New Action/UFT congratulates the schools and Chapter Leaders working with collaborative, member friendly principals. Unfortunately, Chancellor Farina’s call to principals to work collaboratively with their staff is not being followed at many schools. At the January 2016 Delegate Assembly a Chapter Leader asked UFT President Mulgrew how we should deal with non-collaborative principals who respond to concerns with the phrase “I’ll have to check with Legal.” The principal inevitably responds by saying “No.” The response? Raise the concern through the District Rep to the Superintendent.
Since September 2015, New Action has received reports that some principals have:
- Mandated detailed lesson plans with “multiple points of entry”
- Done “drive-by” “check list” observations
- Mandated curriculum maps from teachers to be done on their own time
- Refused to give the Galaxy budget to Chapter Leaders
- Targeted older teachers
- Refused to sign off on professional development if it exceeded 50 hours
- Refused to give Highly Effective ratings to anyone who is “not collaborative” (doesn’t agree to everything the principal wants)
- Refused to hire subs, claiming no money
Why do Mulgrew/Unity refuse to forcefully address these issues? Why do we hear these complaints from our members over and over again? We need a UFT leadership that doesn’t bury its head in the sand, but rather acts directly to stop these demoralizing practices.
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