who could not control classes.

Now schools are closed and senior teachers are dumped into the absent teacher reserves, where through no fault of their own, they may very well molder until they retire.

I certainly regret the decision to toss away every professional gain we’d made since I began 24 years ago. And I certainly recall the zeros we took to pay for them, as well as the fraud on the part of DC37′s leadership that enable Saint Rudy to dispense zeros during what turned out to be an economic boom time for the city.

As for mayoral control, I distinctly recall the UFT being unhappy with Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, and even Mayor Bloomberg. That spans my entire career. It’s folly, I think, for us to support mayoral control and hope the next one is better.

I find it remarkable that the UFT will not take a principled stand against mayoral control. Certainly, both kids and teachers need an independent chancellor, and certainly, there ought to be checks and balances against the power of the next or indeed any mayor.