Here are some items to take care of right away and others that will help you prioritize and stay on track.

Your union rights

• Please check with your chapter leader to see if there are any school-based options in place at your school this year. School-based options, or SBOs, allow staff the flexibility to collectively modify contractual articles or create positions not automatically allowed for in the contract. Examples of SBO modifications include changing the configuration of your school’s extended-time schedule and creating compensatory-time positions such as dean or testing coordinator. Since SBOs sunset every year, your chapter leader should hold an SBO vote in May or June. Ask your chapter leader if your school has SBOs that will be up for renewal or if new SBOs are proposed. Attend union meetings to discuss these SBOs, and find out when the vote will be held. Make sure you participate. An SBO is ratified when 55% of the UFT members who actually vote support it.
• If you teach in a secondary school, you’re probably programmed for five professional activity periods per week. (Teachers in eight-period elementary schools are programmed for one professional activity per week.) Your school’s chapter leader and principal will consult with each other in March or April about the professional activities that will be on the professional activity menu at your school. On your preference sheet, you’ll be asked to select, in priority order, three activities from the agreed-upon menu. You should be notified in writing about your assignment by the end of this school year.
• You should receive your program for next year by the end of the school year. You are entitled to one preparation period and a duty-free lunch period each day. If you teach middle or high school, you should be scheduled for no more than three consecutive teaching periods and four consecutive working assignments (e.g., including your professional period) in a day. Speak to your chapter leader to file a grievance if your teaching program does not follow contractual guidelines; grievances must be filed within two days of learning about your new program.
• If you are a probationary teacher and your principal wants to extend your probation, you should know that you do not have to sign the extension immediately. You have the right to have one of the union’s lawyers look it over. In fact, every extension of probation should be submitted to the UFT for a NYSUT attorney to review before you make the decision to sign.

Teacher evaluation

• If you are a teacher who has not yet been granted tenure, you can expect to receive one formal observation and three informal observations this school year. (If you received a rating of Ineffective or Unsatisfactory for the 2021-22 school year, you will receive one formal and four informal observations.) Half of the required minimum number of observations will be conducted during the spring term and must be completed by June 2.
• Beginning April 28, your principal or other evaluator can begin to hold summative end-of-year conferences, which must be completed by June 23.
• End-of-year assessments for students may begin on May 1 and must be completed by June 7.

Miscellaneous

If you’re thinking about transferring to another school, the Open Market Transfer system, which allows you to apply for a position at another school, will open in mid-April. Visit the Open Market Transfer page on the DOE’s Department of Human Resources website to fill out an application and search for open positions. Keep in mind that many principals will not list open positions until after the release of school budgets, so it may take until late May before a significant number of positions are posted.