ATRs, the unrepresented -- no elected representatives in the UFT

"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected.
"To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another."
Thomas Paine, First Principles of Government


Monday, October 15, 2018

UFT ATR meetings this week - Placement is the front and center issue


Official UFT ATR meetings where 
the UFT will discuss 
placements and evaluation 
and other questions we may have.

Which plan for observations will be put under? The one for probationers?

How can we can the DOE place us 
without getting proper Danielson training and new technology practice?

We'll be compared against teachers who entered the system after Danielson was introduced. To add insult to injury, we often did coverages for teachers who were out if the classroom for such training.

Will principal's have a say, and will we be Funded from the central budget?

And will the UFT allow the DOE to cynically hire new people during the summer, as they do every year? The new contract says nothing about eliminating Fair School Funding which incentivizes against hiring experienced teachers.

Watch ATRs mainly get placed in schools that were unable to find anyone before Labor Day, unintroduced to their their program or room. 

All times are 4 pm, at the UFT boro offices.
Mon., October 15: Queens, 97-77 Queens Blvd
Tue, October 16: Bronx, 2600 Halsey Street
Fri, October 19, Staten Island, 4456 Amboy Road
Mon., October 22, Brooklyn, 335 Adams Street
Fri., November 2, Manhattan, 52 Broadway

20 comments:

  1. Very few will be placed. Remember Randy Asher? SAVE rooms are back and everyone’s getting preggers so It babysitting 101 again and again and ....

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    1. Fair student funding is responsible for age discrimination , including but not limited to : negative observation ratings, being told harassing lies during your post-ob , being over-scrutinized on a daily basis as administrators look for anything they can call a problem even when it isn’t a problem, being treated differently than younger teachers and told you didn’t do enough of something during the lesson, false accusations, principals having derogatory conversations about you with parents in an effort to gang up against you, closing schools and dismissing only older teachers who have to go on interviews that they will never win, being unfairly targeted for termination charges, being ATRed and therefore sent like a bag lady or man from school to school. And the list goes on. And this is ALL the result of Fair Student Funding. The UFT is giving Field Supervisors a blank check to harass and belittle older teachers.

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    2. It is about age and discrimination. They want newbies.

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  2. Age discrimination all over with the Union collaborating.

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  3. The 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.

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    1. Field Supervisors are observing ATRs in bad classes, out of license and pulling all types of tricks to rate ATRs U.

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    2. Like ATR Supervisor Justin Stark. He observed me in a class that hadn't had a teacher in two months, and I met only a couple of days before.

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  4. This is a shameful system.

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  5. This is all about age discrimination and harassement, and the UFT has contributed to this.

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  6. Many ATRs are being brought up on fraudulent charges.

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  7. The observations of ATRs in rotating assignments is unprofessional and unacceptable on several counts:
    *The ATRs often don't know the students.
    *The ATRs often have been covering a class out of license, with or without the regular teacher's lesson plan.
    *The ATRs are told to differentiate lessons for the students, but they have not met them or have not been provided their IEPs or other personal data such as ELL status.
    * There are no consequences for these Supervisors to lie. Most of them are falsifying the dialogue.
    *All a setup for engaging in age discrimination. The observation system used as a weapon to make an experienced teacher look like incompetent.
    * The rating officer is someone an ATR never met. It used to be the Principal.
    It is all about discrimination, and harassment. Thank you Mulgrew. How can a Union agree to have ATRs observed? It is a nuisance that is causing stress to teachers near retirement. It is a blank check given to Field Supervisors. It is wrong , and the UFT is to be blamed for accepting this secret deal which is a another fiasco.

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  8. How unfair is it to observe a teacher in a classroom of strangers, with no ownership of their grades, and no idea how much rigor to put into a lesson since the ATR has no idea of the students’ academic ability? ATRs should vote NO to this nonsense. We should be evaluated when we have our own classes,. and when we are evaluated under the same system like the rest of the teachers. They should stop giving blank checks to supervisors coming with an agenda. We are the ones paying UFT dues. It is time for the UFT to treat us with respect. It is time to end the apartheid system based on age.

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  9. Our Union is a complete disgrace for allowing its more experienced teachers to be targeted because they became expensive.

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  10. I can only laugh when I read how the DOE is telling the media that they are encouraging principals to hire veteran ATRs when the truth is so very different. The only thing the DOE is trying to do is to terminate the ATRs by allowing field supervisors (assassins) to recommend to the Superintendent to terminate the ATRs through the 3020-a process. The DOE, with the UFT leadership's complicit assistance, has pushed to reduce the ATR pool by harassing ATRs to resign or retire rather than push principals to hire the ATRs in their district. In particular, veteran ATRs with ten or more teaching experience are being targeted for termination while only untenured ATRs are being picked up.

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  11. The union's failure to protect their senior teachers is disgraceful and for the UFT to allow Tweed to practice ageism in the teacher removal process is aiding and abetting the DOE practice of age discrimination.

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  12. Thry want to keep the apartheid system.

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  13. The UFT wants the ATRs terminated by agreeing to Field Supervisors to harass, and unfairly rate ATRs U. They want to deterorate our schools more by going after experienced teachers.

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  14. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects individuals who are 40 or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA's protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, employment discrimination based on age—in hiring, firing, promotions, layoffs, compensation, benefits, job assignments, training and more—is unlawful. It's also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing age discrimination practices or for filing an age discrimination charge, testifying or participating in an ADEA case. The Fair Student Funding is discriminating ATRs in being hired. The observation process is being used as a weapon to terminate ATRs which shows harassment. ATRs are experienced teachers used as substitues, and usually do not get per session or training. A different rating system is used for ATRs on students that the ATR has no familiarity. When a different group of teachers is treated differently then there is a clear violation of federal laws. The sad thing is that pur Union is not doing anything for us.

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  15. Whatever happened to ATR Supervisor Justin Stark? He got booted from Edison HS after a year, then got booted from Port Richmond HS in SI the following year. I guess admins recognize an incompetent dirtbag when they meet one,

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  16. Starks wife just divorced him, and moved in with his cousin. Cant make thie up...

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