Here we start a new school year, with a new Chancellor, a new outlook, and another layer of Bureaucracy (Regional Superintendents). Yet much of the new school year sees the same issues. Foremost among them are the ATRs.
The ATRs are educators that were excessed from closing schools, programs, schools that had staffs reapplying for their positions, or were accused of incompetence or misconduct but were found not guilty of termination at their 3020-a hearing. Moreover, the ATRs are the step children of the DOE and if the DOE had its way, they would be terminated tomorrow. However, because the UFT, in allowing the formation of the ATR pool back in 2005, also made sure there was no time limit and has stuck to their guns despite the DOE requesting one.
Despite the UFT ensuring that ATRs can keep their jobs, the UFT did not push the DOE to encourage principals to hire ATRs. Instead, the DOE implemented a "Fair Student Funding" program that encouraged principals to hire "newbies" rather than veteran teachers. The result, was that many schools have an inexperienced teaching staff with classroom management issues and lack of curriculum knowledge.
Will anything change in the new contract for the ATRs? I hope so but don't hold your breath.
Don’t kid yourself. There’s more than 1300 ATRs and the doe hired more than 4000 rookies.
ReplyDeleteNow we have Field Supervisors lying under oath, and writing lies in the observation reports with the blessing of our Union. It is all about harassing us when we did not create this problem.
ReplyDeleteHow about schools that never post openings and hire subs but use them from day 1 for the entire year? And they are not licensed. Principals look to save money however they can.
ReplyDeleteHow many guidance counselors are ATRs?
ReplyDeleteI am SHADOWING as student teacher that was hired without a license. The student teacher also is getting college credit as a student teacher for working at the school this year. The DOE is pulling all unethical measures to get an untenured workforce that will be kicked tot he curb after several years of service. They are being blatantly lied to that they will receive tenure which as we all know is not happening 90% of the time. Bye bye tenure!!!
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination is well alive in NYC, and the UFT has made valuable contributions for this outcome.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the two schools FHS and Dewitt Clinton that put their staffs through rehiring. Many teachers ended up in the ATR pool because of that practice as well. FHS's staff is about 50% first year teachers and from what I've heard from someone who got rehired there, they are regretting joining the school. Also, I don't understand why the DOE is spending so much money on ATRs. Years ago, teachers that were excessed were placed and sometimes even bumped new teachers out of schools. Everyone can forget about getting raises in the next contract. The DOE wants to continue wasting money on ATRs instead of placing them.
ReplyDeleteWhat they want us to get rid of experienced teachers by harassing them.
DeleteThey are wasting money on Field Supervisors harassimg ATRs to leave.
DeleteIt is definetly about age discrimination and harassment, but cannot be understood is that the UFT is in cahoots.
DeleteDon't hold your breath on the ATR issue. The game is simple; get rid of as many ATR and veteran teachers as you can and replace them with newbie teachers at half the cost. The ironic thing is that those in charge weren't put there on merit but rather by their ethnic background. Ask anyone who has 20 years of experience an they will tell you that the NYC school system has continued to sink into an even deeper abyss. I would not think much will change over the 2018-2019 year. Good luck. I am retired but still upset that I was deemed the "white devil" while my counterparts took 30 minute unannounced breaks to move their cars and what not. What a joke!!!!!
ReplyDelete@10:17 let me enlighten you by letting you know that the system didn't work for people of color for many many years. The old "my friend has a daughter" nepotism was pretty Common place. It doesn't feel too good huh?!
DeleteTwo wrongs make a right I guess.
DeleteAnything less than a hiring freeze before all ATR's are placed is completely unacceptable for the new contract.
ReplyDeleteLet all ATR's who want a permanent position - it must be opt in as some ATR's would rather stay ATR's than be "force placed" somewhere undesirable - be placed in the following order:
1. Same "campus" they were in
2. Same district (community school district not something like "BASIS")
3. Same borough
No new hires before any ATR who wants a position gets one according to the above criteria. The City would save money; win. The teachers who wants to be teachers, will be teachers again; win. Students will get experienced teachers; win. Everyone wins. The ATR pool would be reduced tremendously and be solely those who don't mind the situation or those like typing teachers whose programs are few and far between.
If the DOE has 2000 atrs that is a small fraction of the 75000 teachers in the nycdoe. That means 73000 teachers are not atrs. Who cares about 2000 people in a pool of 75000. However, still the DOE is an organization that treats its employees like shit whether you are an atr or not.
ReplyDeleteJust look - no parking passes to park your car around the school - Why would the DOE force its employees who run the schools to have to fend for themselves to park their cars. In NYC right now its virtually impossible to park your car in any of the rat infested neighborhoods so why would the DOE deny employees a parking pass - the result is many schools have teachers running out of the buildings moving their cars, double parking their cars while they are trying to juggle a classroom.
Just Look - no lunch room or food available to teachers in the schools - yes in the past teachers had teacher lunch rooms where teachers could purchase hot food for lunch or snacks. However, today there are no teacher cafeterias in the schools as most teacher lunch rooms are now remade into classrooms. Sad that the DOE does not realize that people have to eat but only a dysfunctional organization treats its employees like that
Why would anyone want to teach in NYC when the nycdoe does not provide for its employees. The future holds the answers as our nyc schools are in jeopardy of collapse in that teachers will be running for the hills and future teachers will not be enrolling in education programs creating this massive shortage of educators. Time will tell.
Mulgrew should be ashamed of himself for allowing discrimination.
ReplyDeleteSchools are getting worse. Just look at Dwarka she has dragged the school to the ground by going after anybody with a brain.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been on here lately because I just got too busy dealing with new teachers, a principal who calls me into her office just to check out my ass, fights and deaning. School I was assigned last year is out of control. I knew I did not want to stay at this school and dean again but UFT did not do anything to help me with my grievance. Teachers are even complaining they have to write lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteLong story but one of the new teachers suggested that every couple of weeks the school should bring in a community leader to speak to the students. Last Friday, a former gang leader turned minister came to speak to our students - a very charismatic youngish (30s maybe 40 year old ) guy and very Puerto Rican. He spoke about growing up in East Harlem, drugs and the gang life. It was interesting.
About 8 minutes into his motivational speech he noticed a few of our student gang members from his community and the shit was on. A full-brawl broke out. He was taken out in an ambulance, 2 younger teachers who tried to assist are now on medical leave and the principal was screaming "stop, no, stop" for 15 minutes straight.
As an old timer I didn't think of recording the fight but I made sure I sat in my chair and watched to be able to write an accurate detailed statement. No way no how was I going to get involved plus this is a community dispute and sometimes you have to let the community straighten out their own mess without outside interference. But boy did the shit hit the fan.
Long story short be careful who you bring into your school or classes to speak to the students. Guest speakers should be fully investigated. We were told and directed by higher ups to meet with our student gang leaders and to apologize to them for the guest speaker's erratic behavior.
@Shady, don't you have anything better to do than troll this website. All of your stories are so complete ridiculous it is obvious you make everything up. I don't even think youre a real teacher.
ReplyDeleteVeteran teachers and ATRs are being harassed through 3020A hearings to retire or resign. Most of the time these charges are only an excuse to push older teachers out. Most of the time these charges do violate tenure rights by not being voted in Executive Session of the PEP (Article 2A of Education Law 3020A).
ReplyDeleteThey continue to push veteran teachers by harassing them to retire or resigned on fraudulent charges wile they put new uncertified teachers in front of the classroom. It is so blatant what they do that they xannot hide it anymore. Of course the UFT does not seem anything wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe Union has a new slogan for newbies we want you, and another for ATRs you still have a job even if you are abused.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:57. Clearly, Shady is not to be taken at face value. The fact that his anecdotes even have the ring of truth illustrate how chaotic and absurd the system has become. Shady is the Jonathan Swift
ReplyDeleteOf the DOE. If you don’t know who that is, you must have gone to a city school within the last 35 years.
When is somebody going to do something about age discrimination?
ReplyDeleteAt least shady is funny
ReplyDeleteNot whiny
The question is why the UFT is not enforcing the contract and our tenure rights? Why are they allowing veteran teachers being harassed and abused?
ReplyDeleteChaz can you do a post on tenure rights. What do we get with tenure rights? I know we get due process. But it seems to me that we are having our tenure rights illegally violated. I just can't put it into words.
ReplyDeleteWe are tenured yet we are constantly jerked around. Somehow that seems illegal.
2:10 I never understood the fascination with the teacher's caf. Yes, contractually we get a room with a vending machine. But who in their right mind wanted to eat the dreck they were serving in the teacher's caf. It was no better than what they serve the kids (which is also a disgrace regardless if it's "free")
ReplyDeleteI bring my own from home. It's inexpensive and tastes good.
Does anyone know what percentage of the 75,000 teachers are in Tier 6 now?
ReplyDeleteAnd in Tiers 1,2,3 and 4?
waitingforsupport 9:27 Racist some?
ReplyDeleteIn response to 2:10, yes, the food was sub-par but it was the social aspect. You could gather in big groups with people from other departments and speak freely without worrying if your AP is hearing you in the next room. I brought my own food too, but it was nice having the teacher's cafe as a place to go to escape the classroom and offices. The lounges, if there are any, are too small and get crowded easily.
ReplyDeleteThey believe in education on the cheap, and to create chaos in our schools.
ReplyDeleteThe UFT has become useless in front of all the attacks on teachers.
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2018/06/02/superintendent-targeted-veteran-teachers-over-age-suit/
ReplyDeleteAre older teachers unsatisfactory or they are being made unsatisfactory because there is an agenda behind these negative ratings? Are they being pushed out by using the observation system as a weapon? It this becoming the norm with our UFT looking the other way?
The DOE gave principals total control of the hiring process as a result of the 2005 contract so they "hired the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their school. The Fair Student Funding adpoted by the DOE in 2007 is also discriminatory against senior teachers but the UFT agreed to it. That is another reason that they are targeting experienced teachers with 16 years or more of experience so they can be replaced by a newbie or made an ATR. Then the Field Supervisors come in to continue with the agenda to get rid of ATRs through harassment. Then they do press releases saying ATRs are bad teachers, and they are costing too much money, etc. It is hypocritical and wrong. These policies are hurting our schools, and the reputations of many good experienced teachers. Ultimately they are hurting our students the most by depriving them of an experienced teacher. Reserarch shows that students with an experienced teacher do better in tests. The Union has a new slogan for newbies we want you, and another for ATRs you still have a job even if you are abused.
ReplyDelete@2:07 As a Tier 2, I was told at my last pension consult that there are about 100 of us left and she was probably including Tier 1.
ReplyDeleteto Shady 6:20 - It is not enough to apologize profusely to school gang members about the incident. You should be offering to take them out to a movie and a nice steakhouse.
ReplyDeleteTheir solution to the ATR problem is to target them, and harass them until they retire.
ReplyDeleteStrike Strike Strike...only way to get change.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame to see the UFT looking the other way while our due process is being violated.
ReplyDeleteField Supervisors are harassing ATRs, amd rating them U based on lies.
ReplyDeleteI an ATR due to trumped up charges for reporting a football player for beating his girlfriend. I was told "Do not say anything". I did. Two months later I was under investigation. The DOE is totally corrupt. They do not care about the students. Only persecuting teachers. These corrupt investigations must be exposed!
ReplyDeleteWe believe you.
DeleteThe DOE will still be allowed to have two lists of ATRs. The first list for ATRs who came from closing schools or programs and the other for ATRs who survived their 3020-a discipline hearings. Based on past placements, the DOE only recommends hiring from the first list and only when there are no ATRs left on the first list will ATRs who won their 3020-a termination hearings be offered a vacancy. To ensure that ATRs who won their 3020-a hearings are not offered a position, the Scarlet Letter (red flag) remains on their file for principals to see, even when the ATR was found not to have committed the charge. The average age of an ATR is around 53, so this qualifies as age discrimination. Many fellow teachers that are being hired have not completed their masters, or are completely inexperienced. There are rumors that Tweed had encouraged Principals to target their more senior staff, and field supervisors are also coming with an agenda.
ReplyDeleteBeing rated in another system it is also discriminatory. And not having assigned classes is discriminatory while they hire new teachers. Having our Union negotiate secret deals without voting on it is discriminatory. Being rated by someone we never met is outrageous. The whole ATR Pool is discriminatory. Etc....
ReplyDeleteShameful and ridiculous. The Union is to be blamed for the harassment that we put up with, and the abuse. The Union is discriminating ATRs.