Current Events
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November 2003: City Council Hearings on Union Work Rules
Testimonies of Jill Levy, President of CSA; Randi Weingarten, President of the UFT; Daniel Weisberg, NYCDOE Executive Director for Labor Policy, and Chancellor Joel Klein ![]()
Current Events:
New York City Council Education Committee held meetings in November, 2003, on the Teacher's contract, the Supervisors' contract and the school custodians' contract. Each group is blaming Chairwoman Eva Moskowitz for exposing work rules which are, the Unions say, supposed to be only for the collective bargaining table. Meanwhile, the New York City DOE and the Chancellor has refused to come to the table, and therefore none of the groups have contracts. Below are the testimonies of Council of Supervisors and Administrators' President Jill Levy, UFT President Randi Weingarten, , Chancellor Joel Klein, DOE Personnel Director Dan Weisberg, and School Custodian Union spokesman K TESTIMONY OF THE COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS JILL LEVY, PRESIDENT BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL EDUCATION COMMITTEE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2003 Good morning, Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Education Committee. Before I begin my formal testimony, I would like to take this opportunity to share with the committee and the public exactly who the members of CSA are and how they function above and beyond any contractual limitations on a daily basis. Let us remember September 11th, 2001 and be thankful that we did not lose one child in that disaster. In that extreme crisis, Principals, Assistant Principals and school Supervisors led their courageous teachers and other staff members in a mass exodus of children and faculty to safety. I remember the story told by a teacher who said that she was totally immobilized until her principal came by and gave her instructions. "I knew that everything was going to be okay, then," she said. And there was the brand new principal of a special education school who, late in the evening, caller her superintendent to say, "The children are still here and safe, but we've run out of medication." Our administrators in district offices got information, supplies and services to parents and schools under those extraordinary and painful conditions. This September, with all of the chaos of the reorganization, lack of information, staff and supplies, it was CSA members who opened schools safely for children and proceeded to provide instructional services from day one. They have done this work year after year. Now for my formal testimony... I appreciate the opportunity to bring before you for discussion matters that are obstacles to the efficient and effective functioning of our schools from the perspective of school principals, assistant principals, education administrators and supervisors and CSE chairpersons. These CSA members work directly in our schools, lend support to the schools and function in our new Regional Offices and at Tweed. In conversations with the Chairwoman I indicated that it was not appropriate for me to comment about union contracts other than that of CSA. This is a matter of inter-union ethics and Taylor law requirements. I am also concerned that the word on the street is that union contracts are the impediments to the functioning of our schools. We should be concentrating on matters that are within the purview of this committee in which the Council's Education Committee could actually involve itself and serve to improve. The City Council has no jurisdiction in the collective bargaining process or in the outcomes of negotiations. I have divided my testimony into three portions. First, I will respond to the document that you promulgated and sent out to the public and the media entitled, Council Notes: Principals' Contract, the Abridged Version of the Principals' Contract. Second, I will attempt to address some of the practical day-to-day obstacles that face CSA members in the execution of their duties. Finally, I will make some observations about the collective bargaining process and its impact upon the system's professional workforce. PART I Council Notes The document you sent out to the public is filled with misinformation, misinterpretations, misrepresentations and misplaced conclusions. For starters, our contract is not the "Principals' Contract", but the contract for all CSA members. Out of respect for my members, it should have been so entitled. An objective reading of the Council Notes leads us to the conclusion that there was nothing objective about the analysis of the CSA contract. The Council Notes read less like a neutral rendering of the CSA contract and more like an editorial. The changes in the language of the contract that were made by your office are misleading to the public. It is no secret that we have challenged portions of the reorganization and have a stipulated agreement that belies your interpretation and change of language. You took editorial license that you didn't have. Some of the most glaring errors are: On page 2, when referring to grievances, you conclude that if one CSA member grieves his/her supervisor who happens to also be a CSA member, CSA represents both parties. That is incorrect. CSA represents the grievant who is arguing that the contract has been violated and the Board of Education represents the other party who claims it has not been violated. The notes refer to the fact that CSA membership includes employees who are subordinate to one another as though there was an inherent conflict in that. Had you checked with the Public Employees Relations Board you would learn that mixed units of supervisors are the norm in New York State and there is not a conflict of interest under the Taylor Law. Contrary to your conclusion, the salary schedules in the CSA contract do reflect the market in comparable and regional districts and were negotiated in keeping with the collective bargaining patterns in the City. Additionally, in the 1999 contract, the CSA and the City agreed to differentials that were intended to assist in the functioning of the system. Specifically, the contract provides for differentials to attract principals to larger schools, to entice principals and other administrators to low performing schools and to reward principals and administrators in high achieving schools for sharing their success with others. Much of this is within the discretion of the Chancellor. Clearly, he has discretion under the contract to tailor compensation. To set the record straight on the issue of cash bonuses of $25,000 for principals transferring to low performing schools, when the Chancellor learned that the proposal would have added pension costs, it was the Board of Education that withdrew the proposal -not CSA. As for conclusions related to hiring, let us be very clear. The Chancellor promulgates the hiring processes for CSA members in accordance with the requirements of state education law and not our contract. And, it is the Community Superintendent, not the Local Instructional Superintendent who has the statutory authority to hire the principal in elementary and middle schools. The notes seem to be critical of the requirement that parents and representatives of unions participate in the selection process. This requirement, as well as other parts of the process, is mandated by New York State Education Law. Of course, both the CSA and the Chancellor are bound by law. The statement that CSA has challenged the policy to allow principals to hire their assistant principals is absolutely incorrect. We have demanded that principals be trained in the legal aspects of interviewing and hiring and be represented by the Board of Education in legal matters arising from such procedures. In reality, the principal is not the hiring authority since under the Chancellor's regulations the LIS can disapprove the selection. Of course under law it is the Community Superintendent who is the actual appointing authority in elementary and middle schools. Contrary to the statement in the Notes regarding working conditions, the portion of our contract which provides relief from non-supervisory duties in schools, refers specifically to intermediate supervisors-not to principals. The characterization that those principals and assistant principals who work the full calendar year get "additional annual leave and other benefits as compared to their school-year counterparts" is erroneous. In fact, they get additional pay and two additional sick days per year, but have a much-reduced annual leave and receive no additional benefits. As to principal evaluations, they are conducted through a mutually agreed upon process and document. This work was initiated by McKinsey and Company, the same consulting group spearheading the reorganization, and was completed in 1996. The Principals' Performance Review is not only contained in our contract, but is referenced in State Education law. When used properly, the PPR serves not only as an effective tool to assess school leaders, but can be used to improve every aspect of their performance as school leaders. The claim that an assistant principal and principal have different rights when they are terminated for poor performance is incorrect. It is the By-laws of the Board of Education and our contract that provides all supervisors with the right to revert to their last appointed position. It is very misleading to claim that termination of a principal sets off a round of "bumping"; there are always assistant principal vacancies into which a terminated principal can be placed. In regard to transfers, the Notes mischaracterize the eligibility requirements for application for a job in another district. A supervisor is eligible to apply for a transfer whenever she wants, regardless of experience. Specifically, the Council asserts that for a supervisor to be eligible to apply for a transfer, the supervisor must have completed 5+ years of continuous service. In fact, the 5 year requirement only makes a supervisor eligible for an automatic interview. Contrary to the Notes on page 6, when the Board of Education cuts the # of supervisors in the system, it is state education law that requires that layoffs be done based upon seniority. CSA's contract defers to state education law when layoffs are required. I am sorry I had to devote so much time to addressing the misinformation and erroneous conclusions contained in the Council's Notes/Abridged Version of the Principals' contract but, as I stated previously, if we were given the opportunity, we would have assisted the Council in preparing an accurate and fair document worthy of bearing the City Council's imprimatur. It is now time to turn our attention to what I believe was the original intention of these hearings - the obstacles to effective and efficient operations of schools. PART II Reorganization Impediments As many of you know, we at CSA feel that this system-wide reorganization seems to be more about the organization itself, rather than helping to better educate children. Aspects of this plan raise new hurdles everyday, and prevent CSA members from effectively doing their jobs. In the next few minutes, I'll highlight several areas that are key concerns to our union. Among them: The new so-called streamlined bureaucracy has instead become an unnavigable monster, with new additional layers of micromanagement. Administrative support is no longer in proximity to instructional support, and schools are struggling to get the answers and assistance they need. Principals were promised more autonomy and authority, as well as a reduction in their administrative workload, but that has not come to fruition. Students are being lost in the shuffle. Special Education students, for example, lost critical advocacy from the recently laid-off Supervisors of Special Education, leaving them short-changed - or worse. Some aspects of the reorganization were not well-thought out and as a result have created additional problems for school leaders. Coaches, for example, are not selected by the principal and do not report to the principal, but evaluate and instruct teachers - in violation of contracts and state law. The Board of Education is not utilizing basic aspects of our contract such as the Principal Performance Review (PPR), excellent tools already at its disposal for strengthening schools. As I begin to walk you through these issues, it's important for me to reiterate CSA's long-standing support for reform within the school system. To that end, our union has always and will always beat the drum for better ways to run the bureaucracy, and most importantly, to finally put more resources where they belong -- in the schools, helping our city's children. Let me give you a few examples: CSA sits on the Board of New Visions for Public Schools and was very active in the creation of the New Century High School Initiative. More than forty (40) of these new schools are now in operation around the five boroughs, offering thousands of students another educational option. CSA proposed that each Principal be given a School Operations Officer, similar to the A.P. for Administration in the high schools, to handle the budgetary and business aspects of the job. Freed of administrative obligations that chain them to their desks for hours each day, Principals could instead focus on the children and staff, and be the Instructional Leaders we all want them to be. The Chancellor even promised he would make this happen, but sadly the city's half-hearted effort came too little, too late. It was only after school budgets were completed that the city decided to let Principals utilize their strained school budgets to hire an underqualified, underpaid staffer to do basic administrative tasks. CSA was instrumental in the development of the Principals' Performance Review (PPR). We were well out in front, demanding appropriate professional development for school leaders in State Legislation. The Professional Development Center (PDC) has not been funded since Chancellor Crew. We have had to fund our award winning Supervisory Support Program because the Board of Education has refused to provide funding. Long before the Leadership Academy in which Joel Klein takes such pride, the CSA established the Executive Leadership Academy and the Leadership Institute for Educators, two not-for-profit organizations dedicated to the training and professional support for school leadership. The City Council has been extraordinarily generous in supporting borough based Leadership Centers in which CSA, in partnership with the Council, other service Providers, universities and the Board of Education provide cutting edge professional opportunities. Our contract reflects our willingness to streamline and professionalize working conditions, salary structure and due process matters. It's also important to note that CSA, while cautious, had initially supported Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein as they embarked on this journey of theirs. We saw an opportunity for the development of fresh ideas and perspectives. Only after they repeatedly violated and ignored our contract and the law did we lose faith. In our discussions with Chancellors Crew, Levy and Klein, we expressed our concern that the system was not utilizing its personnel appropriately. Good teachers are constantly pulled out of the classroom to assist principals in non-teaching duties, while supervisors are asked to undertake non-supervisory responsibilities. Bureaucracy When a Principal needed to get something done under the old system, knowing who to talk to was the least of his or her problems. No matter what the issue, you went to your Superintendent or your Director of Operations for assistance. Under the new system, there are separate centers for instruction, operations and support services, two new levels of Superintendents and various new Directors. The lines of communication and authority have blurred, and Principals are understandably confused as to where they should bring their concerns. We warned the Board they were heading for trouble. We told them they were putting far too much pressure on far too few people. We all know about the busy signals, unanswered phones and full voicemail boxes when we call the Regional Operation Centers. And when we do get through, we're often told that they can't help us. Also a major factor for principals: they are being micromanaged like never before, taking them away from their primary task as an Instructional Leader. Dozens of duplicative emails, checklists, forms and other paperwork flood their offices each day, taking up valuable time. To cite just one example, take the 'Principals' Weekly', put out by the Chancellor and his people each week. The last few have ranged from 8 to 17 pages in length. These are no doubt filled with important issues that need to be addressed, but understand it takes time to go through these documents and take action where needed. Bureaucracy has also given us horrible overcrowding problems this year, and our people are left dealing with the fallout. The responsibility for student enrollment has been split between the different operational and instructional centers, and there are very few people left who have experience with the whole admissions process. For schools that are already dealing with limited resources, coping with overcrowding has meant a great deal of improvisation. Empowerment and Autonomy Under the Children First agenda, Principals were supposed to have: Increased control over school budgets Ability to select new Assistant Principals Reduced administrative burden The reality is quite the opposite. Once teachers, curriculum and dozens of other factors are weighed in, Principals have little control over their budgets at all. In fact, daily changes in school budgets take place without notification to or input from Principals. Furthermore, the small amount they do control must be reviewed and approved by their Local Instructional Superintendent. That's not control. That's pandering. As for Assistant Principals, they've been left out of the Board's literature, so we're still trying to get a handle on that situation. Since I've already discussed AP's, we'll move on for now and revisit the issue when we talk about Coaches. We've already discussed some of the administrative burdens, and we'll touch on them a little later as well. Special Education Let's turn to the often neglected and potentially dangerous situation in Special Education. More than two months into the school year, Medical Records and Individual Education Plans (IEP's) for Special Ed students are still not at the schools they attend. How is anyone to know exactly how a particular student is supposed to be educated and cared for? Normally, a Principal could ask his or her Supervisor of Special Education. After all, they worked in the schools everyday to make sure every student received the help they needed. But as you know, all 351 of them were laid off, and their thousands of years of experience are gone. Schools must now rely on 200 individuals who are not school-based, and who have much higher case loads and other responsibilities. So now the job falls squarely on the Principal, but despite their best intentions, most do not have the expertise to evaluate a student and make sure that student is receiving the proper attention. A few classes over the summer do not make a Principal or an Assistant Principal an expert in Special Education instruction. So what happens when something goes wrong? Then what? What do we tell the Principal who was attacked by a student whose records had not made it to the school? What do we say to the parent whose child requires a feeding tube and was not fed for a full day? The Chancellor will tell you there are bumps in the road. These are not bumps. These are serious and dangerous incidents that have happened. More will, unless the BOE finally steps up, admits its shortcomings and corrects them. Let's go back to the IEPs. Our Principals are now being told by the Regional Operations Centers that they have no clerical staff to copy these files and get them to the school. Instead, they suggest that schools send over an Educational Paraprofessional. Sounds easy enough, but Paraprofessionals are few and far between in this reorganization. There is no money in any budget to hire them for Special Education. And don't even think about finding money for a substitute Paraprofessional. It doesn't exist. The only way a Principal can get money for a new Paraprofessional is if the students IEP demands it. This brings us another problem. Principals tell us they can't even get a new file number from the Regional Committees on Special Education to put new students into the system. IEPs are not being written for children who need special education services. When those students are finally added to the Special Education rolls, there is no money to open a new class for them. Classes across the city are overcrowded. That problem has not gone away, but when Special Education classes are overcrowded it is a violation of city, state and federal laws and the city is doing nothing to fix the problem. The aforementioned Supervisors of Special Education were there to advocate for these children, but they are gone. Another problem lies in the city's attempt to solve the IEP dilemma. They have created a new IEP position, but many of these new workers do not have access to the system that tracks Special Education students or they do not know how to use the computer system and cannot update IEPs. Let's move to District 75, schools designed specifically for Special Education students. Are you aware that children are being kept out of inclusion classes? They were already rejected by their regional schools and are now being told there is no room for them in District 75. These children are sitting at home instead of being educated. Why hasn't this problem been fixed? There is a cascading chain of broken links all the way up and down the current Special Education system. These children must not be forgotten. Coaches In many schools, Assistant Principals are assigned the task of implementing the curriculum and making sure teachers are effectively instructing their students. Now we have coaches, who are all being trained in the brand new curriculum and are supposed to make sure teachers are instructing their students. This quandary leads to teachers getting two sets of instructions, from coaches who answer to managers OUTSIDE the school and from Assistant Principals who are their supervisors INSIDE the school. Not very efficient or well thought-out design and a violation of our contract. Further, many Principals tell us coaches are showing up only 1 or 2 days a week at best. The Regions where we've had the most problems are 1, 5, 9 and 10. Since coaches are not selected by Principals and do not report to the Principal, it's a difficult problem to address. There are many schools throughout the system who, in place of Coaches, were supposed to be provided with an AUSSIE, which is the name of the Australian company overseeing the coaches training. They're not in schools now. In High Schools the problem takes on a new level of frustration. Assistant Principals have been assigned the jobs of English and Math coaches. So in addition to their regular jobs, they are performing a new role. They are constantly being pulled out their schools for workshops and retreats. How are they supposed to perform their duties as Assistant Principals? Principal Performance Review (PPR) If the Chancellor truly wants 1,200 excellent Principals running 1,200 excellent schools, as he has said numerous times in the past, he should make much better use of the Principal Performance Review (PPR). PART III Observations & Recommendations Finally, I would like to turn my attention to the issue of leadership morale, responsibility without authority, and the problems of sustaining a leadership work force in this current environment. Although the Principal's Performance Review is a contractual agreement and referenced in State Education law, the Board of Education has never utilized it in the manner in which it was intended. Test scores, attendance and suspension data, and a variety of issues not at the heart of the document have upstaged the observable performance continuum. Based upon national standards of performance, the PPR was designed specifically to bring the community superintendent into the school and to be engaged in the leadership development of principals. Instead it has been used as a head battering club rather than the collaborative, instructive and professional document that was intended. Some regional superintendents have tried to change the content and process and this serves to confuse everyone involved in the matter. People have a right to know the criteria upon which they will be judged. They also have a right to the appropriate resources to enable them to perform adequately. Without having those basic needs met, your school leaders undoubtedly feel insecure and unsupported. The reorganization has only served to exacerbate this problem. Instead of being perceived as supportive, the LIS's who seem to have been illegally cloaked in community superintendents' garb, have proceeded to micromanage, oversee, supervise and evaluate principals. This does not seem to be giving authority back to the principals as once suggested by the Chancellor. In highly effective organizations, there are adequate supervisory ratios. In the case of the Board of Education, apparently, the ratio is one LIS to ten-twelve schools. Doesn't it make sense to have a similar ratio within our schools? One supervisor for every ten teachers, would certainly answer the morale issue of too much to do and too few people to do it. Such a ratio also mitigates against having to pull teachers out of the classroom to undertake tasks other than teaching responsibilities. Isn't email wonderful? It is wonderful if it is used properly. Right now, principals are being emailed duplicative information, additional demands from their region, and a variety of information that used to be sent to the secretaries for distribution. The amount of time it takes a principal to forward, download, read and respond to emails is counterproductive. With the increased use of technology, one needs to determine whether technology will aid or destroy us. Schools are social institutions trying to build learning communities. They are not corporate entities that have the capacity to change their products, services and raw materials without public input. Micromanagement, disrespect and outright arrogance have no place in our schools. Such behavior serves to destroy- not build, depress- not elevate and destabilize our schools and the professionals who commit to service. Children First? No! The new reorganization, not CSA's contract, puts organization first - form before substance. http://www.csa-nyc.org/levytestimony111403b.html Randi Weingarten - UFT President Testimony nov. 19 The New Knapp Commission Likening herself to the lawyer who headed the 1970 Knapp Commission's hearings on police corruption at which whistleblower Frank Serpico risked his life by testifying, the head of the City Council Education Committee, Eva Moskowitz, is holding hearings on the school labor contracts: ours, the principals' and the custodians'. (Perhaps the McCarthy hearings would have been a more apt comparison.) Complete with static-filled audiotapes of anonymous principals (made necessary, Moskowitz charged, because of witness intimidation, by whom she would never say), and a so-called Cliffs Notes abridged version of the contract that was replete with errors and misrepresentations, the hearings were clearly a set-up to give Moskowitz a platform and to appeal to parents at the expense of custodians, teachers and even principals. Public hearings on contracts while negotiations are proceeding are unprecedented. They make the parties much more rigid in their positions and diminish the prospect of a successor agreement. Once I prevailed on the Council to give parents, teachers and the public the last word, rather than the chancellor as Moskowitz had planned, I thought it was important to set the record straight. Here are excerpts from my testimony. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to be here today on behalf of our 100,000 active members and the children they educate -despite what you may have read. I was shocked to see the chair's reference to Frank Serpico in the paper, and it prompted me to look again at Peter Maas's book about that brave whistleblower. Although you apologized for the remark to me privately, I think it is important that the public understand that you did not mean to imply that we have ever, or would ever, threaten our members - or anyone else -for blowing the whistle on the problems in our city's schools. Because, Madam Chair, we are the whistleblowers. And we have been blowing our whistles clearly and loudly for some time - on class size, on the rise in safety incidents and the lack of supplies, on overcrowding and on the lack of respect for teachers' professionalism, among many other serious issues that confront our schools today. That's what 20,000 of my members were doing here on Oct. 21. That has not made us popular at Tweed and at City Hall. I suspect the more we do that, the more we will be demonized. But let me be clear: When we see problems with the way our schools are being run, problems that impact on children's learning, we will say so. Our members will not be intimidated. What they are afraid of is what's going on in their schools - what's happening to them and what's happening to their ability to educate their students. Because all too often, fear and intimidation are the dominant management tools in our schools today. Every minute of the day and every inch of the classroom is dictated. The arrangement of desks, the format of bulletin boards, the position in which teachers should stand (never sit, except in a rocking chair when reading aloud!) are not only regimented, but spelled out in brusque, autocratic memos that warn - and I quote - "this is non-negotiable, and failure to comply will result in disciplinary action." Teachers are demeaned, stripped of their professionalism, and expected to behave like robots incapable of independent thought. They feel neither valued nor respected. Highly qualified teachers bristle at demands for blind obedience to dumb directives. They want to diagnose their students' needs and teach to their strengths. They want to engage, to question - and that means everyone, by the way, including their union. I invite you to come with me to a school meeting and hear the level of questioning and concern. My members are not shy to tell me if I've done something they disagree with. That's why I love representing them. I also love that under the most difficult conditions they are willing to work hard every day to make a difference in the lives of children. So, in the spirit of a hearing, let me ask the first question: If the UFT/DOE contract gives teachers so much power, as the chair and editorial writers suggest, why do they no longer have any control or professional latitude in their classrooms? No doubt you will hear about all of this at next Thursday's hearing, as I do at every school I visit. But one thing you won't hear, contrary to the myths promulgated by the chancellor and some editorialists and by this document (the so-called abridged contract, which by the way, was printed in a non-union shop) is how great the contract is for teachers. Just ask yourself: If the contract really delivered the nirvana for teachers that some think it does, why aren't teachers knocking down our doors to get in? If teaching under this contract is such a cushy job, why do one in four new teachers leave within a year, 40 percent within three years? And if the contract made teachers so invulnerable, why are teachers feeling so pressured and so demoralized? The answer is clear. The contract is not the management straitjacket some claim it to be. It is being used as a scapegoat by those who wish to explain away their own managerial failures. Both Chancellor Klein and the committee chair should know better than to perpetuate these misconceptions about the UFT/DOE contract. We will rebut the inaccuracies and misrepresentations in this supposed summary in a separate document. But in the meantime, a couple of items must be countered because they are outrageously unfair to teachers, belittling their hard work and their commitment to their students and their profession. A teacher's hours: Anyone who's been a teacher or knows one realizes what it takes. Saying that a teacher's workday is 3.75 hours is demeaning and insulting to teachers and shows absolutely no understanding of their work. It totally ignores the countless hours spent preparing lessons, reviewing student work, completing reports and other paperwork, finding appropriate materials, contacting parents, making copies and myriad other tasks related to teaching. Not counting that time is as ridiculous as saying a football player works only two hours a week, the time of an official game, or a lawyer works only when she stands in a courtroom. Aside from that, it ignores half of the school system - the elementary school teachers who work a different schedule; it ignores non-teaching professional activities that teachers are involved in during the day; and it ignores time between classes when teachers ready the room, prepare materials for distribution and get students seated and ready to work. Circular 6: This provision that removed teachers from most non-professional duties was in response to the very argument that teachers were spending too much time on administrative tasks. Initially our proposal was targeted at limiting out-of-classroom assignments and exchanging assignments such as cafeteria duty and toilet patrol, which teachers found particularly onerous and unprofessional, for more professional responsibilities. Rudy Giuliani seized on it, equating it with civilianization of the police department and seeing it as a way to hire perhaps thousands of new school aides for his close ally, Charles Hughes, then head of the school workers local of DC 37. This swap of time and what it would entail was one of the reasons my members rejected the 1995 contract. When we sought changes, then-Mayor Giuliani was adamant about retaining it. When we realized how much money it would cost to implement it well, I (as Sandy Feldman's chief negotiator) asked for salary instead, which the city also rejected. Now the city blames us. Chancellor Klein, too, throws around a lot of outdated myths when he cites the contract as the root of all that ails our schools. Let's look specifically at what he calls the three pillars of the contract and what, long before this administration, the UFT did or offered to do in each area. Since negotiations are not an evidence-free zone, let's look at the facts. Tenure which of course is state law and long pre-dates collective bargaining, is a favorite target. The chancellor says it's too hard to discipline or remove a teacher. Fact: Three times in as many contracts this union and the Legislature have streamlined and expedited the teacher disciplinary process. What the chancellor says takes years, last year under the new rules, took on average, 65.5 days. Fact: In a member survey a few years ago, more than 80 percent of our members said they did not want to teach beside incompetent teachers, and we have for years struggled to find a fair and constructive solution. So we designed and continue to operate the Peer Intervention Program, an award-winning and much-copied program for tenured teachers who are at risk of unsatisfactory ratings, to help them improve or counsel them out of the profession. Seniority-based assignments: The chancellor promotes the myth that seniority keeps the most experienced teachers from the schools where he believes they are most needed and forces new teachers into the most difficult settings. Fact: Seniority transfers account for less than 10 percent of all vacancies filled each year. Last year, principals hired nearly 9,000 new teachers to fill vacancies, and seniority transfers filled about 600. Fact: A contractual provision urged by the union allows all schools that choose to do so to establish personnel committees, including the principal, to fill all vacancies by developing their own required qualifications and choosing among applicants. It is working in almost 400 schools. You'd think this was just what the chancellor would want to promote, [yet he has not]. Fact: The ETS agreement suggests a model for attracting senior teachers to more challenging schools with incentives instead of forced transfers. Not only did those schools attract a full contingent of certified teachers, but those teachers stayed. Last year, for example, there were only five seniority transfers from the 36 ETS schools. Fact: The UFT has suggested an induction model for new teachers that includes a lighter teaching load, mentoring by a senior teacher and more opportunity for in-class professional development. Single pay schedule: The chancellor wants to be able to pay more to teachers in shortage areas and in harder-to-staff schools. Fact: In 1999 after a year-long study the union proposed a new system of teacher evaluation, advancement and pay that enabled teachers who demonstrated special skills and knowledge to earn more and assume different responsibilities. Fact: In 2000 the union included in its contract proposals additional pay for teachers who earned additional certification in specified shortage areas and, since 1983, we have provided that teachers in shortage areas can earn additional pay by teaching an additional class. So the issue here for us is not differentiated pay; the issue is first having a competitive base salary and then looking at what kind of differing pay works. That is what the chancellor and the mayor refuse to discuss. To conclude, we want to work with the chancellor and mayor and they say they want to work with us. So what's the problem? That's a question I hope you'll ask the chancellor. Here are some more questions: If the chancellor and the mayor want change so much, why aren't they sitting down with us to negotiate these things? Why have they never presented to us at the bargaining table any of the demands and desires they are so eager to express in the media? Why have they never responded to our contract aims presented to them at the brief September negotiating session - which the chancellor didn't even bother to attend? Perhaps they don't really want to resolve the issues they carp about so much. Perhaps they'd rather take all the credit if they succeed and be able to blame us if they fail. Perhaps they'd rather have a scapegoat than negotiate. Why have they never presented to us at the bargaining table any of the demands and desires they are so eager to express in the media? Since it's been impossible to get them to the table, I'd like to use this forum to put forth our own three pillars of an agreement. They're the new 3 Rs: retention, resources and respect. When you put them all together, you'll get results for kids. [After discussing the first two of these, I continued . ] Finally, and maybe most important, is the issue of respect. It underlies everything else. Adequate resources and decent working conditions show respect. Consultation and professional discretion show respect. A safe environment and enforcement of a serious student discipline code show respect. If there were true mutual respect among all staff, parents and students, there would be no need for a contract of more than a few pages, assuring little more than collaboration and due process. The rest would come naturally. We agree with Chancellor Klein that we need a new approach to labor-management relations. And that approach, just like the approach we advocate for schools, should be based on trust and respect. On that foundation, change is not a problem, it is a challenge. It is not feared, it is embraced. It is not a battle, it is a mutual quest. However, change is made far more difficult when one side is unfairly demonized. I have noticed a disturbing trend in recent weeks and months. Confronted by the chaos they have created and faced with their own failure to bring positive change to our schools, the Bloomberg/Klein administration has decided not to change its course but instead to demonize teachers. That is a mistake. We will not make progress in our schools by demonizing teachers - and I will not stand for it. We share Chancellor Klein's sentiment that we should work together "to create a set of labor-management rules that respect our teachers while providing all of our students the quality of teaching they need and deserve." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. So, for my final point, one that we teach kids all the time: Actions speak louder than words. If the DOE wants to work with teachers, why have they failed to listen to the voices of teachers? And why are they raising concerns here that they have not raised at the bargaining table? True reform in our schools depends on our working together in the best interest of children. It's time to stop demonizing and start working together. http://www.uft.org/?fid=198 Testimony of Dan Weisberg Executive Director for Labor Policy New York City Department of Education Before the New York City Council Committee on Education November 14, 2003 Thank you Chairwoman Moskowitz and members of the Education Committee for inviting us to answer questions about the operation of our schools. My name is Dan Weisberg and I am Executive Director for Labor Policy for the New York City Department of Education, and I am joined by Dr. Joyce Coppin, the Chief Executive of our Division of Human Resources and Bernard Gassaway, Senior Superintendent of Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs. Today's hearing is about work rules set forth in our contract with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators affecting Principals, Assistant Principals and other school supervisors. I think we can all agree that good schools have one thing in common - effective leadership. As the Chancellor has said many times, principals are the key change agents in our system and they play a critical role in carrying out our reforms and bringing our children the dramatic improvement in the quality of education they deserve. A major theme of the Chancellor's reform efforts is to give principals the authority and discretion to effectively lead their schools. For the first time, we have given principals authority over their school budgets so they can allocate resources according to the priorities they set for their schools. In addition, though tis change was opposed by CSA, we have given principals the power to select their assistant principals, subject to seniority-based bumping and retention rules, so they can better shape their own leadership teams. We need to do more to empower principals. Assistant principals are governed by the same de facto lifetime tenure rules as teachers. As a result, for example, principals taking over failing schools can be hamstrung as they may inherit sub-standard assistant principals who do not share their goals or priorities. There is little that we can do in these situations. We have no ability to involuntarily transfer such assistant principals to other sites where they might be a better fit, and the tenure rules make it next to impossible to discharge an assistant principal for anything less than serious misconduct. The seniority-based "excessing" system also has a negative impact on schools. For example, a principal who recruits a promising new assistant principal and invests the time to train him or her can have the assistant principal "bumped" out of his or her position at any time by a more senior assistant principal displaced from another school. This "bumping" takes place without regard to merit, or to whether the principal involved approves of it. The CSA contract also constrains us in our ability to assign principals to schools where they are needed most. For example, we have no ability to offer experienced principals cash incentives to voluntarily take over difficult and challenging schools for a limited period. As a result, experienced principals are often reluctant to take on such an assignment, leading all too often to a "revolving door" of inexperienced principals overwhelmed by the challenge. If we not only had the tools to induce experienced principals to take on difficult schools but such principals were also able to freely choose their assistant principals we would then have the opportunity to install entire "turn-around" teams of principals and assistant principals in chronically failing schools. This would be a powerful tool for our superintendents, allowing them to achieve quick results for those children who have suffered in the worst school situations. We look forward to addressing these issues and others with CSA during the collective bargaining process. http://www.csa-nyc.org/weisberg111403.html Testimony of Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein Before the City Council Education Committee Monday, November 17, 2003 Chairwoman Moskowitz and Members of the Education Committee: I would like to start by thanking you for holding these hearings on this very important subject. Over the past year, under Mayor Bloomberg's leadership, the New York City schools have begun an historic process of reform -- a process of fundamental change in all aspects of our schools, from changing the curricula, to empowering principals, to placing literacy and math coaches in our schools, to hiring a parent coordinator for each of our schools, to cutting enormous waste from the bureaucracy. All of these reforms have but one objective: to give all of our children a first-class education. The existing labor contracts frustrate that objective. They are dysfunctional in that they make it more difficult for the many excellent teachers and principals in our system to teach our children, and they result in our schools being less clean, less safe, and less pleasant places in which to work and learn. Changing these contracts -- so that teachers can teach, and principals can run their schools -- is an essential step if we are to have the first-class schools that New Yorkers want and that New Yorkers deserve. I would like to make clear to everyone that, in criticizing these contracts, I intend no criticism of the thousands of committed teachers, principals, assistant principals, custodians and other staff who work hard every day in challenging conditions to teach and support our children. By and large, our employees are enormously devoted and caring people. Many perform heroic acts for our kids, and their good work too often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. I believe that these employees want what we want: to work in schools that do right by our kids. Far too often, that is not happening now and hasn't happened for many, many years. One of the reasons -- though of course not the only reason -- is that the work rules in the existing contracts make success considerably more difficult. Our teachers and principals know that; indeed, many of them have told me precisely that. I also want to make clear that I fully support and appreciate the importance of unions and of collective bargaining in protecting the interests of working men and women. My father was a member of the postal carriers' union for more than a quarter of a century, and I spent many, many years representing labor unions and working side-by-side with them to protect the rights and interests of working people. But I strongly believe that the existing labor contracts disserve the goals of the very people they are intended to help -- the hard-working and dedicated people who are employed in our schools. The meddlesome, wasteful rules in the existing contracts protect the incompetent while shackling the hands of the many skillful teachers and principals in our system. These work rules squander precious resources, resources that could be used to enhance educational opportunities and to hire and retain excellent teachers and staff. I have little doubt that the savings that can be achieved from eliminating these burdensome work rules can benefit both the City's taxpayers as well as our teachers and other school-based staff. Take, for example, the work rules known in our system as "Circular 6" that bar teachers from being in hallways between classes, or conducting home rooms for our kids, or being in lunch rooms. Does anyone think that's a good idea? As a matter of safety and discipline, what signal does it send to the kids when the teachers aren't out in the halls between classes? How many relationships have each of you formed when you were students by talking with teachers during lunch period? And home rooms: it's the time when you pull things together, when you start the day, feeling at home. And who would defend the arbitrary limitations in the custodians' contract: restrictions on the number of floor tiles that can be replaced, or a 10-foot rule for painting, or a prohibition on doing window trim? Or, for that matter, why should we have a custodial-budgeting rule that doesn't take into account the age and condition of a building or the number of students who attend? It makes no sense. Then there is the fact that it takes more than two years to navigate the process even to attempt to rid the system of incompetent teachers, all the while these teachers get to remain in the very school that is trying to remove them. Who thinks that's a good idea? As a practical matter, all too often the result of this incredibly cumbersome process is that these teachers and their principals end up agreeing that the teacher will leave, invoke his or her seniority rights, and simply move on to another school. Who gets hurt? The staff and the kids at the new school. And does anyone think that it makes sense to force principals to take assistant principals on the basis of seniority and then have to undergo a multi-year process before they can terminate them? Just as Members of the Council are able to choose and remove their staff, so too should principals have that ability. Or take the provision that requires lock-step pay, based on anything but need and merit. Each year, try as we might, we cannot, for example, get enough certified math teachers or teachers who teach our English Language Learners. There is a national shortage in these areas, and everyone knows that the way to solve it is through the use of pay differentials, just as universities pay math professors more than English professors. But the contracts won't let us do that. In the absence of that option, we continue to rely on uncertified teachers and, given the way the seniority rules work, those teachers typically end up in our most challenging schools. In other words, the kids who need good teachers the most are getting shortchanged the most. This problem permeates our system. In closing, Madame Chairwoman, let me again convey my thanks to you for conducting these hearings. The schools belong to everyone in this City, and all of us have a right to know what is in these very important labor agreements. As Justice Brandeis said seventy years ago, "A little sunlight is the best disinfectant." It is my hope that by shedding some light on these burdensome and inefficient contracts, we can develop a new and better partnership among all of us who are committed to New York City and its schools, a partnership that will result in better schools for all of the children of the City of New York. I am ready, willing and committed to achieving that end, and I call upon all of the many committed principals, assistant principals, teachers, custodians and others who work in our schools to join me in that effort. I would be happy to respond to your questions. |