Sunday, September 13, 2009

Jeff Kaufman on ATR Wrinkle

From JW's Email listserve:

The ATR pool, with the so-called hiring freeze, is actually being used to fill hard to staff schools. As my old school closes the excessed teachers are being transferred to schools that could not attract open market applicants and still have vacancies. The ATRs will be given full schedules and look like they are appointed but the principal still has the ability to have the teacher reassigned without resorting to 3020a charges. When the principal finds an ATR that he/she likes they can appoint. Until that time the ATR remains on the original schools table of organization and is paid by central.

Jeff

My naive, really facetious, question is:
With some class sizes being large, why not make use of the ATRs to.....never mind!

Too logical, but more important, using them in a rational way would undercut the political nature of the closing schools/ATR creation issue that BloomKlein use to create a public call for the firing of these people after one year.

Related:
NY Post's Susan Edelman's decent story in ATRs

5 comments:

jw said...

Norm, exactly right. Even when there is classroom space and the ATR hasn't been shifted out to another school, admin generally does not divide up the large classes to enhance education. I don't know of a single case of it and would love to hear if this has ever been done anywhere in the system.

Anonymous said...

FYI. I heard rumors that the DOE is sendindg letters to all the ATR teachers so they can attend a MANDATORY JOB FAIR at the PROSPECT HALL in Brooklyn on Monday 21, 2009from 1:00 PM. to 3:30 PM.
I wonder what is coming next?

JW said...

I just heard about this. Haven't seen one yet.
I am thinking this is against the contract and thus grievable for 2 reasons: the contract doesn't say you must go out and find your own position, and people who work til 2:50 or 3:00 can't be told they have to do anything school-related after that time (unless they're going to get paid per session).

The question is not what is coming next, but what is the UFT's response. As of this moment, there is nothing on the UFT website about it, but giving that moribund body the benefit of the doubt: maybe they've communicated the union's position with the ATRs in individual letters.

Anonymous said...

THIS IS THE EMAIL THE DOE IS SENDING TO ALL THE ATRS FOR THE MANDATORY EVENT FOR ATRS.
WHAT IS THE UNION DODING ABOUT IT... NOTHING.

This is a reminder that the Division of Human Resources is having a mandatory event for teachers in excess on Monday, September 21st at 1PM. The letter below should have been provided to you at your Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) site. If you have not yet received this letter, please contact the principal at your site immediately.

You are receiving this reminder because our records show that as of Monday, September 14, you are still a centrally funded excessed teacher. If you do not believe you are in excess, please email us at thsc@schools.nyc.gov so we can research the issue. Unless you hear otherwise from the Teacher Hiring Support Center or a representative from either the Integrated Service Center (ISC) or Children First Network (CFN) that works with your school, you must attend this event.

Sincerely,
Teacher Hiring Support Center

Letter Delivered to ATR Sites:



Dear Teacher,

On Monday, September 21, 2009 the New York City Department of Education will be holding a mandatory recruitment fair for teachers in excess in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. As an excessed teacher in one of these boroughs, you are required to attend this event.

The fair will be held from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and teachers must check in no later than 1:00 PM. You should plan to report to your assigned school at the start of the school day and then travel to the fair; your school where you are currently assigned as an ATR will be notified of your absence and you will be provided with documentation of your attendance at the recruitment fair. Lunch will not be served at the fair, but you are entitled to the contracted amount of time for lunch on your own before the fair. You will be expected to stay until the end of the school day and encouraged to stay until the end of the event at 4:00PM.

The event will take place at Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215. If you need directions to this location, please use http://hopstop.com for public transportation or http://mapquest.com for driving directions. A limited amount of free parking is available on site.

As with other recruitment events held this summer, this will be an opportunity for you to meet with school representatives regarding potential vacancies. We encourage you to treat this as you would any job interview opportunity and recommend business attire as well as that you bring 10-15 copies of your resume. Note that you will be asked for a copy of your resume upon check in so that the Division of Human Resources can provide it to schools with vacancies in your subject area if you do not find a position at this event. If you need assistance on resume writing or interviewing, resources are available at the Teacher Hiring Support Center site, http://thscnyc.org

If you have any questions regarding the recruitment fair, please contact the Teacher Hiring Support Center at thsc@schools.nyc.gov or call us at (718) 935-5822. We look forward to seeing you at the event.

Sincerely,

Division of Human Resources

New York City Department of Education

Anonymous said...

JW: the UFT is not communicating with the ATRs at all. They passed the ATR Agreement and never reinforce it. The UFT never kept track whether the principals were given jobs to the ATRS or not.

In Region 7, Districtics 21,20 and most of the schools in Staten Island jobs were given by connections. There are still many jobs left that principals are hiding or giving to the F STATUS friends.