Agreement regarding the changes in paraprofessional duties and working conditions during the COVID period.
It is the intention of both parties to incorporate the following into an overarching memorandum of understanding that is made in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the DOE response thereto:
On-site paraprofessionals, during their contractual workday, when they are not working directly with a specific student or class, may be directed to:
• assist with arrival and/or dismissal including busing
• assist with health screening upon entry
• provide student and parent outreach
• provide other administrative duties including but not limited to hall duty, cafeteria duty, attendance processing
Paraprofessionals will not be required to stay in the school building for more than 6 hours and 20 minutes per day. Paraprofessionals will be expected to remotely perform the equivalent of 30 minutes of work.
Paraprofessional Classroom Manager
DOE will post the position of Paraprofessional Classroom Manager. The paraprofessional classroom manager will receive a per term stipend of $1,750 to perform this work. Among those paraprofessionals that apply, priority will be given to those who have been accepted into the Lead Teacher Assistant (LTA) pool but have not been selected for an LTA position.
The duties of this position shall be to manage classrooms of students, under the general direction of a pedagogue, while the students:
• perform independent work
• eat during non-instructional lunch
• are being instructed by a remote teacher during synchronous learning. In this scenario, the total class size (on-site students + remote students) may not exceed pre COVID class size limitations for that subject area/grade level.
In the event of an emergency, the paraprofessional classroom manager may teach a scheduled class when no teacher is available to cover.
• If a Paraprofessional Classroom Manager is asked to do more than 5 such emergency coverages in a term, then the PCA will be paid the teacher’s coverage rate (in addition to the stipend above).
The paraprofessional classroom manager will not be expected to teach except in an emergency coverage situation as described above.
The DOE must have just cause for any discipline (up to and including discharge) of a Paraprofessional CClassroom Manager for any conduct (incompetence and/or misconduct) that occurred while the Paraprofessional Classroom Manager was not under the direct supervision of licensed teacher.
29 comments:
This is all part of the plan. It's not just Eva. Turn paras into babysitters, while someone - eventually offshore - "teaches". Purge the experienced with high salaries and institutional memory through the introduction of complicated technology. Notice the "covid period" is open ended, there's no expiration date.
This is the bleak future, a precedent that can live on long after the pandemic ; a computer and a babysitter. The UFT agreed to this?! What about the paras? Were they even consulted? Do they want to risk their lives when teachers won’t? There’s got to be many angry paras and teachers over this. It simultaneously screws teachers and paras - for what? To please Mulgrew’s boss deB? Does he even think about the rank and file? It also tells me they, Mulgrew and deB, believe there’s going to be a huge shortage of teachers - pandemic, layoffs and cost savings. It also tells me they plan on keeping the schools open, no matter what.
The scam continues
Para professionals doing it all now and before and grossly underpaid employees...these jints do it all people from following a student all day to writing down everything a student does during the day to document behavioral tendencies. Now they will be teaching the classes??? What is next painting of the walls?
When the history of this time period in education is written, historians will ask why the teachers just put up with going into infected buildings and having their jobs slowly taken over. Mulgrew will go down in history as someone who let his members be sent to die and turned on the profession. All of you who just take it or stop paying dues and do nothing else will be seen as passive fools.
It is all about racism and class warfare against people of color.
They are being cheated badly by DiBlasio.
• are being instructed by a remote teacher during synchronous learning. In this scenario, the total class size (on-site students + remote students) may not exceed pre COVID class size limitations for that subject area/grade level.
Staffing shortage solved. Looking to hear on the news about the doe and their x,000 new "educators."
What are you all talking about? Its solving a staffing issue so paras watch the kids during instructional lunch and do some other tasks around the building while paying them a little more. I get that the increase should be more. Where is the racism in this? What is a scam? Also what evidence do you have that buildings are infected? This has become lets complain about everything.
mulgrew said at meeting....they will hire 7k for high school, 2k that they already did hire and will hire 5k more....
GUidance counselors are not allowed to teach but paras can teach?
Dues for what?
Despite what we were told by UFT that in school teachers would only be responsible for the students in front of them, why are we now also being assigned the same children on their remote days? We were told we didn’t have to go live, but still have to post work for them because we don’t have enough teachers. When are we supposed to do this if we are teaching all day? Also that means that these same students will only get new live instruction for the 1 to 2 days they are in school, meanwhile all remote students will get 5 days of live instruction. This is because my school does not have enough staff. How is this going to work?
All this talk about hiring more teachers is smoke and mirrors.
It ain't gonna happen. There's no money, and there was an article in the NY Daily News yesterday about how De Blasio is supporting the idea of an early retirement initiative to prevent laying people off.
This indicates that layoffs are on the table, and under such an environment, there will be no way they can bring new people in as teachers.
Some sort of big game is being played behind the scenes. I don't know what it is exactly, but my impression is that the only way de Blasio will be able to go all remote while saving face is just to throw up his hands and say that there aren't enough people to staff the buildings.
This is a golden opportunity for the system to gut the profession permanently, and the UFT, being the den of sleazeballs that it is, will go right along with it when the system decides to cash in.
And when you go to these medical urgent care centers you are very often treated by a physician assistant or a nurse.
Parents won’t care if or wouldn’t even know which adult is looking after their child—as long as they are safely being supervised—and getting their breakfast/lunch
How are they doing a retirement incentive now after the year started? That is next summer.
Seems like everyone can get positions except ATRs. Also what about letting teachers who were terminated teach?
@4:35 PM - How classic of you to state that it seems like everyone can get positions except ATRs. This is so wrong.... You were straight forward and blunt.
Most all remote students will get no instruction. They won't show up for class time, their parents let them sleep all day. Then in January they will beg to pass.
Teach who's in front of you. The other 4 days are homework.
The last two days I have spent most of the school day helping my two kids on their regular live Meet classes as my wife teaches a full live program from downstairs.
4:50: How is it wrong? IF there is a teaching shortage, there wouldn't be teachers floundering in the ATR.
Yup. But people keep screaming “Full remote!”
If I have said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times.
The doe and UFT want atrs. Since city hall is anti-union, they have the ATR pool as a cop out to say,’we can’t fire people’ bla bla bla. The public believes this.
As doe teachers, we know that anyone can be an ATR. All it takes is a principal to not like you. Atrs are experienced and provide great rapport with students. Honestly, give me that over a 22 year old who is emotionally unstable any day of the week.
Mulgrew wants atrs. More dues.
There is no teacher shortage. City hall is playing tricks on the civilians. Saying we are under-staffed and the state won’t give money will be his excuse to go remote.
It costs too much to keep schools open at half capacity
@5:12 PM - To clarify, this is so wrong about everyone being able to get a position except the ATR. Did not mean to confuse. Agree with you.
This put the paraprofessional classroom manager in danger:
The DOE must have just cause for any discipline (up to and including discharge) of a Paraprofessional Classroom Manager for any conduct (incompetence and/or misconduct) that occurred while the Paraprofessional Classroom Manager was not under the direct supervision of licensed teacher.
6:43 PM - Why does saying that the DOE "must have just cause" for any discipline putting the para in danger? Isn't it the opposite?
I agree. No equity. Its a lie.
We will have paras, lunch aides, custodians, school aides, college students with no degree, and maybee the homeless teach, but we cant place the atrs. Im so glad to be an atr. Im still getting paid to do nothing.
Paras are not trained teachers certified by NYS. There needs to be a certified teacher in every classroom. This is the latest way the DOE tries to resolve staffing issues and the union agreed to this.
1:58: Exactly and are all these teachers that the doe is hiring getting appointed by the school they are placed in. If so, they will be excessed when it's time to get back to normalcy unless of course he or she is a little flunky that the principal wants to keep. Also one group you missed to become teachers are the students. The blind leading the blind.
This was once a respected profession. Now its come down to this. Its our time now to hold our principals accountable. They cant keep us safe report them. For years now they have been giving teachers bullshit charges in the effort to replace them with younger teachers. So they want to insult our hard work with inexperience people. If our union cant do anything then we can. Report all this to our politicians and press. Tell our parents what their doing. We cant wait for mulgrew to do something because he is useless. But we can do something together.
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