Chapter Leader UpdateOct. 24, 2024
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Erica Berger
POWERFUL IN PINK: Virginia Nunez (left) and Rene Jeffery-Dumas, teachers at PS 123 in Jamaica, participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Oct. 20 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.
This Week's Focus
Use contractual tools to confront curriculum issues at your school
The issues with the DOE’s rollout of the HMH, Illustrative Math and early childhood curricula have mounted this school year. We will continue to prod the DOE at the chancellor’s level consultation to address our serious concerns, but chapter leaders should also use the consultation process and the operational issues resolution process to engage in a parallel push at the school level so we have documentation we need to prove the extent and depth of the issues facing our members. If your principal or the consultants providing curriculum training say that teachers are not allowed to adapt the curricula or adjust the pacing calendar to meet their students’ needs, you should bring up that issue at your next consultation meeting. It’s our position that the technology that students need to access the new curriculum must be provided as part of schools’ contractual obligation to provide appropriate and sufficient basic instructional supplies. If your students do not have the necessary technology, file an operational issues complaint. If members in your school are required to do unnecessary paperwork related to the new curriculum and the assessment of student learning, you should file an operational issues complaint.
ACTION YOU NEED TO TAKE: Place curriculum issues on the agenda at your next consultation meeting with your principal and, when appropriate, file an operational issues complaint.
Union urges action on special education failures
The UFT has asked the state Education Department to hold the city Department of Education accountable for its continued failure to provide mandated special education services to students. The union believes the situation has gotten worse, not better, in the roughly four years since the state put the DOE under a corrective action plan. The problem is tied to the shortage of paraprofessionals and related service providers, particularly in District 75. Since the DOE has proven incapable of providing precise information, we are asking you to report on special education violations and unfilled positions at your school. We will use the data you provide to hold the DOE's feet to the fire in the weeks ahead.
ACTION YOU NEED TO TAKE: If you have not already done so, please complete the chapter leader survey on special education. We need all schools to report back to us. The survey closes at midnight this Friday, Oct. 25.
Organize a Thanksgiving coat drive at your school
Let's make sure students in need have new apparel to stay warm this winter. Consider organizing a winter clothing drive at your school to collect NEW winter coats, sweaters, scarves, mittens, gloves and hats ranging in size from toddler to adult. Members can also make a monetary donation toward the purchase of winter apparel for New York City public school students living in temporary housing. You can drop off donations at your UFT borough office or bring items to the Nov. 13 Delegate Assembly. If your school or worksite has collected many items, we can also arrange to pick them up. If you have any questions, please contact Jeannette Noriega at JNoriega@uft.org.
Chapter Leader Checklist
To Do #1
Submit your summary for September consultation by Oct. 31
Please submit your consultation summaries on the Chapter Leader Hub after your consultation committee meeting with the principal, but no later than the end of the following month. You are no longer able to submit your summaries later than that. Consultation summaries should include all topics discussed during the committee meeting. It's important that chapter leaders submit these summaries in a timely fashion so the union can escalate unresolved issues to the monthly district consultation or — if the same issue is reported by chapter leaders across the city — to the monthly consultation at the chancellor's level.
To Do #2
Make sure new teachers have assigned mentors
Every new teacher in your school without prior teaching experience must have mentoring. As the chapter leader, you are a required member of your school's new teacher induction committee, which ensures new teachers receive this mentoring. The mentor should be an experienced classroom teacher, coach or lead teacher, ideally in the new teacher's subject area. The mentor will provide a minimum of two periods a week of confidential, non-evaluative and nonjudgmental support. Ask your principal for a list of new teachers and their mentors. If new teachers at your school have not been assigned a mentor, or if you have questions about the mentor program, contact your UFT district representative.
To Do #3
Share photos of your team at Making Strides Against Breast Cancer this Sunday
Will your school have a team at a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk this Sunday, Oct. 27, in Brooklyn, the Bronx or Staten Island? Raise awareness about breast cancer by sharing your photos on social media and tagging the UFT. Send your best photo with caption information to uftphotos@gmail.com.
To Do #4
Building powerful chapters — second conference in the series for new chapter leaders
New chapter leaders will receive an email invitation in the coming weeks for the second weekend in our annual training series designed specifically for them. This is your opportunity to join a community of passionate educators and union leaders, all working toward the common goal of strengthening our chapters and making a tangible impact in our schools. The second conference of our transformative three-part series is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 23, and Sunday, Nov. 24, at the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in Queens.
To Do #5
Flyers to share with your members
Here are flyers you can print and distribute in member mailboxes or post on your school's UFT bulletin board:
Hub Highlights
Find out who in your chapter contributes to COPE
Members' voluntary contributions to COPE, our Committee on Political Education — not union dues — fund the union's political work with communities, elected officials and members. UFT members' monthly contributions ensure they are heard by lawmakers on the issues that matter to union members. COPE's impact can be seen in the passage of state legislation to reduce class sizes and the provision of survivor benefits for families of COVID victims. COPE is funding our lobbying in Albany to fix Tier 6.
As you make a push to sign up more members to be COPE contributors, you can find out which members at your school currently contribute to COPE in the Chapter Leader Hub. You can access the Chapter Leader Hub with your UFT website username and password.
Work in progress
The UFT is tackling the following issues with the DOE and other city, state and federal-level entities as appropriate:
- Finalizing the development of a process for individual schools to apply for the funding they need to hire new staff to lower class size and the related training session for chapter leaders, principals and school leadership team members.
- Holding the DOE accountable for providing students with the electronic devices they need to access the new required curricula.
- Pushing the DOE to provide more support and training on school programming.
- Hashing out an agreement with the DOE on what constitutes shared instruction in the virtual learning program in high schools.
You Should Know
Contract Empowerment & Enforcement
Use the operational issues resolution process to resolve workplace issues
Using the paperwork and operational issues process to tackle school-level workplace issues facing your members is a great way to organize and empower your chapter.
In accordance with the 2023 DOE-UFT contract, the Paperwork and Operational Standards were updated and expanded to include these important new rights and protections for UFT-represented educators:
- SBOs: Chapter leaders may use the paperwork and operational issues resolution process to resolve a problem with the implementation of an approved school-based option.
- Responses to texts and emails: Paperwork Standard 1 includes that educators and related service providers must have a reasonable amount of time to respond to administrative communications; educators cannot be required to respond to email/texts outside the contractual workday or during instructional time.
- Pivot to remote: The addition of pivot to remote sets limits on what administrators can require employees to do in their digital classrooms.
- Visits to evaluate a school or a principal: Educators cannot be compelled to create and prepare documents for the sole purpose of a quality review or any other school evaluative visit, such as a principal's performance review. Also, educators cannot be required to produce documents that are not readily available for such visits.
- Staff development committee: The school-based staff development committee not only discusses the professional development during the PD block, but all school-specific professional development conducted at the school.
- Functional Chapter PD Committee: Every UFT functional chapter must have a citywide PD committee formed by Nov. 1 to develop relevant professional development.
To file an operational issues complaint, go to the Chapter Leader Hub the day you attempt to resolve the issue with your principal through a one-on-one conversation, an email or your UFT consultation committee. From that day, your principal has five days to rectify the issue. If the issue remains unresolved at the school level, it may be escalated to the district consultation committee. If unresolved at the district level, a central committee will attempt to resolve the issue.
See the Paperwork and Operational Manual created by the UFT Contract Empowerment Department for a detailed account of the paperwork and operational resolution process and the updated standards. Here is the 2024-25 labor guidance on paperwork and operational issues that the DOE recently sent to principals. If you have any questions, please contact your UFT district representative.
Instruction
Shine a spotlight on an impressive new school counselor, social worker or other SRP at your school
We want to showcase the great things happening in New York City public schools and honor all UFT members' accomplishments. Does your school have a related service provider (a speech teacher, a school nurse, an OT/PT or other title) in their first three years on the job who is already leaving their mark on your school? Is one of your new related service providers using skills they honed in a prior career to benefit New York City students? We are looking for dynamic new members to feature in the Building Your Career section of a special issue of the New York Teacher focused on school-related professionals.
Citywide PD for paraprofessionals on Election Day
Paraprofessionals are invited to attend a full day of remote professional development designed specifically for paraprofessionals on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The UFT is presenting online workshops on implicit bias and strategies to support multilingual learners. To receive the six CTLE credits available, members must stay for the full day. Chapter leaders, please ensure that interested paraprofessionals receive your principal's approval to attend the UFT training.
Political Action
Early voting begins this Saturday, Oct. 26
The in-person early voting period for the Nov. 5 general election runs from Saturday, Oct. 26, to Sunday, Nov. 3. Members who live in New York City can use this tool to find their early voting and Election Day polling sites. Members who live in other parts of the state can use the Board of Elections' online portal to find where to vote early and on Election Day.
Flip over your ballot and vote 'yes' on Proposition No. 1
Remember to flip over your ballot to see the propositions on the back. We recommend that you vote 'yes' on Proposition No. 1, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment. This statewide ballot measure adds protections to the New York State Constitution's Bill of Rights to prohibit discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, origin, age, disability and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. In this post-Roe era, it will codify the right to abortion in the state Constitution. Right now, the state Constitution only bars discrimination based on race, color, creed and religion.
Door-knock for Laura Gillen on Long Island on Nov. 2
Join fellow union members on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 2, for a labor walk in Freeport, Long Island. We'll be knocking on the doors of union households to get out the vote to elect Laura Gillen to the U.S. House of Representatives and Siela Bynoe to the New York State Senate. The Gillen race is one of a handful of races nationwide that will determine which party controls the House. We will gather at 29 West Sunrise Highway in Freeport at 10 a.m. The walk ends at noon. Contact UFT Queens Political Action Coordinator Lamar Hughes at LHughes@uft.org to confirm your attendance. The UFT is supporting Gillen, Bynoe and other candidates up and down the ballot who support our union's education, economic and labor agendas.
Salary & Personnel
Payment coming for digital classroom setup
School-based teachers and mandated service providers will receive $225 in a supplemental check on Nov. 7 for setting up their digital classrooms. As part of the 2023 DOE-UFT contract, we made sure that members would continue to be appropriately compensated for that work. As is always the case with supplemental checks, some banks take longer than others to post the checks.
A change in mailed paychecks for Q-bank
Members in the Q-bank payroll system who are not enrolled in direct deposit now have their paychecks mailed directly by JP Morgan Chase to the address on file with the DOE. The change took effect with the first check in October. Members in the H and Z payroll systems will continue to have their paychecks mailed by the DOE. See the DOE Payroll Administration Memorandum for details.
Next round of pension workshops starts in November
The UFT Pension Department offers virtual workshops throughout the school year to help members understand their pension benefits. While members may register for individual workshops, the Pension Department encourages members to attend the series. All workshops take place online from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Upcoming workshops include: Tier 4 Milestones, Final Average Salary Calculations and CAR Days on Tuesday, Nov. 12; Tier 6 Milestones, Final Average Salary Calculations and CAR days on Tuesday, Nov. 19; and Annual Benefits Statement & Death Benefits on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Everything Else
Nominate an outstanding paraprofessional for a UFT award
Each year, the UFT recognizes outstanding paraprofessionals who have made contributions to their schools, their communities and their union. Use the form below to nominate a full-time paraprofessional for an award. Paraprofessionals may not nominate themselves and winners from prior years are ineligible. To process your nomination, all the information requested on the form must be filled in correctly. The UFT Paraprofessionals Chapter will contact winners. The deadline to submit nominations is Thursday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m.
Come to the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee's awards dinner
You are invited to celebrate with the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee at its second annual awards dinner on Thursday, Dec. 5, at Russo's on the Bay, located at 162-45 Cross Bay Blvd., from 6 to 10:30 p.m. There will be music, dancing and a kosher-style dinner. The committee is honoring UFT President Michael Mulgrew, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and Mara Babcoff, a UFT chapter leader and special education teacher at the John F. Kennedy Jr. School in Queens. The event costs $110 per person.
Two UFT fairs for high school students
The UFT is hosting two fairs in November to make students in grades 9 to 12 aware of the diversity of options available to them after they graduate. The UFT Academic High School Division and the UFT Office of Parent and Community Engagement are hosting a college fair at the Borough of Manhattan Community College at 100 N. Moore Street on Friday, Nov. 8, starting at 10 a.m. The UFT Academic High School Division's annual Future in Focus event on Friday, Nov. 15, gives high school students the opportunity to speak with representatives from labor unions about the benefits of collective bargaining and having union representation in your job. There will be presentations on an array of unionized careers and postsecondary opportunities including internships and apprenticeship programs. This year's Future in Focus will take place at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Blvd. West in the Bronx. For both events, teachers or school counselors must register their students for a one-hour session between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Only chaperoned groups may attend, and pre-registration is required.
Recent Guidance and Agreements
- DOE Payroll Administration Memorandum No. 4 on 2024 Social Security and Medicare rates (October 2024)
- DOE Perkins School Allocation Memo for Career and Technical Education (September 2024)
- DOE Personnel Memo, No. 1 2024–25 on lactation accommodation policy (August 2024)
- DOE Personnel Memo, No. 2 2024–25 on teacher shortage areas (September 2024)
- DOE 2024-25 Guidance for Library Programs and Library Teachers (September 2024)
- DOE Personnel Memo, No. 1 2023–24 on COVID days (July 2023)
Key Events & Deadlines
Contact the UFT
- DOE members, call 212‑331‑6311.
- DOE functional chapter members, call 212‑331‑6312.
- A health benefit question? Call the Welfare Fund at 212‑539‑0500.
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