ATR UPDATE

PLEASE HOLD THE FOLLOWING TWO DATES:

Friday, January 9^th, 2009, @ 4:30pm: The next ATR Support Committee meeting will take place at Hunter College (Hunter West Building 8^th Floor Faculty Lounge). We will discuss the ATR Surveys and plan the next phase of our campaign.

Sunday, January 11^th, 2009, the UFT will hold an “ATRs Network to Work Conference,” which will focus on resume and interview skills building.

This conference, of course, is no solution -- ATR teachers need positions and a job freeze on new hires until all ATRs are placed who want to be. The October 15^th resolution that included the ATR Support Committee’s amendment called for these actions. As of today, the DA Resolution uft.org page still does not display the entire resolution that was carried overwhelmingly by the delegates and reported on in the New York Teacher.

We are pleased to announce that members of the ATR Support Committee will be outside the “ATRs Network to Work Conference” handing out critical information regarding the ATR crisis, including its origins and how to build a resistance movement to push back at the NYC DoE’s corporate restructuring practices. In addition, we will distribute ATR Surveys as part of the second phase of our “Support the ATRs” campaign. These surveys will help us assess the effectiveness of the ATR Side Agreement and hold the UFT and the DoE accountable for it. It will also allow us to continue our effective grass roots organizing plan to educate and activate as many UFTers as possible regarding the ATR debacle. We are a 110 schools and growing. So join us on January 11^th outside the conference and help us connect to a larger contingent of UFTers across NYC.

REMINDER: The next ATR Support Committee meeting will be Friday, January 9 @ 4:30 pm at Hunter College (Hunter West Building 8^th Floor Faculty Lounge).

After November 24...

After November 24…
(A Contribution to the Discussion)

Recent postings by Angel Gonzalez and Sean Ahern underscore a broader discussion that has gained force in the wake of our successful demonstration in defense of teachers being held in the limbo of the Absence Teacher Reserve this past November 24. After years of givebacks, as the UFT leadership abandons one gain after another while critical voices in the union are marginalized; in the face of a broad offensive to gut public education, which puts children last and ensures that no vendor is left behind, how can we take the readiness to fight that energized everyone on November 24 and go forward.

What gave the mobilization for the ATRs its energy was that it was a united-front action built by union activists which drew in several opposition groups, as well as many unaffiliated teachers – because we all understood the common danger and the need for a powerful response. The slogan, “If you’re not an ATR today, you could be tomorrow” summed it up. That’s why we fought for it to be an official union demonstration – this affects everyone. And that’s why teachers and other school workers turned out in a real teacher rebellion despite the best efforts of the UFT leadership to divert and derail the struggle.

As both Angel and Sean note, the ATR issue is the “tip of the iceberg.” It is the current point of attack of the privatizers and corporate “reformers” who are waging a frontal assault on public education. A few months ago, the issue was “merit pay.” Tomorrow it will be teacher tenure. But it’s important to see the big picture: that beyond the particular attacks, there’s a war going on here, a class war. And if it’s “one-sided class war,” as many have commented, that’s because of the role of the labor bureaucracy in keeping workers in check. It’s not about Randi Weingarten personally.

The united front is a method for common action. It is not the basis for building an on-going opposition to the present Unity Caucus bureaucracy, which is busy selling out what union gains are left. For that, we need leadership based on a class-struggle program, and that is what we need to build now. ...

The full text of this posting is available on the site of Class Struggle Education Workers.

Marjorie Stamberg
December 2, 2008

ATRs/Seniority Rights: The Fight for All Members’ Rights

Special Contribution by Angel Gonzalez, Retired UFT Teacher - December 2, 2008

The October Delegate Assembly (DA) resolution calling for a mass Nov. 24 rally at the DOE was initiated by ATR Ad-Hoc Committee members who were supported by UFT opposition caucuses (e.g. ICE and TJC) and many other delegates who understand that seniority is a sacrosanct union provision. The resolution called for a protest to support the ATRS: “THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the UFT will organize a mass citywide rally to show our unity and strength, calling on the NYC Department of Education to reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are hired.”

While Randi Weingarten initially signaled tepid approval for this friendly amendment to support the ATRs, she simultaneously threatened to cancel support--and move the body to reject it--if she did not agree with the argument (the motivator) for it as presented by John Powers. The DA did overwhelmingly approve the call for this “Support the ATRs” rally, with Ms. Weingarten’s subsequent approval.

Perhaps Ms. Weingarten’s reluctance to support such a militant mobilization, initiated at the grass roots, was due to the realization that the source of the ATRs’ predicament lay in our last contract, in which the UFT Executive Board negotiated away seniority transfer rights. For years, the UFT leadership’s strategy has been to lobby government officials for “favors” to our members in exchange for an endorsement from our union. This focus on intimacy at the top has contributed to our leaders’ becoming disconnected from our day-to-day reality in the classroom. Depending upon fickle politicians as opposed to the strength and conviction of our members has served to backfire on teachers and the students and families we serve.

The DA is the body that should direct the UFT Executive Board. If this is so, why do so many delegates feel that the Executive Board has to approve our decisions in order for them to be realized? In truly democratic structures, the leadership fulfills the will of the membership—not the other way around. Our DA saw an opportunity to seize the moment and affirm that reducing class size while also allowing our experienced teachers to continue to offer their expertise benefits students and honors the hard-won rights that our colleagues fought so hard for in years past.

As the Nov. 24 date set for the rally approached, and as rank and file members began to be energized with the feeling that together we were finally fighting back, the UFT Executive Board was quietly negotiating--what can only be characterized as a back-room deal--to temporarily stall the dismantling of seniority and tenure. It is unclear if the motivation for these discussions was to assuage the powerful City Administration who obviously did not approve of an angry rally exposing the outrage of the ATR fiasco, or to quell the spontaneous mobilization of so many members who felt that they were helping to construct a movement to defend our rights.

Ms. Weingarten’s proposal to alter the character of the rally into a silent candle-light vigil would have reduced us to a group of passive mourners, as opposed to a body of professionals rightly proclaiming what belongs to us, while exposing the City’s ill-conceived and costly indignation to which it condemns our ATRs. The DA was correct in indentifying the need for a mass rally, and strong member opposition to a “silent vigil” forced the Executive Board to back down.

A week before the rally, further attempts to squelch it materialized in the “deal” brokered by the Executive Board and the City—again only a temporary band-aid on a gaping wound. This agreement encourages, rather than mandates, placement of ATRs with an administration whose track record has shown unprecedented commitment to eat away at public unions’ power. It is tantamount to having the fox watch the chicken coop. The deal was characterized as a resolution to the issue by the UFT leadership, who decided there was no need for a rally after all.

It would appear that the threat of the rally was being utilized by the UFT leadership to maneuver this deal. This is corroborated by the fact that the Union made no genuine efforts to mobilize or organize in any broad way for this event. However, the passion of the members and our just cause began to take on a life of its own, beyond the leadership’s control. Teachers are tired of give-backs. We deserve more respect than that.

The final blow to this member-driven initiative was the Executive Board’s decision to call for a meeting to celebrate the band-aid “agreement” at Wall Street Headquarters, at exactly the same time as the rally! A leadership that truly supported its members’ needs and aspirations would have instead supported this rally. A subsequent meeting could have announced the proposed temporary stop-gap measure, with the recognition that serious errors were made in the 2005 negotiations—the framework that set these unfortunate events in motion.

Regardless, the ATR rally started at 4PM, bringing out over 200 spirited members -- thanks to the hard work of the rank and file organizers. Many speakers denounced both the City and the UFT officials who created this situation and allowed it to fester so long. Although Ms. Weingarten declared that the rally was unnecessary at the 4pm Wall Street “wine and cheese” meeting, she appeared with a bullhorn as the rally was winding down at 6pm (with about 75 people). She gave lukewarm thanks to the organizers, perhaps to assert a certain level of control or to save face, in light of such strong grass roots sentiment regarding what many have defined as a carefully crafted strategy to chip away at tenure .

When Marjorie Stamberg, a key rally organizer, approached the bullhorn to address the crowd, Ms. Weingarten refused to let her speak, chastising her “for what she did.” The crowd chanted: “Let Marjorie speak!” forcing Ms. Weingarten to relent. After Marjorie spoke, many members began to chant: “Restore Seniority Transfer Rights Now!” Clearly frazzled with the dissidence targeted at UFT leadership, the Executive Board’s contingent left the rally.

This rally was an excellent beginning in our hard battle ahead to restore our contractual seniority transfer rights, to protect tenure, and to bolster and defend our contract. In a truly democratic union, the leadership has faith in and responds to the will of the membership. The “deals” that have been made over the past 30 years to “save” unions have in fact resulted in the dismantling of Trade Unions and workers’ rights across this country.

We cannot abide continued UFT complicity with the City’s plans, which waste valuable qualified experienced educators--and over $75 million annually--while further diminishing the quality of education that our children deserve. Our communities have the right to know that part of this plan results in experienced and quality educators being replaced with less costly, less experienced teachers, thus impacting negatively on the quality of education for their children.
The lack of information, transparency and open debate in our union denies member input into critical issues about pedagogy and historic union rights. An uninformed membership gives even a well-intentioned leadership free rein to function as it pleases. As the economy worsens, we need to take a strong stand in defense of the rights of teachers and communities, rather than to facilitate the erosion of all that has been built over the years.

From the momentum generated by the ATR Ad-Hoc Committee, we could help to build a democratic movement within the UFT that recognizes that our strength derives from our members’ interactions, conversations and mobilizations. Such efforts will require a great deal of work, but the alternative is to passively stand by as we observe the destruction of quality education and ALL of our members’ rights.

We need to build the fight for a UFT contract that promotes and defends:

1. Seniority Rights
2. Tenure Rights
3. Smaller Class Size
4. Against All Merit Pay Schemes
5. Against the use of testing to rate teacher performance
6. Quality and Justice - Not Testing
7. No cutbacks
8. No more privatization schemes (Charter Schools and vouchers inclusive)
9. No layoffs and more.
Our current UFT leadership has not indicated its commitment to achieve these goals—it is up to the members to make this happen!
For more about the ATR Rally, the ATR issue, the current UFT-ATR agreement with the City and other comments go to:

http://supportatrs.blogspot.com
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-

November 24 Defend ATRs Rally Photo Album

Photos courtesy of Ivan Rowe, Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Class Struggle Education Workers (CSEW). To contact Ivan Rowe, e-mail survivalthing@hotmail.com or call (917) 659-2619.

Hundreds of New York City teachers and supporters rallied at the headquarters of the NYC Department of Education headquarters at Tweed Courthouse on November 24.

They were protesting the DOE offensive, echoed by the media, against 1,500 teachers placed in the Absent Teacher Reserve pool due to the endless school "reorganizations" ordered from Tweed. Another 100+ first year Teaching Fellows are threatened with dismissal by December 5 if they do not find positions.

The teacher bashing is ultimately in the service of union-busting, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein take aim at teacher tenure.

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) agreed at an Oct. 15 Delegate Assembly to sponsor a rally to show support for ATRS and demand that no new hiring take place until ATRs receive permanent placements. However, a few days before the rally the UFT and DOE signed a side agreement to encourage, but not mandate, the placement of ATR teachers.

On the day of the rally the UFT leadership held an "informational session" at union offices at 52 Broadway while some 225 teachers rallied in support of the ATRs at Tweed Courthouse. After 1 hour and 45 minutes, the UFT leaders finally arrived.

To see photos, click on play button. For full screen mode and photo credits, click on symbol at lower right of slideshow once it is playing. To see all photos go to Support ATRs flickr site.

Tonight's Great Demo -- We Stood Up for the ATRs

Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe.

This report was written on November 24 following the rally to defend teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).

Colleagues, I think we can be immensely proud of the rally we had tonight. It was empowering to hear so many teachers, social workers, counselors and all school staff speak at the "open mike" with their ideas, their stories, their struggle. Every single person who came played an important role in building it at their schools, their committees, and among their friends. It was a real teacher rebellion.

While we were rallying outside the Department of Education, the UFT/Unity leadership was drinking wine and munching cheese at the UFT and having the side agreement explained. (They even had people stationed at Broadway and Chambers re-routing teachers away from the rally and down to the UFT.) Hopefully, some ATRs will get positions from the agreement, but it does not change the basic structure, which continually produces ATRs. We will continue to struggle for a job freeze until all ATRs who want them have positions.

By our count, about 225 UFT members rallied outside Tweed, starting at 4:30 p.m. Without telling us, the UFT leadership had changed the rally permit to 5 p.m., starting at 52 Broadway! That didn't stop us. We soapboxed, marched around, chanted and organized. Our rally "M.C.," John Powers did a great job keeping it all together.

Later, much later, the "official" delegation from Randi's "informational meeting" arrived, which added another 50-75 people, including a number of rank-and-filers, who were very glad to join us.

Marchers return to rally point after circling Tweed.

Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

At this point, we started a spirited march around the DOE/Tweed Courthouse chanting. Facing shouted objections when she started to start the "official rally" while the march was underway, Randi waited till we returned from this walkaround. After she had spoken, and a couple others, I asked to speak, which was angrily refused. Teachers started chanting for me to speak, and Weingarten had to agree. So I was able to get the message of our rally out again -- that is was our grass roots organizing in the schools that has built this rally, and we need to keep up the struggle.

There were many chants and shouts of "Bring Back Seniority" directed at the Unity leadership--an understanding that it was the sellout of the 2005 contract which has in good part led to this mess we're in. After awhile, when the leadership kept repeating "Let Teachers Teach," the crowd chanted back, "Place ATRs!"

Dr. Lezanne Edmond
CSEW photo

At our speakout, which lasted for well over an hour, there were many powerful voices. One of the first speakers was Dr. Lezanne Edmond, Ph.D. in education, literacy specialist and an ATR! She said "we have to stop making education a business and get back to the business of education." Among the speakers were John Lawhead from Tilden High School in Brooklyn, where they have lost many ATRs; Robert Bobrick who came with a group of teachers and students from Lafayette High School; Michael Fiorillo, chapter leader at Newcomers HS, colleagues from the "rubber room"; Christine Grassman from GED-Plus; Angela DeSouza from TAGNY, Keith Brooks from Restart.

Importantly, Dan Feldman spoke from the Teaching Fellows who are facing a December 5th "termination date" if they do not get assigned positions. (By the way if you know of any openings, please beat the bushes for them and inform us!).

John Powers
CSEW photo

There were speakers from ICE (Independent Community of Educators), Teachers for a Just Contract, Progressive Labor Party, and my group, the Class Struggle Education Workers, CUNY students from the Internationalist Clubs, the Support Committee for the Federation of Teachers of Puerto Rico (FMPR). I'm sure I've left some people and groups out. The striking thing is that EVERYBODY wanted to talk, and did.

There was a class of 30 students with their teacher from the Harry Van Arsdale Labor Studies Program at SUNY, who came to observe labor struggle in action! They surely got a taste of that tonight!

Marjorie Stamberg
Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

At the speakout, and again later, I called to "smash the Taylor Law" which keeps us from exercising labor's powerful weapon--the strike. That the main way the labor bureaucracy ties us to the bosses is through what Daniel De Leon called "the labor lieutenants of capital." We need a class struggle leadership, a break from the Democrats and Republicans, and a workers party and workers government.

Randi Weingarten
Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

The union leadership wanted to have at most a celebration of their side agreement. Hundreds of union rank and filers showed we are determined to keep up the struggle, not just for the ATRs but for all the anti-union attacks coming down the pike in this economic crisis. So we have a lot of work to do. But today was a great beginning.

Marjorie Stamberg
November 24, 2008

Video of the November 24 rally, Part I (26 minutes)
Thanks to David B.



Link to video of the November 24 rally, Part II (20 minutes)


Brief slideshow of the rally with part of Marjorie's speech.
From "Pseudo-Intellectualism" (http://dbellel.blogspot.com)

ATR ACTION ALERT UPDATE

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Updated RALLY Action Alert

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

You may know by now that the UFT is holding a discussion session regarding the new ATR agreement at 52 Broadway (our union hall) on Monday, November 24th at 4pm. After Randi Weingarten explains the agreement, those in attendance will march to Tweed for the rally.

We have distributed 1,000's of leaflets to schools across NYC that indicate the union's original meeting time of 4:30pm at Tweed. We will adhere to this plan, but send a small delegation of UFTers to first attend the gathering at 52 Broadway.

This has not been an easy movement to build for and at this point it is difficult for us to create and distribute new fliers with the aforementioned update. If you can arrive in lower Manhattan as early as 4pm, by all means you should feel free to attend Randi Weingarten's talk. Otherwise, meet us as planned (SEE BELOW).

Last, at this late moment, our leadership has still not produced one flier or poster for this event. This is unfortunate!

Thank you to all who helped the ATR Ad Hoc Committee follow through on planning and building for our rally!!!

In Solidarity,

John Powers / Chapter Leader: Liberation HS
Marjorie Stamberg / ESL Teacher / GED PLUS / District 79


P.S. See the information that follows:

Here are some updates from the ad hoc committee to support the ATRs.

Stand up for the ATRs! We want to send the strongest message to the DOE that the victimization of teachers who have been thrown into the Absent Teacher Reserve has to stop now. No new hiring till all ATRs who want positions are placed! No termination of the teaching fellows! Stop union-busting and teacher-bashing!


We have fought for the union as a whole to demonstrate its support for the ATRS. But we cannot rely on the bureaucracy to make it real, we have to mobilize in the schools. By the way, after we objected to having a soggy "candlelight vigil," the Chapter Leader Update is now referring to it as a rally. Good!

So here are next steps: Do Now

Get fliers out to your school (If you need flyers, let us know, see below).


Get teachers at your school to come with you--make a sign-up list to get solid commitments (see sign-up sheet attached). This is important--don't rely on "I'll try."

Bring everybody -- school staff, parents, students. Ask your chapter leader to hold a meeting and get everybody on board.


"Adopt a school" -- find one more school besides yours to get the fliers out--call your colleagues and friends in other schools.

Make posters --
Some suggested posters "______________(Name of School) is here to support the ATRs!" "Let Teachers Teach!" "Hiring Freeze Until ATRs are Placed"

*VERY IMPORTANT

*Meet Us at the Rally and Come in Together:

Activists are meeting up outside the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop on the 4, 5, 6 train in the open space alongside Tweed and City Hall. We will form up and come into the rally chanting "Let Teachers Teach!" Come with us and make a strong presence. *

*Time: 4:30pm
Place: Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers St. (btw Bway and Park Place)
DIrections: Any train to Chambers Street, Brooklyn Bridge or City Hall

Remember: This is everyone's fight*

*When the UFT's gave up senority transfers in the 2005 contract, it opened the door for the DOE to drive a truck through! Now 1,400 teachers are in the ATR pool and we need to get them out! The way the Board is closing schools, if you're not ATR now, you could be tomorrow.

More info or need leaflets:
supportatrs@gmail.com,
Website: supportatrs.blogspot.com
Call 917-545-5671

*If you need leaflets, please give us your name, school and address where to drop off and how many.


Message from Sean Ahern on ICE-mail:
The priority for Bloomberg is pushing forward with his power grab. The pushout of the senior teachers and ATRs has been placed on the back burner until after his election, after Randi's election. So for now its a win win both for Bloomberg and Weingarten to push divisive issues to the side that may interfere with their collaboration going forward for the next year.

Shanker collaborated with the banker's coup in 1975. 20,000 teachers were laid off, The neo liberal crap spread outwards from NYC. Now once again the UFT is leading the way in collaborating with another toxic initiative from the oligarchy to pull the rug out from under popular outrage at his power grab. The UFT leadership sings a lullaby to the members , then the members get whacked. The leadership weathers some outrage for a bit, but the opposition fades, never making much sense of what happened, and the leadership gets back to feathering its nest, insulating itself from members, accumulating property and influence.


Marjorie adds:

Totally agree with you re: Randi's posture and why there was a partial amelioration of ATR crisis (without altering the basic framework of dictatorial mayoral and principal control). Both she and Bloomberg/Klein want to get this "pesky issue" (of outrageous villification of more than a thousand teachers) out of the way, especially since she's being battered from a grass-roots movement inside the union about it. Then they figure they can go ahead with merit pay, charter schools, straight-out union-busting, a la Michelle Rhee. Much of which is part of Obama's education program, by the way

We better make sure this oppositon ain't fading. That means all of us. And we have the program to make sense of what happened and why it happened. Because of all the reasons you state, it was an excellent moment to puruse this crucial struggle. The mobilization of union power AGAINST the labor bureaucracy, whom Daniel De Leon called the "labor lieutenants of capital, we started here needs to be continued to face the really daunting challenges in the coming period.

Download Flier, Makes Copies, and Distribute Widely

The rally leaflet is available for downloading here.

Letter to Leadership: No Candles!

We have been informed that the November 24 Rally to Defend ATRs is now to be officially a "candlelight vigil." We strongly object to this change. The motion passed at the UFT delegate assembly October 15 said that "the UFT will organize a mass citywide rally to show our unity and strength." Instead of a show of strength, this turns it into a toothless gesture of "bearing witness" or silently standing by and observing as a travesty is taking place.

Furthermore, we were not consulted on this change, which was made without our knowledge, despite assurances from Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew that we would be included in the planning. The first we heard of this was in a changed rally leaflet we received this morning.

A candlelight vigil is a silent "protest at the suffering of some marginalized group of people, or in memory of lives lost to some disease, disaster, massacre or other tragedy."

We want to make precisely the opposite point -- that ATR teachers are not marginalized, that we stand by them, and the UFT will fight to ensure that they do not become "lost lives," a "massacre," a "disaster" or other "tragedy." We can "bear witness" all we want, but it won't stop Joel Klein from trying to drive out our colleagues. And it won't stop the likes of the New York Post from vilifying them and our union.

We will continue to plan for a mass citywide rally as "a show of our unity and strength" as the motion called for. I think many teachers will feel as we do that we need strong powerful action, and will not stand by in silence.

In the words of Joe Hill, the famous labor organizer, "Don't Mourn For Me--Organize!"

That is what we will continue to do and we encourage the UFT leadership to reconsider its plan.

John Powers
Marjorie Stamberg
for the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend ATRs

ATR RALLY -- Monday, November 24th!!!

ATR RALLY AT TWEED: 52 CHAMBERS STREET / 4:30
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH 2008

The UFT Executive Board tonight voted to set the date for the rally to support our colleagues in the Absent Teacher Reserve. The ad hoc committee to support ATRs had insisted that the rally be held between the elections and Thanksgiving in order to keep up the momentum, and make a strong show of union support. With a November 24 date, this will now be possible -- it's up to us and the whole union membership to make it real.

We need thousands to come out to say "no" to the teacher-bashers and union-busters.

Randi Weingarten introduced the motion, saying that the rally was voted by the Delegate Assembly on October 15, and we need to start building it. She added they will try to get as many UFTers there as possible. The rally would create pressure to get some action on the issue of the ATRs, she said, and the delegate assembly of November 12 can be helpful in building for the rally.

I spoke earlier at the E-Board, reading our statement and stressing that we needed a date now, that we "talked the talk" at the D.A., now we need a date to "walk the walk."

The union bureaucracy has been agonizingly slow in responding to the mounting crisis over the at least 1,400 teachers who have been removed from their positions. (Also, well over a hundred teaching fellows face 'termination" as of December 5, if they don't get permanent positions.) The stage was set by the 2005 UFT contract which gave up seniority transfers, which many of us opposed at the time. But now that it's clear that the DOE is using this to try to break teacher tenure, everyone can see the need for a powerful fightback.

Our amendment calling for the rally said that it calls on the DOE to "reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are hired." Let's act together to win this demand on behalf of teachers, and our students who are crammed in ever more crowded classrooms.

--Marjorie

BREAKING NEWS

THE UFT WILL HOLD THE RALLY SOMETIME IN LATE NOVEMBER OR EARLY DECEMBER.

ABSOLUTELY BEFORE DECEMBER 5TH.

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF OUR "SUPPORT THE ATRS" CAMPAIGN.

ATR Letter Sent to Editor at New York Teacher

To the New York Teacher:

New York Teacher Distorts ATR Citywide Rally Amendment

The latest issue of the New York Teacher asserts twice in its October 15th DA Report that our ATR amendment calls "to hold a citywide rally demanding the DOE reduce class size through assigning added positions to ATRs."

HERE IS THE ACTUAL AMENDMENT THAT WAS VOTED ON AT THE DELEGATE ASSEMBLY. AN ADDITIONAL HARD COPY OF THE AMENDMENT WAS FURNISHED UPON REQUEST BY ASSISTANT SECRETARY ROBERT ASTROSKY.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the UFT will organize a mass citywide rally to show our unity and strength, calling on the NYC Department of Education to reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are hired.

Your report misrepresents the amendment, as it fails to communicate to UFTers the grave importance of not allowing the DOE to hire new teachers until ATR teachers who wish to be are assigned. This is a crucial demand of the rally, not simply "added positions." It fails to recognize that many of our most talented and experienced colleagues yearn for permanent positions after being arbitrarily deprived of those positions by any number of circumstances including, class size reduction, school restructuring and the opening of new schools.

ATR FACTS

THE REAL FACTS ABOUT ATRs

Not the New York Post

With the new school year, the Department of Education and its trained media have resumed their favorite all-season sport: teacher bashing, and more particularly teacher-union bashing. The latest round began with a triple-barrel assault last month from the New York Post, Daily News and the New York Times blaming the UFT for the fact that the NYC Department of Education is refusing to assign some 1,400 teachers to classroom positions. Now a follow-up editorial from the Post (October 5) says: “Can anybody seriously doubt that the United Federation of Teachers stands as the chief impediment to meaningful reform of the New York City school system?” They claim that “ the city is paying out some $74 million a year –- and rising – to teachers who are too incompetent to teach.” This is a slanderous smear.

Chancellor Klein tried to float this last spring with a ballyhooed study by the New Teacher Project, which is funded by the DOE. As for its “report,” any Statistic 101 student could make mincemeat of the cooked-up figures that prove nothing, or the opposite of what they claim. Their main target is the teachers who have lost their positions due to the closures of schools or programs and who are now in the “Absent Teacher Reserve.”In fact, teachers who were “excessed” (in DOE-speak) are some of the most experienced, talented, and dedicated educators in the NYC school system. Many have been working among the neediest students in schools that have been systematically starved of facilities and funding by a DOE that has illegally diverted to other purposes millions of dollars mandated by the state to reduce class size.

Someone has to set the record straight, and it’s up to us, the teachers, to do it. We are calling upon our union, the UFT, to hold a mass citywide rally demanding that the Department of Education give positions to all ATR teachers who want them and that no new hiring take place until these teachers, and the teaching fellows who are at risk of termination, are placed.

We also urge the UFT to fight the smear campaign about ATR teachers. We need to reach out to the parents and communities who are allies in our struggle.Here’s the real story that the DOE and the media won’t tell you.

• The number of teachers in the ATR has ballooned in the last several years, going from under 800 at the start of the 2006-2007 school to almost 1,400 reported ATRs this September. The actual figure is likely much larger. This is not because NYC teachers have suddenly become more “incompetent” but because the DOE has stepped up its closure of schools. And there’s a reason behind their madness.

• Teachers are in the ATR pool because of a corporate scheme to “restructure schools” and cut the budget by excessing senior teachers who receive higher salaries. Under the new budget formulas, teacher salaries are paid for by each principal, which gives them a financial interest in lowering “personnel costs.”

• This is what you get when you have a school system run not by educators, but by lawyers, privatizers and corporate money counters. The DOE just hired George Raab, III, former managing director of investment banking (!) at the failed Bear Stearns Wall Street bank to be the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Education for $200,000 a year (check it out at TheDeal.com). As CFO of the DOE, he can run our schools into the ground!

• Meanwhile, classes are more overcrowded than ever. According to the latest figures available (February 2008), there are over 27,000 NYC students in classes that are larger than contractual limits (NYC DOE, 2007-08 Class Size Data Report). And according to a report of the New York State Education Department this school year “53.9% of New York City schools reported that either class size or pupil-to-ratio increased in 2007-08” (NY SED press release, September 15).

• So while thousands of students need teachers, there are thousands of certified, capable teachers who are being kept out of assignments by a Dept. of Ed. intent on enforcing its “principle” of total principal control of hiring in the schools. The ATR “problem” is of the NYC Department of Education’s own making. They are tearing up the lives of 1,400 dedicated educators, to be sacrificed on the altar on the Klein/Bloomberg “business model.”

• The crisis of ATR teachers stems from the 2005 contract when the UFT gave up seniority transfers which guaranteed teachers a right to a position. Now, the DOE wants to go after teacher tenure and the “no layoff” clause in the contract. Bloomberg and his minions are making ATRed teachers into scapegoats because they want to get rid of any form of job security.

• The media are howling about the city paying millions to teachers who supposedly sit around doing nothing. In fact, the large majority of ATR teachers are teaching every day and in difficult situations. Many are working in the same or similar job as they had before -- only now they have no security in their positions. Others are working out of substitute teacher pools, having to teach out of license, coming in cold to face a classroom of students whose individual strengths, difficulties and interests are unknown to them.

• Now the DOE has created an additional problem by hiring 5,400 new teachers, yet many of these have not been given assignments either. More than 200 of the teaching fellows have been given till December to find a position or be “terminated.” We must support these new teachers, many of whom left jobs and families behind to travel to NYC, only to be thrown into this “Catch 22” situation.ATR teachers are under attack The DOE is forever trying to break the contract with talk of forced “unpaid leave” after a year. What they are actually angling for in the short run is to turn “buyouts” into push-outs. The mayor and his education chief are trying to use the situation of the ATR teachers as a battering ram against the union as a whole. We cannot wait this one out. There is no “least bad” option. We must stand up for our ATRed colleagues, our union, and for the students who are already suffering the consequences of the DOE’s endless “reckless reorganizations.”

Assign ATR Teachers Before New Hiring Takes Place!

Stop the Smear Campaign Against ATR Teachers!

Stop Union-Busting! Stop Teacher Bashing!

Bring Back Seniority Transfer Rights!

ATR Petition Presented to Leadership

Let ATR Teachers Teach

As the new school year starts, schools are more overcrowded than ever. State money budgeted for reducing class size is used for other purposes. More than half (54 percent) of New York City schools have seen their class sizes or student-teacher ratios increase in recent years. At the same time, there are almost 1,400 teachers sitting in Absent Teacher Reserve, who are ready and able to teach! These are highly qualified teachers, many with years of experience. They are being prevented from teaching because their schools have been reorganized out from under them, and in many cases principals find it “cheaper” to hire less experienced teachers.

The huge ATR pool is a direct result of the 2005 UFT contract which sold out seniority transfers. Previously, tenured teachers were guaranteed a position; today they’re sitting in the Teacher Reserve. So after the DOE created this mess, now City Hall and the media are blaming the ATRed teachers. The “New Teacher Project,” funded by the DOE, calls for ATR teachers to be put on unpaid leave after a year – in other words, that they be fired. The DOE says it is talking with the UFT leadership about this. Others are floating the idea of “buyouts,” in which teachers will be forced out with minimal severance pay. (Even if they are supposedly “voluntary,” many will be pushed out the school door.)

This issue affects all teachers. If tenured teachers can be forced out on a large scale, what job protection is left? And it’s bad for students and parents. When the DOE refuses to reduce class size while keeping qualified teachers out of the classroom, kids suffer. The United Federation of Teachers must speak up and insist that there be no firings, no concessions on the no-layoffs clause, and demand that all ATR teachers who want them be given permanent assignments to classes.

We the undersigned call on the UFT to organize a mass citywide rally calling on the NYC Department of Education to reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are placed.


Name / Email / School








Fax petitions to Marjorie Stamberg at 212-614-8711.