We’re beginning to fill in the blanks on the details of the
agreement reached last week between the New York City Department of Education
(DOE) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Some of the most interesting
elements of the new contract (to us, at least) didn’t make the original talking
points.
It’s clear they were not going for a thin contract. While
trust has certainly increased with the change in administration, the UFT took
the trust-but-verify-through-contract-language approach, just in case.
Let’s look at some of the details they included.
The eight components of the evaluation that remain after whittling down the list of 22 seem
like the right ones. While there are always trade-offs, it’s too bad knowledge
of content and pedagogy and designing coherent instruction aren’t weighed as
heavily as the other components.
The evaluation portion of the memorandum of understanding is
essentially written-out business rules for large parts of the evaluation
process. Rules on what can be counted in local measures versus state measures and for whom (both teachers and students), the timeline for observations, and the
forms to be used are all specified.
The absent teacher reserve (ATR) also takes its fair share
of ink in the agreement. Rules lay out when teachers will go to interviews,
where they’ll go and the options principals and teachers have when they get
there. Most of these rules are aimed at clarifying the expectation that
teachers in the ATR will find a permanent position or exit the district, a
positive development. One new option for ATR teachers: Those with at least 3
years of experience have the opportunity during a 30-day window this summer to
take a severance package and leave
the district. Payments vary by years of experience and range from just under
$1,000 to almost $20,000 by my calculation using the May 2014 pay schedule.
A clearer timeline on the pay schedule has also surfaced.
While teachers will see a “ratification bonus” and an on-going one percent raise
this spring, it will be quite a while before they see the benefit of the full
18 percent included in the contract. For those that are still teaching, payments
for the raises in 2009 and 2010 will stretch out until 2020.
As for schedule changes, what if a teacher finishes her
parent calls before the Tuesday parent engagement time is over? Time
set aside for professional development
and parent engagement on Mondays and
Tuesdays will be used for “other
professional activities” if the aforementioned activities don’t fill the
entire time. During six weeks of the year this time will be spent on activities
related to the Measures of Student Learning, the outcome measures used in
teacher evaluations. Having some flexibility could be good if the time is used
effectively for more relevant professional development and time to collaborate
with colleagues. Hopefully there will be some sort of tracking for the use of
time and what schools have to show for it.
With all this detail comes a countdown clock for some
changes. Even though the term of the contract goes through October of 2018,
many of the provisions expire earlier. Changes to the school day and to the
absent teacher reserve revert back to the old contract (the 2007-2009 version) if
the union and district do not reach an agreement to extend them by the end of
their respective pilot periods.
Stay tuned for additional tidbits to come.
