The Department Of Education (DOE) has a group of lawyers who's only job is to terminate teachers by any means possible. The lawyers are from the DOE's Office Of Legal Services (OLS), now known as the Office of General Counsel (OGC). The OGC is divided into four departments, two departments primarily go after teachers . One is the Administrative Trials Unit (ATU) that prosecutes teacher misconduct and the other is the Teacher Performance Unit (TPU) also known as the "gotcha squad", that prosecutes teacher incompetence.
If you ask DOE management the OGC only goes after teachers that commit serious misconduct or are incompetent. The truth is far different, the OGC will willingly aid and abet unscrupulous principals to get rid of veteran teachers by any means possible. Principals know that if they claim that the teacher either committed misconduct or are incompetent, the OGC will eagerly help the Principal charge the teacher under section 3020-a. Even if the independent State arbitrator finds the DOE charges to be untrue, the arbitrator will still give the teacher some penalty and this allows the Principal to jettison the teacher into the ATR pool and out of the school.
DOE has two main investigative units, the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), who investigate corporal punishment and verbal abuse cases, while the semi-independent Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI) investigate sexual and criminal complaints . Both OSI and SCI investigators are not fair minded. Both investigative agency's mission is to substantiate the allegations against the teacher. Read my corrupt investigations posts Here.
An example is the lunch teacher, a 20 year veteran, that South Bronx Schools is writing about. The teacher is an elementary school teacher and she was giving an untimed State Common Core test last year. She noticed that one of the students was struggling and hungry, the teacher decided since it was lunch time so she told the students to hand in their tests and she collected them and locked them up. After lunch, she gave the student who hadn't finished the test to complete.
The Principal found out that the teacher stopped the students from completing their tests and took them to lunch The Principal contacted OGC who accused the teacher of test cheating and failure to follow instructions. This resulted in 3020-a charges against the teacher.
There was no cheating and at worst, the teacher should have given a counseling memo not a 3020-a charge. However, with the Bloomberg era ideology that still dominates at the DOE, veteran teachers are targeted and this is just one case among many.
It’s getting even stranger with the Lunch Teacher. This is pure retribution stemming from her beaten the principal in the past. Where is our union beating the drums for her?
ReplyDeleteI’ll bet if she did not take the kids to lunch it could have been characterized as corporal punishment. At least that’s what some imaginative principle could have charged. Why isn’t this the biggest story in the UFT paper instead of Publicizing some cowardly anonymous vote of no confidence in a high school principal
ReplyDeleteThe former Office of Legal Services (OLS) is currently called the Office of the General Counsel (OGC).
ReplyDeletewww.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/leadership/legal
It is composed of more than two units.
For example, the General Practice Unit, FOIL Unit, and Special Education Unit are also part of OGC.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteMulgrew is the CSA’s sock puppet, so don’t expect the UFT to help any teacher in need when it comes to fighting a principal - or anyone else for that matter. That teacher needs to go down to one of those executive board meetings and tell her story - then maybe and only maybe will it slightly embarrass ‘The Jellyfish’.
These people are targeting older teachers, and are doing a lot of damage.
ReplyDeleteThe Gotcha Squad is doing a lot of damagr by purging our schools of an experirnced workforce. Unscrupulous Principals lke Dearka are dragging our schools to the ground by targeting experienced teachers.
ReplyDeleteThey are encouraging Principals to go after teachers with 20 plus years of ecperience by falsifying observations, and twisting facts.
ReplyDeleteI have learned, after getting a totally bogus letter to file and other misc harassment over the years, to keep my head down, volunteer for nothing, give them any paperwork or unit plans they want, pass everyone with at least a 65, overlook lots of bad behavior, and hide away during my preps and stay out of the gossip loop.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, I am so much more peaceful! We cannot win when our own admins and very DOE overlords are not on our side - not even supportive, despite their lip service. They really believe an effective manager is based on being a jerk and punitive by default!
Teaching in NYC is now like being stuck in no man's land on a WW I battlefield. The shells fall all over the place and blast us. Stay in the foxholes and you avoid a lot of problems. Too many young teachers come in and want to be saviors, only to get burnt out and beaten down by bad kids/bad admins.
When I am in the classroom, I try to do my best. I respect everyone and honestly care that my kids learn useful info. In the new era of 'the kids must teach each other and the teacher must not teach anything, just model the activity,' we have been made irrelevant. (Yes, our admins told us point-blank not to teach ANY content, but to make 'activities' in which the kids are dependent on each other for teaching each other the content through endless discussion.)
After a long road I have accepted the limitations of the job and environment. Western civilization is not long for this world. Do not deny it. The signs of collapse are there for smart people to see. Stay safe out there teachers.
Replacing Mulgrew will not change our workday and the garbage we endure. We can no longer go back to the 'strong union' of decades past. That ship has sailed long ago.
Bide your time. Try to get in a better school if possible, and know that you must retain your sense of individuality and peace. There is no other road right now. Also, thank God everyday that you are not Tier 6!
This is a war zone. Except you will receive no assistance what so ever from the UFT ( especially the Bronx UFT office they are especially inept). My advice is to eat your lunch alone, don't communicate too many ideas, and stay out of the fray.
ReplyDeleteIt is about manipulating the system to push ecperienced teachers out while the UFT looks the other way.
ReplyDelete@9:27 Could you be more melodramatic? Teaching in NYC is like being in WWI? Ridiculous
ReplyDeleteYou know its been a while now that bloomberg and klein created the atr pool which really just does one thing. It does not allow the nycdoe to utilize its work force simply put. I am just thinking back to all the fake news that joel klein use to put out regarding atr teachers and that they were "bad" teachers and so forth.....lol
ReplyDeleteHowever, any atr today who looks at these new schools and its new no nothing teachers, their ill witted, under experienced, egotistic, maniac assistant principals, their under age, miserable usually out of town principals and justify the fact that bloomberg really was not smart at all. I mean to not have our best teachers, because they really are most newbies are nice people but they lack the experience in the classroom as well as any type of mentoring.
No bloomberg was from the school of you can have 80 students in the classroom it does not matter..... its all about the teacher and that is plain crazy. I remember when bloomberg and klein were trying to convince people in the media and alike that atr teachers were some how inferior but that wind has blown over and now that the dust has settled it clearly is just plain hogwash let alone a crying shame for these kids who so need experienced teachers to help them gain in this complex world.
So we all move forward and hope that one day this system will be abolished and remembered for exactly what it is.....a waste of human resources and money but ultimately a waste and a loss for the students of nyc schools.
@1:15 pm: Touche. However I still have a bit of hope. I have the pleasure of working with some young excellent, ethical teachers and admin along with some older excellent and talented ATRs. Many amazing students will survive and thrive despite the failure of their guardians and society.
ReplyDeleteCorrect! Half of Flushing High School's new staff are first year teachers and the majority have no classroom management skills and some let their students run amok in the classroom. I'm not saying that it is acceptable for kids to think it's okay to fool around in class, but these kids will push and push and need someone who knows how to handle a classroom. Also, the APs do nothing saying it's not their job. The principal and his cronies got rid of many effective teachers either by their not reapplying to the school when it reorganized or by not rehiring them. Now FHS is worse than it's ever been. These teachers should have never been hired if they can't manage a classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt is definetly age discrimination with the UFT collaborating with thevlaeyers purging the system of experienced teachers.
DeleteInstead of spending a lot of money in lawyers pushing the most experienced Teachers out. They should be utlized to help the newbies.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE wants them to fail so they have a revolving door of relatively cheap labor. If they survive - turn them into ATRs until they die or quit.
DeleteThe truth of the matter is that the nycdoe is not stupid. They know that the experienced teachers are the best teachers in the system. However there is an underlying issue that has been discussed but not as much as it needs to because its really the reason why we have the atr pool.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is back in 2008 when our country ran into a depression or recession many municipalities around the country were going broke and faced dire situations. One of which was pension payouts. It turns out that pension payouts are becoming a huge issue for cities and municipalities alike. NYC pension costs have risen now to I believe well over 10 billion a year.
So, many cities now are pulling back from the obligation of having to pay pensions which are running our of control and breaking and bankrupting cities. How to combat this is no more pensions. Tier 6 employees are nothing but mcdonalds workers from a pension stand point because they will never receive one. Many people know that atr teachers are experienced and can offer invaluable insight to students but money is the ruling force in America unfortunately.
@8:36 am...nail on the head.
DeleteThey will continue to harass experienced teachers into retirement unless they have a shortage of younger teachers. The same nonsense will go on until they come to their senses.
ReplyDeleteMy late father who also retired as a nyc teacher said "the job of an assistant principal is to train rookies"
ReplyDeleteI'm in my last two months before retirement and can't wait to go .
It has gotten progressively worse in the DOE while the students have gotten more needy of better quality of teaching .
Heaven help the fools
New admins enter the schools thinking they will "clean house" instead of focusing on the smiling faces of potentially great students and learning .
I truly pity the new tier 6 teachers. I know a few that are prices in my building.
What they don't realize is that their poop really does stink and they will crash sometime before mid career .
Nuff said
what crybabies you all are. waitingforadiaperchange being the biggest! nothing will change and you will all just take it and cry!
ReplyDelete@12:29...as you spend your retirement in bitterness. Sounds like you're still taking it. Lol. Happy happy joy joy...go away. You have no power.
ReplyDelete@waitingformynadstodrop your ren and stipmy fascination and replies give me all the power I need. i am picturing you with a rattle. its hard to be bitter when your retired and your life is now your own genius.
ReplyDeleteGood morning... hopefully educators will band together in their schools and stand up to injustice. It's hard but worthwhile. @6:41am the students and educators of NYC are lucky that you're retired.
ReplyDeleteIn the next 10-15 years I believe city will eventually privatize the entire system. They first need to create a disfunctional system that serves no purpose but to continually uneducate students. Once that is achieved they will begin the process of closing schools. The union will not help (especially the inept Bronx UFT).
ReplyDeleteThe Union is totally corrupt, and working wth the DOE to get rid of ecperienced teachers.
Delete@ waitingforparentstoteachrespectandmanners- yes they are lucky, my standards were always to high for that kind of system. in other words perfect for someone like you!
ReplyDelete@5:55pm...great. Let's move on.
ReplyDeleteDid you mean "too"?
Tier 6 educators are running for the hill.
@waitingforashouldertocryon if only you were man enough to "move on". heard about what you did to, too, two years ago??
ReplyDelete3 more days until a much-needed break!
DeleteThe DOE with our union leadership's blessing, is trying to reduce the ATR pool, not by putting the ATR back in the classroom where they belong, but instead by thinning the herd with these "flyby observations" and unfairly giving the ATR a "U" rating. These Field Supervisors are lying for the most part.
ReplyDeleteAnon 311 you are spot on. Think it will take closer to 15 years but it sure will game over for tenure and public education. Ed reformers are just making the system as dysfunctional as possible until it collapses. Kids are teaching each other....absolutely ridiculous!
ReplyDelete"In the next 10-15 years I believe city will eventually privatize the entire system. They first need to create a disfunctional system that serves no purpose but to continually uneducate students. Once that is achieved they will begin the process of closing schools. The union will not help (especially the inept Bronx UFT)."
@waitingforsometeachingability - it must be very draining not being able to control your classes
ReplyDelete4:39 pm...take a nap. You sound tired
ReplyDelete