Why Doesn't Michael Mulgrew Go After Vindictive School Principals?

Michael Mulgrew took over the UFT Presidency from Randi Weingarten and one of the few changes he did was to stop the UFT from going after vindictive principals.  Under Randi Weingarten, the teacher paer would publish articles on selected principals that need improvement, they were called PINI principals.  Once Micheal Mulgrew took over, those articles disappeared. 

Moreover, when parents, staff, and students picketed school policies, the UFT leadership was nowhere to be found.  Its been ten years since the UFT leadership has participated in a walkout and that was William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens and run by Namia Dwarka, who still continues to run her school despite all the articles written about her, Here, Here, and Here.

Why doesn't UFT President Michael Mulgrew support parents, staff, and students, who protest vindictive principals?  The answer is that he rather keep good relations with the CSA, the union that school principals are part of then the membership that elected him.

UFT Leadership's Animal Farm

Back in 1945 George Orwell published a book called "Animal Farm" that was based upon the 1917 Russian Revolution.  The book showed how some animals were more equal then other animals.  The same can be said about the UFT leadership.  In today's New York Post a prime example of this is President Michael Mulgrew getting free tickets for the U.S. Open year after year from the legal group that gets millions of dollars from the UFT.  Read Susan Edelman's New York Post article on it Here.

By contrast teachers cannot receive any gift greater than $50 dollars and are never offered "freebies".  This is the very same union leadership that agreed to Charlotte Danielson for teacher evaluation, without member input.  Moreover, the very same union leadership that allowed the ATR pool to occur, without educator input, and agreed to the useless rotation without member discussion.   Finally, it's the very same union leadership that agreed to inferior raises and significant "givebacks" that made teaching in the NYC classroom a minefield.

Both the DOE and the UFT have a pecking order that treat different groups differently.  President Michael Mukgrew and his cronies are the "pigs" in Animal Farm while the rest of us are simply farm animals.

If The Union Wants My Dues Then Here Is My Checklist.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled on Janus and the unions must require members to formally "opt in", if they wan to pay dues.  Therefore, here is my checklist to the union leadership they must satisfy if they want me to "opt in".

1. Run a media campaign on how destructive Fair Student Funding is to students who must suffer from a high turnover rate of inexperienced teachers.
2. Push to bring back unit hiring and have all vacancies filled by excessed teachers in the District before any "newbie" can be hired.
3. Make an ATR Chapter 
4. Eliminate the punitive Charlotte Danielson rubric that is used as a weapon by vindictive principal.
5. Negotiate with the DOE for two observations.
6. Commit to eliminate the "scarlet letter" for members who won their 3020-a hearings,
7. Be pro-active and publicize the issues with incompetent and/or vindictive administrators. 
8. A commitment not to accept any more "givebacks"  in future contracts.
9.  No separate rules and second class citizen status for educators in the ATR pool
10.  Push to eliminate the ATR Supervisors.
11. Canvas members before supporting and funding other organizations.
12.  Bring real democracy and transparency to the union.

 Other teachers may have different ideas on how to improve and make our union leadership more accountable to the members but this is my checklist.

More Givebacks By The UFT On Parental Leave.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew loudly proclaimed victory in negotiating with the City on parental leave.  At first glance, it does not seem to contain "givebacks" but on further analysis there is a "giveback".  The union agreed to extend the existing contract 73 days, from November 30, 1918 to February 11th, 2019.  That means when you add the 16 days delayed for the final 3% raise we gave up to fund the massive retirements in 2014, that means our existing contract was actually 10% for 7.25 years or annual raises of only 1.38%!
 
The union leadership and their acolytes will claim that there are no "givebacks" but to me, raises delayed and the extension of an existing contract is a "giveback". Moreover, it only pertains to parental leave (affecting 1.2% of the teachers) not the more expansive family leave that allows members to take for caring of  a sick relative, a plan that would allow all members to benefit, not just a select segment of the membership.


Compare our union leadership's  negotiation with the one public worker union, the United University Professionals (UUP) who negotiated a family leave plan in their new contract. Here.

If you read the article you will find that the UUP negotiated up to 10 weeks of family leave and that will increase to twelve weeks by 2021.  More importantly, there were no "givebacks" and in fact, thee were enhancements.  So let the UFT declare victory but now you know the truth.

Read David Irons' analysis on the ICE blog. Moreover, the New York Post Editorial Board praised the plan, enough said.

Why Many UFT Members Are Conflicted About Paying Dues. However, ATRs Are Not.

New York City Educator wrote on his blog why we all should be paying union dues when Janus is settled.  He correctly points out why union representation is important and despite the arrogance of the union leadership, we must stand together.  I considered myself a loyal union member and help other members with their issues.  However, its hard to be loyal to a union who's leadership cares more about themselves and political favors than the members they are supposed to represent.  As an ATR I am furious how we are treated as second class citizens and if you came out of discipline, an untouchable,  Moreover, the ATRs have no chapter representation and cannot request a change of schools.  Finally, there is no mutual consent as the ATR cannot refuse an assignment.  Let's not forget the field supervisors as well.

The DOE treats the ATR as if they are "bad" or unwanted teachers as the DOE fair student funding policy makes hiring veteran ATRs financially unappealing.  The union leadership, rather than pushing the DOE to eliminate this unfair policy, looks the other way.  Notice how the ATR issue wasn't addressed by the UFT on negotiating the next contract?

When three out of four union members didn't even bother to vote in the last union election,  How many will voluntarily pay their union dues?   60%, 70% or 80%?. Who knows?  However, when it comes to the ATRs   I suspect the majority will refuse to pay their union dues since they feel the union leadership has failed to properly represent them.

While NYC Educator is right that we need a union to protect our hard won gains, the problem is that our union leadership does not deserve the respect from the members, especially the ATRs who have been betrayed time and again by the self-serving Unity leadership.

Read ATR Adventures blog for how most ATRs feel about the union leadership.

How Will The Union Leadership Respond To The Janus Decision?

Before the end of the school year it's expected the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision will rule in favor of Janus and dues will become voluntary not mandatory.  The result will be that approximately 20% of the teachers will refuse to allow the union to take out their dues from their paycheck.

The union leadership wants to get the State Legislature to allow for the State to work out a mandatory dues program but with the State Senate controlled by the Republicans, that seems to be wishful thinking.  Without State intervention, the union has developed two strategies to encourage members to pay their dues.  The first, is a door knocking campaign that will have loyal members of the "Unity caucus"  knock on every members door to exchange personal stories about how the union helped them to convince the member to pay their dues,  The second,  is to establish membership meeting at every school to tell active school staff why it's important to continue to pay dues to keep the union strong and effective.

In Michigan, when the State eliminate the mandatory dues for public sector unions, the dropout rate was 20%.  Despite a strong effort by teacher unions to get members to pay their dues, still 18% dropped out.  Obviously, the Michigan law is much more relevant to what will happen in New York State than what happened in Wisconsin, where union collective bargaining rights were eliminated that resulted in reduction of teacher benefits and limited pay raises amd have caused a severe teacher shortage in the State.  You can read my post on Why New York State Is Not Wisconsin.

One group the union will most certainly lose are the ATRs.  While they amount to only 2% of all teachers, they are a vocal group.  Moreover, many ex-ATRs still harbor resentment to the union leadership on how they were treated by the union during their time being excessed.  Finally, all the teachers who were forced out of the closing schools to look for new positions were not happy with the union's inability to fight the DOE by taking action.  Instead the union acquiesced to the DOE school closing policy.

Another group that might not pay voluntary dues are the veteran teachers who know how the union leadership has allowed the DOE to impose policies that discrimate against them, like Fair Student Funding and tight school budgets that penalizes principals who hire veteran teachers.

Maybe after the Janus decision the union will start to treat their members as customers and provide them the services they pay for rather than looking at them as a nuisance since they are required to pay their dues.  How much will the union downsize after the Janus decision?  Only time will tell but downsize they must since a 20% cut in dues will require many jobs to be eliminated at the union.

Note:  An audit done by Comptroller Scott Stringer  found that the Department of Education escalated their spending on its Central Bureaucracy and was put on his "watch list".  Here is what he said.

Stringer red-flagged the school system, where he found central administration staff has soared by 24 percent since 2012 — double the 12 percent rate of teachers.

Michael Mulgrew Finally Admits That Carmen Farina's Failure To Clean House At The DOE Is A Problem.

In last night's Executive Board meeting, UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, finally admitted that the middle management at the DOE is problematic and none of them are capable of being selected as the new Chancellor.  It took almost four years for our UFT President to acknowledge that the middle management at the DOE is a problem.  Maybe if Michael Mulgrew had pushed Chancellor Carmen Farina to "clean house" back in 2014, there would have been better collaboration between teachers and the Central Bureaucracy at the DOE.  If you have read my previous posts, Here and Here, you would read that Chancellor Carmen Farina had retained 80% of the policymakers at the DOE.  No wonder the DOE continues to be looked as the enemy by teachers.

Realistically, the middle management at the DOE still runs the operation.  Instead of collaberation, its confrontation,  paperwork reduction has been a mirage as mandates are sent out to schools for more data mining and accountability while they are not held accountable themselves. Finally, they divert much needed resources from schools who are funded at 87% to 90% of their fair funding while the Central Bureaucracy remains bloated with high priced consultants, questionable programs that have little educational value, and programs that incentives principals to "hire the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their schools while having the largest class sizes in the State,

Too bad it took four years for our union leadership to realize that the main problem is the DOE middle managers.  Most educators knew this in 2014.  Read nyc educator and ICEUFT blogs to read what Michael Mulgrew said at the Executive Board meeting.
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Cope, Union Dues, Amd Janus - The Future For The Union Patronage Jobs Looks Bleak.

The UFT leadership rewards blind loyalty to their every wishes by giving Unity members patronage positions with the union.  Be it pension consultants, delegate to conferences, or office positions at the UFT borough headquarters.  Personally, I have been little impressed with many of the people who have been given these patronage positions.  Be it negotiating vastly inferior giveback laden contracts, providing real and relevant advice at the informal pension consultations (one UFT pension consultant was actually pushing pension max),  and fails to aggressively representing members at the DOE kangaroo court of "U" rating appeals. Starting in 2018 all this will change.

 First,. the GOP tax plan, which is now law, no longer allows union dues to be deductible on your federal  income tax and unless the State adjusts their own tax structure, that would include the State and City income tax as well. the $1,402.56 annual union dues will no longer be deductible, which in some cases can be 40% or more of the union dues paid for the year.

Second, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down their Janus decision this Spring and its expected to be 5 to 4 to eliminate mandatory union dues. Therefore, starting in the 2018-19 school year, the union will plead with the members to pay their "fair share" to help support the union.  The union leadership will claim the "collective bargaining process" requires the members to pay their union dues.  However, the "collective bargaining" agreement is for all City employees and it only takes one union to agree to terms and the other unions are forced to accept the same or similar contracts.  For example our 2014 contract negotiated with the City became the template for all other contracts.  Next ye4ar's contract will be a formality since DC37 is in the process of negotiating a contract with the City this Spring and that will be the template for all other union contracts, including the UFT..

Finally, our COPE payments for political action and other obscure purposes have been abused by the UFT leadership.  Ask them for a breakdown of how the COPE money is spent and you get silence.  In other words its none of you business and we know what's best for our members.  Remember this?      How about their support of racial arsonist Al Sharpton If the COPE money collected from member voluntary contributions were identified and clearly defined by showing why members benefit from the use of the COPE funds, then I might be convinced to contribute.

The bottom line is the union leadership only has themselves to blame by their very secretive nature of its use and failure to clearly identify where all our union dues and COPE contributions go to.  I suspect that close to 40% of the members will either stop paying union dues or reduce the amount they contribute once the Supreme Court rules against mandatory union dues. As for those juicy union patronage jobs?  Look for real belt tightening and elimination of many of those useless positions.

Chaz's Golden Turkey Award.

This year's golden turkey award winners are the UFT leadership who negotiated an inferior ATR buyout and bought into the fraudulent ATR placement that has resulted in little change from previous years.  Another winner is the DOE who continues to shortchange schools by funding them at 90% of their fair funding and watches  class sizes increase.  Finally, we have the continuation of "Fair Student Funding" that forces principals to hire "the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their schools.

UFT Leadership:
They, once again, negotiated an inferior ATR buyout and despite predictions of  upwards of 300 ATRs taking the buyout, only  120 actually did and all of them were retiring anyway!  Moreover, despite the union leadership buying into the DOE's new ATR policy, nothing has really changed as few ATRs have been permanently placed in vacancies.  Further, the union leadership makes sure that the ATRs lack their own chapter and real representation. Finally, the union leadership continues to ignore member complaints and practices their undemocratic actions.

Department of Education:
The Bloomberg philosophy permeates throughout the DOE,  To most teachers they are the enemy and the DOE's idea of collaboration is top down policies, without input from school staff.  Further, the DOE has starved schools with a recession era budget while their own budget and headcount increase.  Finally, despite the Mayor's promises to reduce class sizes, they have actually increased this school year.

Fair Student Funding:
Despite the negative effects of school based fair student funding, the Bloomberg managers have resisted eliminating it.  The result is that schools are forced to hire "newbie" teachers rather than seasoned veterans.  The result is that many struggling schools experience high teacher turnover and a steep learning curve for their new teachers. Not good for student learning.

The Maternity Leave Dilemma.

A petition to get the UFT to negotiate with the City on maternity leave was presented at the Executive Board meeting on Monday and the union leadership,while synthetic to the needs of the younger teachers, stated that the City has not been willing to offer a reasonable deal.

Evidence that the union was actually telling the truth is that the City has already imposed a maternity leave program on their mangers and the managers are very unhappy at the cost of this provision.  The City imposed maternity leave program cost the managers their 2017 raise of 0.47% and for senior managers they had to fork over two vacations days in exchange for the maternity leave.

Interestingly, the IBO did an analysis of the City's maternity leave cost on the managers and found that the City saved $5.8 million dollars the first year.  The reason was that the average age of the 8,279 managers under the program is 47 years of age and few (230 or 2.7%) were able to take advantage of the maternity leave program.  The IBO stated that only a few younger managers were able to take advantage of the program while all mangers were penalized by loss of raises and the senior managers with 15 or more years of experience and averaged 55 years of age lost two vacation days for a program that they probably cannot use.

When it comes to the unionized workforce, they are younger than the managers and replacing a person who takes maternity leave usually means paying overtime, rather than straight time/  Therefore, the City's terms would cost the unions too high a price for that "giveback" and so far no union has come to an agreement with the City. Until and unless the City decides that maternity leave should become a right and not a negotiated item in a contract, the prognosis for a maternity leave benefit remains bleak.

For those teachers, who were on maternity leave or other unpaid status,in October of 2015, they will finally get their first lump sum payout.  However, this year's lump sum payout will not be paid until October of 2018 for teachers who were on unpaid leave back in October of 2015.  Therefore,  each lump sum payment will be delayed one year and those teachers will not be whole until October of 2021 instead of 2020.You can thank the union leadership for screwing those teachers on unpaid leave, be it maternity leave or other unpaid leave.

Maybe the union can correct the many wrongs of the 2014 contract in a new contract and one place to start is to negotiate with the City to allow UFT members who were on unpaid leave status, such as maternity leave to be made whole again by giving them the lump sum payments at the time all other active members get theirs.

When Will The Union Sue The DOE On Their Scarlet Letter?

Back when Dennis Walcott became Chancellor, he decided that all teachers who had a substantiated OSI or SCI investigation, would have a discipline flag attached to their file.  This flag alerted principals not to hire these teachers.  It didn't matter that many of these teachers chose to go through their 3020-a hearings and the independent State arbitrator found them innocent of the DOE charges that were based upon the OSI or SCI report.  For example if OSI substantiated a corporal punishment charge and the arbitrator found no corporal punishment or if SCI substantiated sexual misconduct,but the arbitrator finds no sexual misconduct.  Why does the DOE act as if the teacher is still guilty of the charges that were dismissed by the arbitrator?

Both corporal punishment and sexual misconduct are termination offenses and arbitrators are automatically required to terminate the teacher.  However, charging a teacher with these serious offenses is not the same as be guilty of the charges.  The arbitrator must hear all the relevant evidence and any hearsay must be supported.  Teachers who are accused of these serious charges and are tenured can ask for an independent arbitrator to hear all the relevant evidence and make their decision based upon the preponderance of the relevant evidence.

Here are two examples of the DOE charging teachers with serious charges only to find the charges didn't stick once the evidence was presented and scrutinized..

Example 1:  A Social Studies teacher was accused of slamming his door on the hand of a student that broke the window in the door.  The student had a bloody hand and went to the school nurse.  The Principal reported it and OSI interviewed the student and, as it turned out a couple of his friends, as well as the school nurse.  The teacher was charged with corporal punishment and the case went to the arbitrator.  In the 3020-a hearing it came out that some other students in the teacher's class also saw the incident and told the teacher's attorney that the teacher didn't slam the door on the student's hand but  after the heated exchange between the teacher and the student, as the teacher closed the door, the student took his fist and slammed the door window, which caused the bloody hand.   Interestingly, there was a hallway camera which showed a blurry picture of the incident but tended to support what the teacher had claimed.   The arbitrator dismissed the corporal punishment charge but  gave the teacher a small fine for not deescalating the altercation.  Yet the teacher has a flag on his file for an accusation that wasn't true.

Example 2:  A Science teacher was accessed of sexual misconduct by allegedly propositioning a student by showing too much interest in getting her to pass the class,  It turned out that the student was having personal problems and that day was a :bad day"  Therefore, the student told the Principal that the teacher propositioned her,  SCI spoke to the student and also found from other students that the teacher was paying her more attention then most of the students.  The result was that SCI substantiated the charge.  During the 3020-a hearing the student reluctantly came in and admitted that the teacher did not proposition her but didn't like the intrusive manner of the teacher.  That teacher was found innocent of the sexual misconduct charge but also received a small fine for making the student uncomfortable. This teacher also has a flag on their file.

A pro-active union would never allow the administration to continue to punish teachers for charges that they were found innocent of  Yet our disconnected union leadership not only failed to file a lawsuit against the DOE's unfair policy that assumes teachers are guilty, even when the arbitrator found otherwise. but agreed to contract language that made hundreds of teachers ineligible to fill vacancies permanently.   The union leadership should be ashamed of themselves for sacrificing their members to curry favor with Tweed. It's unconscionable that our union allows innocent teachers to be punished year after year with the Scarlet Letter.

Union Proud But Not Proud Of Our Union.

I consider myself a proud union member and greatly appreciate what an effective union represents to their members.  At one time, under the effective Albert Shanker,  teachers were able to negotiate adequate raises, a salary scale that reflected seniority, generous health benefits, and work rules that limited the amount of students in a classroom.  This was a time when the City leaders were beholden to the powerful 81,000 strong teachers' union and came with hat in hand to curry union support and even a loan during the City's brush with bankruptcy in 1973.   That was then and this is now.

Our present ineffective union leadership has provided  little in the way for their members to be proud of   They have negotiated inferior or subpar contracts, going back to Sandra Feldman and continuing through Randi Weingarten and now Michael Mulgrew.  Just about every negotiated contract was short on money and contained various "givebacks".  Be it time, additional duties, hiring rules, reduced due process rights dealing with discipline, and expanding the definitions on verbal and physical abuse (A-420, A-421).  Just as important was the slow erosion of health benefits, both the eligibility at retirement and cost.  In addition, UFT members saw 1.25% of their TDA interest disappear., thanks to our union leadership.  While all other DOE employees receive 8.25% interest on their TDA balance, UFT members receive only 7%.  Finally, our union leadership is strangely quiet while the media attacks the ATRs and allows the DOE's Fair Student Funding policy to discriminate against the hiring of veteran teachers.

Our union leadership had promised to go to PERB or file a lawsuit on the DOE's practice of placing a flag on any member that had a substantiated OSI or SCI investigation, even when the accusations were found not to be true by the independent State Arbitrator!  I call this the Scarlet Letter.  Did the union  leadership follow through?  The answer is no!    Moreover, they allowed the ATR to become "a second class citizen" and refuses to include an ATR on their negotiating committee on ATR issues.  Finally, the union leadership refuses to put member interests first.  Rather, they use our COPE and dues money as they please without member input.  See examples Here and Here.

I am a proud union member and will support unions that represent their members.  However, in the last two decades, our weak union leadership seems to represent their own political and ideological interests rather than what's best for the members.

Michael Mulgrew's Danielson Rating Sheet.

Since our UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, believes the Charlotte Danielson rubric is a good evaluation tool for teachers.  Therefore, its only fair if we rate Michael Mulgrew the same way, using the Charlotte Danielson Rubric on how he treats the members.  I took into account his 2016-17 actions, like the negotiations with the DOE on the ATR Agreement, his usual lateness to the Executive Board meetings, and his undemocratic control of the Delegate Assembly. Below are the 8 standards and how he rated on each, including his final grade.


1a - Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy. - Ineffective

How much Michael Mulgrew really knows is uncertain or is he simply a mouthpiece? Since he fails time and again to include the rank and file in any decisions and how he arrived at them.  Moreover, he severely limits information to the members.  Is this on purpose or is it because he doesn't know himself?.


1e - Designing coherent instruction - Ineffective

Fails to completely identify issues and sows confusion by making deals behind the back of the members. All negotiations are secret and does not include affected members. Example, the ATR Agreement


2a - Creating an Environment of Respect & Rapport. - Ineffective

Mr. Mulgrew does not care to hear or entertain dissenting opinions and never runs a democratic meeting. Pester him with complaining emails and he will ignore you completely.  Further, his agreeing to make ATRs a second class citizen and allowing for forced placement shows his lack of respect for dues paying members.


2d - Managing student behavior - highly effective

Michael Mulgrew totally controls the process at meetings and bad behavior is not tolerated, except when its in support of him.  Remember, he will punch you in the face if you touch his beloved Common Core?


3a - Using questioning & discussion techniques - Ineffective.

Questions and discussions are frowned upon and only those questions are allowed that are closely controlled to come up with one correct answer, Mulgrew's.


3c - Engage students in learning - Highly Effective

Dissidents learn quickly that discussions are one-sided and the outcome is predetermined.


3d Using assessments in Instruction - Ineffective.

Mulgrew needs no damn assessments on the issues.  He is always right, even when he's wrong.


4e - Growing and Developing Professionally - Ineffective.

There is no critical thinking or independent thought under Mulgrew. In fact, critical thinking skills and independent thought is frowned on and can result in the loss of perks, if Mulgrew so wishes.

Final grade "Ineffective".   

Due to Michael Mulgrew's rating of "ineffective",  Mr. Mulgrew will need a teacher improvement plan that includes but not limited to::

•  Obtaining kindergarten skills on how to get along with others

• How to include different opinions in discussions and  instruction

• Encourage critical thinking and higher learning skills in questioning techniques and assessing the results.

• Be inclusive and allow for dissenting opinions and effectively lead the search for the truth.

Maybe Mikey can file an appeal of his rating with the DOE and see how useless the process is for the rest of us.

Did Michael Mulgrew Blurt Out The Demographics Of The ATR Pool At The Delegate Assembly?

One of the more closely held secrets that the DOE and UFT keep from the members is the number and demographics of the ATR pool.  While its common knowledge that the ATR pool is usually composed of senior teachers of between 1,100 and 1,500 members, getting real and accurate numbers out of the two organizations is like getting water from a rock in the desert.  Next to impossible.  The last number the media was given was 822 ATRs in the pool.  Of course this did not include the ATRs who are provisionally placed and will be excessed at the end of the school year.

Last night, UFT {President, Michael Mulgrew, at the Delegate Assembly, blurted out that after a year and a half of secret negotiations, they came up with an ATR buyout incentive that made 962 of the 1,100 ATRs eligible for up to $50,000 that's not pensionable and still get their retro payments by retiring.  While, its possible that few of the 962 are not of retirement age , I suspect most are.

Sure, some of the 962 ATRs are leaving the system due to either being under 3020-a charges, or moving out of the Metropolitan area, but not many. The vast majority of eligible ATRs are 55 years of age and over, is it 70%, 75%, 80%?  Whatever the percentage is, let's say that every three out of four ATRs are of retirement age in the eligible ATR pool.  What we now know the 822 figure is a phony number that tries to fool the media by falsely showing the the DOE and UFT are succeeding in reducing the ATR pool, when the real numbers have remained relatively stable over the years.


Finally, and most interestingly, Michael Mulgrew failed to mention how the union negotiators, without ATR participation, rolled over like a trained puppy dog and agreed to let the DOE to continue to abuse the ATRs by doing the following:

• Allowed the DOE a second bite of the apple by keeping two ATR lists, one for ATRs excessed from closing schools or programs and the other who won their discipline hearings and only hire from the excessed list.
• Agreed to "force place" ATRs in vacancies or long-term leaves without mutual consent.
• Agreed to let the DOE keep their "Scarlet Letter" on ATRs who had substantiated OSI or SCI investigations only to have those charges found to be untrue at the 3020-a hearing.
• Allowed the DOE to move Elementary and Middle school ATRs to other Districts in the Borough. 
• Ignored the DOE practice of not offering per session grading for ATRs.
• Supported the DOE in making ATRs second class citizens.

Next time a Unity slug shows up from the union or a Chapter Leader tells you how they have your back by protecting your job.  Remind them of the above issues that the union allowed or agreed to that makes the ATR a "stranger in a strange land" and a second class citizen.

NYS Constitutional Convention Update.

In ten months (November 7. 2017), New York State will have a Constitutional Convention referendum to determine if the state will have a Constitutional Convention and appoint delegates.  The delegates are elected on November 8, 2018 and the Constitutional Convention is connived on  April 2, 2019, where each and every referendum is voted on in the November 2019 election day. Any amendment that is approved probably comes into effect on January 1, 2020.

Apparently, Governor Andrew Cuomo's support of the Constitutional Convention has cooled considerably since 2015 and in his latest budget, the Governor even failed to include funding for the Con-Con Commission that's needed to organize the Constitutional Convention.  Without funding, it will be very difficult to publicize and propose different amendments.  Moreover, the Democratic Assembly have shown little interest in supporting the Constitutional Convention.  Even the Senate Republicans are lukewarm in their support since they can see an amendment of reducing large corporate donations being approved under the Constitutional Convention.

While the State must have a Constitutional Convention every twenty years.  Hopefully, with the lack of supportive politicians in both sides of the aisle and a Governor who seems to not to be so anxious in funding the Constitutional Convention, it will go down to the same overwhelming defeat as in 1998.

That brings me to our union leadership's appeal to have the members increase their COPE contributions so that they can more effectively lobby for the Constitutional Convention's defeat.  While, the union's appeal is understandable if the COPE funds were only used to for the defeat of the Constitutional Convention, the truth is our union leadership uses our COPE contributions to fund many different organizations, many of them I do not support or should not be funded.  Remember this?

 Until our disconnected union leadership starts to ask its members where our dues and COPE contributions should go to, they get no COPE money from me.

 How to withdraw from COPE can be found Here.

Trust, A Quality Our Union Leadership Fails To Display.

Trust is defined in the dictionary as "a firm belief in the reliability, truth, the ability of strength of someone".  In other words trust is earned when that person or group gains the confidence, respect, and the belief from their associates.  That brings me to our union leadership.  I have one simple question.  "Do you trust the union leadership to represent your interests"?  While the question is simple, the answer is more complicated. While our union has generally protected the rights of their members through  "due process", they are unresponsive to the many issues that affect the members the most important, a safe and secure environment.  Let's go back through history, starting with Randi Weingarten as UFT President and see how our union leadership eroded our benefits and  classroom autonomy and therefore, the trust of the members.

2005 Contract:
Probably the root of all our existing problems was the terrible 2005 "giveback" laden contract.  That resulted in the elimination of the following:

1. Seniority transfer rights
2. Bumping
3. Grieving letters to the file

 Moreover, the 2005 contract created the following:

1.  ATR pool
2. Removal from payroll for "probable cause" accusations 
3. Added time and days
4. Reimpose circular six requirements  

The 2005 contract and the UFT inaction allowed the DOE to impose the school-based "fair student funding" that made hiring veteran teachers a difficult venture for principals who found it advantages to hire "the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their school and the consequences of the 2005 contract has had repercussions till this day.

Even the so-called benign 2007 contract had "givebacks".  PIP+,was implemented which was a de facto termination program that saw over 90% of the teachers in the program either being terminated or forced to resign or retire.  Furthermore, the categories of  "probable cause" was expanded, meaning more educators being suspended without pay or health benefits even before their 3020-a hearing! An erosion of our "due process" rights.

Randi's Going Away Party:
In the summer of 2009 Randi Weingarten was leaving for the AFT Presidency but her parting gift to the members was to browbeat the Delegate Assembly to approve a reduction of our TDA interest from 8.25% to 7% so that the members could get back the two days before labor day, something she should have never given up in the first place in the 2005 contract.  Further, the vesting period for health benefits was increased to 15 years as well for employees hired after that date. Had the entire membership voted, as they should have had, the members would have probably rejected Randi's proposal.

Bloomberg outsmarts Mulgrew:
Despite the State requirement that approval of a teacher evaluation requires a new contract.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg outmaneuvered UFT President Michael Mukgrew and got his teacher evaluation without negotiating a new contract.  Rather than taking court action and probably winning, our disconnected union leadership claimed victory instead.  The union claimed victory because they got the State to approve all 22 components of Danielson and the use of artifacts instead of the DOE's insisted seven components and no artifacts.  Of course three years later our very same union leadership claimed victory again when the Danielson rubric was reduced to eight components and no artifacts.  While our union leadership keeps claiming victory their members keep losing.

Michael Mandel's Blunders.
Because of fair student funding and the rise of the "leadership academy principal" the ATR pool remained stable at between 1,300 to 2,000 ATRs, almost all veteran teachers. Enter UFT Vice President, Michael Mandel and chief propagandist Leo Casey, the two unaccountable UFT representatives on the secretive ATR committee.  Both UFT representatives deliberately failed to discuss the issues with ATRs and made decisions based on their own political considerations and not what's best for the ATRs they were supposed to represent.  Michael Mandel, without talking to the ATRs he was supposed to advocate for, proposed to the DOE the infamous rotation system because he believed principals were getting ATRs to fill vacancies for free.   Had Mr. Mandel asked the ATRs, they would have been told him that most of them liked being in one school for the year and felt part of the school community and yes, some were picked up permanently the next year because they were able to show the Principal how good a teacher they are.  Instead, Mr. Mandel proposed a weekly rotation and the DOE jumped at the chance since it helped demonize the ATRs as unwanted teachers. Finally, both UFT representatives failed to stop the field supervisor pilot program when it was proposed in Brooklyn and now we have field supervisors for all rotating ATRs.  Finally, it was those two unaccountable UFT leaders who agreed to the DOE proposal to make all high school ATRs Borough wide rather than by the community district.

2014 Contract:
The first contract negotiated by President Michael Mulgrew made winners and losers of different UFT members.  Winners were retirees, "newbie teachers" who received an extra bump in their salary, and ATRs near retirement who took a buyout. Losers were UFT members who resigned, were terminated, and died before the end of the contract.  Moreover, ATRs were made "second class citizens" and the 25% who won their 3020-a termination hearings became "untouchables".  While most of the ATR provisions have sunset this school year, the DOE still maintains two ATR lists and only recommends principals hire from the list of ATRs from closing schools or excessed programs and not those who won their 3020-a termination hearings.  Finally, the fear of losing $50,000+ of deferred lump sum payments are causing some teachers under 3020-a charges to retire rather than risking the chance of being terminated in their 3020-a hearing.

Michael Mulgrew's Shortcomings:
Michael Mulgrew has linked hands with the racial arsonist, anti-Semite, and tax dodger Al Sharpton against fellow union members, the police, while failing to support UFT members against vindictive and incompetent principals by claiming the CSA are fellow union members.  What a hypocrite! Furthermore, Michael Mulgrew has shown to be a poor negotiator by splitting the UFT membership between winners and losers and failing to change the hostile classroom environment despite his claim that their is a new tone at the DOE.  I guess we are all tone deaf.  Lately Mr. Mulgrew an opponent of the "opt out" movement has threatened the members who support the movement that it could result in NYS losing federal funds, which he knows is untrue.  Moreover, who can forget how as a supporter of Common Core, threatened to punch opponents in the face, of course Mr. Mulgrew is not subject to those inappropriate standards. Finally, Michael Mulgrew has shown to be arrogant, disconnected to the membership, and pits his personal views ahead of member needs. Let's not forget that one of Michael Mulgrew's first acts was his failure to call Mayor Bloomberg's bluff on layoffs and actually gave up our sabbaticals for the next yeart and allowed the ATRs to be rotated, despite the Mayor losing the "last in, first out" fight.

Trust must be earned and not awarded simply because 75% of the membership didn't decide to vote does not automatically bestow trust, just the opposite.  Its good deeds,open and transparent discussions, confidence in the ability to lead, and fairly represent all the members that earns that trust Unfortunately, our UFT leadership has fallen far short of earning that trust from the membership by their very actions of secrecy and unaccountability..

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly When It Comes To The Unity Leadership.

I have been highly critical of our disconnected union leadership and rightly so.  Our union leadership has given us inferior contracts that are short on money and loaded with "givebacks".  They agreed to allow the DOE to impose a school-based "Fair Student Funding" (fsf) formula that forces schools to "hire the cheapest and not the best" teachers for their schools.  Agreed to reduce our TDA interest from 8.25% to 7% and forcing Tier V and VI teachers to have 15 years of service to receive retiree health benefits, and let's not forget how they conspired with the DOE to make ATRs second class citizens. I could go on but you get the message.  In complaining about our disconnected union leadership under "Unity caucus"  there are some real benefits to have a union representing your rights.

The Good:
Our union can collectively bargain to retain our due process rights and influence legislative action that benefit our profession.  By collectively bargain we are stronger together.  Just imagine if we didn't have a union to protect us against Mayor Bloomberg assault on teachers like the elimination of "First in, last out" , there would be no class size limitations,  forget our "due  process rights", and tenure would be replaced by an arbitrary and capricious dismissal policy that the DOE uses for untenured teachers and "U" rating appeals.  Moreover, our union supplies NYSUT attorneys and advocates to represent our interests and gives us guidance when confronted by the corrupt investigators.  Finally, having a strong union makes it harder for their members to be bullied or abused by vindictive administrators.

The Bad:
Our dues continue to go up, year after year, as the "Unity" bureaucracy continues to expand and a new group (25 or more) of high salaried friends of our Unity leadership has been established, I believe they are Chapter Leader advocates (how are they different from District Reps?).  Is it any wonder that our dues are increasing yearly?  Besides the bloated bureaucracy, all members must sign the "Unity oath" and provide a $75 dollar check to stay as a member in good standing as well as to blindly vote how the leadership tells them to, even when its against the best interests of their members. Let's not forget about COPE that is used for political action that's supposed to be on behalf of the members but seems to be used for actions that have no member input, benefit, or agreement?

The Ugly:
The union's treatment of the ATRs is ugly.  Our disconnected union leadership allows the DOE to sic field assassins on the ATRs, which has led to a rise in 3020-a termination cases and ignore the hiring of 5,700 new teachers this year while more than 1,300 ATRs languish in a rotation pool while also refuses to allow them a functional chapter to represent their interests.  No other Municipal union allowed their excessed members to be treated the way our union has allowed the DOE to abuse the ATRs.    Then there is Michael Mulgrew's continued "love affair" with Chancellor Carmen Farina while she goes from school to school and tells principals her top priority is to get rid of their "bad teachers".  Finally, the union's involvement with racial arsonist like Al Sharpton and giving priority to Bill de Blasio's interests which results in continued large class sizes, inadequate funding  and  inferior instructional time (Science) , over their own membership requirements of lower class sizes, full funding, and adequate instructional tine for the students.

The bottom line is that I rather have a union than not have one but it would be nice if we had a union that was more responsive to their members than to their favorite political causes.

To The UFT. You've Got To Be Kidding Me!

Believe it or not, our UFT leadership is in collusion with the DOE when it comes to the ATR issue.  Both the DOE and UFT pretend that they want to get ATRs placed permanently in schools.  Yet, as they go through the fiction of how to place ATRs in the schools, both agree to harass the ATRs by giving then field supervisors (assassins) to "U' rate them and come up with the useless rotation system that makes the ATR "a stranger in a strange land."  The result is that the ATRs are glorified babysitters until they become demoralized and resign or retire.


Over the last couple of years the DOE would pretend to help ATRs land permanent positions by giving them no-credit workshops like resume writing, Common Core lesson planning and other useless and worthless clinics that resulted in a complete waste of time as none of them helped ATRs  land permanent positions.  Now our disconnected union leadership has joined the DOE in providing  a no-credit workshop for high school ATRs called "Success Strategies for ATRs"  The UFT workshop promises to maximize the talents, best practices, and communication skills to increase your chances of landing a permanent position and for all this the ATR only has to pay $10 for this privilege.  The entire UFT workshop is listed below.

Thursday Oct 20.  High school teachers in the Absent Reserve pool are invited to a workshop  "Success Strategies for ATRs."  The event will be held from 4 to 6 pm at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway.  Participants will explore ways to obtain a permenent position that will maximize their talents and interests.  Best practices will be shared for effective communication, resume writing, and interviewing techniques and for navigating temporary assignments.  A $10 fee is required to participate.  Members will not receive CTLE hours for this workshop.  

This UFT workshop is not only a waste of time but to have the audacity to charge a $10 fee is over the top in providing false hope that it will land a veteran ATR a permanent position.  Because of the DOE's school-based fair student funding formula and Principal autonomy, the chances of a veteran ATR landing a permanent position, is like a one legged man winning an ass kicking contest.

If the UFT really wanted to get ATRs permanently back in the classroom they should force the DOE to stop hiring outside the District until all excessed ATRs are selected in their content specialty and if that means spending money for commercials showing how an experienced teacher helps student academic achievement and/or filing a lawsuit due to age discrimination or violations to PERB, that's what's necessary to get the DOE to resolve the issue not these useless workshops that accomplishes nothing and only gives ATRs false hope that.the light at the end of the ATR tunnel is not an oncoming train.

To the UFT leadership, Leroy Barr, Amy Arundell, and Janella Hinds, its an "urban myth" to believe that this UFT workshop will actually help high school ATRs get a permanent position. If you truly believe that then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Don't Expect Retro Lump Sum Payments This October.

I have been getting far too many inquires about how much lump sum retro payments are we getting this October?  Unfortunately,  the answer is we are not getting any retro lump sum payments this year.  That's right, despite the City having a 6 billion dollar surplus, our union drank the City Kool-ade of having no money and agreed to skip the 2016 retro lump sum payment to 2017 to save the City money.

This is not the only thing that our union leadership decided to put the City's interests ahead of their members.  They allowed the City to extend our contract 45 days to pay for all the larger than expected retirements in June 2014 rather than have the City use their budget surplus.  Moreover, they agreed to give a vastly inferior contract of a 10% raise for 7.12 years or a 1.40% yearly increase in our base pay and made enemies of many of our fellow unions, especially the uniformed unions who realized it became a "City pattern" and were stuck with a contract short on money and long on years.  In addition, our health  benefits became more expensive with just about all co-payments rose dramatically and using a hospital emergency room becoming prohibitive.  Finally, our union was the only one to allow "givebacks" that made ATRs second class citizens with reduced due process rights.

If you want your retro lump sum  payments in the future than please don't do the following.  Resign, get terminated, take a leave without pay for that year (including maternity leave), or die.  Please read my "winners and losers" post.  It certainly appears that our union leadership care more about what's best for the City than what's best for our their members.  So remember, when you get your October 15th 2016 check and it doesn't include any retro money money, that's because, our union leadership cared more about what the City wanted then their own members.and that's why you are not getting a lump sum retro payment this year.

More Transparency On The Executive Board, Thanks To The Opposition Caucus.

One of the more significant changes that has happened since the UFT elections was the election of the MORE/New Action coalition for the high schools.  The result is there will be more transparency as Executive Board member Arthur Goldstein, will be blogging on the issues discussed.  Moreover, with people like Jonathan Halabi (New Action) and Mike Schirtzer (MORE).  We now have advocates who will represent our interests and not the disconnected union leadership.

Unfortunately, the opposition caucus, will be regularly outvoted by the "Unity" slugs who will vote  on whatever the leadership wants since they all take the "Unity oath".  However, at least the membership will be informed in advance the shenanigans the union leadership will use to try to hide controversial issues from them.  Maybe now the union leadership will think twice before they impose terrible contracts, change the rules like the ATR agreement, and fail to protect the membership due to vindictive principals.

Let's all hope that with more transparency it will result in a more receptive and responsive union.