This week selected guidance counselors have received e-maIls from the DOE asking them if they want to be placed in one school for the rest of the school year. Interestingly, the DOE email didn't say anything about being placed in their District or in their grade level. However, this is an acknowledgement that the DOE is starting to think about what's best for the students and not the previous ideological policy that made the guidance counselors go weekly to different schools that didn't benefit anybody. Add this to the CSA winning a grievance that stopped the DOE from rotating Assistant Principals monthly and we are now seeing a slow transition away from the useless and self destructive ATR rotation system.
I predict that the excessed teachers will all be "placed" in their District schools in September as there is an average of 5,000 vacancies that will allow for almost all of the 2,000 plus ATRs to fill a vacancy. Without the ideological reason to waste $160 million dollars annually it makes little sense not to place the ATRs. There will be some exceptions where the ATR has an obsolete or specialty license. In those cases, the UFT and DOE should arrange for training to have these teachers get a subject license and become a "push in" or second teacher in a class until they are properly credentialed.
For this program to work the following issues must be resolved. First, the "fair student funding formula" must be eliminated and the teacher salary reverts back to a "unit" . The DOE pays for all teachers not the school as it presently does. This eliminates the incentive for the Principal to hire the :cheapest" teacher and they can now hire the "best" teachers for the classroom. Second, the DOE must impose a strict and complete "hiring freeze" until all the ATRs in their District are placed. Any Principal caught hiding a vacancy will have the vacancy removed from the school and receive a "disciplinary letter" for educational malfeasance. To minimize "forced placements", the principals will be allowed to interview up to five ATRs in seniority order of that content specialty and must decide on the one that best fits the school culture. To ensure the Principal is playing by the rules, failure to select one of the five ATRs will result in the school losing the vacancy for the school year., Finally, all ATRs hired should receive a "provisional contract" that allows both the teacher and Principal decide if "its a good fit". Once both sides agree, the teacher will be automatically appointed and gain their building seniority. In no case can the school and teacher sign a second "provisional contract" the following year.
Its common knowledge that the City and UFT will finalize a contract by June 30th. Therefore, if the UFT insists on these few simple requirements, the schools will be getting an influx of experienced teachers, many of them "quality teachers" that will help reduce the inequity of teachers in the school system and reduce class size. To me its a win-win no matter how one looks at it.
29 comments:
Question for Chaz: If the "fair student funding formula" is eliminated, do you believe that principals will be willing to hire veteran teachers from the open market? I think that even if the "fair student funding formula" is eliminated, principals are going to still want to hire young, easily manipulated, untenured teachers. What this means is that veteran teachers will still be stuck in their current schools for the rest of their careers. It seems the only way to solve this is to bring back seniority based transfers. (And that is a loooooong shot at best) What do you think?
Getting rid of the "Fair Student Funding Formula" is crucial to all. The ending of this assinine concept will put all the long suffering ATR's back in permanent positions in schools. Also, I feel the added benefit would be that the Open Market Transfer System would actually be a legitimate tool as well. People who use Open Market may finally have a decent shot at landing a transfer if the hiring principal does not have to worry about hiring the cheapest.
In addition to all of this, I continue to hold my breath and cross my fingers that we will get our 4% and 4% retro, and hopefully a pattern for the other years that we can live with. It would be a nice end of the year gift to go into this summer with.
Chaz i am going to be honest and blunt. I am a teacher in an ict classroom. My co teacher has gone on maternity leave. Because of the vacancy mid year an atr has been assigned on a bi weekly basis. Each one is worse than the next. They each refuse to plan with our team and some have flat out passed out in class or have been neglectful. My principal has filed a report on each of them and yet every few weeks the same ones appear. While i cannot speak for every atr out there, these 6 atrs are a complete waste and i find it insulting as a professional these "educators" still have a job. They give us real teachers a bad name. It is not right to my kids, my teacher team, my schools or my parents. I do not blame my administration...i blame our union.
I agree with anon 5:01
School leaders are going to still want to hire young, easily manipulated, untenured teachers. Some of these principals are barely 30 years old. I am hoping it is not the same old nonsense and teachers can get back the respect that has been taken from us. We took this job to teach and we should not forget that
As an ATR high school business teacher in my 23rd year, I have absolutely no interest in getting another license. Business is still viable (and one could argue a much more beneficial subject than those currently being failed) and valuable for NYC students. The fact that Bloomberg shuttered vocational schools and subjects is not the fault of CTE teachers or students. I will not pay thousands of dollars and years of effort to get a 3rd (!) masters degree (or 30 credits) in something I have no interest.
I paid my dues- I've worked in every hellhole in the Bronx, including the now defunct junior high school. Hey Chaz, how would you like it if Bloomberg said science wasn't important, go get a license in something else?
I'm a CTE teacher who jumped thru all the hoops the DOE put in front of me. I also dealt with petty and obnoxious administrators while getting my tenure, which was not a rubber stamp- but a gut wrenching three year marathon. Now I'm expected to get another license? Are you fucking kidding? If they want to do that, then everyone should be forced to get a dual license. It should also be free and we should get per session while attending classes. Anything less and CTE teachers will sue and win. I know you're anxious to get back in the classroom, but this has to be fair to everyone.
Anon 5:47
How would you feel if you are disrespected, have no ownership of the students, and knowing that you will be leaving the school next week?
Until you are placed in their situation you shouldn't pass judgement on their lack of motivation. Being an ATR does that to you.
Chaz i am anon 547....i am sorry but i dont buy it. You are earning a salary and performing in the matter that atr's are is unprofessional and unethical. They are still being paid to do a job that they are neglecting. That is no excuse for them to sleep on the job, to pick up phone calls during the job, and flat out ignoring their professional responsibilities. If they want to be thought of as teachers, then they have to act like they still want to be
To Anon 5:47,
l'm sure those ATRs feel the same way about you and your school. Why would anyone knock themselves out for someone like you? You should grow a pair of balls and state your name or tell those ATRs to their faces what you think.
Hey Anon 5:47, watch and see what happens in September pal. All the ATR's will be "placed" and once they have to stand in front if a class all day (again) after not doing it for years, you will see them run out the door. Again, you want to see the ATR's retire? Simple, put them back in the classroom. They are just earning an incredible salary for babysitting. End their careers and place them back in the class so they can finally retire. Chaz, you want to say that you and another 20% are not in this category, great! We can summarize by saying 4 out of 5 ATR's will retire once given a real assignment. Imagine collecting 100K for the past several years doing jackshit? Then you're told you actually have to teach 5 classes of English again to a total student body in high school of 160 kids? That's grading 160 essays per night and entering it on PupilPath. Good Luck!!!!
I am a relatively new ATR who has had nothing but positive experiences. Am I happy to be an ATR - of course not - but I have found that most administrators and teachers have been extremely nice. It has been very interesting to see the various schools from the inside. Everyone is dealing with the same issues, trying to do the same things. Some, obviously, do it better than others. The common theme I do see is that schools that have staff that have low turnover seem to be the most easygoing and calm places to be in. One school I was in had nothing but new teachers and while the teachers themselves seemed to be good - the overall tone of the school was a bit chaotic. I agree with the earlier poster who was disgusted by the ATR's who come in and are not doing their jobs. I don't care how frustrated they are, they are still getting paid (by my tax dollars) and they should be doing their jobs. If they are so experienced and good, you'd think they'd try to help out in the classroom. It is not the fault of the person with whom they are working that they they are in this position. They are the ones who give teachers and ATR's a bad name. Maybe Bloomburg was right to try to clean house a little.
Anon 5:47
I agree with Chaz - I spent 2 years as an ATR and the treatment and degradation that you endure as you move form place to place knowing you are not wanted and will not stay doesn't really make you want to jump out of bed every morning and throw all your energy into the job. Many of us are clinically depressed as a result of the ATR situation. Being assumed incompetent before you say "hello", being given hours of potty patrol, denied bathroom keys and a place to secure your things... the list goes on and after a while even the most conscientious worker starts thinking, 'What's the point?' I know I did - it was almost like a passive/aggressive "F - YOU!!!" to the DOE. See, I had no OWNERSHIP and NO STAKE in the building, so not having to give 100% became one of the few luxuries of the rotation. Don't take their behavior personally - they have been beaten down emotionally, professionally, and psychologically. It's a classic case of 'The beatings will continue until morale improves".
CHAZ - a question. Are reading licenses considered "obsolete"? Because almost all the reading teachers are in the ATR, along with librarians. Do the kids all read so well now that we are no longer necessary?? I don't think ANYTHING is "obsolete" unless there are teaching candle dipping or drivers' ed for horse-drawn carriage drivers. Even teachers of cu.inary arts, business, graphic arts, etc, can be placed in schools and teach ELECTIVES. You know, those classes that allowed kids to learn a topic of their choice. We used ot have those before we started teaching nothing but reading and math all day.
And is there no need for Remedial Reading? Lucy Calkins and differentiation have done such a bang-up job that there is just NO need for intensive small group instruction anymore and we reading specialists should just hang it up and get a math license? Some of us don't WANT to teach Special Ed.
No one mentions the reading specialists.
anon 5 47
You are a complete fake. Chaz should know better. You have probably been hired by rhee or bloomberg low lifes to write damaging blogs. Any true, real educator never bashes a fellow colleague unless you are a classless piece of crap like bloomterd and rhee and the idiot others.
Anon 10:51 I'm with you in that my experiences have largely been positive and I do my best each day as I work with students, however in regards to Bloomberg "cleaning house" the creation of the ATR pool in combination with FSF were part of a plan to radically re-structure teaching as a career. Churn,churn nobody gets to stick around for raises or a pension.
Anon 5:47 Same ones appear? are they being rotated back into your class? Please explain.
Anon 10:51 Full program in HS is 170 students, but then again if you were a teacher you would know that.
Chaz I cried every day when I was in Campus Maggot for 6 weeks - I cannot be force placed there for one year - I will never survive it is a terrible place - you can include a lot of other schools too in that list - where if I am force placed there I will have a breakdown even more than being an atr is hurting me. As for the jerks who get off bashing atrs - you wouldn't last one day in our shoes you pieces of garbage.
I love how anytime someone disagrees with chaz they must automatically be a fake or part of some group. If what he/she is saying is true then it is a disgrace. I font care about the mental state of an atr, you do not act that way. There is no excuse for that and shame on you who defend it.
Anon 7:30
I don't think you are a fake. However, unless you're in our shoe you can't understand how discouraging and demoralizing it is.
When you go school to school are ignored, r4idiculed, and labeled as a "bad teacher", I can see why some ATRs are just going through the motions.
You should be more sensitive to this and reach out to them. You might find they have their reasons.
Anon 7:04
We belong in a classroom, even if its not the school of choice.
Im 547
So let me get this straight. An atr is earning a salary to fall asleep in my class, talk on her cell phone during my instruction and i am supposed to feel compassion for her. If these atr want compassion, if they want me to look at them as educators then maybe they should educate. They have a job regardless of what they are feeling. It is not my fault, not my schools fault and definitely not my students fault that they are in this situation. Why do my kids have to suffer because these atrs (again the ones that have been rotated in, i cant speak for all) find it easier to play the victim than actually try to do something. Lets stop the pity party and actually hold them accountable to do a job they are paid to do. Im the one planning, and working around the clock. Why are they the ones taking naps in class
547
I have only been an ATR since september have ten years in the system and cannot imagine what it is to be an ATR year after year. It is not as grand as you think
since you are not an atr but a teacher who has your own classroom with your own bathroom key your little fridge to keep your lunch fresh why dont you go whine and complain to the other teachers. Frankly, We actually dont want to hear what you think about ATRs Go start your own blog you can call it ATRs are atrocious...since you say you are planning and working around the clock how do you have time to post so many comments ??
and don't forget a place to put your coat! and have friends where you work instead of people who look at you like you did something wrong - which 99% of us haven't!!
Do you know how intimidating and embarassing it is ro be somewhere just for the week? I try my best, but it takes the week to get to know the school - what can I say to you after being in your school for 2-3 days?
Stop stereotyping ATR's. I work my tail off. I have chased down or come up with lessons not in my subject area when administrators haven't cared. Some schools WOULDN'T LET ME WORK. They were hostile and wouldn't give ATR's coverages on purpose. They told security we weren't allowed to be in classrooms. At some schoils, I have gone into libraries are the hall just to find a way to help and sometimes been told not to interfere...
Chaz, I know this is winding down but please put this through.547 you said your principal has filed "reports" on them - this will lead to U ratings in 3 months.
Regarding your statement "yet every few weeks the same ones appear" Are the same ATRS rotated back in?
You say you don't blame your administration you blame the union. The UFT did not come to an agreement with the management of your school which perhaps does everything they can to provide the best for all students. The agreement was negotiated with the NYCDOE under Bloomberg, a management structure that allowed horrendous conditions to impact the education of hundreds of thousands of students. Read up on what happened at Murry Bergtraum HS located a few hundred yards from Tweed with no response from a series of chancellors over the last dozen years.Look at the Far Rockaway school surrounded by vermin infested lots where a man was nearly bitten to death by dogs a few years ago. This school flew under the radar despite the warnings of Norm Scott- until the media found their visual a "naughty" black woman with a fur coat and a BMW. Then it was stop the presses.As Marc Epstein has said we need a Truth Commission not a focus on some sleepy, disengaged ATRS.
Its anon 547
So because of this it is acceptable to sleep in front of student...talk on a cell phone in front of students? Cmon guys give me a break
Let's put this to rest. Just like all teachers some ATRs are bad. However, it does seem unrealistic that you have six ATRs that sleep in the classroom and yak on the cellphone
What about the fact that we have to compete with cellphones used in class by students? The regs against phones are ignored by most schools. How about the fact that there is such blatant disregard and outright disrespect of teachers that students will actually sleep in class. I find it telling that a bunch of the comments sound as though they come from the post or the news.
You who make nasty accusations against people who have had their careers destroyed and are going through a terribly demeaning and demoralizing experience. Instead of helping your brothers and sisters you choose to pile on more abuse.
I sincerely hope that there is such a thing as Karma and you will get what you richly deserve.
You try spending each week being told that your a sub or not a real teacher by colleagues. You try covering classes and being observed covering classes not in your discipline. Try adjusting to not knowing which school you will be in the following week or what your hours are going to be. You could also forget about making any plans, having a second job, going to school, making appointments. Try going to work in a place where they won't even give you a bathroom key.
Maybe you are one of those " highly energetic and great young teachers".
I guess where you were raised respect for others and elders was not part of the curriculum.
Here's hoping that the same happens to you and far worse.
Sincerely
Angry Nog
936
So its ok to sleep in class but then expect a principal to be encouraged by bringing you into their school. You mention that we are supposed to support each other. Well how does these atrs support me by talking on their cells during class, sleeping in class, and contributing nothing. I invited the atrs in my class with open arms.....in return i got disrespected, my students were disrespected...and by who.....my so call sisters (they were all women). Great example for my 1st grade students....do nothing and still cash a check
Anonymous 11:03
It's ironic that a person with such a poor command of the language gets to teach. What's your first language?
Gibberish?
It's shameful you get to draw a check for teaching which is clearly something way beyond your abilities. Learn the language before insulting those who have and are paying their dues. Don't get so comfortable you are a breath away from being unceremoniously dumped into the ATR pool. Hope you can swim.
Sincerely
Angry Nog
Chaz, do not respond or If I were you I would not post any more comments from anon 11 03
This is coming from the anti teacher atr person who actually is a planted neophyte just trying to irk our educators and I am sure was planted here to do just that. There are bloggers out there that are paid by the scum low life dogs out there
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