A few questions, some with answers, about this proposed contract
May 7, 2014 pm31 2:38 pm
Now I have some answers. They come from conversations with our negotiators (not from public statements, which tend to be lawyerly), the Memorandum of Agreement regarding educational issues, and the posted proposed pay scales. There is, notably, no clarifying document about our health coverage.
And some more questions.
If you know more answers, please let me know.
Newer questions:
Urgency?
- Why the rush to push the contract ? Am I being paranoid that there is a cover-up? I don’t know. And, if we saw the agreement, we could decide if you were being paranoid.
Health
- What happens if we lose part of our benefits?
- What happens if we are forced to contribute more to the system?
- Who makes these decisions (is it a 3-person arbitration panel, headed by Marty Scheinman) ?
- If so, what are the limits to those decisions ? Can they drawn from our would-be raises and/or back pay to make up the difference?
ATRs
- Will ATRs still rotate on a week to week basis? – SOME
- Will ATRs still be sent on Mandated interviews? – YES
- What are the behaviors inconsistent with the expectations established for professionals? How can one group (ATRs) seemingly have less due process than another group (non ATRs) operating under the same contract and same titles, licenses, etc?
- If an ATR is picked up at a school, and a principal decides that ATR isn’t working out, what happens to the ATR? I’ve read that a principal can make that decision in as little as one day?
- Why are we we agreeing to a separate “fast track” 3020A for teachers on the ATR?
- Are they not entitled to the same due process as any other teacher? – Mulgrew says it is the same due process on a different timeline
Letter to File
- if a letter is removed from a file does the original go to the teacher
- Are members able to have negative material removed from their files that is over three years old
I don’t know why during questions about the contract, I got a couple of letter in file questions. AFAIK nothing about letter in file has changed.
Money
- As the retro, what is the percentage of interest?
Repurposed time
- How will C6/school schedules (especially ones that put the 37.5 into classes) be effected as the working school day changes?
- Monday PD teacher initiatives: Admins or part of the Ambassador program of teachers?
- In collocation situations, will PD be combined?
Abusive Administrators
- Is there a way to make a list of abusive administrators that have followed the old doe line and thus have lost the respect of their staff in the “future more collaborative DOE”? – New Action, my caucus, continues to push for something like this.
Old questions:
Money
- Does the agreement increase per session by the same per cents as salary? – YES
- Will there be retro on any per session we worked? – YES
- Is per diem pay going up? – YES, by the same percents as salary
- Will members get a schedule of future payments (how much they can expect) – no answer yet
- Will people who resigned receive retro? – NO
- Will people who take a leave receive retro? – no answer yet
- Will people who move into another chapter receive retro? (eg, teacher to guidance counselor) – no answer yet
- Will people who moved from a UFT position to another position with the Board receive retro (ex. Secretary to Business Manager, or Teacher to AP) – no answer yet
- Will we earn interest on the retro? – YES
- Will retro just cover the period from 2010 – May 2015? – NO
- Or will retro also cover the period from May 2015 – May 2018? (ie, 6% for 15-16, 4% for 16-17, 2% for 17-18) – YES
- The union’s letter said retro for someone making $100,000 in 2009 would be more than $40,000. I calculate $49,000. Is this a discrepancy? – NO. The union put up a conservative figure.
Health
- Please explain where the savings is coming from, in some detail. (I don’t put things in all capital letters. If I did it anywhere, it would be here)
— NO ANSWERS YET — This is the biggest question set of questions left.
Parents
- Do we have to document parent contact? Is this going to be a source of more paperwork? – I haven’t asked.
Highly Effective
- How will validators be chosen? How will teachers qualify? Highly Effective? Effective? National Board Certification? – 50/50 UFT/DOE CTTEE to set criteria, and choose. Details (lengthy) in Memorandum of Agreement.
- If you get HE, the number of observations goes down to 3. Will these be full observations, drive bys, or a mix? – DRIVE BYS
- Is the bonus money for Masters, Models, and Ambassadors paid out of the school budget? – I think the answer is no, but I am not certain.
- Do Master Teachers do AP work? – NO (not according to the agreement. ymmv)
Eligibility
- Who is eligible to vote? (Active member today, or at any time during the life of the contract until today?) – IN-SERVICE MEMBERS TODAY
- There are non-DoE schools (including charter schools) represented by the UFT. Some contracts are based on the UFT pay scale. Will those people be getting raises, retro, etc? – I haven’t asked
Abusive Administrators
- Is there any increased protection against abusive administrators (of whom there are 100s in this system) – NO
- Is there any increased protection against incompetent administrators (of whom there are 100s in this system) – NO
- Is there any recourse for probationary teachers who were unfairly discontinued by abusive or incompetent administrators? – NO
- Do those probationary teachers lose their retroactive pay? – YES
2005
There are things we lost in the last dozen years, especially the 2005 contract, that are not addressed in this proposed contract. Which are priority items to fix, and what is the strategy to fix them outside of contract negotiations? – OPEN QUESTION. FSF first?
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JD2718 
The union did agree to a three tiered system for appointed teachers, ATRs who were exzcessed from schools, and ATRs that were disciplined under 3020-a. Shame on them for allowing this.