Up until a few days ago I and many other people believed that before a teacher evaluation system could be put in place, the City and the UFT must negotiate a contract. However, a blogger "Ed the Apple", aka Peter Goodman has
stated in Gotham Schools that the UFT does not have to have a new contract in place to implement the teacher evaluation system. According to this retired UFT official with close ties to the existing leadership, the union only has to make it an Amendment to the existing contract by using Article 8-J of the existing contract as the basis for the teacher evaluation Amendment.
I do not believe that Peter Goodman would have commented on this issue the way he did on the Gotham News blog without prior knowledge on what the UFT leadership is planning to do about the teacher evaluation issue. I assume that Mr. Goodman's comments are a strong indication that the union will once again ignore the wishes of its rank and file and negotiate with the City to implement the horrendous teacher evaluation system as an Amendment of the existing contract and not a comprehensive new contract that would include the two 4% retroactive raises owed to us,
I agree with nyc educator that our union should not approve an inferior teacher evaluation system that includes
"junk science", a way around tenure, and
"due process rights" and will be used by the DOE as a termination program rather than as a teacher improvement program. Furthermore, why will only a mere 13% of the teachers accused of being
"ineffective" under the proposed system have real
"due process"? Should the other 87% of teachers just resign? Moreover, who selects the lucky 13%? Assuming that the union keeps this in the implemented teacher evaluation system which the DOE objects to. Finally, how will the union protect teachers who are given students who have attendance and academic issues by vindictive administrators to ensure that they test poorly and affect the teacher's evaluation scores?
If this teacher evaluation system comes to pass without a new contract, substantial safeguards against Administrator abuse, and most for all, without rank and file input, the union should be thrown out of the leadership positions as they no longer represent the people who they are supposed to protect. Hear that Michael Mulgrew?
Please read
nyc eductors article on the teacher evaluation trap.
Mike Mulgrew does not care about, or listens to the members, he listens to Randi Weingarten. The Newark agreement being exhalted as the model for the nation will be coming to NYC perhaps slightly different, but with the same devastating outcome for classroom teachers. Want to know why retirees are so important, find out where Mulgrew is having his house bulit in Florida...
ReplyDeleteI think he hears. I just don't think he cares.
ReplyDeleteHis efforts as of late have left me wanting more.
I mean MORE.
I hadn't read the comments until you pointed to them here, but I had gotten the same sense, based on so much talk about getting a deal, and so little about getting a contract.
It's a real bummer to believe that Unity would pull this off (a deal with no contract) and still find a way to retain control on the union. But that's what I feel is going to happen.
The UFT is making reprehensible 'back room deals" with no input from the rank and file. It is truly disgusting what they are up to. The saddest fact is that 99% of NYC teachers have no idea what is going on with the evaluation deal and will be shocked beyond words when they wake up in month or so with targets on their backs. I have been spreading the word to vote for the MORE caucus in the next UFT election. However, it might too late since the UFT is planning for the big sell out right now.
ReplyDeleteMulgrew and the UFT will screw us again. Count on it. I see no proof of anything else happening. And if there is, c'mon Mr. Mulgrew, show us.
ReplyDeleteMichael Mulgrew does not teach. Michael Mulgrew does not care. In a way I am happy that the evaluation system is coming. If this means that more teachers are rated U and ultimately fired it will mean less teachers (idiots ) to vote for unity. Only then can we get a change in leadership.
ReplyDeleteStupid teachers walking down the street. Stupid teachers the kind I love to meet. Stupid teachers if the evaluation systenm goes through. Stupid teachers you will be rated U. Wake up. Stop this. throw Mulgrew and his cronies out of office. They would be rated U under this system But they do not have to worry because they do not teach.
ReplyDeleteThe trap is closing. Soon the teaching population that has been incrementally debased and degraded, will be comprised of "young highly energetic and effective teachers."
ReplyDeleteA revolving door of underpaid inexperienced novices who are using the job to pad their resumes, will be the norm. In many places it already is. No continuity or experience is necessary for the children of the poor minorities.
The reformers see teachers as the final bulwark in the ceaseless drive to turn children into commodities. These are dark days. The fascist corporatist state will continue the drive to exploit children for personal profit. It is ethically unsound for this destruction to continue. The problem is that those most affected by this privatization process have been slow to react.
Too little, too late. The battles for the last bastion of democracy, public education, have been lost.
It is just a process of dividing up the spoils.
Cheers,
Angry Nog
you have to be a total moron to go into teaching today. any parent that pays for a child's college tuition for education should throw it in the toilet b/c that is what they are doing.
ReplyDeletemulgrew is pulling randi weingarten tactics.
we should negotiate nothing with bloomberg!