February 13, 2014
Dear Ms. Mark-Viverito,
Congratulations on you becoming Council Speaker. Why we are writing you is to bring to
light the unvarnished truth behind teachers in the A.T.R. pool. Most of the A.T.R.s are as much victims of
failed educational policies as the students that were under educated by those
policies. A.T.R.s came in 2 major
classes. The first, were senior
teachers that were excessed from closed schools. The second were those who, for no fault of their own, were caught
up in the “reign of terror” that the past mayor and his chancellors waged
against senior teachers in this city.
It is true that a very minuscule number of individuals rightly deserved
to be disciplined and removed to the now infamous “rubber rooms”. The rest of these teachers were no
guiltier than you, when their principals falsely accused them of wrong doing
and had them removed from their schools.
When these teachers finally left these rooms, they were automatically
put into the A.T.R. pool. On top
of that, they were “black-flagged” as “discipline problems”.
The purpose of
this pool, in the eyes of the mayor, was to demoralize us and accelerate our
retirement and or resignation from the school system. This is no more than an abuse of good, dedicated, hard
working professionals.
When A.T.R.s read, in the NY Daily News, that the mayor and
the chancellor were talking about placing us back into classrooms, we were
ecstatic. As stories began to
appear in that paper accusing us of everything from criminal behavior to “U”
rated teachers that would prey on our children our mood changed
drastically. We were so upset by
these unwarranted attacks that we thought that we would never be able to teach
again. And that Council Speaker is
a fate worse than death for teachers.
“U” ratings
were just another form of harassment used by principals to remove senior
teachers from their staffs and replace them with young and inexperienced
individuals whom they knew they could “bully” into teaching “the program”. These teachers that were rated “U”, in
most cases did not deserve that rating at all.
We ask you as a
powerful voice in the progressive movement to filter out all the rhetoric of
the past and help the mayor and the chancellor in moving this great city
forward. Put us teachers back into
the classrooms. Give us the chance
that was given to so many people before and help our kids to succeed.
Thank you,
Howard Klein
Scott Barusek
Guido Proano
Elvira Sacco
Scott Barusek
Guido Proano
Elvira Sacco
Great. Hope she hears out pleas!
ReplyDeleteMy friend who is a vision teacher was paid a SURPRISE visit by her sup who observed her in a graphic arts class. The teacher had not left any work and the kids in that school are horrible. Guess what she got? And when she called the union she was told that the sup can do this!!!! This is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThis ATR situation really is another example of the destructive policies driven by bloomberg who was a reckless maniac who only wanted to break the UFT union and punish its members. The ATR teachers, social workers, guidance counselors and secretaries are the finest educators we have in NYC!! We need to get these educators back into the classrooms as well as the counseling offices!! Bloomberg was insane!!
ReplyDeleteOur new mayor and chancellor know how valuable our experienced teachers are. As a matter of fact its the best NYC has! The students need our professional teachers back into the classrooms as soon as possible. The students need real guidance counselors and real social workers!!!
ReplyDeletePrincipals like Dwarka got hired to remove experienced professionals, and now the results for the regents have plummeted.
ReplyDeleteThis is systemic age discrimination practice by the DOE of NYC with the collaboration of the UFT, it is time to open our eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE is allowing these Leadership Principals to discriminate against teachers so they can look good.
ReplyDelete