Motion on ATRs for the UFT Delegate Assembly

Read the call of the ATRs we posted a few days ago. Here is their motion which they will try to present at today's Delegate Assembly.

Motion

ATR Urgent Situation

WHEREAS, at the start of this school year, classes are more crowded than ever, state money budgeted for reducing class size is used for other purposes, and more than half (54 percent) of New York City schools have seen their class sizes or student-teacher ratios increase in recent years; and

WHEREAS, almost 1,400 teachers are assigned to the Absent Teacher Reserve, in many cases because their schools have been reorganized out from under them, and due to the new funding formulate which works against senior teachers; and

WHEREAS, these teachers are highly qualified, yet are kept in substitute pools, and sometimes even prevented from teaching; and

WHEREAS, the mainstream media, the mayor, the chancellor and the “New Teacher Project,” funded by the DOE, are scape-goating teachers in a publicity barrage, trying to break our contract and put ATR teachers on unpaid leave after a year or 18 months; and

WHEREAS, ATR teachers are facing stepped-up harassment from principals such as formal observations in classes outside their license area, truncated or no pre-ob conference, and where the sub has not had the opportunity to know the students' particular interests and abilities; and

WHEREAS, many new teachers in the Teaching Fellows program have also not received assignments and are facing the threat of being terminated in December and dropped from the program if they do not find a position; and

WHEREAS, this is a vital issue for the UFT and affects all union brothers and sisters—teachers, paras, secretaries, speech teachers and pathologists, counselors, social workers/psychologists, and others -- by enabling the DOE to drop tenured staff from their positions and leave them in limbo; and

WHEREAS, students suffer when the DOE refuses to reduce class size while keeping qualified teachers out of the classroom; and

WHEREAS, the UFT has called for a moratorium on new hiring until the ATRs are placed, yet this proposal has been ignored by the Tweed, the Mayor’s Office and the Media.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the UFT will organize a mass citywide rally to show our unity and strength, calling on the NYC Department of Education to reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are hired; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teaching Fellows, many of whom gave up jobs and traveled to NYC to become teachers, not be terminated, and instead be placed in positions in the DOE, before any new teachers are hired.

Why did the UFT agree to teacher data initiative?

UPDATE 2:15 PM:

If you can wade through the wordiness and obfuscation, watch the most intellectually dishonest member of the UFT/Unity hierarchy - aka Leo Casey - justify this mess at Edwize.

Blogger JD2718 calls Casey's junk "essentially Bunk"
These reports will provide new a ways to discipline teachers, and new tools to bend all of our teaching to ‘the test.’ Read his complete take.

Will this be the result when teacher evaluations are made public?


People are asking what the UFT had to gain by agreeing to the measuring of teachers based on students' test scores? Did they get something under the table for this? Did Tweed put a gun to their head? My guess is that is exactly what Klein did.

If Tweed made a unilateral announcement they would implement the program no matter what the UFT said or did, the UFT would look as helpless as it is. So they chose to jump on board to avoid looking even worse for the membership, who have to be outraged at this agreement.

The realities in the schools are that all the assurances given mean nothing. The UFT is not capable of resistance given the destruction of the union at the school level by Klein. They are only culpable for the current sorry state of the union.

Even reporters who have contacted me seem incredulous at the actions of the UFT.

Let's look at some implications.

• A teacher looks for a job and the principal asks for the personal report, which the teacher according to the union doesn't have to show. Good luck.
• Teachers who are measured will absolutely make sure they get good scores by whatever means necessary. Voila. The scores go up. Look how well BloomKlein are doing. Someone should measure the scores of a test group.
• Teachers in schools score poorly. Time to close them and create a whole new wave of ATR's.

What does this mean for ATR's who on the surface do not seem connected to this policy? If the UFT can give up teachers on this one, why not a deal that even if hidden under the covers, will end badly for ATR's? What if the DOE were to announce it would unilaterally fire ATR's after 1 year? "Go ahead, Chickie, do something," Klein challenges the UFT. "Grieve!" the UFT will tell people. "We'll go to court." Hey, maybe they'll even win. One day. The UFT can scatter the money over the graves of the ATR's.

Let's reiterate that no matter what is said in the joint statement, a witch hunt for teachers is behind it all, as Chris Cerf stated in the NY Times:

In introducing the pilot program, Mr. Cerf said it would be a “powerful step forward” to have the teacher measurements made public, arguing, “If you know as a parent what’s the deal, I think that whole aspect will change behavior.” But this week, he said that for now the reports will be treated as personnel records not subject to public-records laws.

In addition, no independent monitor has ever been able to verify the oft-repeated claim from DOE that “the school system has shifted more than $350 million from the bureaucracy to schools and classrooms” in recent years.

Ya gotta love Cerf. He says it like it is. Well maybe not exactly love.

How about bringing back the old colonial stocks and put teachers who don't measure up on public display?

Coming around 6 PM today: Sample teacher data reports

TJC: ATRs UNDER THE GUN

From Teachers for a Just Contract

ATRs have been receiving a lot of negative publicity. ATRs are teachers who, through no fault of their own, do not have a program. Their school may have closed, or there may be fewer students in their school or taking their subject. Before Weingarten and her Unity Caucus messed everything up, teachers in this situation got placed in the closest vacancy. (And, no, they did not "bump out" any appointed teachers.) But three years ago, in the 2005 contract, Weingarten and Unity gave up this right. They claimed they were protecting jobs. But TJC urged everyone to reject the contract, writing at the time:

"Under the new contract, an excessed teacher, regardless of how many years of seniority, LOSES THE GUARANTEED RIGHT TO A TEACHING PROGRAM. The principal of a school must consent to let the excessed teacher into his or her school. The excessed teacher continues to be paid, but he or she may remain as an ATR (Absent Teacher Reserve), a kind of permanent sub. It is not clear what happens to this teacher if his or her school is being closed." ("Truth vs. Spin," TJC, October 2005)

Only a year later, the 2006 contract contained a new danger for ATRs: a potential buy out. We wrote at the time:

Buy Out for ATRs -
Anyone who has been an ATR (excessed teachers with no program) for a year can be offered a buyout. This paves the way for ATRs being threatened, pressured and harassed into accepting this "voluntary" layoff. Anyone of us could become an ATR at any time, regardless of our seniority, if our school closes or our department is downsized. What's worse, no amount for the buyout is set in the contract. It must be settled by negotiation or arbitration: and we will have no vote on it.

Excessed teachers once had bumping rights by seniority.
The union gave that up in 2005. We also had a no layoff clause. We were told the provisions for ATRs were the equivalent of a no layoff clause. It's a slippery slope: this new change makes ATRs an endangered species, and further erodes our seniority rights and job security." ("Vote No! We Can Do Better" TJC, November 2006)

Now the danger is a step closer to reality. The media and the ‘think tanks" are hot on the trail of the ATRs, claiming they are a waste of taxpayer money. (As opposed, let's say, to bailing out Bear Stearns) Randi, whose fingerprints are all over the knife sticking out of the back of the ATRs, is jumping up and down in seeming indignation. But it could be that, before long, she'll be crowing about the generous buyout she's gotten the ATRs, and pointing out that in Chicago, they would simply be laid off, implying "Take the money and run," while there's money to take. She'd like everyone to forget that it's her fault ATRs exist in the first place.


THE MOST POWERLESS VICTIMS
We support whole heartedly the ATRs and our colleagues who've been removed to reassignment centers in their struggles for justice. But the plight of untenured teachers is just as bad and often worse. Untenured teachers don't have even the right to a 3020a hearing. All it takes is one administrator or supervisor who is irrational, bigoted, eager to hire a favorite, or some combination thereof, and their teaching career is D.O.A. There is no second chance. The higher-ups who come in to observe invariably rubber stamp the school administrators. The so-called appeal procedure is a waste of time and a cruel joke. The union, though it collects the same amount of dues from these untenured people, provides far less protection for them. This is a tragic waste of teaching talent.

One of these many individuals has written a moving and indicting description of his experience. It reads, in part: "the principal . . . has decided that I am not qualified to teach math. Interestingly enough [he] is a medical doctor by profession, and has made this ‘diagnosis' at the end of the school year without a single [classroom observation]. What's even more interesting is that this "diagnosis," which was supposed to be backed by six [observations] - was accepted by . . . the DOE. My letter to the regional superintendent . . . was left without an answer. In another case, asking a . . . deputy chancellor about which non-existing document she is referring to when making her decision [upholding the U-rating], I received no response. . . . Theoretically, it is possible for a fired teacher to take his grievance to court. This is possible only in theory . . . due to financial reasons. Additionally, on the DOE's side . . . [the] regional superintendent . . .makes sure that the last step [of the appeal] at the DOE takes place only after the expiration date of any possible legal recourse . . . Only after this is the teacher within his rights to ask for any recording of the hearings held - - but even these recordings may be blank . . . as . . . in my case."

Kafka-esque, nightmarish: even these terms don't begin to describe it.

READY FOR SOME GOOD NEWS?
Persecuted by their principal, and with their Chapter Leader in league with him, a group of veteran teachers at Graphic Communication High School gave up on the union and hauled the miscreant into court. After much time, energy, and money have been expended, their rightful cause has met with success. On Sept. 19, after a two-week trial, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, a jury found the New York City Dept. of Education and Jerod Resnick, principal of Graphic Communication Arts High School, guilty of intentional and willful discrimination on the basis of age against teachers Diana Friedline and Midge Maroni, and retired teacher Anthony Ferrero, and awarded the teachers monetary damages.

TJC congratulates these courageous UFT members on their well-deserved victory. It is an indictment of the UFT leadership that they needed to resort to an expensive, time consuming battle in court to get justice. We must carry on our efforts to reform our union from the grassroots to the top, to make it into a democratic organization that will serve our interests.

You can reach Teachers for a Just Contract.
Our mailing address is TJC, POB 1346, Bronx NY 10471