In August, New York State received two windfalls. First, was the Congress approved the edujobs bill that gave the State 622 million dollars, with the City receiving 204 million, based upon previous allocation scenarios. The second, New York State is receiving 696 million dollars from RTTT, with the City getting 240 million dollars. All the money is restricted to the classrooms and schools and can be used to lower class size, rehire (or in this case replace the 2,000 teachers who left the system in June) and for teacher salaries, including raises. However, on September 1st, the City has shown no inclination of doing any of the three appropriate uses for the approximately $446 million dollar windfall. The question becomes where will the money go to?
If history is any indication, look for Tweed to use the money on questionable uses that will benefit the central bureaucracy over the schools and students they claim to care about. Remember this? The lack of transparency at the DOE will have to be eliminated to ensure that Tweed uses the money for the schools as intended
What is most disturbing is that the union has not put the Administration's feet to the fire by demanding that the money be spent on the classroom and now. However, from our union there is just deafening silence about replacing the 2,000 teachers, lower class size, and the teacher pay raises. Why? Is our union making more secret deals with the Bloomberg/Klein Administration to screw the members? Will the union abandon the ATRs? Will the union allow all reassigned teachers to be suspended without pay? Maybe they will allow principals to ignore tenure and seniority in hiring and excessing decisions? While I highly doubt it, it is very disappointing that the union has not demanded that the money be used for their intended uses.
I hope I'm wrong but something smells here and it smell real bad.
7 comments:
Come on, we are in the UFT, Mulgrew turns a blind eye. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but we are toast. CFE? Yeah that helped when three of my classes are at 36. Teachers Choice-$110 measly bucks. I'm in my 15th year and doubt VERY highly that my wife and I will ever see 25/55 so we can get out.
I read your blog daily and urge other teachers here on Staten Island to do the same but they buy the Unity bs.
The smell is the excrement we call the chancellor.
Angry Nog
Let's add Mulgrew to the dung pile.
I believe that our Unity leadership does not have the intellectual ability to react to many of the challenges we face as education professionals. They are basically making decisions without thinking of what the effects will be for the teachers they represent, and for the education of our children. What is very insulting to many teachers is their belief that they (Unity) know better what is best for the membership than the membership.
As an ATR for several years I thought I had seen it all. I got word today that all or many ATRs were just reassigned all over the city. Amazing part is nobody bothered to tell me I was reassigned. I just happened to email my payroll secretary, and she said im no longer there. I would have gone to the wrong place on Tuesday. I guess this is how Klein tries to make us miserable. Im also locked out of the Excessed Staff Selection System, as it says im not in excess. Cant check my status, cant look at vacancies.
THE UFT TURNED A BLIND EYE TO THE ATRS FOUR YEARS AGO!!
I've been an ATR for four years and I have three licences: Special Education, ESl, and Bilingual. I went to different schools and to all the job fairs to search for a permanent job to no avail. I am very upset at the Union because the UFT ATR Agreement will expire on December 2010. What will happen after that? The Union does not care on how to solve this big mess(many excessed teachers). In spite of all my licences- Who gets hired? The teacher Fellows and the Teach for America Teachers.
The next contract will sell out the ATR's.
Look at Chicago as an example.
The Reichchancellor wants people to be fired on an arbitrary and capricious basis.
No doubt the bald pimp inked a deal with Bozo the Klein during the summer.
After genuflecting before his royal highness Gates, he decided to help the enemy by screwing the ATR's.
After 4 years the DoE and their public relations arm, the UFT, has had the time to get it together regarding this new sub-class of senior teachers.
This is an end run around tenure. No doubt once they start to enact the value added bullshit, they will find a way to get rid of the rest of those who have been in for more than two years.
Eight years of misery and the pinky ring types at the UFT will have us grabbing our ankles and waiting for the drill.
So the end is near.
Dreading yet another year of treacherous cretins, running the corpse of the system into the ground on our backs.
Waiting for yet another stupidly impossible assignment, in yet another school/sewer/youth holding facility. Without books, experienced teachers and complete morons in administration.
Yet another year of those blackberry toting corporate suit CEO types who think they know everything, and in actuality don't know shit, telling us how to do our shitty jobs.
Yet another year of screwing teachers and this so called profession.
Cheers,
Truly Dreading it.
Angry Nog
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