Chalkbeat covered changing the NYS teacher evaluation law. Our state union NYSUT is leading the fight to change the law. NYSUT wants the state to end mandates from Albany on eval and put it back to individual districts with student test results out of the mix.
Noticably absent from the discussion is the UFT. Although the UFT voted for the NYSUT resolution to get testing out of evaluations, UFT President Michael Mulgrew is now leading the charge to keep the current system in place. He says the NYC evaluation system could be a model for the state.
As for the petition people are looking for from us on repealing the evaluation law, I have been asking around. Do we go to repeal everything in 2015 law (eval, CTLE hours, four years probation, receivership), or do we go after just evaluations? Let us choose our target now folks.
ICE is meeting later today. I am still out of town but hopefully eval will come up.
43 comments:
Mulgrew is an anti-teacher stooge. a coward and a neo-Quisling.
UFT is a company union wholly owned and controlled by New York City Department of Education.
NYSUT's position (evaluations back to district level with no test-based fake math component) seems reasonable.
Evaluations should be first and foremost. CTLE hours will explode on their own and tenure and receivership can be dealt with later. A question for all to ask themselves is which one gives the most stress to you. As a reader of this blog (and others) and from my conversations with colleagues I believe a change to the evaluation system is the most pressing issue by a landslide.
This is a classic example of being out of touch with your membership And he will pay a hefty price for this soon enough.
Evaluations should be the sole part of the petition as this is what is being discussed in Albany right now. As mentioned above it is the #1 cause of massive stress and hardship for teachers in NY. Tenure and CTL, are issues to fight for another day. Keep it simple and on point. Are you planning on writing the petition to focus on NYC and getting the DOE and the UFT to agree to the NYS 2 observations or are you focusing the petition on getting NYS to return local control to evaluations to districts? I think the petition should focus on getting the DOE and UFT to get us the 2 observations as allowed under current law.
gut the law. dump the evaluations, the ties to testing, and the CTLE hours, which were designed so school districts could provide them free...which the DOE refuses to do.
Mulgrew is useless, he stands in the way of teachers and education. Where is he now? they want to arm teachers, all the while the mayor and defacto head of the school system here has said no cops in schools, no more metal detectors, no armed employees. Shouldnt the leader of the UFT as the protector of working conditions, say something here?
I think the petition should focus on simply giving local control to school districts on shaping their own evaluation systems. This would be the easiest way to get it done as the legislature would not have to spend a ton of time creating a whole new evaluation system. Cuomo will have the whole issue off his back and the local school districts and unions would be happy. Ahhh, but there is always a dark side to this. I can see Mulgrew screwing it all up if evaluations are left to the DOE/UFT. He would most likely sell us out. We should be fighting just as much to get us 2 evaluations here in NYC in our upcoming contract. I really, really, hope the folks at MORE and ICE are pushing for 2 evaluations during the Committee of 300 that is is meeting right now. I know they are sworn to secrecy, but please, please, put in the fight to get us 2 observations in the next contract!!!
Danielson and test scores cause the most emotional stress. Then there's the financial and time consuming stress of CTLE. If the UFT expects us to volunteer our dues then it needs to step up and demand changes to eval system that teachers want--not what Mulgrew wants-- and it needs to get the DOE to send in CTLE certified PD for those damn PD Mondays, Chancelor's Day etc... at the DOE's expense. If they don't want to pay for it then they should eliminate the CTLE mandate. Roseanne McCosh
MULSCREW WANTS US TO KEEP PAYING DUES WHILE ADVOCATING IN ALBANY FOR THIS OPPRESSIVE, SUBJECTIVE, ANTI-TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM?
THIS GARBAGE EVALUATION SYSTEM MUST END
THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG THE S/U SYSTEM
HE IS POSSIBLY THE WORST LABOR UNION LEADER I HAVE EVER SEEN
PROBABLY GOING TO STOP PAYING UNION DUES AFTER THE jANUS CASE
MAYBE IF ENOUGH OF US DO THE SAME HE WILL HAVE TO BE MORE RESPONSIVE TO NEEDS OF THE RANK AND FILE NOT JUST THE PEOPLE UNDER THE DOME OF PROTECTION AT 52 BROADWAY
FOR EXAMPLE WHY DO WE HAVE A 4 OBSERVATIONS A YEAR WHEN THE REST OF THE STATE HAS ONLY 2. WHY CAN'T SCHOOLS GRADE THEIR OWN STATE EXAMS LIKE EVERY OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NY. AND WHAT ABOUT ABUSIVE ADMINISTRATORS WHO ARE MEAN, EVIL, IGNORANT AND SADISTIC AND WAKE UP EVERY MORNING, NOT TO HELP THE TEACHERS AND SUPPORT THEM, BUT TO LOOK FOR WAYS TO GET THEM
RISE UP UNION MEMBERS AND GET THIS GUY AND HIS POLITBURO OUT OF HERE
Dont worry, uft has begun the #ArmMeWith campaign, that will be effective like the #invitecuomo campaign. Thats why we are waiting till 2020 to get money from 2009 and are getting 1% raises for 7 years. How about hashtag discipline code, or stop the threats, or students are graduating unable to read or write, or fraud...Wait, if the uft needs to start a twitter campaign, begging for basics, doesnt that mean they arent doing their job?
Ha, uft says, im a teacher, not a cop, meanwhile my students all have criminal records and i have been assaulted several times.
ArmMeWith a better contract
Retro delayed in retro denied. Remember that when you are paying over $1400 a year in dues, while getting abused every which way. If the uft has to beg for teachers choice, be to be armed with supplies...while we are getting screwed all the time, while Mulgrew and cronies make hundreds of thousands yearly, plus expenses, to sit in an air conditioned office...do I need to go on? No more dues. #Save$1400
Let's stay on topic here. I am more afraid of vindictive admins armed with a Danielson clipboard than I am of some whacko with a gun. The whacko with the gun I most likely will never encounter but I gotta deal with vindictive admins every day. 2 OBSERVATIONS IN NEXT CONTRACT!
ArmMeWith 8.25% TDA
Ok, so get the next contract done now, so we can decide if we should pay dues.
As a teacher, please #armmewith paper towels and soap (we never have them in school) @UFT
Pretty clear uft is failing...pretty badly.
I am thinking the exact same thing. The next contract is going to be my deciding factor in regards to me pulling my dues or not. All the teachers at my school have been saying the same thing,
Mulgrew has advocated 4 observations, he says, because less teachers are rated unsatisfactory. Don’t let him fool you.
Less teachers rated U = more teachers working = more dues collected. Thats what it’s all its about. MONEY. (Not the hokey pokey)
Keeping the union fat cats happily feeding at the trough is Mulgrews real motive
20 years trying to get a job in staten island, perfect record, cant even get an interview. UFT, are you helping?
HMMM, seems like a lot of complaints, a lot of abuse, a lot of torture and not much being done except things getting worse, with basically a 0 raise.
So now Brian Gibbons is tweeting about how the Koch brothers are causing trouble. The uft destroyed the uft. And what exactly does Gibbons do? What is his job for $200k a year? That's a lot of dues we are paying for his services. Did the Koch brothers tell me to suck their dick last week like my students do, or give us 1% raises for 7 plus years. That was the democrat mayor that we love so much, who we endorsed.
ArmMeWith fair pay...But we just got a 9 year contract, we got every penny. It was a good contract, right?
Gibbons is in Florida now living off my dues and im writung 4 page lesson plans for uncooperative students while worrying about admin and doing unpaid coverages. #unionproud #suckmydick
Ha, yeah, check his facebook, he's at yankees spring training while we are nervously waiting to go back to torture next week.
Sounds like people are pretty pissed. Uft better hope supreme votes unexpectedly...
Dont forget to support today in Manhattan, support the fact that the last contract was the worst in union history.
I have voted against every contract except for one, which in hindsight I would vote against now. The last contract was a real bad one; especially under a “union friendly” mayor, but 2005 was the absolute worst contract ever. EVER
Petition update? Bueller? Bueller?
The Danielson evaluation system must be repealed !!!!! Drive by observations using that rubric is completely unfair. 50% Test scores tied to evaluation is completely ridiculous. If people want that as an option fine but for teachers of IEP/ELL, lowest 3rd this is a travesty. The testing mandate must be eliminated, reduced or offered as a choice. We really need to protest Mulgrew - like every day in the summer a group of teachers needs to go to UFT offices to express our grievances. We need to flood UFT with phone calls telling Mulgrew we will not pay dues if he does not start acting like a union leader.
I totally agree! Mulgrew better make some changes for the better on our evaluation system or he can kiss ny dues goodbye.
Step 1 and 2 will be Supreme Court decision and the next contract, which can be extended any day now if they wanted to...Those 2 things will determine what most people do going forward and if any improvements will be made anytime soon. If somehow the uft side wins the vote, they have nothing to worry about. If they lose, the contract may decide what staff does...
Is the last contract making mean unionproud? Is that why get ridiculed and destroyed every day?
UFT VP @JanellaTHinds We are #UnionProud! Why? Together we fight for justice, a livable wage, a voice in the work we do. So much of what folks take for granted in 2018 were union wins. That’s why unions are a target today. #ImStickingWithOurUnion @nysut @NYSAFLCIO
Janella Hinds @UFT The “big-money bankrolling” the Janus Supreme Court case, they don’t want us standing up for ourselves or each other. They want us silent. But we won't be silent. Because unions are standing up and speaking out!" #UnrigTheSystem
Let the union take a vote on this.
Petition, Petition, Petition!
Overhaul Teacher Evaluation and Danielson Exclusively
Our working conditions are deplorable especially if you are a veteran teacher. Danielson is used as an administrative weapon to find error with an individuals performance to rate lower while conveniently windows opportunity to overlook HE factors.
Our working conditions have evolved into a Dictate and Punish environment; UNHEALTHY for all, unhappy, not conducive for the teaching and learning conditions of the children we serve. How can our students get the best of what we have to offer them while working under such stressful "drive by" conditions and bogged down with over the top "assessment" accountability mandates and demands for multiple lesson plans for different groups of students addressing one objective? Ridiculous!
Teachers want to teach, to feel safe and productive within the work environment.
Teachers want to provide students with the very best they have so they may maximize each child's fullest potential.
There is a consensus here that UFT leadership is not doing their job very well but not much on eval. I am trying to get this right. We have to have widest support possible. I will be back in N.Y. later today getting ready for Monday. We will see how to proceed. Thanks for comments.
I agree with anno 7:42. We need that petition on evaluations in a big way and we need it soon.
Well put. Get rid of Danielson and drive by observations. Go back to S or U and announced observations for tenured teachers with pre-observations and post observations conferences.
But arent we getting the 8.25 TDA back like the csa never lost it? Isnt NY in financial peril?
Of course we want the S/U system back, and 2 observations max, but there are so many more problems. If they changed that rule today, and I wasnt observed the rest of the year, then what? The job would be the same daily torture.
My daily torture is waiting for those Danielson 4 observations. They are spread out over the entire year and teachers live in fear for when the next one is. If I have to be punched in the face, I would like to be ready for it instead of walking around every day wondering when I am going to get hit. The fact is Mulgrew CAN get us 2 observations. They question is WILL he? As for S/U, the NYS legislature either has to change the current evaluation system or allow individual districts to create their own evaluation systems to get S/U. I think we need to put the feet to fire of Mulgrew first to get us 2 observations and then push the NYS legislature to give local control over evals so we can get back S/U. Many posters are mentioning pulling dues if Mulgrew does not get us 2 observations and the removal of Danielson in the next contract. I happen to agree with that sentiment.
I like the idea of CTLE hours. There is always something new you can learn. I just wish they had more low cost/free opportunities, en masse, besides free webinars which are borderline useless.
S/U would be better, but at the end of the day, if a principal has it in for you, it doesn't matter what the evaluation system is called. Still, Danielson has been a vicious failure of a system and needs to go.
They really need to get rid of mayoral control. That is the real problem here. Di Blasio is no better than Bloomberg, things are worse than they used to be.
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