New Action/UFT
…a caucus of the United Federation of Teachers
PO Box 180574 North Richmond Hill, NY 11418
https://newaction.wordpress.com/
March 2012
TEACHER DATA REPORTS – TIME for DIRECT RESPONSE
Bloomberg can point a finger at the courts and say they did it. But the publication in the media has to be laid squarely at the feet of the Mayor. The city encouraged the media to file the FOI request, and then refused to raise as much as an objection in the courts against making these reports public.
It is heartening to read that the 99% (those scoring at the top of the TDRs) are circulating a letter of protest against these bogus stats.
The UFT membership has been under attack since Bloomberg took office. His legacy is in the tank – but that doesn’t help those of us suffering from his disastrous leadership. When have working conditions have been worse, or the demoralization as great?
Chapters have been fighting back – against closing schools, against abusive administrators, against budget cuts, etc. New Action calls for a day of solidarity to let the mayor know that the membership of the UFT will not be beaten down.
NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM – ELIMINATE TENURED TEACHERS?
In January 2010 New Action warned about joining with the City to lobby for Race to the Top monies. New Action wrote in May 2010: “New Action opposes the teacher evaluation system just proposed by the Board of Regents, with support from the NYSUT and UFT leaderships. We do not believe that even the best […] Back in January 2010, in the face of similar proposals, made by AFT President Randi Weingarten, Michael Mulgrew wrote, ‘[These] proposals would require a climate of collaboration and trust that simply does not exist here.’”
May 2011, New Action wrote: “How many times do we (our UFT) go into agreements with folks who turn around and go back on their word? Witness the Teacher Data Reports. And how can we support a system that allows tenured teachers to be terminated after 2 ratings of being “ineffective”? With too many principals today, the name of the game is to get rid of veteran teachers. Will the new evaluations lead to more unsatisfactory ratings? We all know the answer.”
Our opinion has not changed. This new evaluation system will lead to an avalanche of ineffective ratings. We know the DOE violates every agreement. If we reach an evaluation agreement they will violate it as well. Tenured teachers cannot afford to wait and see.
New Action - UFT 