Jamaica Conspiracy Theory

Mind you, everything I am writing here is pure speculation. But I think it needs to be said.

Jamaica High School is now slated to close. Some have anticipated this for a while, despite protestations from the DOE's Melody Meyer just last year. The timing, however, seems mighty suspicious. This was not announced until well after Bloomberg's third coronation. And very shortly, we will have an election to determine whether Michael Mulgrew will continue to head the UFT.

The timing matters because James Eterno is running for the office of UFT president as well, and he just happens to be the chapter leader at Jamaica HS. It's likely that Eterno will be kept quite busy as the teachers at his school, and perhaps he himself, are forced to look for new positions even as they fight to keep the school open. Not the easiest way to run a campaign. Nor will it look good to the rank and file that the ICE candidate is the CL at a "failed" school.

It's likely that all this is coincidence, but it sure smells rotten. Mulgrew can dissipate a lot of the stench by teaming up with Eterno and putting the UFT's massive resources behind a campaign to keep Jamaica HS open. This is something the UFT should do anyway, to prevent more teachers from being cast into the ATR pool, but it's even more important that Unity and ICE present a united front to the public.

I know ICE would join with Unity in this fight, but it remains to be seen what, if anything, Unity will do. Mulgrew can fight along side his opponent on this issue, or he can leave Eterno and the teachers at Jamaica twisting in the wind. It will be illuminating to see how this plays out.