Thursday, June 11, 2020

7-12 COMMENTS FOR NX GRADE; SBO'S; CHANGE UFT BY WINNING OVER YOUR SCHOOL

I completely understand how frustrated many teachers have become as the Department of Education keeps adding on extra administrative work to extra days and there is no compensation nor much pushback from the UFT.

I saw that secondary school teachers must now put in 7-12 comments for any student they want to give an incomplete (NX) grade to. I was never required to put in more than one comment for a non-passing grade. Requiring 7-12 comments is extra paperwork. Why isn't the UFT putting in an operational complaint about extra paperwork for this? If teachers just do the extra work and don't put in formal complaints, then teachers are accepting it. I fully understand that in the middle of a pandemic, this is not the biggest concern but if you don't fight it now, it will then be policy. 

The UFT barely raised the issue when the responsibility for students not passing was shifted from the student to the teacher. In retrospect, this has not helped the cause of public education. Putting additional burdens on teachers when students do not succeed will just further cheapen a high school diploma as pedagogues won't want to be bothered with all of the extra work if a pupil does not pass. It's simpler to just pass everyone, whether they deserve to or not. (I'm talking reasonable standards here, not the rare teachers who think middle school or high school is graduate school. That should be dealt with administratively.)

I am also hearing from multiple schools about School-Based Options. There are teachers who want me to have a look at their SBO's before they vote. The SBO process gives individual schools a chance to bend the contract so it works for their particular needs. Fair enough, but when schools use the SBO process to just give away rights to administration, then the UFT should intervene and put a stop to it.

For example, let's examine the Circular 6 process. In secondary schools, the average teacher has five periods of teaching, a duty-free lunch period, a preparation period, and a professional period in an eight period day. For the professional period, teachers can choose three assignments from a menu on their preference sheet and the administration assigns each teacher one of those three preferences. That activity is that teacher's one, and only one, professional assignment. An arbitrator ruled even after the giveback filled 2005 contract that a professional activity is a singular assignment.  


The Department erred when it assigned more than one professional activity to certain
teachers. The collective bargaining agreement limits the number of professional activities assigned
to a teacher to a single activity irrespective of the number of periods per week devoted to said
activity. 

This is clear, unambiguous language. Why then are chapters agreeing to do two assignments for each teacher? I have heard of schools agreeing to do three or more. 

Why are chapters giving away the right to choose a professional assignment individually?

Why is the UFT allowing schools to vote to do more than one professional activity?

Okay, now I can understand conceding on this issue if the administration is giving something in return. I have heard of a school where the teachers agree to do more than one C6 assignment but the administration limits the number of professional periods per week to three and the other two periods are open so can essentially be extra prep periods. That is called a deal. You want something, we want something so we work out a compromise in the middle. It's a win-win situation. 

However, if everyone just agrees to have all of the teachers give up their right to a preference to use one or two periods a week for a meeting and then the other days, teachers are stuck doing their original professional assignments, how is that a win? Well, if that is the entire professional development obligation for the week (no extended time PD), then it is a victory but if the staff still has to attend PD after school, then this is a complete loss that should not be acceptable to the UFT, even if the school wants it. Teachers might be being bullied into accepting the modification.

Ask questions and make sure you are getting something in exchange for giving up something. It's fairly simple.

For those who really want to be change agents and have at least a few years left in the system, consider running for Chapter Leader next year. The UFT is very democratic at the school level. It is a fair electoral process and the Chapter Leader has enormous say over many day-to-day building issues. 

Remember when I asked if there were a hundred activists ready to get 60 signatures each from high school teachers to fragment the high school division into a separate bargaining unit? Those teachers then could start a move to decertify the UFT as their collective bargaining representative and start a new union. That didn't move too many people to action.

Now, I will add this: 
If there are a hundred people willing to pledge not to join Unity Caucus (Mulgrew's political party) who are willing to do what it takes to be elected Chapter Leader, then you can combine forces and be a real opposition force within the Union. To do this, you need to win the battles in the schools. It isn't easy but it's doable. 

For now, just ask questions and uphold the contract as best as you can. 

 

15 comments:

  1. More grade fraud. More work for us. Impossible to fail anybody.

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  2. email and ask why

    mmulgrew@uft.org
    jhinds@uft.org
    msill@uft.org

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  3. Is it against our contract for principals to publicly shame an individual in front of the entire staff? My principal did that today, and my union rep is not being strong when it comes to answers, though they know I am in the right here and that it was just a power trip for the principal.

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  4. How about a 1 year salary buyout?

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  5. Wow, so they are really gonna send us in to get sick again. So if I'm 40 instead of 60 I can get deathly or near deathly ill? Mulgrew’s letter states “The DOE has committed to offering accommodations to staff members with high-risk medical conditions in accordance with CDC guidelines.” Have those accommodations been clearly stated anywhere? I clicked on the UFT link but it was just a list of the high-risk medical conditions. Nothing specific as to what the accommodations may look like.

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  6. It seems that the powers that be are so pissed off that they can't hit us with some Bullshit Danielson ratings concerning Questions and Answering techniques, etc., and our "failure to engage students", that to spite us, they are now coming up with a way to blame us for the fact that kids aren't logging on. Once again, it's "our fault"! Screw that and screw them!
    I beat these f*c&s in an Article 78 last year. I wasn't going to tolerate an "impartial" hearing officer's kangaroo court upholding the decision of the administration which resulted in an Ineffective rating for the year.
    The hearing officer is a retired principal who now double dips as a hearing officer. Guess who that as$h#&E ruled in favor of.
    NY State Supreme Court excoriated them at a real trial.
    They didn't bother to appeal.
    See you fu%k$ in court for lost per session (2years worth), I was averaging 290 hours a year, plus 7% interested in my TDA that I could have been earning ×s two years, compounded, (that's 21%), shortly.
    Can't wait to filet you fu#*$ again!
    If you are Tier6, get out now!!!
    Listen to this old timer!
    Semper Fi!

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  7. Any response form uft? I didnt think so.

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  8. They want you to add the other 4-9 comments in the narrative section of the egg file. You cant just enter the new comment codes, you have to actually copy and paste the entire comment, then put a semi-colon and copy and paste another, and so on. You can now download your own egg file in stars classroom, enter all your grades in file, put the 3 comment codes, and then for any nx, you go to last column and copy and paste allllll the other comments separated by semi colon. Then you save file, and re upload into stars classroom. Then you are done. When they issue report cards, they will have to issue the special narrative report card that has extra room to show all these comments about what each student needs to do, to change the nx to a passing grade in summer school or the fall semester.

    hope that helps

    p.s if your school uses skedula, they applied a fix yesterday, so you can do the same thing in pads and avoid downloading and uploading egg file

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  9. Can you use 3 comment codes and then write in 4 other comments in the box?

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  10. I am a PE teacher, what 7 comments make sense?

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  11. 312, this is what i did...I put in 2053, 2054, 2060, then just wrote in 4 more, copy and pasted to each report card.

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  12. And of course, when Mulgrew talks, the DOE listens and does everything what he wants.

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  13. Also if the parent doesn't know English, the comments are in vain.

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  14. I just wrote them in the box, hope it's ok.

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  15. @4:41PM - Parents that do not speak or read English can have someone translate the comments. Issues resolved.

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