If the principal thinks you are good, that should count…

The new NY State teacher evaluation law (APPR, 3012c) says that if a teacher is ineffective on the State and Local measures, that all the regular in-school stuff, the principal’s judgment, observations, don’t count. And that is wrong.

New Action introduced a resolution at last night’s UFT Executive Board making changing this aspect of the State Law a legislative priority for the UFT, and engaging the mayor-elect in jointly lobbying for change.

LeRoy Barr moved to table this resolution, and the Unity majority voted to do so, thus the resolution was not acted upon.

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Last June Mulgrew wrote to members about the evaluation system John King proposed:

“The commissioner’s plan is professional and fair and is designed to help teachers improve their skills throughout their careers. ”

But in September, with a groundswell of member complaints, Mulgrew changed his tune. His public utterances make it sound like the entire problem is with the Local Measures (MOSL).

Unity is not yet ready to admit that the state law itself is a problem. Maybe because Unity helped write it.

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But the resolution did not attack the entire state law. We focused on a particularly egregious requirement. I can’t tell you why Unity chose to table. Perhaps they are thinking it over. Perhaps they will be there, but not quite yet. Or perhaps they are stubbornly supporting 3012c.

But this is so egregious – if your principal says you are good, that might not count at all – that perhaps all Unity was doing was protecting its members from voting no on something that was completely wholesome and right and matched what the members need. It would not be the first time that they have used the “motion to table” to spare their members having to vote no on a no-brainer:  in 2009 when I moved the endorsement of Bill Thompson, Unity did not force their members to vote no – instead they moved to table.