Here we go again. Our disconnected union leadership ia apparently secretly negotiating with the DOE on changes to the ATR pool without reaching out to those affected, This time with Randy Asher and his staff at the DOE, Of course, the negotiations are top secret and there has been no leaks coming out of the DOE or UFT about what's on the table. However, every time the UFT leadership negotiates with the DOE, the ATRs end up with the short end of the stick. Let's see how our disconnected union leadership has hurt the ATRs since 2005.
First, it was the terrible 2005 contract that our union agreed to let the DOE eliminate seniority transfers and bumping, which then resulted in the ATR pool., that started the ATR crisis.
Second, this was soon followed up later in the year by the school-based "Fair Student Funding" that penalized schools financially that hired veteran teachers and also allowed schools to offload teachers from their budget after 60 days if they filed 3020-a charges, no matter how frivolous the charges are. The result was a massive influx of reassigned veteran teachers that reached 800 by 2007 Moreover, the UFT allowed the DOE to assign all teachers who won their 3020-a hearing or took a deal to be dumped into the ATR pool. Even an arbitrator award of "a letter to the file" resulted in the teacher losing their position in the school.
Third, It was the UFT Vice President, Michael Mandel who brought up the idea of rotating ATRs from school to school and the DOE jumped at the suggestion and in 2011 the DOE and UFT implemented the ATR rotation that made ATRs "a stranger in a strange land". Did Michael Mandel or Leo Casey, the two members of the joint DOE/UFT ATR committee ever talk to the ATRs? Of course not. Thankfully Michael Mandel retired and Leo Casey is now with theAFT and both cannot do anymore harm to the ATRs.
Fourth, our great negotiator, UFT President Michael Mulgrew negotiated his first contract that don't make members whole until 2020 and allowed the DOE to make ATRs "second class citizens" with reduced "due process" rights and made ATRs who won their 3020-a termination hearings "untouchables". Even after the UFT wisely allowed the 2014 contract provisions to sunset in 2016, the DOE still has two lists of ATRs. One list is for ATRs who were simply excessed from their school and the other who survived their 3020-a hearing. Guess which list the DOE refuses to hire from?
Presently, I have little faith in our disconnected union leadership making our life better. They will stick to their "no time limit" for ATRs but beyond that, look for the union to agree to make our lives more difficult and lie to us that we have your back. More like being stabbed in the back as the DOE tries different ways to fire us. Why else will the union not reach out to the ATRs and have a representative or two to be involved in these delicate negotiations. To me the answer is obvious. They secretly wouldn't mind seeing us fired by any means possible.
You have little faith in the uft, you don't trust them, you believe they want to make our lives more difficult, you even think they secretly want us fired but you are ok when it comes to forced placement. I don't get the logic Chaz. Seems strange. Don't ever trust anything the uft agrees with. Forced placement is a strategy to get rid of us not one to revive our careers. Wake up!!
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:36
ReplyDeleteI will repeat, why did you become a teacher?
I already answered that question a few dsys ago. Now please answer mine. With what you know, with what you have experienced, with what you have written about for all these yrs about the horrible uft/doe kabala why are you ok with forced placement? It's a tactic to get rid of Atrs not help the kids or revive our careers and help us fulfill why we became teachers. Waiting for your well thoughout reply
ReplyDeleteWhat about the rumor ending rotations?
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:07
ReplyDeleteIf you were coming into the system, you would jump at the chance of teaching even in a bad school. This is no different. Unless you no longer want to be in the classroom?
I don't like forced placement but if that is what it takes to be back in the classroom, so be it.
I repeat, why did you become a teacher again?
Anon 6:13
Don't have an answer other than some school administrators insist that the ATR rotations will end.
The difference is obvious. The system is more corrupt as pointed out thousands of times by you. I did teach in a bad school for 18yrs until it was closed by the corrupt system. The Got you mentality is different the drive by obs are different the reluctance by admins to help struggling teachers is different the lack of discipline is different the mentality of admins is different the whole system is different. You pointed this out many times. I'm a student of your philosophy that the doe and uft are corrupt. And now after all this you favor forced placement. It's insane. But I guess we are all insane to work in the doe. You can't compare starting out teaching 20 yrs ago with today. Many differences that make it almost impossible to succeed in bad performing schools. Admins don't have your back they want to get rid of you. Bad schools here we come! Trying to figure out how to get an effective by a 30 year old admin that taught for 3 yrs being placed at August martin or far rock or beach channel. That's the doe's tactic to get rid of us.
ReplyDeleteThey will probably make it easy to fire ATRs, since most of them are earning high salaries. Mulgrew does not care about the teachers, and he never did.
ReplyDeleteThe UFT/DOE eggshell is starting to crack. Eva is hitting it on the bottom, DeVos will be from the top, Coumo from the left side and Trump from the right. It's over. Closing schools will become charters, vouchers will be handed out like metrocards and public schools will only be for those rejected because of special needs or discipline issues.
ReplyDeleteChaz,
ReplyDeleteFor a guy who is a savant when it comes to the doe why would you want to go back in the classroom? I have 20 years in the system and I now know that not one thing I do on a daily basis makes a difference. From age 22 to 27 I tried. Really did. After that when I was burnt out I stopped caring. My health got better and the day was more enjoyable and I got along with admins better by being a lackey. But I wasn't teaching. I was faking it until I made it. I passed everyone.
If I could leave now I would. Being in the classroom sucks! What is 1 good thing about being in the classroom in 2017? Only newbies are happy and I gotta say they are better teachers bc they aren't burnt out.
If I could pump gas I would. But I have another decade.
I told my kid if he goes for teaching then my wife and I will not give him 1 dollar for college
To 7:33, you are so right about the admins with 3 years teaching experience. When I started in the South Bronx ten years ago the new principal was a resource room teacher with three years experience. Now in Queens, we just got another one! 3 years in resource room assignments. What gives!
ReplyDeleteThe UFT is on the side of bad administrators, bad roving supervisors and they should paid a price for supporting chaos and toxic environments.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:55,
ReplyDeleteFear not - or fear a lot - for when Trump's Supreme Court passes Friedrich's 2.0, the UFT/AFT mis-leadership is going to get its most meaningful message ever: a collapse in member dues. They refuse to engage or even listen to the rank and file, and many current members will return the favor.
Let's face it, when you have a union President who can't even be bothered to attend his own Executive Board meetings, then things can be expected to go south very rapidly. These people, Weingarten and Mulgrew in particular, deserve the repudiation and what's coming; unfortunately, the rest of us, students included, don't.
Here's the scoop on the fate of ATRs: starting next month Rotation dead. Permanent assignments according to school need. Observations by principal AND your supportive ATR supervisor. Source: Asher speaking to principals yesterday at Brooklyn's Grand St. Campus.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with your support of forced placement. Why did I become a teacher? Simple. To foster in students a love of literature and appreciation for a well written story. To have them discover the magic of placing yourself in the hands of a great writer. To support students as they find their individual voices, both through speaking and writing, and watching them gain confidence. I used to LOVE going to work every day. That changed about ten years ago when instead of focusing on my students, I was forced to focus on my own survival.
ReplyDeleteMy reasons for entering the profession are still valid for me today, 20 years later. However, lets be frank about one thing - teaching is my JOB. It is how I pay my mortgage, feed my three kids, and provide all of us with what we need. It is almost impossible to survive in the classroom these days. Even at the "good" schools I have breezed through as an ATR, I see teachers beaten down by insane administrators who treat them like they are beasts of burden at best, and a few steps below dog crap at worst. They are stressed. depressed, overwhelmed and miserable, looking for a way out of this hell and some way to find balance between their professional and family obligations. And this is in the GOOD schools. In the "BAD" schools, it's even worse. Principals obsessed with looking good, ignoring behavior and safety issues and always ready to throw the teachers under the bus to make themselves look good, and even more so if there is a senior teacher who can be pushed out to make room for a cheap cupcake who happens to be the daughter of a friend or realtive.
Add to that the tyranny of bulletin boards, Danielson, drive - by observations designed to pick on minutiae while making it seem like the future of Western civilization is at risk because of a teacher's failure to include "glows" and "grows" in the right format on a 3 x 3 Post-It, the endless meetings that mean nothing and simply take away your time, and the suitcase of work coming home every night, and I'm sorry, but while I (used to) love my job, at the end of the day, I need to have enough of myself left to take care of my own family, and yes, my own well-being. I will not support a forced placement situation where I can be arbitrarily put in a hell hole with a target on my back (because the principal resents my being forced into the building), a commute from hell, no parking, and a placement that is completely out of my area of expertise (in my case, reading). I would LOVE to be back in a REAL reading position, but I am adamant in believing that me must have some say in where we end up. It's a matter of self-preservation.
You ask why we became teachers. And it's a worthy question. But I'll tell you what I did NOT sign up for - to be worked so hard that my mental and physical well being is put at risk, to be forced to sacrifice my own family and children due to the emotional blackmail teachers who question the workload are subjected to (BUT, think of the CHILDREN!! THE POOR CHILDREN!!), and to work hard every day at a job for 21 years, concerned every damn day that this could be the day they just decide to take it from you, and to be condescended to and abused by administrators who were in preschool when I taught my first class. In that case, I'll stay on the ATR Roulette Wheel.
Anon 10:35
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that is what teaching in the NYC public schools is. However, we should be subject to the same conditions as everybody else. Good or bad.
That is a different conversation. You asked why we becam teachers. I answered and also explained how the job is now set up so that it is designed to leave teachers beaten down, drained, and sick. If you think that's ok, well, that's you.
DeleteBut you say that we should be under the same conditions as everyone else. We aren't. And forced placement would not rectify that. No teachers except ATRS would be put under forced placement. Even teachers who transfer via Open Market aresearch placed by MUTUAL CONSENT. The teacher and the administration agree and the teacher is free to accept or deny. Even per diem subs can choose the schools they report to. Forced placement would NOT be treating ATRS "the same". I'd be supportive of seniority transfers coming back, or the old, "make a list of 6 schools and you get one". But force placing us is NOT treating us like everyone else and puts us at risk of being set up for failure, or fake charges, with no recourse. I'd love a REAL reading position again, but I am not so naive as to think the DOE will put my best interests at heart. It's my job to look out for me, cynically doing what I must to survive the next 4 years until I can go.
Philip,
ReplyDeleteI believe you. It's sounds really f-cked up so I'm apt to believe it. How about some truth from the UFT or their spokesperson Arundel?
The UFT is lying.
UFT is corrupt.
DeleteRest of NYS is getting 2 observations. NYC gets FOUR! This is a travesty that once again shows why teaching in NYC is the worst place for a career teacher. Right to Work+ four observations,+giant class sizes,+no parking permits=a teacher shortage that will pale in comparison to the mid 1990's.
ReplyDeleteTo 8:32: I feel your pain. I am in the same boat. I realized you had to stop caring because the emotional abuse from the clueless admins who treat you with barely disguised disdain was unhealthy. The 'instructional model' seems to be radically changed every 3-4 months in my school. The kids are being shortchanged big time, but many of us are no longer able to teach according to our students' needs. Now it's all about 'teacher moves' and data.
ReplyDeleteNow the big thing is to 'go paperless' in the classroom. Everything has to be on Google Classroom now. Okaaay. I've been a smiling lackey for two years, never saying no, always saying yes, and passing everyone and guess what - they leave me alone now! This is the magic formula.
So Asher will end rotations, but still have Field Supervisors coming around? If so, more proof that almost all the ATRs will be placed as subs and not as "positioned" teachers.
ReplyDeleteField supervisors need the ATRS so they can enjoy rating them unsatisfactory, and prepare them for the slaughterhouse using flyby observations.
DeleteTrump meeting with ass hole scott walker who just loves to bust unions. What is it that drives scott walker and his sorry existance?? This guy walker has the hots for unions yet he trolls around Wisconsin driving his motorcycle trying to look like a regular guy. Scott walker has the hots for unions and gets off seeing unions that get busted. The question is why? What is it that drives scott walker to use his precious time here on earth to go after unionized workers who are hard working people?? There are so many things that scott walker could do with his time but this jerk off seems fixed on getting unions busted!!! I cannot believe that this guy walks the streets without any body guards after all the people in wisconsin now have suffered and are now living and working in a right to work for less state...Now, you mean to tell me that wimpy scott walker wants to destroy the unions here in NYC?? The same unions that built this great city are now facing midget maniacs like scott walker who sit on their toilet bowls dreaming of how they can bust the union. Wow man the human race has taken an ill turn and Trump is correct....the world is a complete mess and in many cases its because of people like scott walker who sold themselves to the $$$$$$. IN the case of scott walker he is a paid troll for the koch brothers who are the devil in disguise.
ReplyDeleteI'm fucking deliriously happy to be out of this dirty disgusting cesspool of a school. Chaz, baby, you're wrong. If I had to go into this school without Xanax I wouldn't survive. There are more teachers stoned here, than kids.
ReplyDeleteMulgrew is a cunt......
ReplyDeleteMulgrew just wants to make it easy to fire older teachers, so they need the ATR pool to dump them there.
DeleteForced placement is wrong but the ATR does have the right to leave the school at the end of the school year. By contrast appointed teachers who are being targeted have little chance of escaping by the Open Market.
ReplyDeleteAgain, there are good and bad in all.
Wow this is so funny. 9:05 in his/her 2nd paragraph got it right. MORM mentioned years back on this blog about relationships and passing everyone and going with the flow. At 24 years in at the highest salary, etc I pass every single kid and smile and laugh with my admin. They don't say one negative thing to me. It's all about relationships, always was and always will be.
ReplyDeleteIt is about fraud and lies.
DeleteFariña has failed the students and teachers.
DeletePass everyone and smile until only 30% pass the regents
DeleteIt's true that it's about the relationships. Unfortunately, I had to get to 50+ to realized that. Now, even if people say something hurtful, mostly unintentionally, it rolls off my back. I don't work for the DOE anymore, it was too stressful, but the place I'm in has it's own stresses. When my feelings get hurt, I take a deep breath and keep my eyes on my retirement. I'm taking a penalty and going early, but I'll never make it if I had to stay.
ReplyDeleteAnd quite honestly, I have to remember that, unintentionally, I say dumb things that can be hurtful too.
And you're right, there are some successes, but in the end, it is a job-one that lets me live a good life on my non-working hours.
They do not seem to want teachers with integrity anymore.
DeleteI'm escaping the rockaways for now! Who knows with forced placement I may be back here real soon. At least I have a few days or weeks to recover from all the second hand contact highs I received everyday. I wonder how many times I will be called all those curse words numerous students love to say. But some people will say it's my fault the kids curse at me. They must sense something I was told . Can't make this stuff up my friend. Maybe the person had too much vino.
ReplyDeleteATR's weeping because they might have to go to a school and teach. Would be funny if it wasn't tragic. This is not some new diabolical plot by the UFT (or the DOE, for that matter). In the not so distant past, EVERYONE excessed was force-placed into a vacancy in their district. They had no say in the matter if they wanted to keep their jobs. Most of them were just fine, and those that weren't looked for a transfer elsewhere. BTW, transfers through the Open Market system have never been so robust. Yeah, I suppose if you're cranky, stuck in the past and have poor observations, you may have a problem finding a new spot, but for hundreds, if not thousands, the transfer system is working.
ReplyDeleteTime for the self-pitying ATR's to buck up and start teaching like everyone else.
Anon 8:05
ReplyDeleteYour comments tells me how ignorant you are. The Open Market is only for non-tenured teachers and for "newbies". If you'RE A VETERAN TEACHER YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING A POSITION IS SLIM OR NONE.
Systemic age discrimination has been going on for years in the DOE. It is time for many lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteAtr assignment said this morning rotations are 4 weeks unless you are placed in a leave replacement
ReplyDelete