Sunday, March 11, 2012

DA REPORT: MULGREW SPINS OBLITERATION OF TENURE AS WE KNOW IT AS A GAIN

The March Delegate Assembly was totally uneventful. In the usual marathon President's Report, Michael Mulgrew was in full spin cycle.  He said that the Teacher Data Reports in the future may or may not be open to Freedom of Information Act requests when 20% of some teachers' annual review is based on student gains in standardized test scores.

Mulgrew spent a great deal of his time then defending the appeal system that he agreed to for the new evaluation system.  The President first emphasized that the new evaluation system has not gone into effect but that there is an agreement on the appeals.  He also was emphatic that 20% of the new evaluation system will be based on student growth in test scores but that another 20% that is based on student growth and the other 60% that is based on observations and peer review and maybe other factors must be negotiated by the City and the UFT.

Then Mulgrew went into details on the appeals process.  He said that currently 99.6% of teachers lose their Unsatisfactory rating appeals in the Bloomberg era but that in pre-Bloomberg times 10-15% of teachers had their U ratings overturned in a given year.  He added that this is why the UFT agreed to allow up to 13% of those who receive ineffective ratings in the new system, when it is implemented, to appeal to an independent three person panel.  He said that these would not be reviews based on performance but rather would be reserved for teachers who receive ineffective ratings based upon being harassed by Principals because they are Chapter Leaders, other union activists or whistle blowers.

He then told us that the other 87% of those who are stuck with an ineffective rating would be observed by independent validators who are not current employees of the DOE or UFT but would have to visit the ineffective teacher three times to validate the ineffective rating.  He felt this would be a good protection for teachers.

We believe otherwise as the program looks remarkably like Peer Intervention Plus Program where outside people not employed by UFT or DOE rubber stamp the Principal's findings most of the time.  Mulgrew mentioned that if the validator concludes that the teacher is not ineffective then if the DOE wants to dismiss that teacher, then they still would carry the burden of proof in a termination hearing.

(Those teachers who have their ineffective ratings  validated will then have to prove they are not ineffective [virtually impossible to do] in the new 3020A process to keep their jobs.  We predict many people will be rated ineffective twice and validators will validate most of them and then there will be a huge backlog of people waiting to have their termination hearings.  The only thing that might save people is that there might not be enough lawyers or arbitrators available to fire so many people.)

UFT spin is that the new system is an improvement.  In reality, it fundamentally weakens tenure to the point where in the future we are all vulnerable if this ever goes into effect.  Our hope is people will collectively rise to oppose it.

Mulgrew went on to say that the Mayor is not happy with the evaluation system so he will just continue to close as many schools as he can in his last 21 months in office as he tries to become a national figure.  Mulgrew told us about the polls that have the mayor's approval rating on the schools at around 21% and the UFT's approval rating around 60%.  He said the mayor knows he can't fire teachers en masse but that his stand plays well nationally.

Mulgew then said that there is legislation in Albany that is being sponsored by Assemblyman Keith Wright, that the UFT has a resolution supporting, that would make the Community Education Council have to approve any new co-location of a school in a current school building. (I wanted to ask why the UFT has no resolution on another bill in Albany to put major checks on school closings but as usual I wasn't recognized.  It is a question worth pursuing.)

The President then told us that the City is not getting Medicaid reimbursements to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.  He then segued into talking about SESIS, reporting that assistant principals were testifying on behalf of the UFT in the SESIS grievance, although the DOE says the major issues have been fixed.

He then read a letter from a CEC member in support of teachers. Mulgrew concluded his report by talking about how he addressed a Council of Supervisors and Administrators lunch event over the weekend.

Leroy Barr then gave the Staff Director's Report where he talked about an upcoming Para event and a March 15 Day of solidarity.  Mulgrew came back to tell everyone to call Albany at (877) 255-9417 to oppose a Tier 6 pension.  He said that we have paid for every benefit we have.

He then reported on how Joel Klein was served with a subpoena to testify in a suit filed last May opposed to school closings from 2011.  A judge denied the UFT an injunction to stop the closings of many schools (including my school) last July but that he did let the case go forward.  Mulgrew said the lawyers were lining up to try to question Klein.

Questions concerned the independent validators.  Mulgrew said that possibly retirees could do the job.  He talked about counter attacking on closing schools but that we need the law changed in Albany to stop the mayor.

I again need to point out that he didn't say why the UFT had no resolution to support a change in the state law on school closings.  The other resolutions were all non controversial and all passed unanimously.

Finally, a Chapter Leader that I respect told me he reads my monthly DA reports so he knows the DA is a waste of time. While I agree with him essentially, I don't agree with non Unity people not showing up. If every Chapter Leader and Delegate who are not part of Unity Caucus would attend meetings, it probably would be a totally different union. People need to be active.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

ICE has been taking it in the rear for years. What I do not understand is why ICE does not hire some lawyers and go school to school to get 30% necessary to decertify the UFT. Instead, ICE gives up and notes the problem with retiree and staff voting in support of Unity. But at PERB only current teachers get to vote. We need to go school to school and organize. Otherwise, we have no one, but ourselves to blame.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like the union may finalize this new evaluation system before the start of the school year this fall. Does anyone have any take on this?

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if the new evaluation law is permanent? Since it being imposed through a budget amendment, and not an act of the legislature, does that make it permanent, or is it time limited?

Anonymous said...

It is permanent.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like the union may finalize this new evaluation system before the start of the school year this fall. Does anyone have any take on this?

See this is the problem. The rank and file have absolutely no clue to what is truly going on. The majority are clueless including myself. I am under the impression that the Union and the city are miles apart on agreeing to anything - the other 20 percent being the issue that divides both parties by miles. Leo Casey is on record as saying that a line in the sand has been drawn by the Union as they are adamant about the other 20 percent NOT being standardized exams. The city wants this other 20 percent as standardized exams. If both parties have drawn the line in the sand then it seems to me that no agreement is close. But who am I but a foot soldier who tries my best to inform myself about these happenings and still am left uncertain. Can the Union just send us all a letter for goodness sakes!

Anonymous said...

How will these new teacher evaluations play out on those of us that work with ungraded students, for example, in several District 75 schools?

Does anyone have any idea here?

Thanks for any info, much appreciated!

Arbeiter said...

Why doesn't ICE try to organize or at least approach the retirees? I have to say that I really resent ICE assuming that the "retirees" are voting Unity. I have not nor will I ever vote Unity and I am a retiree. Why, like every other union entity, is there blamingof groups of teachers? When I was teaching high school, I kept hearing that it was the "fault" of the elementary school teachers that crappy contracts passed. When I spoke to my elementary school teacher friends, they were told that it was the high school teachers' "fault" that a crappy contract passed. This smacks of the typical "divide and conquer" that has worked so well against teachers, especially within the past 10 years. ICE needs to act like the activists they proclaim to be and organize retirees. We retirees have nothing to lose, really. They can't harass us, they did that already. They can't put a letter to our file, they did that already. They can't give us the worst class or the worst program or 3 rooms on 2 floors and no support, that's over. This is the UFT's MO...divide and conquer and of course use fear so the DOE gets what it wants. STOP and act like a union.

James Eterno said...

The city and the UFT may be miles apart on what the other 20% of the student growth portion will be. We hope they are and that they never come to an agreement on this until they change the law. As for the comment on ICE and the retirees, how do we get to them?

Anonymous said...

This is one of the best summaries of Unity I have read. While I really don't know how many "hits' this page gets, I would strongly suggest that copies of this be put in every teacher's mailbox.

I thought the 13% appeals would be about the test score ratings. But it has nothing to do with VAM. Wouldn't it make better sense to show how teachers who teach gifted students are getting screwed by VAM? Instead they are saving these appeals for chapter leaders (Unity people)????

As for the chapter leader not showing up--shame on you. James needs backup.