Sunday, August 31, 2014

Carmen Farina Vows To Drain ATR Pool By Having Principals Target ATR's

Buried at the bottom of this Daily News story on Chancellor Farina's goals for the new school year is this:

Fariña pledged to announce in the next two weeks a big reduction in the number of teachers getting paid despite not having steady classroom jobs. Earlier this month 114 of the roughly 1,100 teachers — known as the Absent Teacher Reserve — accepted $16,000 buyouts.

Fariña said the numbers would dwindle further as principals are taught best practices for writing up teachers and beginning the arduous termination process.

This threat comes just one paragraph after Farina talks about the importance of teacher retention:

She also expressed confidence she could improve teacher retention by restoring the dignity of the job. But it won’t be easy. A recent teachers union survey found that 32,000 teachers walked away from city classrooms in the last 11 years, with about 4,600 going to jobs elsewhere in the state — mainly to city suburbs that offer higher pay and less challenging teaching conditions.

Okay, so let me get this straight.

Farina says she wants to restore "the dignity of the job" in order to improve teacher retention but she intends to have her NYCDOE minions go around the city making sure principals "are taught best practices for writing up teachers and beginning the arduous termination process."

Anybody else see the contradictions here?

How do you restore "the dignity of the job" while having principals schooled in the ways to write up teachers in order to terminate them?

Seems to me that's the same kind of teacher-targeting that we got during the Klein and Walcott Years.

16 comments:

  1. But, but, Carmen Farina is just "an old-school abuela"! or so said the NYT 2 days ago. Would someone portrayed as an old school abuela take such a threatening stance against teachers? Apparently, yes.

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  2. Meet the new Chancellor, the same as the last three Chancellors.

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    Replies
    1. What does that say about DeBlasio, who hired her and clearly is in support of her policies? (rhetorical question)

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  3. Doublespeak .... The native language of the DOE.

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  4. deBlasio has flipped on a few of his major promises on education--charters being the first, and he did state that teachers who are working without classrooms should be assigned before any new hiring.

    But the biggest disappointment was allowing Farina to close Jamaica HS. This proves to me she is just Klein in disguise. I read that NYT article and thought---oh the poor teachers of her grandkids. Those kids get grilled each day on what happens in school.

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  5. Dignity is to be restored to a select group of teachers. ATRs are not included in this subst.

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  6. An old school abuela from the Inquisition is the part the NYT left out. I wonder if any Principals had other priorities for their schools this year than trying to fire their teachers?

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  7. Going to be an interesting school year.

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  8. TeachmyclassMrMayor(andyoutooMrMulgrew)August 31, 2014 at 12:16 PM

    Yes sir, Mr. WeinGrew. Do you want to tell us again about the "new tone at Tweed"? Or should we go straight to the face punching?

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  9. ATR's go on the interview and take a dive. Loophole exposed here; http://www.southbronxschool.com/2014/05/new-contract-atrs-thrown-under-bus-vote.html

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  10. Ah, the new and improved DoE at Tweed, where everyday is a beautiful day and the meaning of "joy" is only felt by the administrators that are being trained to destroy the ATRs. I wonder if voting YES on the contract will eventually rear its true ugly head.

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  11. Anyone who is looking to bring up frivolous charges on ATRs, should "tread lightly" as we are more organized than they think.

    I'd like to see an ATR Reporting Form to document all incidents.

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    Replies
    1. There is a UFT form or log of administration harassment. Does anyone have an experience with this?

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    2. There's an Article 23 Grievance and for now this http://dtoe.org/educations-f-list-and-anoi-nomination-form/

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  12. Write down every move your principal and her cronies make. This goes especially for those being observed. Already I have witnessed twisted observations, with all friends of the admin getting highly effective,

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  13. Farina said she wants to restore dignity to the profession. She did not say restore dignity to teachers. This was no accident. She chose her words carefully. Another frequently chosen DOE strategy us to show one face to the public and behind closed doors do the opposite. These are a con mans/conwoman's strategies.

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