Damned by her own words - Fariña Speaks of Partnership with UFT/Unity in purging bad teachers

Farina leads hunt for bad teachers

Before we can even think about removing bad teachers, bad principals have to go first. Many of the bad teachers who leave move up to supervisor and it is often these people that Farina is telling to go after "bad" teachers. And she protects these people. As long as even a few principals act on V is for Vendetta principles the UFT should be digging its heals in the sand.

Here's a deal - for every "bad" teacher let's get rid of a bad principal.

An illuminating piece from Politico.

Fariña insisted the union was not interfering with her plans for firing ineffective teachers. “We have worked very collaboratively with the U.F.T.,” she said, adding, “If I’m getting pushback from the U.F.T. [on individual teachers] I or someone on my team is going to get involved.”

Fariña has repeatedly said she believes new provisions in the U.F.T. contract will help get weak teachers out of the classroom, including moving teachers out of the Absent Teacher Reserve (A.T.R.), a controversial pool of teachers who have been removed from the classroom but remain on the payroll.

Fariña said asking principals to weed out their weakest teachers has been her “first statement when I get into any school visit. ... I repeat it over and over again."

Fariña said, “I literally told the principal, ‘I will be back at the end of April, and so-and-so better not be here.’”
 - POLITICO  Capital New York 

The witch hunts are on. How nice to have a collaborationist UFT.
Jonathan Halabi said it on WBAI Monday night and I said it to the school I visited when they asked how we would be different than Unity? Farina would not be able to say any of the above about the union as the DOE will get severe pushback on wasting these resources on the bad teacher hunting expeditions. Because before we can even think about removing bad teachers, bad principals have to go first.

I love this line the best:

Fariña has appointed a D.O.E. official whose primary role is instructing principals on how to properly write letters about certain teachers to keep in their files.

You see, they have a plan while teachers are given no plan by the UFT to defend themselves.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/03/8563677/fari%C3%B1a-method-purging-bad-teachers

Diane Ravitch touched on the bad teacher rap in her dialogue with Whitney Tilson when he asked:

• Some teachers are phenomenal, most are good, some are mediocre, and some are truly terrible.
This spread is probably the same in every other profession. Those who are “truly terrible” should be removed before they achieve tenure; most, I suspect, leave early in their career because they can’t control their classes. We actually have many more successful teachers than most people believe; as states have reported on their new evaluation systems, more than 95% of teachers have been rated either “Highly effective” or “Effective.” Very few fell below those markers. Frankly, teaching these days is so difficult that it takes a very strong person to handle the responsibilities of the classroom.

My response is that many of the bad teachers who leave move up to supervisor and it is often these people that Farina is telling to go after bad teachers.