I am new to the Absent Teacher Reserve pool. I have been playing it very straight in the application and interview process.
I wrote a brand new resume after attending a hiring workshop in June at Jamaica HS before we closed. I have applied for numerous positions through the Open Market Transfer System and now on the Excess Staff Selection System. I dress professionally in a suit for most interviews and take them very seriously. However, the process is getting a little ridiculous as long time ATRs warned me it would.
On Tuesday morning, I was sent for a mandatory interview for a position that had been filled over a week ago. The assistant principal informed me that the Department of Education still wanted them to interview teachers in case they had a vacancy in the future. Who are they kidding? Another school previously interviewed me but they also didn't have a position.
The DOE is forcing ATRs to travel around our boroughs for interviews under threat of automatic resignation if we miss two. When we go on interviews for jobs that don't exist, we are wasting time, energy and money as we are not available in the schools we are assigned to for class coverage which another teacher has to do for pay.
Veteran ATRs have told me the system is designed to discourage ATRs so we will become demoralized and want to quit. As I live through this, I am seeing this point more clearly every day.
It's off to Far Rockaway for today's interview.
18 comments:
Yes, I mentioned this some time ago on another blog. I was sent to an elementary school (I have a 9-12 license). I called and the principal said he knew of no vacancies. I don't know if this is a set up and / or more incompetence by the DOE. The kicker, of courses being termination for not showing up to nonexistent vacancies.
If we are sent on a mandatory interview during our regular workineg hours, and we leave from the school we were currently assigned, the DOE should be picking up the tab for traveling expenses from and back to our assigned scjool.
Annon. 8:40 Why isn't your spell check working or are you just ignoring it? It doesn't help your cause.
As for these bogus interviews, let's be real here. It's not just the DoE. The UFT and CSA are also playing roles here. Under any other circumstances, this action would be grieved.
Principals should be complaining to their union because they are wasting their time as well.
Maybe James could get this story printed in one of the local papers. These principals should have their feet set to the fire for putting teachers through this when positions don't exist.
This crap gets more and more sickening by the day
I love mandated interviews. I get to arrive at my assigned school late or leave really early. I pretend I'm an actress and I win Academy awards . I wouldn't work at 95 percent of the crap schools they send me too so I just laugh through the interviews and say s lot of "I don't knows" and where is the chalk? I don't bother bringing resumes or dressing nicely . What is the point? I don't want to work in their crummy schools. So I just enjoy the long rides and the getting home early .
I have been declared "Untouchable" by the UFT/DOE. Thank you for saving me time and money! Who knew I would actually benefit from the contract.
It's just infuriating to think that our union, through contact negations, has put its members in this precarious position.
There should be an organized effort to roll back our union dues. This union isn't worth a dime.
Guys shut up what the hell do you think your doing? Your opening your big fat mouth and hurting us more. The one good think about the art life is when they sent you on these interviews. It's a day off for the atr . A day off from the traveling AP and a day away from a shit school like Thomas Jefferson Campus where the kids are more crazy than the administrators. Yes yes I know its a waste of time and money but what do you think you will accomplish by bring this to light especially to the news papers who hate our guts! They will blame us for this and chance the rules to make life harder for use. Just like many years ago a teacher would stay in the rubber room for 7 to 10 years and longer before a 3020a hearing, and it was in front of 3 hearing offers and the teacher could refuse an a hearing officer and get a different one. But no we thought we would expose this to everyone especially the new papers on how it was a big was of money and how teacher where put there for the wrong reason. But that's not how they presented to the public. Instead they made us out to be lazy on good teachers who sit in a room and collect pay checks for 7 to 10 years or longer. That we were wasting the taxpayers money because we could not be fired. So how did that work out? They change the rules. No we stay in the rubber room one or two years if we are lucky before we go to a 3020a hearing. Atrs only get one day. We no longer have a say on with hearing officer we get. We only get one who is more afraid of the doe firing him if he lets the teacher off easy than the uft. Then we get a no good piece of shit uft lawyer like Mitch Rubenstein who tells every uft client the same thing. I got you a great deal . You resign now and I will get the doe to give you 3 months pay. And what do you think the doe did with all that money they saved on teacher salary that were setting in the rubber room for 7 years or long? Reduce class size? No instead they used it to hire more pro doe hearing officers so we could be remove much quicker along with more doe lawyer to screw us even harder! So what do you guys hope to accomplish by bring this to light? Do you think the newspaper will take our side and write the true story. No instead they will blame us again that we are lazy go for nothing atrs and change the rules of the interview to make things worse for us. And what do you think they will do with the money we will save them on bogus interviews? Reduce class size? No they will use the money to hire more lawyers to get us fired. Leave well enough along. This is just like the blogger CHAZ who thinks he speaks on behalf of the atrs. Its better for us to rotate from school to school than to force place in a shit hole school. But no the blog CHAZ wants every atr in the classroom. In other words force place. Who else do you think they will do it? Let the teacher choose based on seniority? And CHAZ won't hear another word of it. As soon as many of the atrs started writing in to him hey CHAZ this guy is right. It's better to rotate than to be forced placed CHAZ stop posting my comments or ideas. Coward and yellow journalist this guy CHAZ if you ask me. Yes he writes slot of good stuff but he is like the uft, you better not disagree with him
Darknight
The last blogger, (Who unfortunately has horrible grammar), is 100% right. ATR's who are bragging about screwing up their interviews on purpose is just giving ammo to the people who would like nothing more than to see ATR's fired. If you are an ATR show some respect and pride for yourself when forced to go to an interview or are placed in a school for your rotation. Screwing up interviews and being a slob feeds into the false rumor that ATR's are crappy teachers.
I don't know of any ATRs who are purposefully messing up their interviews. Most that I know want to be placed in a decent school. The people interviewing us however leave alot to be desired. Some questions I and my colleagues have been asked include- " if a kid has his head on his desk and you ask him to do his work and he tells you to s--k his d--k, how do you handle it?" This was in front of a committee of 9 and asked by the parent coordinator. Other questions and comments include "how old are you?" " we thought you were black " we thought you were white" "are you Hispanic" ? Maybe the EEO should investigate these interviews.
5:44 it is atrs not Atr's and it is atrs are not atr's is. I wonder who is giving us a bad name now.
Do you think it really matters how you spell ATR?
I notice that there are several members of the grammar police trolling popular blog sites. I've also noticed that the better the ideas, or those not candy coated in political correctness, are especially vilified - not for the argument(s) presented, but for spelling, grammar and vocabulary. This is a thinly disguised method to deflect the ideas presented. If only these critics could teach NYC students or maybe they are!
To the idiots who are looking at my grammar instead of say hey this guy has a point. First let me say that when I blog that long message to make you idiot understand to keep your big mouth shut I did on my I phone. It's a pain in the ass to type such a long blog on such a small key board. Then the auto-spell check does not understand what atr so it changes the word to arts instead. You guys are not worth my valuable time because after make so very important points you guys only notice the grammar and missed the mean of what I wrote. In fact right after I wrote that blog some jackass wrote yeah someone should call OEO on these administrators who give ask such questions on interviews. Hello what did I just write. OEO works for the administrators, in an enforced to false accuse teacher and get them fired. Just read the rubber room by Besty Combier or that yellow journalist CHAZ. After the great points I made that you all missed this jackass is asking OEO for justice. Teachers are stupid. The cops are much smarter. They don't give a shit about grammar, they want facts. And the facts say that we teachers took an inferior contract because that grammar that our uft President wrote looked good. The hell with the facts. But not the cops they unlike teacher will not settle for the same inferior contact. They are much smarter and are going to fight the city. They are not going to throw the other unions under the bus like we did.
So much for you grammar lovers. Take your grammar and put it where the sun don't shine. I too busy to waste my time with idiots who miss the point, they want prefect gamer instead on a blog.
What hell was I writing an essay?
Dark night
100% correct! You are the best blogger out there!
I am not a blogger nor I am the best one I just thought I would give my fellow teachers some useful and important insight on these matters but some are just too stupid and arrogant to get to the heart of the message. But I guess that explains or shows why most teachers vote themselves an inferior contact. Teachers are just dumb sorry to say. As for me I am done, I not writing any more use information to them, its just a waste of my valuable time. Cops are much smarter.
Darknight
To Darknight,
I've always thought your ideas and comments were insightful and thought provoking. Please don't stop writing because of a few frustrated English teachers, (who think more about spelling and vocabulary than about the fact that they are being thrown into a trash compactor).
Thank you, Bronx atr,
I look forward to reading your useful insights and comments.
Best of luck to you this school year.
Darknight.
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