Thursday, September 6, 2007

Transfers Lead to Teacher Turmoil

Meredith Kolodner's article on District 79 in The Chief can be viewed at Norms' Notes.

The UFT negotiated with Tweed and they did not follow through in good faith. Gee Wiz! Why are we not surprised? What else could they have done? Maybe expend some political capital? I don't know enough to say.

Some interesting quotes on the UFT role (emphasis is mine):

The UFT negotiated a hiring process with the city that included specific criteria by which hiring decisions would be made. Those criteria included attendance records, job performance and licensing, and varied by position.


A committee composed of DOE and UFT officials made decisions about whether Teachers who applied met the criteria, although Mr. Mulgrew advised any Teacher who believed the process was unfair to file a grievance.


She has some interesting quotes from Jeff Kaufman:


Some Teachers did not want to take a chance with the District 79 process and found jobs in other parts of the city. "I went crazy looking for a job," said Jeff Kauffman, who taught at District 79 Second Opportunity School and this week will start at a high school in Brooklyn. "I didn't trust how it would all work." The hiring process was supposed to commence after July 4, but the interviews didn't begin until August. Some Teachers, who say they were committed to staying in District 79, were interviewed as late as last week. When they were turned down, it left them little time to seek other jobs.

Mr. Kauffman said that he is happy with his new placement, preferring it to his old school where he said most of the staff had ongoing problems with the administrators. But he said he was concerned that all of the changes, coming as late as they did, would have an adverse impact on District 79 students.


"These kids don't need another disincentive to not come to school," he said. "They see a disorganized classroom and school, and they're gone."


I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Jeff on this issue. And good luck to him in his new school. The teachers (and students) at Rikers sorely miss him. Now that he is no longer on the UFT Executive Board to raise these issues, we can expect a lower level of activity. But then that is what Unity Caucus wanted as a result of the UFT elections. They got what they wished for. NYC teachers will be the worse for it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Next contract guarantee--
Randi will win us a 2 or 3 percent raise and in her hard fought battle will allow ATR's to be fired/terminated/whatever after one year.

SHAME ON THE UFT FOR DESTROYING SENIORITY....

I am so disgusted with the union I wish I could just quit and keep the dues for myself. The UFT squanders both my money and all sacrifices all teachers (especially us senior teachers) have made throughout the years.....

Anonymous said...

Very few teachers vote so the UFT can do whatever it wants.