Tuesday, June 22, 2021

MULGREW ADMITS HE WAS WRONG ABOUT CONTRACT END DATE AND STILL CAN'T EXPLAIN WHY DOE GETS TO VIOLATE EVALUATION LAW

We have answers from Arthur Goldstein's Monday night Executive Board Report to questions we asked in our post from last weekend. We wondered why Mulgrew repeatedly told Delegates the UFT Contract was up in November when it does not expire until September 13, 2022. His answer to the Executive Board via Arthur:

Contract ends next September, not this year. Was mistaken at DA. We want to use entire year to start this. Not sure if de Blasio is even interested. If there is opportunity, we will take it.

That admission that he was mistaken at the DA is a UFT milestone. I can't recall ever hearing a UFT President admitting to an error unless it was for something done years before. That said,  it still is scary that Mulgrew repeatedly misstated the approximate end date of the UFT Contract at the DA and none of his associates on the call would correct him. That says something. Many of you correct me when you think I get something wrong. 

On teacher evaluations, again from Mulgrew via Arthur:

Bad principals--DOE decided to do APPR. Above 95% HE or E before MOSL even kicks in. We will go after anyone who doesn't do this correctly. 

5% of 80,000 teachers is 4,000 UFT members. As long as DOE violates the law correctly, the UFT is okay with it. We copied the summary of the state law waiving evaluations right from the NY Senate webpage for the bill:

provides that no school district shall complete an annual professional performance review for the two thousand twenty--two thousand twenty-one school year.

Why didn't the Legislature write that school districts shall have the option to complete an annual professional performance review for 2020-2021 if that was their intent? 

I am not a lawyer but I don't understand how the State Education Department and DOE get to violate a law that does not seem at all ambiguous.  Thousands of teachers can still be put in harm's way based on evaluation in a pandemic and Michael Mulgrew still can't explain how the SED and DOE can just unilaterally ignore what looks to this layman like clear language. All the UFT President can say is they will go after anyone who doesn't do it correctly.

We will keep trying to make our readers aware of what's going on but we need you to spread the word.

Thanks.

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

So does this mean Dwarka at Bryant high school in Queens still gets to ruin dozens of lives this year with her evaluations? When is enough enough?
Even during covid she is still allowed to go unsupervised by the DOE.
How many careers ruined over the past 10 years?

Anonymous said...

http://www.nysed.gov/educator-quality/appr-statute-regulations-and-guidance

Scroll down and click on AAPR Q&A

SECOND QUESTION

James Eterno said...

8:57, I read the guidance and it seems to contradict the law. That is State Education Department's interpretation that APPRs are not prohibited. I put this in post from Senate website:

"provides that no school district shall complete an annual professional performance review for the two thousand twenty--two thousand twenty-one school year."

That looks like it prohibits APPRs.


I am no lawyer but I would be objecting vociferously if I was a union leader that the law is clear and SED's interpretation in their guidance is wrong.

The cynic in me says Mulgrew and NYSUT President Pallotta are in on this but I have no specific evidence to support that claim.

Anonymous said...

Yup 5% of teachers can go fuck themselves! Thanks Muldirt!

Anonymous said...

too bad muldew didnt fight for the eri, requested by the city and passed by the state, and which in response to uft prompting many people worked hard to support. all to keep those dues flowing. that was unforgivable.

Anonymous said...

James. Do you think Mulgrew and friends will receive serious backlash from retirees on Medicare during next year’s UFT election? Any prediction on how this will play out?

Anonymous said...

My question is how can you get an end year evaluation when your school never agreed to a MOSL? You can't use the Regents as few if any kids took it this year.

Anonymous said...

Schools are using the citywide default measure, which no one knows but assumes will bump everyone up. So the union believes, once the measure is applied to ratings. 98 percent should be effective or highly. Then they will fight to have the 2 percent thrown out.

Anonymous said...

I haven’t been observed all year. Haha.

James Eterno said...

Why go through all of that when the law is on our side? How many will be discontinued?

2% of 80,000 teachers is 1,600.

Anonymous said...

Of course Mulgrew sold us out. He did the same shit a bunch of years ago when agreed to 4 observations instead of 2. He is a snake. I don't wanna hear him spew crap that "95% of teachers were rated effective or highly effective this year". He is in charge of a union that is make up of ALL OF US and he needs to protect ALL OF US.

Anonymous said...

Business Model: The Teachers' Unions

1. Take money from K-12 employees' paychecks (coming from your tax dollars)

2. Fund political efforts

3. Negotiate with lawmakers they elected to...take more of your tax dollars

Repeat.

Anonymous said...

That is totally not how it works. The union takes our money and then negotiates shitty contracts. Mulgrew saves taxpayers plenty. Taxpayers should love the UFT.

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew is live at the moment on a Retired Teachers Chapter Zoom meeting. He’s been discussing health care. He mispronounced “prostate” as “prostrate”! The overall discussion is interesting.

Anonymous said...

School ends Friday. I haven’t been observed. Nobody knows what’s happening. Doe back to ‘normal’

Anonymous said...

I haven't been observed all year either. There's a lot of that going around I heard.

ed notes online said...

10:34 - James will give his own response but mine is that even though we went from 20-30% in the chapter election, the general election is different and depends on whether there is one slate vs Unity to some extent. Split between multiple oppositions suppresses the vote rather than expanding it. if the deal pushing people out of Medicare really sucked there would be some serious blowback -- maybe even push their vote into the low 60s. Which is why I think they may actually get a decent deal for this first round and then screw people in the future. One sure thing is there will be a need to get permission for certain services. For those who get seriously ill that will cause them problems. But on the whole if the opposition did as well as we did -- or a little better -- say one third - would be a victory.

Anonymous said...

Why is Friday not a half day?

Anonymous said...

I'm curious. How many people actually believe we'll ever see any monetary compensation for Spring Break 2020? I mean really seriously believe it? We keep hearing it's the first item on the docket in July when arbitration opens. I'd still love to know why union arbitration cases were put on hold all through this pandemic, yet 3020-a hearings were allowed to proceed remotely? There are so many contradictions and inconsistencies when it comes to issues surrounding this union and it's members when dealing with this system. I'm so glad I'm out in two years.

Anonymous said...

The CCP's 100 year anniversary is July 1

They just released a new proclamation about their glorious founding

"China has changed the world forever"

Are you paying attention yet?

johnny said...

Wait a minute. I'm confused. Evaluations for this year count or not?

James Eterno said...

They count.

Anonymous said...

Evaluations can count regardless of whether we get a rating or not. The law was that no teacher would get a final evaluation. It said nothing about not having observations.

Anonymous said...

614. Congratulations to them. In many ways, a model for building a more efficient, effective, and, equitable system.

Anonymous said...

Adams in lead. Get ready for longer school day and year round school.

Anonymous said...

12:39-It's worse than just K-12. Don't forget the useless piece of shit Mulgrew also sucks the money out of 3K and Pre-K teachers.

5:04-Do I think we will see money for spring break? Yes, but pennies on the dollar, with no interest. I'm guessing we will hear "being paid extra while working through a pandemic isn't a Godgiven right". This is the disgusting bullshit that Mulgrew gives us. Members must wake up and realize that We deserve to be paid for extra work just like all other city and private workers. We are not volunteers, We have bills, loans and families to support. The city lies, Mulgrew lies to us. We need a strong union president that actually cares enough to know when our contract expires. He is so disconnected he doesn't know or care about OUR needs. He constantly acts as an arbitrator NOT UNION PRESIDENT. We need someone to put OUR NEEDS FIRST.

Anonymous said...

Adams: 28% (55,548 votes)
Garcia: 25% (48,467 votes)
Wiley: 21% (42,397 votes)
Yang: 11% (21,084 votes)
Stringer: 6% (11,629 vote)

Nice job with dues and cope. Money well spent.

Anonymous said...

The kiss of death...the uft.

NYC Comptroller Dem Primary

Lander: 31% (97,739 votes)
Johnson: 23% (71,822 votes)
Caruso-Cabrera: 13% (40,989 votes)

Anonymous said...

He can’t extend school year with out NYSED approval and they cant approve that for city only and not all NY. It’s not gonna happen. Adams is an asshole and we will need someone besides Mulgrew to deal with him cause he will bend Mikey right over.

Anonymous said...

Who cares if there is a longer school day? These trash students cant learn and the budget is 34 billion dollars.

Anonymous said...

Two decades on the job and all we hear every election is ‘just wait. When this person is elected……….’ Bla bla bla.

The truth is this job is a racket. Everyone trying to play everyone.

It’s a game. A game of survival. To all tier 4 people, I hope you play the game and survive and collect the pension.

To the tier 6 people, I hope you get out of this job bc no way can you survive.

To all college kids majoring in education, switch your major.

That’s all. Is it Friday yet?

Anonymous said...

Just hand the schools over to Jeff Bezos - he knows how to manage warehouses. Let him and Gates fight to the death for every potential dollar to be made.

Anonymous said...

Adams will use the longer school day to justify giving us raises in the next contract or why I just call cost of living increase.

Erica said...

The Chancellor tweeted what is posted below. As she is tweeting that, I am getting emails from Guidance Counselors and supervisors asking to change grades and pass no shows. Isn't the term over? What happened during the past 5 months? Is this considered "effort" or "academic excellence?" Is this the equity we hear about? These are the character traits you want? Would any of you allow your child to behave like this? Where is the most powerful union in the country on this? Sure, I can change a grade to a 65. Why would I continue to get pestered when it is 100% clear that nobody cares?

Just remember, when these people are protesting in the streets because they can't get a decent job and can't afford housing, you did this to them. I email almost everyday and not a single person from the DOE or UFT has reached out to correct the problem or impose any type of standards. You are all a joke. Keep trumpeting graduation rate.

#NYCClassOf2021: YOU DID IT! You ALL have demonstrated the character traits encapsulated in the acronym of CLEAR that
@EagleBronx's students have focused on:
Confidence
Leadership
Effort
Academic Excellence
Resilience
Graduation capCongratulations on all you have accomplished!

Anonymous said...

9-5 school. No more summer vacation. Eat shit and like it. Thanks Mulgrew.

Anonymous said...

Go Curtis Sliwa!

Anonymous said...

Adams can’t extend school year with out NYSED approval and they cant approve that for city only and not all NY. It’s not gonna happen. Adams is an asshole and we will need someone besides Mulgrew to deal with him cause he will bend Mikey right over. As for the school day being made longer, if Mulgrew agrees to that, there better be a wild cat strike!

Anonymous said...

And just a quick question about Tier4 retirement . If a person has had it and is all set to retire, with 200 days in sick days—
—should they leave on terminal pay—and retire July 1, 2021
or put in for terminal pay—stay on till Sept. 10 and retire on January 31, 2022? (87 school days)
Any thoughts or suggestions

Prehistoric pedagogue said...

I favor terminal leave. Stay on payroll for another 6
Months. Maintain tax break of TDA contribution
Increased FAS a little too. Oh yeah, you’ll get paid for July 2022 because of extra term on payroll

On a separate note, I am very concerned about Lander for Comptroller. He is very likely to use retirement money to further social justice nonsense
Than try to maximize returns

Jeff said...

I would do terminal leave so you get the salary for another whole term with pension credit plus the 5 extra sick bank days and you can contribute to the retiremnet accounts.

Anonymous said...

LOL. Education. Staff fucking in a school with studnets in the building.

//nypost.com/2021/06/23/teacher-and-married-boss-had-trysts-in-library-science-labs/

Anonymous said...

3:50: You will get taxed heavily on the 100 days salary for the 200 sick days. I'm in the same boat, but not retiring for a few more years. The terminal leave is good but you only get 1.5% more each year over 30 years. My suggestion would be to do the terminal leave because you will remain full salary.

Anonymous said...

Just on a side note: Did any ATRs receive their permanent assignment yet? We were told June 18th but I've heard nothing official yet. Is it the doe again playing games?

Anonymous said...

Better to retire and take the car money and the pension. If you do terminal leave, you only get the car money, but no pension. Additional fas and tda contributions won't make up for 6 months of lost pension payments. Term leave is only for those members just shy of some qualifying event, like 55 or 62.

David Suker said...

Nothing. DoE incompetence on display.

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew's incompetence, again and again is bone chilling.

Anonymous said...

Adams will cry racism at every second someone disagrees with him or calls him out on something. He is a real dirtbag for doing that. I just hope people see through his bs and don’t back down otherwise this union and city are screwed.

Pete Zucker said...

@8:08 nope. not yet

Anonymous said...

6:14 I’m paying attention. Communist China supporting teacher @8:50. I’m starting to think our country would be better off if every nyc public school was shuttered for good and we had vouchers instead. Communists will never have my support. Fuck Communist China! …. A freedom hating country where I’d be rounded up and jailed for posting that.

Anonymous said...

808,

I actually don’t think the doe is playing games.

My principal, who is fair and honest, told me there is an appeals thing for schools that don’t want their ATR back, so I think the doe is waiting for that to play out.

A lot of principals are not on board with having their ATR back.

Sadly, some principals think they are miniature CEOs and are driven by power(see dwarka at Bryant or principals of gifted and talented schools like 383 in D32).

I feel that principals who are normal will want their atrs back. However, those that don’t want their ATR back may be what is holding thing d up.

If you recall, they used to always be like 7-10 days late emailing atrs their end of year ratings.

Anonymous said...

509. They enjoy a greater degree of social freedom than we do, such as housing and poverty alleviation, better health care and a more unified society. We get guns and the allowance to say whatever we want. Cool. That has gotten us real far.

Anonymous said...

1031. Yup, that's what cops do. Cry.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to say nasty things about Namita Dwarka, but James would delete it..

James Eterno said...

Georgia Lignou, the Bryant Chapter Leader, wants us to keep the comments on Dwarka professional. I understand the frustration people feel but let's try to be professional.

Anonymous said...

Thank you 658 for that information. Still waiting to hear from DOE as an ATR.

Anon2323 said...

There is no doubt this is the Game of DOE, good luck how you play it could have your career finished expeditiously or you can last 20 plus years.

God knows how many students will even be able to focus on make it through a long day after a year of chilling at home on phones handing in BS work.

Need Silwa! Most atrocious candidates 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮


ALL I know is if Trump did 1/4 of the things Biden is doing there would be a whole lot more target articles/hit pieces. You know Biden is horrendous even for James with absolute silence. Funny how when it comes to election integrity everyone is scared for a forensic audit.

Anonymous said...

Free housing is not social freedom. Communist China disappears dissenters. Forced abortions. Muslims put in camps. China caused a world wide pandemic. Keep digging your commie grave. I’ll pass and keep waving my American flag. Fuck all communists especially China.

Anonymous said...

Fuck all fascists who think people don't deserve healthcare.

Anonymous said...

I didn’t receive an evaluation or observation this year.