It's time for Chancellor Klein to return to classroom teaching. After all, the Chancellor taught for 6 months before fleeing to a career in law. How did he do as a teacher? Did anyone ever bother to see his file?
The Chancellor and those who agree with what he has done to the New York City school system, they should be made to teach in one of our many SURR schools.
The 2005 UFT contract is the biggest disaster. In 1968 and 1975 teachers struck for improvements in their working conditions and for the right to be treated as professionals. We can never forget the one day strike in 1961 when teachers walked for dignity as well.
In 2005 the union gave up extremely hard fought gains. It was my pleasure to have been on the picket lines in 1975 and as a student teacher observer in the 1968 walkout.
How do you give up seniority rights? How do you give up the right to grieve letters? How do you allow pedagogues to be made to return to cafeteria and hallway duty? Former Chancellor Crew could not get over the fact that teachers were subjected to this demeaning form of work. Teachers are there to teach. It's bad enough that teachers have to be social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists since parents do not do their jobs.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The School System's Dirty Little Secret
The public is not being made aware of the treacherous conditions created by those in charge of the New York City school system.
As a result of their school population decreasing, too many teachers have been excessed. This is not the fault of the teachers. This has happened to dedicated teachers teaching for many years. The newspapers and Chancellor Joel Klein are trying to blame these people for incompetence and threatening to terminate their employment all together. Currently, under the present UFT contract, this can't be done. Who knows what will happen when this contract expires?
Instead of using these teachers in classrooms to lower class registers, the teachers are being relegated to substitute status. This is demeaning to the teacher. These people did not get master's degrees to do substitute teaching.
Why did this happen? The city is taking advantage of the miserable 2005 teachers' contract that did away with seniority.
Parents should be demanding that these teachers be returned to regular duty and not harassed by school officials for being unable to find teaching positions. The system created this problem. Now, it's time to remedy it fairly.
As a result of their school population decreasing, too many teachers have been excessed. This is not the fault of the teachers. This has happened to dedicated teachers teaching for many years. The newspapers and Chancellor Joel Klein are trying to blame these people for incompetence and threatening to terminate their employment all together. Currently, under the present UFT contract, this can't be done. Who knows what will happen when this contract expires?
Instead of using these teachers in classrooms to lower class registers, the teachers are being relegated to substitute status. This is demeaning to the teacher. These people did not get master's degrees to do substitute teaching.
Why did this happen? The city is taking advantage of the miserable 2005 teachers' contract that did away with seniority.
Parents should be demanding that these teachers be returned to regular duty and not harassed by school officials for being unable to find teaching positions. The system created this problem. Now, it's time to remedy it fairly.
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