Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Monday, April 28, 2014

What Are Some Things You'd Like To See In The UFT Contract Agreement?

The Daily News reported that the UFT and the city are going at negotiations over the new contract pretty hard and heavy, which makes sense because Mulgrew has told us that he wants a contract agreement done that can be voted on by the membership before the end of the school year.

I posted earlier about something that I don't want to see in the agreement - extra time added to our workday for PD. There were various comments to that post, a few agreeing, a few disagreeing.

Let me now throw open the thread to you and ask: What would you like to see in the UFT contract agreement? What would you not like to see in the agreement? And what do you think we'll ultimately end up with?

Have at it.

20 comments:

  1. Get rid of 37 1/2 minutes.. that is worth giving up some of the retroactive back pay.

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    1. I agree - I'd sell retro for less time. It'll never happen, but that's something I would be willing to do. Get rid of the 37.5 minutes.

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  2. What I would like to see in the new contract is 1) take away the funding that penalizes senior teachers from getting position due to their salaries. 2) Possible years of services/ in lieu of retro active pay (teachers can pick one or the other) depending on where they are in their career. 3) No more extended day or circular 6. 4) Get rid of the Danielson model 5) Throw out Pearson and all their books/tests. 6) Built in snow days that can be used when the weather stations all say to stay home! 7) Give dignity and respect back to those poor souls of teachers who are in the ATR through no fault of their own. Let them have a proper placement.
    What I think we are going to get---WE ARE GOING TO GET SCREWED!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. My experience w/ UFT is that yes, they always find the worst possible deal, then tell us it scrapes the skies. But we have a new mayor, a decent man it seems - maybe that will change the trajectory of the screwing?

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  3. What I would like to see: raises, my 2 preps back, less testing for students with disabilities (esp within D75, NYSAA is a joke!), built in snow days, a new framework for evaluating teachers that isn't as draconian/gotcha-ya as Danielson (seriously, it's like every single details is evaluated and it is impossible to meet everything!), and more arts/counseling for students.

    What I think will happen: not much, maybe some more money and that's that.

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    1. Counselors in my school are on so many committees and doing so much data work, they have no time for actual counseling. It's all compliance work for them.

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  4. Don't mean to make lite of your question Reality, but you know what I want? Do you know what I would actually take in a heart beat? Do you want to know what I believe the majority of rank and file would truly take? Keep your fucking retro, give us an across the board 10 percent raise for the five years we have missed out and write it in stone for the world to see that you LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE! Anyway, just needed to vent - it's been a long day, its been a long year!

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    1. Best response so far, I love it. I'm with you.

      LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE AND LET US TEACH!!!

      Yeah, that felt good to get off my chest.

      Alas, Gates/Broad/Walmart aren't going to let that happen, nor will the political functionaries of the plutocracy.

      So I think retro and a raise is about the best we can hope for.

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  5. ATRs placed ...enough of the weekly rotation traveling school to school like a salesman..an option on years of service or retro pay..Danielson and the 2013 version of teacher evaluation has to be scrapped..what we will probably get is a small raise and not much more than that

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    1. Don't think the option of years or retro is happening. But who knows, new administration, never know what their thought process is.

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  6. NOOOO more additional time! we are teachers not babysitters! And years of service to get out of this hell. Oh and seniority bumping should return! And have the nomad ATR teachers placed in a school to TEACH or give them a huge buyout or full retirement benefit to leave the system!

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    1. I'm w/ you on time - doubtful seniority bumping will ever return. Randi sold that one off for good.

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  7. Get rid of Circular 6. Less number of observations. (The rest of NY State has less than the 2 formal and 4 informal or 6 informals) Replacing the 37 1/2 minutes with PD is fine with me!

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    1. Fewer number of observations will probably happen. Administrators are completely swamped w/ paperwork from the system.

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  8. End fair student funding, bring back seniority transfers so that I can get out the school that I have been working in for the last 15 years. The school that is being run into the ground by one ineffective administration after the next. Oh, and tying student test scores to teacher evaluations.

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    1. Last thing Bdb cannot change. And I'm not too hopeful the current funding that has teacher salaries coming out of school budgets will ever change.

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  9. Folks gotta remember that things like tests being tied to evaluations and number of observations must be changed by King/Cuomo and or the state legislature. The NYC/DOE can't make these changes alone. However, everything else mentioned above is fair game for negotiation: (Circular 6 duties, seniority based transfers, early retirement buyouts, etc)

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    1. Number of observations and how the local 20% based upon student performance can be negotiated locally, I believe. Still, SED can reject changes to locally negotiated systems. But state test component, that's tied to state mandate.

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  10. A fair and balanced evaluation system based on something like PAR and not test scores. This will allow teachers to have input in both hiring and firing while still maintaining due process. In fact PAR is so successful because mentoring and development are built into the program and those who are really not that effective leave on their own.

    We used to have staff development under Farina and I think she will bring it back. But what Farina wanted before Klein pushed her out was for the topics to come from the staff and not the administration. I hope she sticks to that because as teachers we do need help and teaching is always evolving. Danielson doesn't take that into account and the fact that every lesson and topic has a life of its own that can't be boxed into a specific rubric.

    If not retro pay, than a good raise and small class sizes.

    True SLT where teacher input counts--unlike Klein who took it away. Each school cannot be run the same way. Teachers need to be part of the process that allows them to fine tune the best way students can learn--by ability rather by age for instance.

    And I would like to see a better support system for students with behavioral, emotional and social needs. It can't all be just about academics.

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    1. Big time on that last point you made - the counselors no longer have time to counsel. We need the social and emotional supports to help students, esp. with all the added stress of CCSS.

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