Illegal teacher parking on NYC’s Upper West Side. Photo from UncivilSevants.org.

Teachers displeased with their union’s decision not to even hold a vote on Michelle Rhee’s proposed two-track contract have launched a petition. It criticizes the WTU’s decision as driven by the loudest voices in the room, and calls for a secret ballot vote. Via DC Teacher Chic.

It’s the season for undemocratic behavior, as Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to extend his own term limits (and the City Council’s) without a referendum gains a key political supporter; the Examiner’s education columnist lambastes Rhee’s sudden firing of a principal, Bloomberg’s decision on term limits, and New York teachers union president Randi Weingarten’s endorsement of Bloomberg’s action.

Term limits aren’t the only hot topic in New York education; things are also heating up over the Mayor’s decision to drastically cut free parking permits given out to, and frequently misused by, public employees. A teacher wrote to NYC’s Gridlock Sam, dismayed that his or her school’s permits were dropping from 120 to 52. Sam replied:

Frankly, I don’t know why the mayor allows any parking permits for teachers. We have a great transit system, and, somehow, private-sector workers, including local merchants, get to work in even the remotest locations without permits.

(Some) teachers bombarded Sam with angry emails, like this one he published this morning:

I teach in a school with 100 staff members near the George Washington Bridge. About a third of our staff commutes from New Jersey and 10% commute from Connecticut, Westchester, or Long Island. We went from 50 to just 13 permits. Using public transit is extremely difficult for those having to travel long distances at a very early hour. The reduced number of permits has created a real problem.

Sam responded:

Boy, did I anger a lot of teachers with my lack of sympathy for their parking permit reduction. My answer to you, Jeff, is the same I’d give to any teacher. I don’t see any compelling reason to give a teacher a permit when bodega employees and office workers somehow manage to get to work all over the city with no permits. Many use transit. And in your case, several Metropolitan Transportation Authority and NJTransit buses and the A train serve the area, along with multiple opportunities for connections from other parts of the city.

If only Sam were so staunchly pro-transit when it comes to Chevy Chase, Maryland.