The City/Department of Education continues to treat teachers and the schools with nothing but contempt. We learned on Monday night at the UFT Executive Board that the city is still trying to make all of us pay more money for a paid parental leave benefit than they will grant in benefits.
We also found out that the city is going to close multiple schools rather than giving them the proper supports they need such as lower class sizes. UFT Secretary Howie Schoor actually admitted to the Executive Board that we disagree with some of the closings. That is as close as we have gotten to an objection from our union's leaders.
On the same day, however, another public employee union in the city, The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, announced they were sending members out to Iowa to remind the public who Mayor Bill de Blasio really is. They are protesting his speech to progressives telling them that de Blasio is not pro-labor.
From the NY Post:
“Our members are making this trip to tell progressives in Iowa and across the country about the real Bill de Blasio. He says he’s a friend of working people, but when it comes to his own employees, he is anti-worker and anti-union,” said Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch.
“If he is going to stand up before Iowa voters and union members and promise he’s a friend to labor, then he needs to earn it.”
Wake up UFT: Bill de Blasio is not our friend.
CITY CONTINUES TO SEEK MEN OF COLOR TO TEACH IN SCHOOLS
ReplyDeleteBy Lindsey Christ | December 18, 2017 @4:11 PM
Dexter Hannibal is a first-year teacher at Brooklyn Democracy Academy, a high school in Brownsville for students who've fallen behind. Sixty percent are boys of color.
"It's important for them to be able to see someone who looks like them and maybe has some of the shared life experiences they've had," Hannibal said. "For most of my students, they are immigrants and come from immigrant backgrounds. I'm also an immigrant, so I had to learn the history the way they are learning the history."
Research shows it's good for kids to have teachers who look like them. Black boys from low-income households are less likely to drop out and more likely to apply to college if they've had a black male teacher. But while 43 percent of city public school students are boys of color, only 8 percent of teachers are black, Asian or Hispanic men.
"We're doing damage both to the black students, for whom it has a negative impact on their educational outcomes, but it does damage to all students with whom it has an impact on how they view the world," said Deputy Mayor Richard Buery.
Two years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio made what sounded like a bold promise - the city would recruit 1,000 men of color to teach by 2017. He set aside $16.5 million for the effort, which paid for radio and subway ads, sending recruiters to historically black colleges, and working with Teach for America to identify potential hires.
The city says it's almost reached the goal. Three hundred and fifty male teachers of color have been hired. Five hundred and fifty more are in the pipeline.
But at 8 percent, the proportion of black, Asian and Hispanic men in the teaching force today is the same as when the recruitment effort began.
"We're seeing lower retention rates, more likely not to stay with the profession. And that's gotten worse and worse in recent years, as some of the teachers who have been in the sytem for a long time are hitting retirement age," Buery said.
Without the recruitment effort, the percentage of men of color would likely have dropped. Still, it remains stubbornly out of sync with the demographics of the students, many of whom still don't have teachers who look like them.
Fariña is really fake.
DeleteWhy would a black man who has other opportunities want to be abused by students and administrators in a classroom?
ReplyDeleteHAHA. In my school, we cant give a grade lower than 45. So if a kid gets a zero on a test, it gets averaged as 45. Kind of unfair to the kid who actually gets a 45 on a test.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg is still the mayor and Farina knows it. The only one that doesn't is the UFT.
ReplyDeleteFarina just quit...Announcement tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHey 3:33:00 pm, we can’t give below a 55.
ReplyDeleteWhat a scam, grade inflation, grade fraud.
ReplyDeleteFarina resigns tomorrow, as if it matters.
ReplyDeleteIs Klein coming back (he hasn't really left)?
ReplyDeleteOf course they're silent. They are in cahoots!!!
ReplyDeleteI wish Trump would resign with the Farina and take the other witch, Randi, with him. Even he wouldn't want to grab her.
ReplyDeleteI know there are mixed reviews about Chancellor Fariña's accomplishments but I feel incredibly sad to hear she's leaving. Two years ago one of our young teachers was dying of brain cancer. Her family was going through a terrible time both emotionally and financially. In an act of desperation I emailed Chancellor Fariña about the situation. Amazingly she personally got involved and was able to put our colleague back on payroll with full medical benefits. Our dear friend passed away shortly afterwards, but both her family and our school family are eternally grateful for the the compassion that Chancellor Fariña showed. I wish her all the best in her retirement.
ReplyDeleteMary Ahern
She may have done some personal good deeds. I salute her for this but overall she was a disastrous teacher basher. See 2014 contract and atrs for details.
ReplyDeleteThe PBA is pissing in the wind, in the end they are going to get the same UFT pattern plus 1%
ReplyDeleteI agree Caprice but at least they are attempting to put up the notion that they are fighting.
ReplyDeleteThe PBA doesn't like DeBlasio because he said one critical thing after police choked a man to death and lied about it. Not sure I feel like championing their fight.
ReplyDelete