Thursday, May 08, 2014

The “Problematic” Language is Not the Only Part of the Agreement that is Problematic

Absent Teacher Reserve

In order to fully understand the insidious nature of the proposed contract’s ATR provisions it is necessary to break down the language.
1.    Definition.  An ATR is anyone in excess after the first day of school
who is not a para or OT/PT.
 
2.    Severance. A severance program is established in which an ATR can collect from 1 week of pay for 3 to 4 years of service up to 10 weeks of pay for ATRs with more than 20 years’ service. ATRs are only eligible for this program during a narrow 30 day window between 30 and 60 days of ratification of the contract.

Problematic:  If, as Mulgrew stated at the DA, the contract is approved by the first week of June this entire window will be in the summer.

3.    Interviews. Each year from September 15 through October 15 the DOE will make an effort to schedule interviews for ATRs with principals in their district/borough and license areas. After October 15 the ATRs may be sent to interviews. “An ATR that declines or fails to report to an interview, upon written request of it, two or more times without good cause shall be treated as having voluntarily resigned his/her employment.”

Problematic:  This provision is unprecedented. There is no limit placed on the number of interviews or the length of time that the 2 failures to report must be committed. Additionally since the language is “declines or fails” the DOE need only document two missed interviews and the burden shifts to the teacher to convince an arbitrator (while receiving no pay since the teacher has been determined to have voluntarily resigned) that she had “good cause” for not showing up. There is no provision for “expedited arbitrations” and it appears the challenge to the DOE action of forcible resignation must go through the grievance procedure. If a teacher misses the first interview how will the DOE determine if it was with or without good cause. Glaringly omitted is any procedure for this determination. Under the provisions of our current contract a teacher may be brought up on 3020-a charges for an allegation of two missed interviews without good cause. Assuming the DOE would even try to dismiss a teacher for failure to attend an interview there is not an arbitrator on our panel that would even consider dismissal for the most egregious violation. Rather the UFT has joined with the DOE to effectively terminate a tenured teacher’s employment without the protections of 3020-a. The resulting grievance would not be decided using 3020-a or its history of protections. While Mulgrew might say “so be it” as he stated at the recent DA he and anyone who votes for this contract is basically saying you will not be protected.

This same provision applies to an ATR assignment only under the proposed contract you have only one chance to fail to appear for the assignment within 2 days or you will be considered to have voluntarily resigned. Again, the only way, under the language of the proposed contract to challenge the DOE’s determination that a teacher has failed, without good cause, to have appeared within 2 days is by way of the grievance procedure where the burden is on the teacher to prove good cause to sustain the grievance.

4.    Assignment of ATRs. Two classes of ATRs are created under the contract proposal. One class, those ATRs who have a disciplinary history where by a finding or stipulation resulted in a suspension of 30 days or more or a fine of $2,000 or more and those who do not have such disciplinary history. Those with the discipline history are not required to be assigned to a temporary position (in other words left to the weekly humiliation of traveling as a sub from school to school).

Problematic:  While the anti-teacher animus of creating this distinction is patently obvious it is clearly a disciplinary distinction which causes those ATRs with a disciplinary history to be further disciplined without any cause. The stigma of a past disciplinary record (teachers settle cases for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with guilt or innocence) carries forward. There is no time limit for the disciplinary history. Civil Service Law prevents allegations (except criminal ones) over 3 years to be used as the basis of discipline in a termination hearing yet a case settled or found more than 3 years ago can put you in this class. This sends a message to the arbitrators that you are to be treated differently should you have a history.

It is no secret that many arbitrations end in some level of finding even where teachers are have been found to be innocent of the major charge. Arbitrators are political beings and are sensitive to these distinctions.

5.    Principal removal of ATR after assignment. Under the proposed contract a principal (not the teacher) has the complete discretion to return a teacher to the ATR pool. If the return is based on “problematic behavior,” defined as “behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations established for professionals working in school.” An ATR accused in two writings within two years of this “problematic behavior” may be accused of a “pattern of problematic behavior” which can become the basis of an “expedited 3020-a hearing” in which a hearing must be completed in one day (half day to each side) within 20 days that the teacher requests a hearing. The decision must be made within 15 days of the hearing date.
 
Problematic:  Under our present contract there is a provision for time and attendance expedited hearings under 3020-a. These expedited hearings may not result in termination and while they were problematic on their own the issues involved (as far as the charges were concerned) were clear; you were either at work or not. The explanations were generally unconvincing to Marty Scheinman (an arbitrator selected by the UFT for these expedited hearing) but as long as teachers knew they weren’t going to be terminated they reluctantly accepted either the agreement or decision.
 
The proposed contract goes over broad. What is considered problematic is itself problematic. After I researched the term problematic behavior in the case law I found references to special education students who brought IDEA cases against the DOE for failing to provide needed services. These students’ behavior was termed problematic. For a teacher I could find no case involving problematic behavior so the arbitrators are left to discern this provision without our rich history of 3020-a hearings as precedent or guidance. While the burden still rests on the DOE (it is, after all a 3020-a hearing) the expedited nature of the proceeding might and probably hurt an accused teacher. There are no time limits for the DOE to provide charges or serve the written statements of problematic behavior. Under the language of the proposal there is no clear right to grieve the first (or second, for that matter) written notice of problematic behavior. Clearly, by definition, ATRs will have no relationship with the school they have been determined to be problematic yet they (and their representatives) will be put on a crash course to prepare for the hearing which might end in the ATRs termination. While Mulgrew cited the phrase “justice delayed is justice denied” as an argument for the diminution of our 3020-a rights the fact is there is no justice in ramming through a hearing that the accused has no time or ability to defend. This is class Star Chamber procedure.
 
The acceptance of this procedure as a perceived benefit signals our union’s position in future contracts where it appears all teachers will “enjoy” the benefit of expedited and ill-defined termination proceedings.

This proposal is anathema to the good order of the teaching profession and must be completely understood before it is blindly accepted.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

New readers should also know Jeff is a lawyer. He knows his legal stuff.

I noticed that... said...

Thank you Jeff! I have emailed you in the past regarding some education issues when I was a chapter leader at my school. You provided answers to my questions.

Everyone reading this blog should heed the warnings that Jeff has provided regarding this career-killing provisions in this long, 4ever-CBA.

Will share this blog with the ATR/ACRs on my listserv.

Thank you for shedding light on these provisions regarding ATRs.

john said...

Yep, I got a hunch this is a pilot for all teachers in the next contract who exhibit "problematic" behavior.

Anonymous said...

James, I was at the Delegates meeting last evening as a Visitor (dues paying member), Teacher. Your take on the evenings events differs dramatically from how I viewed it. I found the president to offer a clear and convincing rationale as to why this contract is safe for all members. No give-backs and nearly 20% more take home pay than we are receiving today (or nearly five years ago) for that matter. Questions and Answers went back and forth for 45 minutes and again to my ears Mulgrew answered everyones clearly and succinctly. He got rid of all "myths" as he put it,or alternate versions of the facts as I see it. I think the ATR situation has never been good, but now there is a path to get all in that predicament into a school to teach. This contract is a good one and I know that we all talked it up big time to day in my school. James, in this day and age we should be pleased that we have the benefit of a strong union membership. The UFT has done right for us. All fractions within the UFT should stand behind this one and let's not fight (as was done last night pathetically I must say) when a fight is clearly not necessary. I recommend that every single member read the Memorandum of Agreement. When they do. Sign your ballot in the affirmative and let's move on with it.

Anonymous said...

This is a reach in street language, but the big picture here involves a " NEED TO LEAD." It would not matter the issue, for that is irrelevant. What ought to matter is never seriously addressed. That said, I understand the rationale of " What I covet," but unless there are presentable options, the road always ends in I " Could have." Thank you, Dr. John Marvul.

James Eterno said...

We can vote for it and continue to get slaughtered for four more years. Eventually, there will be very little left. Being able to present an opposing viewpoint after listening to Mulgrew speak for an hour isn't fighting. It's called democracy. Hear both sides.

Anonymous said...

The contract is disgusting - it sells out ATRs and anyone who votes for it is a SCAB. VOTE NO!

Anonymous said...

This contract is insulting to teachers. We been dumped on for years with lots of paperwork. We have not had a contract for years and now we have to wait for years to get the back pay (along with the 4 and 4 raises). Stop disrespecting us!! We deserve more upfront. Shame on the union leadership in being complicit in this.

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew has some nerve selling us out in this contract. He is not fit to lead this union. Be a union leader and fight for us.

Anonymous said...

ATRs have no chance, even if they have a hearing the doe wins 98% of all hearings. "Problematic behavior" is vague and meaningless. We know that principals get rid of anyone who disagrees with them, or anyone who is not a friend or relative. In my school the principal hired all his friends, got rid of good teachers. Two of the AP's are "Aunt and Niece" The other one (not a friend or relative) is being bullied and went out on sick leave.

Anonymous said...

Ho did they get away with giving us 0 for per session for the last 5 years. And then only a 40 cent raise?

Anonymous said...

Yes, And this goes for Substitute teaching- the retro does not seem to apply to those days- everything starts from 2013. How is this possible-Obviously some teachers are more equal than than others. VOTE NO

Anonymous said...

NY POST-Believing he was among friends, UFT boss Mike Mulgrew showed what he’s really made of during a closed-door meeting with union activists — spewing hatred toward education “reformers,” charter schools and even admitting he sabotaged teacher evaluations.
“We are at war with the reformers,” Mulgrew said bluntly in an extraordinary admission during a gathering of 3,400 union delegates who voted for a new labor contract Wednesday night.
“Their ideas will absolutely destroy — forget about public education — they will destroy education in our country.”
The Wednesday-night meeting of union delegates was closed to the press — but Mulgrew’s comments were forwarded to the Web site ny.chalkbeat.org.
In another provocative admission, Mulgrew said he deliberately “gummed up” the implementation of teacher evaluations last year during negotiations with the prior Bloomberg administration.
He lobbied to have teachers rated in 22 different categories, presumably to make it easier for teachers to contest bad ratings. The new labor contract reduces the number of rating categories to eight.
“It was a strategy decision to gum up the works because we knew what their lawyers were trying to do,” Mulgrew said of city officials.
“That’s things I don’t get to say in public when I’m doing them, because we knew they had a plan to use the new evaluation system to go after people.”
Mulgrew launched his attack against education reformers while discussing his support for the creation of 200 experimental public schools to rival charter schools.
‘MULGREW SAW THE TEACHERS CONTRACT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SETTLE SCORES RATHER THAN AS A TOOL TO IMPROVE SCHOOLS FOR KIDS.’
- Jenny Sedlis
The labor leader’s remarks were startling given that Mayor de Blasio has negotiated a fragile truce with the independently managed, publicly funded charter schools.
Unlike regular public schools, most charters are staffed by non-union teachers — and the United Federation of Teachers considers them a threat.
School-reform leaders were outraged by Mulgrew’s remarks.
“Mulgrew saw the teachers contract as an opportunity to settle scores rather than as a tool to improve schools for kids,” said Jenny Sedlis of StudentsFirstNY.
Parent activist Campbell Brown fumed, “He argues in favor of making life harder for educators by increasing the complexity of the evaluation system for purely political reasons.
“It is so cynical and proves that this is someone who does not care about kids,” she said.
UFT spokeswoman Alison Gendar said the union does not comment on closed meetings.
This isn’t the first time the union leader has spouted off to his rank-and-file.
Mulgrew once called former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “Chancellor Numbnuts” at a delegate breakfast in Washington, DC.

Anonymous said...

It only gets worse for us as ATRs..and thank God for people like Jeff and james but a lot of teachers (newbies even retireES to be) could care less what happens to us..Its sad to say but as we all travel from school to school its like WATCH your back THE NEW KGB is in town.. KGB members are co-workers and anyone who works in the building you are assigned to..Be careful these are different times and be careful who you speak to...

Anonymous said...

The UFT needs to have a mass meeting to explain all of this to the ATRs.

To president Mulgrew we say:
By agreeing to this expedited process you appear to be conceding to the myth that ATRs are all bad teachers instead of educators caught up in school closings and co-locations.
Principal among our concerns, we wish to have a full enumeration of all actions that would constitute "problematic behavior".

That's why I created a petition to Michael Mulgrew, UFT president.

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/petition-the-uft-for?source=c.em.cp&r_by=10556483