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The Teacher Shortage Has Reached The Bronx.
The looming teacher shortage has apparently reached the Bronx. I have been told by various people that loads of vacancies have still not been filled as students showed up to their schools only to find...
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When Will The DOE Remove Bad Principals? Apparently Never!
One of the best kept secret on why some schools struggle both academically and safety wise is the poor quality of the school's administration. There are far too many principals who have no business...
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When An Observation Is Not An Observation.
I have been hearing from various teachers that their school administration is trying to require them to follow a detailed lesson plan format, in direct violation of the contract. Moreover, to push...
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What Does The DOE Fear The Most? Institutional Memory.
During the Joel Klein era the DOE tried to change the balance of power in the public schools by giving principals more power in running their schools. It was not uncommon to see principals demanding...
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Homeless Students And Academic Achievement.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that homeless students suffer academically because of their social-economic situation and are far more likely to be placed in special education programs...
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What Are The Demographics Of the ATR Pool?
One of the most closely held secrets by both the DOE and UFT is the demographics of the ATR pool. The reason being that both organizations knows that if they released the information, it would show an...
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More Transparency On The Executive Board, Thanks To The Opposition Caucus.
One of the more significant changes that has happened since the UFT elections was the election of the MORE/New Action coalition for the high schools. The result is there will be more transparency as...
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Graduating Unprepared For The Adult World And Workplace.
Every year the Mayor and his Chancellor, be it Bloomberg (Klein, Black, Walcott) or De Blasio (Carmen Farina) sing the same tune. That their education policies are working and they look to the high...
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The ATR Field Assassins Are Coming!
A new start of the school year and very little has changed. Only a handful of ineffective or vindictive principals have been removed, the punitive Charlotte Danielson rubric is still in force, "junk...
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The Queens Job Fair, Sparsely Attended And Few Schools With Vacancies...
I went to yesterday's job fair in Queens with very low expectations and was not disappointed. A smattering of teachers actually showed up, mostly ATRs over 50 years of age and the few schools that...
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DOE Continues Their Destructive Fair Student Funding At The Expense Of The...
Back in 2005, when Randi Weingarten allowed Chancellor Joel Klein to give principals complete control of their budget, one of the most destructive aspects of this new policy was the "Fair Student...
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Just Another Example Of A DOE Official Being Stupid.
For teachers in the trenches, we all know that the DOE proposes policies and programs that has a negative impact on schools. Be it tight school budgets (86% funded) while the City has a 6 billion...
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The Truth About The ATR Pool.
I am sick and tired of reading erroneous media articles about ATRs on how they are "bad or unwanted teachers"and that there should be a time limit to be hired for a permanent position without...
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Don't Expect Retro Lump Sum Payments This October.
I have been getting far too many inquires about how much lump sum retro payments are we getting this October? Unfortunately, the answer is we are not getting any retro lump sum payments this year....
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Why You Should Put As Much Money As Possible In The TDA.
One of the greatest perks we have as UFT members is the Tax Deferred Annuity (TDA). How good is our TDA? Well, most Financial Advisors, are shocked and jealous that the Fixed Income Option pays a...
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The New DOE Plan To Get Principals To Hire ATRs Is Doomed To Fail.
The DOE and UFT apparently couldn't come to an agreement on a new ATR agreement and the 2011 ATR Agreement is now back in force, except for the weekly rotation being monthly. No mandatory interviews,...
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The Renewal Schools Just Keep On Losing Students.
The Renewal schools that the Department of Education (DOE) keep pouring money into keeps on losing students as savvy parents refuse to send their children to these acaddemically struggling schools....
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Why I'm Not Voting For President.
Over the last two months I have been wrestling with my decision on who to vote for. Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? After watching the two terrible debate performances by the both of them and the...
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The DOE Motto, Out With The Old And In With The New.
The DOE has made it virtually impossible for veteran teachers to transfer from one school to another by their continued use of the "fair student funding"fiasco. Now that the Open Market Transfer...
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The DOE's Claim They Are Draining The ATR Pool Is Really A Slow Leak.
The DOE finally published the October ATR pool total of 1,306 and it was much higher than the September value of 1,167. This is a 12% increase over the beginning of the school year after the schools...
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