by James Eterno, UFT Chapter Leader, Jamaica High School
According to the April 29, 2008 NY Sun, Mayor Bloomberg will ask for the UFT Contract to be reopened. The City apparently did not gain enough concessions in 2005 so they want yet another bite at the apple by asking that the Contract be renegotiated so that they can fire excessed teachers after 12 months if we can't find a new position. The Sun is predicting a full scale battle. I see no reason to drawn into any combat.
A simple look at Article 32 of the Contract should end the discussion. It says, "This Agreement and each of its provisions shall be effective as of October 13, 2007, and shall continue in full force and effect through October 31, 2009. Negotiations for a subsequent Agreement will commence no sooner than April 30, 2009 upon request of either party filed two weeks in advance or as otherwise mutually agreed." Since it is not April 30, 2009, there is no valid reason why the UFT should consider new Contract negotiations at this time. No mutual agreement should mean no new negotiations.
Furthermore, for the City to even ask for the issue of firing Absent Teacher Reserves to be raised again is a foolhardy move that could easily be considered bad faith. The fact finding panel who made the disastrous recommendations that formed the basis for the punitive 2005 Contract agreed with the UFT on the ATR issue. Here is the actual language: "Fourth, the City/DOE has recommended that an excessed teacher who does not find a new position within 18 months of being excessed be terminated from the system. We specifically reject this proposal." Specifically rejecting a proposal is pretty strong language from arbitrators who obviously favored most of management's giveback demands such as taking away our ability to grieve letters for file, forcing us back in the cafeteria and halls, lengthening the school day and school year, weakening due process, etc... Even after the Contract expires in 2009, there would be no reason to entertain the city proposal as the Taylor law would keep our existing Contract in place until we have a new one.
Additionally, civil service law would have to be altered and I don't think other unions in New York State would be eager to see a change to allow ATRs to be fired as it would set a horrible precedent. If the UFT agreed to amend the Contract so we could be laid off after 12 months of being in excess, the entire labor movement's principle of last hired=first fired would be gone. Tenure would mean nothing. Chancellor Klein could close or reorganize virtually every school. Our rights would basically disappear. As a dissident who has often been critical of the UFT leadership, even I have confidence that Randi would not agree to terminating the ATR's after 12 months or 18 months or placing them on unpaid leave. It should not ever be considered.
There is nothing to negotiate; this proposal should be labeled dead on arrival.
Well you have more faith in Randi than I do. Now what can Mike be offering her now? The vice-presidency to his vice-presidency??
ReplyDeleteNow if he offers to give back the givebacks, I say send all the ATRs to the unemployment line since I would imagine many of them voted Yes in '05. I for one do not want to see a super sub get $100,000 and not have the same responsibilities a classroom teacher has. Bring back seniority excessing and our Labor Day Weekend!!
What a stupid comment. ICE wants the ATR's to lose their jobs? Hey buddy, what happened to your spirit of fraternity?
ReplyDeleteShame on you!
The post was from an ICE person. The first comment was from an anonymous person and it it is an absurd statement that in no way reflects any ICE position that is in this piece.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Not only is there nothing to negotiate, but the UFT should terminate its dog and pony ATR sob story show as a way of pleading its case. It only makes us look weak. Sucking up to the press and public get us nothing - other than praise for Randi from Rod Paige.
ReplyDeleteWhile the first anon commenter is expressing rage at the people who voted for the 2005 contract - and why say it was all the ATR's when 37% of the teachers did vote NO - I totally agree that the UFT should offer to reopen the contract with the stand that we end the ATR/openmarket system madness and appoint each ATR to the first open position.
But the first commenter is right to be skeptical of the UFT since they have praised and defended the open market system despite the fact it is behind the ATR mess.
By the way, I think having ATR's - permanent subs in a school - is a good thing. They just shouldn't be experienced teachers. I was an ATR for my first year and a half as a teacher starting in 1967 and that was how I learned how to teach without messing up a class for more than a day at a time. All new teachers coming in should be assigned as ATR's for a time to learn the ropes. Let's make that part of the negotiations.
Great post. Not only is there nothing to negotiate, but the UFT should terminate its dog and pony ATR sob story show as a way of pleading its case. It only makes us look weak. Sucking up to the press and public get us nothing - other than praise for Randi from Rod Paige.
ReplyDeleteWhile the first anon commenter is expressing rage at the people who voted for the 2005 contract - and why say it was all the ATR's when 37% of the teachers did vote NO - I totally agree that the UFT should offer to reopen the contract with the stand that we end the ATR/openmarket system madness and appoint each ATR to the first open position.
But the first commenter is right to be skeptical of the UFT since they have praised and defended the open market system despite the fact it is behind the ATR mess.
By the way, I think having ATR's - permanent subs in a school - is a good thing. They just shouldn't be experienced teachers. I was an ATR for my first year and a half as a teacher starting in 1967 and that was how I learned how to teach without messing up a class for more than a day at a time. All new teachers coming in should be assigned as ATR's for a time to learn the ropes. Let's make that part of the negotiations.
40% of teachers, not 37, voted against the 2005 Contract. You can look it up on this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you Norm for recognizing the exact meaning of my post. It was definitely meant to be tongue in cheek. When I said, "bring back seniority excessing", that in itself would protect the ATRs. But only you understood the point.
ReplyDeleteHowever, many of the ATRs are senior teachers and a majority of them voted Yes because of the pay hike. Go back and read the Edwize archives.
So now Norm, who puts a post on this ICE page defends the anonymous post that says "I say send all the ATR's to the unemployment line since I would imagine many of them voted YES in '05". Shame on you both! Where are the statements from James and Jeff and the rest of ICE. Do you stand by the statements made by the anonymous post and Norm? This is absolutely horrible. In your hatred for Randi you are willing to defend anything...including the absurd! The DOE cannot be trusted, and instead you turn against our members.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article. There is nothing to talk about until this contract is up. If the mayor needs the money, first he should return the Arista Computer (not sure of the real name) that was bought for many millions of dollars. Second, he should fire all the new employees from the Open Market and big bosses that walk around the schools doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:29
ReplyDeleteYou really don't know how to read between the lines. My first sentence strongly states that I do not trust Randi. My second sentence says to do it only if he gives back the gives back--and I am sure hell will freeze over too.
But I can tell you this, I fought long and hard against the ATR provision and sent out flyers to all the teachers in my school who did not even know about this provision of the contract. Thankfully the majority of my school voted NO even after Her Highness visited the school.
I am not saying all ATRs voted yes, but I do suspect it was the newer teachers and older teachers that voted yes. The first for the money and the latter for the increased pension. I also wrote that I didn't believe for one moment that the Open Market would hire the most experienced teachers when they can get a newbie for free.
I also wrote that I didn't believe the contract would protect them because Klein would think of a way to fire them and somehow Randi would go along. And here I am right again.
Did you happen to see the letter in NYTeacher written by an ATR thanking Randi?? She's the one who put her there!!!
And you're mad at me???
Unlike you, Norm, Jeff and James know Randi created this situation, not me. And if you are an ATR, be afraid, be very afraid because I wouldn't be surprised if this was all pre-planned.
Damn, James, for someone who DOES do research, you sure do it selectively.
ReplyDeleteYou were listening at the last DA when Randi mentioned the absurdity of the DOE with this and further stated that there's not a shot in hell that we'd ever go along with it, right?
Dummy.
Didn't she also state at another DA meeting years ago that she wouldn't support anymore extended time? I not only read her lips, I actually heard her.
ReplyDeleteMy question to all of you is why all of a sudden does Klein want to reopen the contract? To do so he would have to offer something, so what is it?
The thing is, will the ATR salary protection stand in the next contract? What mayor in his right mind would agree to the cost?
I don't know who you guys are, but now the latest post suggests that people deserve to get fired because they voted yes for the contract. The contract that they voted yes for ended seniority transfers, got us a no-layoff clause, protected excessed teachers's jobs forever. That's the contract they voted yes for. Now YOU AND NORM suggest that because they voted YES and now may be ATR's they should get fired. Why don't you just come out and say that you are wrong? I am not going to ask you to read between the lines. I am going to state it very clear. The ICE leadership is completely IRRESPONSIBLE. This is another example.
ReplyDeleteInstead of standing strong with our brothers and sisters. Instead of acknowleging that we are in a real fight, and Randi has said don't even think we will open this contract, you in your interest to prove to the world that you were right think that it is ok for the atr's to get fired.
IRRESPONSIBLE.
IF G-d forbid, Randi agreed to reopen the contract (and I put nothing passed her anymore), AND if more money was offered in exchange for putting the ATRs on unpaid leave, I can practically guarantee that at least half of my colleagues I work in a K-8 school) would vote to sell our brother and sisters down the river, because there is a perception that it doesn't affect them. These are sad times.
ReplyDeleteThese are sad times in this country, and particularly for working people. It's interesting that while the Tweedies want to reopen the contract to fire working people, they concurrently reject paying another dime to bus companies that are losing money because of skyrocketing gas prices.
ReplyDeleteI am not ICE. But tell me, did you fight as hard as I on Edwize against the ATR provision??
ReplyDeleteDo you really think it was fair when Edwize said ATRs love being ATRs because they get their full salary without having the extra stress classroom teachers face each day?
Are they writing page after page of assessments for some folder no one sees until the DoE sends in the Brits for a review? We also have to keep track of every single comment during reading/writing conferences, reading logs, and mark test prep after test prep after test prep plus our regular work.
So don't put me down when Edwize is thrilled that you guys are collecting the big bucks without the added paperwork. Just how much paperwork does an ATR have to bring home compared to the classroom teacher. How many ATRs spent their vacations marking papers and preparing report card grades as well as preparing for parent/teacher conferences?
Do you think when people voted yes to the contract, they really cared about the plight of the ATR? According to one study, the remaining ATRS have refused to go to job fairs or apply on the open market.
If you really care about ATRs you would want reinstate the excessing rules the way I do. But, remember, come the next contract there will be no one there to protect you.
So keep complaining about my post as much as you want. It's easier than facing the fact that your Yes vote put you in that place. And those "yes votes" are the same people that would sell you out again if a monetary gain is put on the table to get rid of you. Look how easily schools fell for the merit pay.
The only thing outrageous is your fear to recognize that Uniity has created a rank and file that vote their pockets rather than due process rights. And I for one would have to consider the work factor too. Should a senior ATR be making a higher salary when the workload is not the same. That's the part that's outrageous and that's the part that Edwize says is a blessing for the ATRs.
(When you are not posting as anon, does your name usually start with a "W"?)
Klein is putting the ATR situation out there with both the News and Post reporting on this issue. He wants public opinion on his side.
ReplyDeleteAnd, he knows he would have to offer Randi something good like giving back Labor Day weekend or reinstating grievance rights. I doubt he would even think of putting the tenure issue of the table if he wants the ATRs gone.
The thing is now this discrimination suit is eating up our dues for something that was preventable. So our dues will once again be raised to support the stupidity of the '05 contract.
NYCEdcator and others predicted this would happen, and they were right.
To anon form 1-5-08 Time 4:33. I wonder why do you complain about the paper work. I bet you have a second grade class with 17 children and you do all your paper work in the school and not during your vacation. Are you for real. I would like to see you working.
ReplyDeleteI missed something along the way. Someone is calling me a dummy and someone is saying ICE leadership is irresponsible. Is that because on this issue I have confidence in Randi? Or is it that some people just have a knee jerk reaction opposing anything an ICE member says?
ReplyDeleteNobody in ICE has privately or publicly called for ATRs to be fired. Just because someone writes a comment on this blog, does not make them a member of ICE.
We should be united in just saying no to reopening the Contract. That was the point of the original article.
James Eterno
I teach 3rd grade. You can come see me anytime, and in fact with all your free time, you can help out with all the conferences since we still use Columbia Reading and Writing. And, I also had to complete E-Clas without the use of subs. Since I can't (and wouldn't) do any paperwork while teaching, I do it at lunchtime. I usually stay late, 5pm to 6pm, to catch up if I don't want to take all of the work home. Once I am home, I am too wiped out from my 26 students. Btw, no 2nd grade teacher in my school has 17 students. More like 22-24 depending on the class. But there are schools with over 32 students in their classes, and I am sure they would love to meet someone making more money without a teaching assignment.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I am responsible for your situation too since I voted NO both in '05 and again in '06. Klein's $750 whore payout did not impress me. However if I am offered "Spitzer rates", I will sell out an ATR faster than a former Hillary super delegate.
What do you do to deserve your salary? Ever teach music??
And how did you vote in '05???
You keep avoiding that question because your vote put you in your ATR position.
And your vote gave us extended day.
And your vote took away our due process.
And your vote gave us potty patrol.
And your vote took away Labor Day weekend.
And your vote took away our collaboration to hire staff.
But most of all, your vote destroyed seniority rights.
And your vote would obliterate what's left of seniority rights if we took your Spitzer bonus in exchange for selling out the ATRs. Then, when your school closed, you could be terminated in a year.
ReplyDeleteTwo wrongs don't make a right.
Well. Well. Well. All of you, please continue to do Klein's work. James and Jeff please don't say that anyone can post anything here without a reply from you. In your own site you have a blogger who is saying ATR's should be let go and you don't respond to the post. And now...he/she says "Should a senior ATR be making a higher salary when the workload is not the same. That's the part that's outrageous..." Well I guess now he/she wants differentiated pay for teachers too.
ReplyDeleteThis last comment is all over the place. When did Jeff say you can post and ICE won't reply? Anyone can post here and anyone can respond. That's an open forum. It's called free speech.
ReplyDeleteThank you for finally given me your answer after all my prodding. You did vote YES to a contract that not only took away your job, but is going to do the same when more schools close next year.
ReplyDeleteAnd you wonder why I hate that you voted YES. You should be ashamed.
btw, we already have differentiated pay.It's called Steps. Where have you been??
Now Randi is going to be up against a rock and a hard place when she has to justify, when we are faced with massive cuts, why the DoE is paying for teachers who have no assignments. I hope she does not violate the existing contract, but she has violated the union by forcing more public resentment towards the UFT with this issue.
Of course I want James' job and all jobs protected. James fought hard against the '05 contract and should not have to suffer due to the stupidity of people like you when they finally close his school. But James also must be aware that the next contract will no longer offer such protections.
Randi now has to pray that she wins a case that will be heard before a Bloomberg court.
Let's hope all teachers vote issues rather than their pockets next time around.
I voted no in 2005 and no the next year too.
ReplyDeleteYou over simplify things. Yeah, let's not vote with our pockets next time! Who needs more money? We could all reduce our calorie intake and we could all be riding bicycles. Or in the case of Norm...that little gadget he drives around.
ReplyDeleteNo amount of money in the world can overcome giving up due process, tenure rights or seniority rights. The CSA is suffering from those moves. Lessoned Learned!!!
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not the money. We can get the money and protect all of the above, but you need strong leadership for that. Expect longer hours and a longer school year also in the next contract. But don't cry when the rest of the tri-state area are still getting the big bucks without all the givebacks.
For the record, what things do you think we should give up for the extra bucks??? Keep in mind that one day not having those rights can someday be used against you.
I'm back from Tokyo and just got to read that Unity schmuck's comments attacking ICE, Jeff, James, me and the anti-Randi posters. Not only can't you read but you are also a total idiot for trying to say we want ATR's to be fired when we have been defending ATR's while you let them swing in the wind. Senior ATR's exist because of your abandonment of seniority and your pushing the open market system (why don't you tell us how many more peopel got transfers) and when they get fired take a look at yourself in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteNorm,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think that person is an ATR who just can't get the point, or the sarcasm if it were handed to him/her on a silver platter. You know that every school has one teacher that every time they open their mouth, eyes roll.
The other one is just a Unity hack.
You should post Randi's open letter to the ATR's. She does say she won't renegotiate but she goes on again saying how wonderful the 2005 Contract is. Don't these people ever admit a mistake?
ReplyDeleteTo the third grade teacher. I am ready to visit your class. I need the when/where/what time I should be there. If you can not keep up with the paper work with 26 kids, somethng is wrong with you. How hard can it be to manage that small class? I can do part of my paper work when they have snack, and the rest when they are taking the test prep. By the way, I am not an ATR. When are they closing your school? I would like to apply there instead of working with the large class I have.
ReplyDeleteWell, my school is not in danger of closing. It is an A-rated Queens, D28, school and the only reason my register is small is because we lost some population. However, the 4th and 5th grades are over 30 because of the loss in population. And since we are also a showcase school, our site is usually selected for principal meetings. Our student population is mostly Russian and only 5 students were on level at the beginning of the school year.
ReplyDeleteYou can do paperwork during snack? You must give a very long snack. And when my class has an assessment, I walk around the room because we are required to do so. In all the years I have taught, I never used class time for paperwork. My students are put into reading/writing and math groups or partnerships, so I am always working the room.
I mark math, reading, spelling, writing pieces, science and social studies essays. I also have to conduct reading/writing conferences and put all comments in a special binder. All classes must also present a project for our principal's monthly Community of Readers. Since our PA runs an afterschool program, I can stay late, usually to 6 pm I and the other teachers also vacuum our classroom carpets. Every floor has a vacuum cleaner that we all use.
I also am responsible for correcting each reading journal entry and commenting on every page. Students must hand in 4 pages of reading journal a week. Then I must collect and record each and every reading log and keep a running record on my bulletin board and on a special display every teacher is required to have outside the classroom wall. For every assessment (in each subject), we must do an itemized skill analysis. All of this is kept in a special binder.
Our principal collects the binders and writing samples. These published works come from the Writer's Notebook, and at least 3 drafts of revision and editing is usually required before the child can publish.
Then there is E-Clas (2x a year without a sub).
We also have our monthly bulletin boards which include standards, rubrics and post-its with comments on all work. (this includes our classroom bulletin boards too). Then there are the other special projects from our principal. We must type up our students' best work ourselves and put it on a disc for our yearly writing magazine. The teachers resent having to do all this typing, but our CC does nothing about it. These pieces are due the same time report cards are due, so the only time to do it is during the February break. And, every grade must do a special showcase project.
We did communities around the world.
Every classroom door must be decorated to look like a book. The principal supplied the backing paper and plastic to cover each door. Within a few years, all classrooms will have a Smartboard.
And, we are summoned to lunch meetings (but not as often as it used to be). Many times when a teacher is on lunch, the principal will summon him/her to the office.
Tell me where you work, and your school assignment. I think you will like working in our school since paperwork is so easy for you.
To Friday at 10:04 p.m.,
ReplyDeleteYou have a Contract. You are a member of a labor union. Get some people together and fight the excessive paperwork, the meetings during lunch, micromanagement and anything else that goes against the Contract.
Nobody does to you what you don't let them and your staff obviously lets the principal walk all over you.
Stop expecting the Chapter leader to take care of you as if you are a child. Stand up for your own rights.
I tried to post a similar response to Anon, 10:04 pm, but couldn't make it submit. Maybe we overlapped. Here's my version:
ReplyDeleteWow, what a list of things the principal makes you do! I especially love this one: "We must type up our students' best work ourselves and put it on a disc for our yearly writing magazine."
How did you guys let it get so out of control?
I guess your members value the "A" status (pure claptrap, by the way) and being a "showcase" school more than making a stink about those issues the contract gives you a vehicle for grieving.
I think the PA might also be interested that the teachers are cleaning their own rugs, particularly when you tell them you don't want to do that anymore since it's not within your job specs.
Teacher intimidation leads to activism or atrophy. Your school took its pick. Times ten.
I'm sure 10:04's story could be repeated in hundreds of schools throughout the city. People have been beaten down really badly.
ReplyDeleteWhat will it take for teachers to grow a spine?
If you read the report, there's talk about teachers getting in line with other professions. That's an odd line, and feeds into the propaganda that pervades the United States.
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth are working people, losing their jobs, their homes, living hand to mouth, complaining about benefits that teachers get? Why aren't they demanding that they get the same benefits, like working people in Europe and Canada?
It would be nice if the union grabbed messages like these rather than entering into flawed agreements and crying, "It's not fair," when entirely predictable results ensue. It would be nice if we had aggressive PR that rivaled that of Bloomberg, who's been getting away with murder for years.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI and others have taken these issues to the chapter, but no one wants to rock the boat. So my friends and I are in the minority, and you can't find the majority,
I have taken my principal on, and suffered the consequence. Other teachers got more TAG kids than I did, and I also got more behavioral problems. She knows how to punish those that take a stand against her. However, I still speak out at conferences and tell her when I disagree. So, I don't back down. We both know we do not like one another although I know she respects me highly as a teacher. But, she likes the newbies better because they like to jump. I do the work I am assigned as any teacher would do.
One teacher on my grade is forever adding to the workload and sharing it with the principal who shares it with us. Hopefully now that she is expecting, she will come to her senses.
On other things, like our teaching methods, she leaves us alone. My principal controls the SBO. She also controls the CC who says other schools have it worse. I am so near retirement, hopefully next June, I am not going to do anything that can land me in some rubber room. And today you can go to the rubber room and not know why. So it is easy for you guys to say I have the problem. You are not in my shoes. Many of the teachers who would have stood with me have all retired. And losing the right to grieve LIF has deterred me from taking her on alone. A few years ago a small group of teachers asked the staff if they would stand together and grieve the typing. No one wanted to rock the boat.
My workload is what other teachers are facing now or will be facing soon. The UFT instead of fighting the amount of paperwork, has set up a commission to study it. This year, the teachers in my school actually went around trying to point their fingers at the teachers who did not give the principal a good review on the survey. My name made that list. That's the culture of my school.
You can read other blogs that have similar problems. Good teachers like Frizzle and Jules are quitting this year. And they voted for the contract.
For those who can do all this work during snack, you should write a book. You can title it "Paperwork on 5 Minutes A Day...that includes lesson planning too".
Believe me, you do find a way to get the paperwork done. Conference notes are not as detailed as they were in the beginning of the year.
And this was the first year it got so intense, but that was more for public relations and everyone knows it. The K-2 teachers were asked to do a project by the AP. They did it because of the fear-factor. That is they would rather do the project than risk the AP constantly observing them. Believe me, I am lucky to work under my principal than the AP.
Now that tests are over, it's easier. And setting up the binders for next year will be a bit easier too now that the format is in place.
The more Randi sells out our rights, no one is going to trust that the Union is behind them.
She can't even stop the miscarriage of justice for those innocent rubber room teachers. And, she refuses to believe there is a rise in LIF, yet U-ratings are higher.
Didn't she renegotiate the contract when they got teachers from out of state? I don't remember voting for those bonuses.
So how is renegotiating the ATR situation any different? There are changes she can make without the rank and file vote. That is why I have no faith in her.
However, if your school has a strong chapter, consider yourself lucky. My neighbor's school does not. She works for a Leadership principal. She never got a LIF until this principal took over. They all do what they are told.
But, they all give each other moral support and every Friday after school a large group of them go to a local bar and booze it up.
There's a lot of us applauding you without your knowing it. Keep up the good work, and remember you're not alone. A lot of us are taking knocks for being outspoken, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI like the booze thing.
If there is a group of you in the bar, that's great. Organize there. You would be surprised what a group of four or five teachers can do if they try.
ReplyDeleteIf you are that close to retirement, more than likely by time they got to your case, it would be time to retire anyway.
I can't understand why teachers are so afraid to stand up for themselves collectively.
We can keep blaming Randi or organize ourselves and force her to move.
I started the year in excess, as an ATR. I thought I was being removed from ATR status when my program continued into the spring term, and a Social Studies teacher transferred to another high school at the beginning of the spring term, resulting in my no longer being in excess. When I tried to get a substitute through Sub-Central, I found out I was officially still an ATR and therefore could not access Sub-Central. My principal has refused to change my status for "budgetary" reasons that are not clear to me. I am speaking to my chapter leader on Monday about grieving this situation. Is this one more example of the DOE's trying to make the ATR situation look worse than it is? You'd think they'd be in a hurry to remove people from ATR status!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to get teachers, especially the new ones, to organize. Principals are now using the divide and conquer method of leading a school. How many times did I hear, "She didn't do anything to me" as an excuse not to get involved.
ReplyDeleteNew teachers today do not understand the reasoning behind a strong union, except when it comes to their salary.
Years ago the teachers used to reorganize the classes, now my principal does. And, in these days of "secret tracking" a principal can stack your class with students who are not meeting the standards. Also, she took away the prep scheduling committee and she decides the schedule. Her favorites are the ones who get "lunch/prep or prep/lunch" more than once a week. Also she gives more admin preps to the clusters who bow to her every wish.
A strong union has to be unified in the beliefs that we all stand together. When a teacher suffers under an unfair attack, they all feel bad and rally among themselves, but will not put it in writing in the form of petitions or grievances.
When things start to really get bad, we may either see a resurgence of an effective union, or good teachers leaving the system. We already learned that experienced teachers are no longer desired.
Stop blaming Randi and the leadership if you won't do a thing. Randi and Klein set up the system where we can easily be conquered but we are allowing it to continue when we just sit there and take it. We are unionized for a reason.
ReplyDeletePeople who are close to retirement and have nothing to lose should set an example and not just count the days until they get out. People who are young and are planning on quitting have very little to lose either. Look past your own little world for a minute and see the big picture.
Thank you anon. The older teachers should stand up, and if they get sent to the Rubber Room, we will have you to thank.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to forget that the Rubber Room is becoming the holding cell, or the DoE's version of Gitmo, for teachers that do organize. Why should it take so long for teachers to receive due process?
So how does sitting there and hiding and hoping nobody finds you help?
ReplyDeleteFrom today's NY Sun. For seven months, the administration has been holding private meetings with the union seeking some way to either fire or cut the pay of members of the pool. Such a change would be historic in city schools long ruled by union efforts to create air-tight job security. The meetings all ended in stalemate.
ReplyDeleteFrom today's NY SUN
ReplyDeleteThe union president, Randi Weingarten, is also reaching out to members of the reserve pool with a promise to reject any change in the contract that would dent a “rock-solid job security clause” for ATR members.
“I wanted to personally reassure you that the UFT will
not reopen the contract to negotiate any change in the terms and conditions of your employment,” Ms. Weingarten wrote in a letter to reserve pool members on Friday.
I think Randi made it clear she is not reopening the contract.
ReplyDeleteATR's must feel so safe now that Randi wrote them a letter of support. And when the DOE comes to get them by giving them lousy classes and observing them into U ratings and the rubber room, they will feel equally good - after all, they are getting paid while in the rubber room - the UFT will tell them they have no paper work to do, what a life. The secret here is that the DOE would like to reopen the contract. Because Randi says no doesn't mean the ATR's are out of danger.
ReplyDeleteKlein always finds a way.
ReplyDeleteAnd anon, please leave your school and become chapter leader at mine.
You put down the teachers, but say nothing of the chapter leader who does nothing to inspire the staff.
Your staff voted for that chapter leader. He/she is accountable to you.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the 3rd grade teacher ilkes to read and write comments. I DO NOT BELIEVE she does not have time to do paper work at the school. How does she have time to read and write all these comments?
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDelete