Saturday, June 03, 2017

DOE UNION BUSTING AT ARBITRATION

Principals really don't need their union, the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, too often because they have the Department of Education's Office of Labor Relations which is virtually a principal's support group. When it comes to labor-management disputes, OLR simply functions as a rubber stamp for whatever principals and assistant principals want. This can be seen when it comes to arbitrations.

There are grievances and APPR complaints that are so cut and dried they should never get to arbitration.The DOE strategy is to almost always support school administrators, no matter how outrageous their actions, knowing full well the UFT can only take a limited number of cases to arbitration. The arbitration process gets clogged and when something finally gets to arbitration, the DOE quitely concedes without a fight

UFT Grievance Department Director Ellen Procida spoke about this at a recent Executive Board meeting.

This is from our report:
 Ellen Procida said there are many ridiculous rulings at chancellor's level and we are getting resolutions at arbitration but we are not where we want to be yet.

I saw this in action this past week as two completely open and shut, clear cut APPR complaints on totally improper observations went to arbitration. The arbitrator actually chastised the DOE for allowing these cases to go this far. Based on what Ellen said to the Executive Board while now seeing this in action, and also recalling Arthur Goldstein's class size saga at Francis Lewis, it is clear that the DOE is just stalling while encouraging principals to do whatever they want unless they alienate an entire school community.

The only possible answer to this is if the DOE has a system that says: "My Principals Right or Wrong," the response from the UFT must be: "My Teachers Right or Wrong."

The only exception to My Teachers Right or Wrong is if the teacher alienates the entire school community.

Unfortunately, that is not the UFT response. Since there is a Democrat at City Hall, we play nice. This is a huge mistake.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

And your point is? Does this shock you? I will give an example. I was in a school last year, overcrowded classes, this was in December. I brought it up to the uft, they said its ok, we are going to arbitration. Arbitration? The term is almost over. Well, the arbitrator will tell the principal to stop. Stop? He isnt going to reprogram the whole school in the last month of the fall term. Also, he now knows he can do the same thing in February, wait 3 or 4 months, get taken to arbitration, and then say, well, its May, try again in September. And who suffers? what is the punishment for them keeping class sizes illegal forever?

Anonymous said...

The UFT has allowed itself to become weak. Chapter leaders don't know the rules and take the job to gain favor with the admins and for the period off. Teachers and Chapter leaders are deathly afraid to grieve anything. The UFT is not standing up for anyone.

Anonymous said...

By the way, another terrorist attack by muslims, the religion of peace. Yelling allah, but since its NY here and the uft is liberal, its just guys doing something misguided...

Harris L. said...

I learned a lot from this today, James. Thank you.

I've always thought that the NYC DOE is an almost perfectly feudal system:

The Queen lives in a royal palace very far from anyone downtown but is well-protected by her retinue of life-long chamberlains and hired Swiss Guard of lawyers and special investigators.

Each Duke or Duchess is free to rule in his or her school-castle as he or she sees fit so long as they pledge absolute fealty to the Queen.

The Dukes and Duchesses control legions of internal Quislings to keep the teacher-serfs quiet.

Each school-domain is protected from its community by a moat. Every once in a while the parent/student-peasants revolt, as they did recently in the Duchies of CPE and Townsend Harris, but usually the Queen just punishes the peasants by telling her Dukes and Duchesses to pull up the drawbridges of their castles and pour boiling oil onto them from the ramparts.

Anonymous said...

What can we expect when Judge S. Mandel actually stated at a grievance hearing that it is her job to find in favor of management.?

UFT representative present at the hearing never followed up with me. Rona Freiser said that she would look into ti, never got back to me.
No reason to have confidence that the uft has your back because they don't.

Anonymous said...

149 Dead So Far In Ramadan Attacks, plus countless terrorist attacks and attempted attacks...

Anonymous said...

You hate Muslims, I don't care. Let me repeat, as an ATR, I would love to be forced in an all Muslim school. The kids are respectful, listen and you can have a conversation with them - not to mention they are apt pupils.

Anonymous said...

The racist hates Muslims too. Are you the same person who tells us about every crime committed by African Americans? Or, are you someone else?

Anonymous said...

What's racist? Is what was written not factual? Are pretty much all terrorist attacks by the same background, with a few exceptions? Do you see Baptists, for example, chopping heads off, drowning people, lighting people on fire, throwing gays off buildings, driving trucks into crowds of people, stabbing and shooting people, yelling allah while doing so?

Anonymous said...

So, you paint everyone who shares that religion, some 1.6 billion people, with the same brush. Isn't that a textbook definition of racism? All blacks are criminals. Muslims are terrorists? You get the idea.

Anonymous said...

Never said all. If there is a terrorist attack, its likely a muslim in the name of allah. And im still waiting for you to say what isnt factual.

Jordan said...

During the holy holiday of ramadan no less

Anonymous said...

Racism is discrimination against someone of a different race, not religion. So your definition of racism is incorrect if you say it's directed at a religion. People can opt in or choose out of a religion. You can't opt out of your own race.

waitingforsupport said...

@10:04 am please note that 9:50 is simply a coward who views life thru his/her own special lens. He/she doesn't understand the history of the world. Personally I chuckle and show folks the rants of an uneducated racist. Freedom of speech is great

Anonymous said...

Still not understanding. Where is racism and discrimination? Terrorist attack normally commited by muslims. Fact. What is the question? The fact that i stated it?

waitingforsupport said...

@9:50 try posting facts about why there was a need for Civil and Equal rights.

Anonymous said...

How come you don't call that white guy who knifed 3 people and killed 2 of them on the train in Portland a white terrorist? Dylan Root is another white terrorists. And all those Klannners that lynched so many blacks?

Anonymous said...

You win, wanna make a bet next terrorist attack is muslim? just like the last dozen

Anonymous said...

Just this year...
2017
Location Date Description Deaths Injuries
Afghanistan February 8, 2017 Islamic State militants attack a convoy of aid workers of the Red Cross in Northern Afghanistan. Killing 6 and taking 2 prisoner.[271] 6 0
Afghanistan February 11, 2017 Taliban suicide car bomber killed seven people outside a bank in Lashkargah.[272] 7 21
Pakistan February 16, 2017 During the 2017 Sehwan suicide bombing a suicide bomber entered the main hall of the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and detonated his payload amid dozens of worshippers.[273] 88 100+
Iraq February 19, 2017 Five people were killed in two suicide bombings that hit districts recently retaken from Islamic State in eastern Mosul. The first attack targeted an army checkpoint, killing three soldiers, and the second a gathering of civilians in the commercial district known as "My Fair Lady," killing two.[274] 5 0
Pakistan February 21, 2017 Three militants threw hand grenades and opened fire as they launched an assault in Tangi, near the border with Afghanistan. Two of the men blew themselves up during the 20-minute gun battle with security forces at the gate, while the third was shot dead by police before he could detonate his explosive vest.[275] 7 22
Egypt February 22, 2017 Two Coptic citizens were found killed on Wednesday inside the North Sinai city of Al-Arish. The two are believed to have been kidnapped by anonymous militants who are suspected to be members of the IS-affiliated group of “Sinai Province.”[276] 2 0
Afghanistan February 28, 2017 Twelve policemen were killed in an "insider attack" in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. An infiltrator from the Taliban had allowed militants into the outpost in the regional capital, Lashkar Gah.[277] 12 0
Afghanistan March 8, 2017 Gunmen dressed as medics attacked a military hospital in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing more than 40 people, in an assault claimed by Islamic State.[278][279] 40+ 50+
Iraq March 8, 2017 Two suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 26 people at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit. Islamic State said two of its fighters had carried out the attack in the village of Hajaj.[280] 26 67
Egypt April 9, 2017 Palm Sunday attacks on Christian churches in Tanta and Alexandria kill at least 36 people and injure more than 100[281] 47 100+
United Kingdom May 22, 2017 Manchester Arena bombing by an ISIS terror cell based in both England and Libya sends a suicide bomber to attack a pop concert performance of nearly 20,000 by Ariana Grande. Authorities promptly raise the terror threat level to "Critical" fearing another attack by the bombmaker and the rest of this terror cell. Authorities in England and Libya have arrested numerous (now 8) suspects, including the brother of the first bomber who affirms their affiliation with ISIS-Libya.[282][283][284] 22 129
Egypt May 26, 2017 Gunman open fire upon a convoy carrying Coptic Christians traveling from Maghagha in Egypt's Minya Governorate.[285] 28 22
Afghanistan May 31, 2017 On May 31, 2017, a car bomb exploded in a crowded intersection in Kabul at about 08:25 local time (03:55 GMT) during rush hour,[45] killing over 80 and injuring over 350, mostly civilians.[45][286]

Anonymous said...

I think the issue here is muddled between religion and race. Two separate arguments. There are religions that have modernized their teachings and what was considered righteous hundreds of years ago, today in the modern era, it is condemned and no longer a part of that religion. The Muslim community and Islam has NOT modernized their religion and continue to believe and teach what we would consider today a very uncivil and unequal practice of religious beliefs.

Anonymous said...

Every time somebody states a fact, the answer is always, well, you are racist. I think thats what the dems always do. How can you argue that the large majority of attacks are by muslims? And those who keep the politically correct attitude because they dont want to offend, or they want votes, will keep getting terrorized. See the UK...For god sakes, they yell allah as they are murdering hundreds of innocent people.

Anonymous said...

Especially dems, who are for equality, like gay marriage, then say nothing when muslims murder gays, just because they are gay.

Anonymous said...

Treat people like individuals not generalizations of a perceived classification.

Anonymous said...

Individual muslims keep doing the same thing

Anonymous said...

And a weird irony about freedom of speech... waitingforsupport...Charlie Hebdo occurred for that same very freedom... and it was perpetrated by those with very strong and uncivil/outdated religious beliefs.

waitingforsupport said...

Too much hatred intolerance ignorance and not enough intelligence open mindedness fairness...prime example is how some educators are being treated. Some of the educators are really fools

Joe said...



1. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in the United States: According to the FBI, 94% of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States from 1980 to 2005 have been by non-Muslims. This means that an American terrorist suspect is over nine times more likely to be a non-Muslim than a Muslim. According to this same report, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism in the United States than Islamic, yet when was the last time we heard about the threat of Jewish terrorism in the media? For the same exact reasons that we cannot blame the entire religion of Judaism or Christianity for the violent actions of those carrying out crimes under the names of these religions, we have absolutely no justifiable grounds to blame Muslims for terrorism.

2. Non-Muslims make up the majority of terrorists in Europe: There have been over one thousand terrorist attacks in Europe in the past five years. Take a guess at what percent of those terrorists were Muslim. Wrong, now guess again. It’s less than 2%.

3. Even if all terrorist attacks were carried out by Muslims, you still could not associate terrorism with Islam: There have been 140,000 terror attacks committed worldwide since 1970. Even if Muslims carried out all of these attacks (which is an absurd assumption given the fact mentioned in my first point), those terrorists would represent less than 0.00009 percent of all Muslims. To put things into perspective, this means that you are more likely to be struck by lightening in your lifetime than a Muslim is likely to commit a terrorist attack during that same timespan.

4. If all Muslims are terrorists, then all Muslims are peacemakers: The same statistical assumptions being used to falsely portray Muslims as violent people can be used more accurately to portray Muslims as peaceful people. If all Muslims are terrorists because a single digit percentage of terrorists happen to be Muslim, then all Muslims are peacemakers because 5 out of the past 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners (42 percent) have been Muslims.

5. If you are scared of Muslims then you should also be scared of household furniture and toddlers: A study carried out by the University of North Carolina showed that less than 0.0002% of Americans killed since 9/11 were killed by Muslims. (Ironically, this study was done in Chapel Hill: the same place where a Caucasian non-Muslim killed three innocent Muslims as the mainstream media brushed this terrorist attack off as a parking dispute). Based on these numbers, and those of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the average American is more likely to be crushed to death by their couch or television than they are to be killed by a Muslim. As a matter of fact, Americans were more likely to be killed by a toddler in 2013 than they were by a so-called “Muslim terrorist”.

Anonymous said...

the notorious Loonwatch.com site has been claiming that 94% of all terror attacks have nothing to do with Islam. What they aren't saying is that according to their own source, Muslims are 35 times more likely to commit acts of deadly terror - and that's just in the United States.

Anonymous said...

Most Moslems are not white. Get real.

Anonymous said...

Very few white Muslims involved. Don't tell me race is not a part of this. Bigot might be more accurate.

Anonymous said...

Really? Can you direct me to all the Jewish terrorist attacks in this country? I can show you how Jews are targeted more than anyone.

James Eterno said...

Hello everyone,

This post was about how the DOE is using arbitration stall the grievance process and APPR complaint process. The debate here is on Islam and terrorism.

I have asked repeatedly for comments to try to stay on topic. I will ask again. Please stay on topic.

I hate censorship but regular readers are complaining to me on email about some of the comments.

We are all horrified and angered by terrorism. My wife has plenty of relatives in London so that hits close to home for sure. My daughter likes Ariana Grande. It could be us. However, I don't think this is the forum for a discussion on Muslims.

Please, please, please find other forums for those discussions and try to stick to the topic of the postings.

Thanks,

James