Thursday, June 08, 2017

Mayor Bill De Basio, Its Time To Make Changes At The Dysfunctional DOE.
























 It seems increasingly clear that Bill de Blasio will be reelected as Mayor of New York City.  That means we can expect the Mayor to make significant personnel and policy changes as the second term starts in 2018.  Hopefully, many of these potential changes will be at the dysfunctional DOE and here is a list of some of the changes I hope comes to pass.

First, Replace the disappointing Chancellor, Carmen Farina, and let her retire for good to Florida.  The new Chancellor should have a reputation of collaborating with school staff and is highly respected by real educators. Not target veteran teachers like Farina has done throughout her career.

Second, immediately replace the 80% of Bloomberg holdovers that Carmen Farina kept in policy making positions and bring in more educators into these important positions. Her real failure was that she never "cleaned house" at Tweed.

Third, eliminate Fair Student Funding and bring back the unit based staffing out of DOE Central that does not take into salary.  Presently, the DOE policy penalizes principals who hire veteran teachers and forces principals to hire the cheapest and not the best teachers for their school.

Fourth, ensure that all schools get 100% of their funds, based upon the student population numbers and cohorts, no winners or losers as they do now.  P fair funding. presently, most schools receive between 89% to 92% of their fair funding.

Fifth, Eliminate the ATR pool by bringing back the excessing rules before the imfamous 2005 contract.  This would require schools to hire the ATRs for their summer vacancies before they could  hire outside or "newbie" teachers.

Sixth, Reduce class sizes to the State average or the goals set forth in the CFE winning lawsuit that the DOE and New York State refuses to implement.

Seventh, dramatically reduce the administrative bloat at the DOE, especially the legal and accountability divisions.  Moreover, cut contracts by implementing a needs test to see if the contract is necessary.

Eighth, no school should be given permission to have an uncertified teacher instructing students in Core or Regents subjects.  All teachers should be licensed in their content specialty that they are  teaching in, especially at the high school level.

Ninth, Drastically reduce screened high schools and promote academic integration by having all high schools become zoned schools.  This will allow the schools to recruit academically proficient students back to their neighborhood schools.

Tenth, let school staff evaluate school administrators, especially principals and the ones that are given failing grade two consecutive years should be immediately removed and replaced.  Moreover, all new administrative appointees must be approved by school staff and not the Superintendent before the DOE removes the intern acting title.

Is my list wishful thinking?  It certainly is but even if a few of my suggestions become policy, it will make for an improved school system and better prepared students when it comes to academic achievement.

35 comments:

Shad C said...

Comey testified Trump only said "I like to see Russia's investigation go away." This doesn't mean he told Comey to kill the investigation. My Principal already called me and 4 teachers to tell us "I would like you to change your grades", "I feel that you should pass all the students" etc...

My principal is saying he is not directing us just stating what he likes and feels. Trumpism is everywhere.

Anonymous said...

2 more things: 1) Reduce DOE "legal" department. There are 3 teachers at my school in the rubber room right now for BS. 2) Get us our 2 observations. DeBlasio could just get Farina to sign off on it and send it to Albany for approval.

Anonymous said...

Farina runs the schools, nothing will change unless mayoral control is taken away.

Anonymous said...

The whole ATR agreement and buyout is a scam. The DOE is afraid the courts will find that ATR status is punitive. It has been used with suspensions and fines to punish educators who have gone through 3020a hearings and the courts will find ample open examples of this; ATRs who come from closing schools and were placed in the ATR pool will have a strong case for discrimination based on age, since the DOE has effectively and very subtly stopped their being placed (via a contrived accounting system in which each school gets its own budget and the older more experienced educator is left to languish). This is the reason the DOE included the waiver for the buyout money. Principals are not going to be forced to take ATRs permanently. ATRs will be placed provisionally, as always. You may or may not be rotated depending on how you found yourself in the pool and your particular license. The UFT knows and is in agreement with all this. The UFT knows many of us will opt out when given the chance and are prepared. The only thing that matters is that the Mulgrew machine continues to hold onto power. The UFT has refinanced 52 Broadway and would like to see all ATRs, MORE, New Action and any and all critics opt out of paying dues. Don't ever do it and don't take the buyout, unless you're retiring anyway. The people who have sold their souls for part time jobs with the union need to open their eyes.

Anonymous said...

It is time for him and Fariña to go because they made everything worse.

Anonymous said...

The legal department should be dismantled.

Anonymous said...

They had a chance to make it better, and is getting worse. We should be able to evaluate Fariña and Mulgrew.

Anonymous said...

Believe me corruption is known by the same Union workers.

Anonymous said...

Why aren't teachers evaluating Mulgrew and Fariña.

Anonymous said...

There are no checks and balances on management, and many of them are unfortunately losing it.

Philip Nobile said...

To Chad C:
Please reveal the name of your principal who has committed a crime by asking you and your colleagues to fix grades. If you don't you are guilty, too. As a city employee, you are a mandated corruption reporter. So do the right thing.

Anonymous said...

The easy pass culture, and the restorative justice are destroying our schools. The persecution of the most experienced teachers is also harming our schools. The system needs an overhaul because we have been headed in the wrong direction for years now.

Anonymous said...

Closing and opening schools, and closing again is just another sham.

Anonymous said...

Also get rid of the useless field supervisors. A waste of time and resources.

Anonymous said...

The UFT is keeping us in the dark, and they keep rejecting our greivances.

Anonymous said...

Just leave ATRs where they currently are!!!!! If anyone is not happy or if the principal is not happy with the current atr people at their schools then reassign the people. Otherwise, leave everyone alone!!!!! SImple solution. To the ATRs who are not happy where they currently are you can get reassigned. To the current atrs who wnat to stay where they are then stay where you are!!!! However, this solution makes too much sense for the DOE because they like to complicate things.

Anonymous said...

Chaz, it's June 9, not April 1st.

Nice list, and yes it is wishful thinking. What makes you think the mayor cares about the DOE or the UFT? He already runs the DOE and has Mulgrew in his backpocket.

Anonymous said...


If you're a 3020A "survivor" is applying to 20 vacancies on open market hopeless?
Are schools going to make a game of calling you back and then refusing you the position or will you just never get called for an interview? Will the DOE flat out intimidate principals from hiring you or even interviewing you? Can a Principal who likes you be "insubordinate" by the DOE if they try to hire you?

Anonymous said...

The only job of a field supervisor is to find a reason to fire an ATR.

Anonymous said...

If he does they will target him.

Anonymous said...

You probably have a code that prevents you from being hired. They do all types of stuff on us.

Anonymous said...

Chaz Im not sure if you are aware but as of this past Wednesday, ATR's are no longer free the first year then 50% the 2nd etc. That was literally just removed. All ATR's are now full price to any principal. There is no incentive.

Anonymous said...

Open market is a sham! Very few veteran teachers are able to transfer because of cost. The principals have all the power and hiring practices are not fair at all! Even if you are not on any red flag list there is a slim chance you will even get an interview.

Anonymous said...

I think if principals have the option to keep the ATRS they have now they would keep them as long as they do not come from the school budget. Many principals pull rabbits out of their hats when it comes to their budgets: hire " F status" teachers, experienced teachers from other countries, new grads, teacher interns, teach 6 classes (high school), non-licensed staff, and of course ATRS who cover classes so schools do not have to hire subs!

Anonymous said...

You do not get it. They want ATRs gone, and they do not want ATRs to sue.

waitingforsupport said...

What does this mean for September's placement @ 11:41?

Anonymous said...

I agree.

Principals hate ATRs. The uft does too.

Principals hate veterans too.

They would rather have a new deck of teachers every 3 years to bully and harass.

Senior teachers know the rules and aren't afraid of admin

Anonymous said...

It means that there actually was a chance for principals to get excited and hire an ATR for free the 1st year and 50% off the 2nd and 25% off the third year which would equal in around 75K on a hundred thou salary, for 3 years which is fantastic. Now with this news there is no incentive so no ATR is going to be hired resulting in straight up forced placement where the principal at that school is going to be pissed. Automatic Ineffective 2 years straight followed by 3020-a.

Anonymous said...

It is a disgrace what they are doing to the senior teachers. Many of them are being questioned and harassed by the field supervisors. Many of them always did what is right, and now they are being abused. Cruz, Dwarka, etc should pay a price for discrimination and bringing the their schools to the ground.

Anonymous said...

5;07, One thing you may not know - principals are not being forced to hire any ATR permanently. Just a game.

Anonymous said...

It would be nice to evaluate Mulgrew, and its team on job performance. United we failed together (U.F.T.). There should be checks and balances on supervisors, and Principals that do not act in good faith. Our Union should not turn their backs on experienced teachers abused by the system.

Anonymous said...

If principals have to accept us into their budget for the year, absolutely they will be pissed. Too bad, they should have been doing the right thing by hiring senior staff. They need to get over it and work in good faith. ATRs should have been part of the negotiations and should be given a list of sites. We should throw the union leadership into the schools full-time for they could personally experience the harassment, the insulting behaviors towards staff and those in the ATR status. Bunch of psychopaths. Serious, some of these administrators are psychopaths and need therapy. Where did the interest go of administrators wanting to develop their staff into great educators regardless of years. The pressure for statistics is enormous. It's made people into animals.

Anonymous said...

The purge of experienced teachers in the city is making our schools worse.

Anonymous said...

Our students are paying a high price.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know if not voting for the agreement of ATRs with the DOE violates the statutes of the UFT?