Post a comment about the budget cuts at your school on our interactive comment map. more »
GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools
calendar wars
June 23, 2009
Teachers and principals unions fighting over first days of school
Principals are furious that the teachers union bargained away two of the most important work days of the school year, according to principals union president Ernest Logan. But teachers union president Randi Weingarten says Logan shouldn’t complain, because he hasn’t come up with a better plan.
“My members are livid,” Logan said about the agreement that would have teachers and students reporting to school on the same day for the first time this fall.
Principals use the two teacher work days at the beginning of the school year to finalize schedules, register new students, set up classrooms, get staff members on the same page about discipline and curriculum, and integrate new teachers into the community, he said. “When are we going to do all of that if everybody’s popping in there the same day?” Logan asked.
Logan said he first heard about the agreement at 6:05 a.m. today on NPR, which he was listening to while shaving. “I almost cut myself,” he told me. “Nobody used common sense here. The educators did not make this decision.”
The decision to have students and teachers start school on the same day was Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s preference, according to Weingarten. The agreement would allow Klein to decide to move the first day of school later, she said.
“But it is surprising that the [Council of School Administrators] would wait until now, at the end of the process, to blame the UFT for finding a way to save the city money when they have been totally absent in the fight to save our school system from budget cuts this year,” Weingarten said.
Logan told me he has asked the chancellor to explain how schools should handle the schedule change but has not yet heard back. A good option, Logan suggested, would be for students’ first day of class to be moved two days later. If the city’s goal was to reduce the number of days teachers work, it could have given up requiring teachers to report on days when schools are closed to students, such as Election Day, he said. Or the school year could end for teachers two days earlier, he offered.
Here is Weingarten’s complete statement:
This agreement was born out of a need to create savings for the city, and it was the chancellor’s preference that students and teachers return on the same day. The chancellor could make a different decision later because the agreement says the first day after Labor Day may be an instructional day, but it doesn’t have to be. But it is surprising that the CSA would wait until now, at the end of the process, to blame the UFT for finding a way to save the city money when they have been totally absent in the fight to save our school system from budget cuts this year.
-
June 23rd, 2009 5:51 pm
As a teacher, I almost feel sorry for the principals. … No I won’t go there. This is just another example of Klein not having the practical knowledge or the horse sense to run a school system. It would be hard to not let him stew in ihis own juices, but when you wreck the first day for principals, you also wreck it for students.
We’ve got to get out of this blame game. Absent pressure from know nothings at the top, its the job of teachers and administrators to work things out, and we could do that as best as possible.
After all, teachers and principals have been reaching compromises for decades. I wonder how we did it back in the old days when we didn’t have “reformers” with all of the answers to teach us our jobs?This is so strange that it should be a wakeup call. Its a reminder that we need to revisit the ATR in a responsible way as soon as we have a chancellor with a grasp of reality. We can’t continue to waste all of that money and waste the good educators in the Reserve because the agreement illustrates the stupidity of Klein to his detractors while it illustrates the willingnessness of teachers to perpetuate “the status quo” to our detractors.
-
June 23rd, 2009 6:39 pm
can someone explain why this saves the city money?
-
June 23rd, 2009 6:51 pm
To justify the teacher increases in the two previous Bloomberg/UFT contracts, that were far above the pattern, the City placed a monetary value on the two additonal days, they did the same thing w/ the 37.5 minutes of extra instructional time … the world of “valueing” negotiationing agreements is a world unto itself … the changes in pension benefits for new teachers, over decades, will save considerable dollars … the two days were a “sweetener,” … easier for the UFT to sell to members and Bloomberg to call a “saving.”
-
June 23rd, 2009 6:53 pm
This one troubles me.
Only those who haven’t taught, and/or those who don’t realize how much teacher work happens outside of “class” would think that teachers don’t need to prepare for the school year.
I’m *not* someone who thinks kids should necessarily have homework on day one, but that doesn’t mean that day one should be a waste of their time. No one in business schedules a big meeting the day they get back from a big vacation, and schools should do that either. Day one is when the tone is set. For new teachers, it is critical beyond critical, and even for veteran teachers it can make a big difference.
Obviously, the most experienced teachers don’t need the same sort of preparation before each year begins, but these are exactly the teachers who should be working with less experienced teachers.
Tens of thousands of teachers will show up anyway, of course. They’ll ready their rooms, check the book room, wash desks and boards. They’ll check their new rosters, do what they can to make sure they have enough seats for all their students, perhaps even check about IEPs.
But they’ll do it without being paid for it.
No one should be too shocked by this, I guess. There’s a lot of teacher work that goes unpaid.
(Mind you, the DOE is calling this a cost-saving measure. They are linking the missing required work days to saving money. That clearly implies that teachers who do come in and work on those days are doing it unpaid.)
-
June 23rd, 2009 9:28 pm
The amazing thing here is that the UFT hails this as a victory when, in fact, any teacher worth their salt is coming in on those 2 days to set up their classrooms and become involved in their workplace (community). In essence, they gave up the two days that most people come in for anyways when they were getting paid. Clearly, the most beneficial solution to all would have been to eliminate Election Day and June 28 (THAT’S RIGHT, THE DAY AFTER THE LAST DAY FOR STUDENTS THAT TEACHERS ARE NOW REQUIRED TO SHOW UP FOR). PATHETIC! Let’s hope that people come to their senses here and allow at least one day for set-up, meetings, etc. before school starts.
-
June 23rd, 2009 10:53 pm
I have trouble seeing how this is a victory for anyone*.
1) It’s not a victory for teachers, who get paid less though they are expected to be do just as good a job.
2) It’s not a victory for students. Some teachers — however few — won’t show, and that will hurt some students.
3) It’s not a victory for administrators, who job of building a coherent faculty to further a coherent vision for a meaningful education for students just got harder. Even if every teacher comes in for a few days before school students show, who is know when they’ll be there or how many will be there at a time? Grade level meetings? Department meetings? Just that must harder to schedule before the kids show, if its even possible at all.
* So, who could it be a victory for? The union gets to claim a victory by the same logic that Bloomberg used in the past when spoke of “productivity gains.” I suppose that it could be a victory for those who would have to take heat for raising taxes. Certainly central office personnel and vendors who were not cut — though I believe that central offices can serve critical function that enable school-level personal to do their best work.
It’s just a loss, something that the economic downturn is costing most everyone.
-
June 23rd, 2009 11:14 pm
“productivity gains”? doesn’t sound like that to me. Sounds more like when Giuliani didnt want to give the UFT a raise so instead gave them the mid-winter extra vacation. Except the kids got one too.
Why not let the kids teach themselves? That’s what Klein wants to move towards. 1000 kids per teacher, and all of them on computers.
-
June 23rd, 2009 11:35 pm
Leonie,
Bloomberg would claim “productivity gains” each time teachers got a raise and had to stay at school later. Aren’t they calling this a “productivity giveback”?
No?
My mistake. I thought maybe there’d be some consistency. My mistake.
-
June 24th, 2009 1:27 am
Wow. I am trying to wrap my mind around this one. It can only set everyone up to fail, and it just exposes how little concern all parties have for the actual work of schools. Wow.
-
June 24th, 2009 5:43 am
mind-boggled, I think you are mistaken about “how little concern all parties have for actual work of schools.” Parents are concerned, teachers are concerned, and “good” principals are concerned for the education of children. What we have nowadays are leaders, “Bloomberg, Klein, Weingarten, Duncan, etc. who are bereft of their concern towards all childrens’ development. These leaders are experimenting on our public school children and making a good amount of money for themselves and their friends while doing it. If Bloomberg wins another term as mayor, it will truly expose how “little concern” the voters have for the actual work of schools, and democracy, for the matter.
-
June 24th, 2009 9:42 am
1,000 kids per teacher and all on computer? Remind me again: How did Bill Gates make his money?
School zoning will be replaced by “Internet Zone” and “Local Intranet Zone,” giving a whole new meaning to this spring’s manic “site searches.”
If you want a model of this version of a “neighborhood school,” ask your kids for a tour of “ToonTown” or “ClubPenguin.” And they’ll have to work from home; DOE is converting cluster rooms (including some computer rooms) to gen ed, and, despite the paid protestations of DOE’s PR flacks, jacking the schools’ nominal “capacity” figures.“Hey Mom! I got to Level 4 on my Wii-L-A test! And that’s without credit — or hard drive — recovery! Can I get paid now?”
Contract negotiations will really get interesting now that Disney 3D can be run on a home widescreen. “Mr Fredricksen” from “Up” is going to be the DOE’s ONLY principal, and the Reese Witherspoon character from “Monsters vs Aliens” is going to be every 2nd grade boy’s dream teacher.
As long as everyone’s logged on by September 8th, here’s hoping for a complete (re)BOOT in November.
P.S. Maybe Mr. Smithers can now roll back the cell phone ban; smart phones can access ARIS.
-
June 24th, 2009 10:06 am
If we’re going to go down this path…
Rather than mock Klein for this vision — not productive — we ought to understand why he believes in it and what that tells about his views of education, schooling and teaching. Let’s assume that he is well-meaning and has some intelligence. What does that leave us?
My theory? Well, he does what most people do.
1) Klein believe that everyone else is just like him, and children are just like he was.
2) He does not have an accurate view of what he was like as a child.
3) He has a very limited view/understanding of the nature of learning complex (thinking) skills.
*********************
Klein apparently believes all that kids come to school ready to learn and already motivated. Perhaps he did, and all his friends, and his children, and his children’s friends. If that is his personal experience, we can understand why he thinks that. Of course, distance learning can be useful for those who are already motivated and are ready to learn.
Klein apparently believes in pure “direct instruction” — lecture. I believe that real intellectual skill development happens in interactions, in the back and forth between people. But there are many educators who believe strongly in direct instruction; Klein is not the only one.
I would say that Klein probably believes that demonstrating, explaining and teaching are virtually the same thing.
******************
We can look at what Klein says about his goals and vision and extrapolate from all of that a philosophy of education, and even recognize that most of its elements can be found among educators we ourselves have worked with. Heck, there might even be some elements that you agree with, or even that I agree with — though I haven’t come up with any, yet.
-
June 24th, 2009 10:21 am
Ceolaf,
You are joking right? If not what you have done is mock him better than anyone else so far. As someone who has personally met with him a few times, he knows what his options are, he knows the outcomes, he knows, he knows, he knows!!
-
June 24th, 2009 10:25 am
ceolaf,
Well (and better) said.
Still, I would note that nearly all parents I’ve spoken with are well past being interested in what makes Mr. Klein tick — we’re much more interested in his policies, and disdain for earnest input, let alone “consultation” — even when the CURRENT law which he has been flaunting requires it.At the risk of further mockery…
Note that Klein also believes that anything worth learning can be tested (and anything not on the test ain’t worth saving a cluster room for, e.g. art, science, music); class sizes don’t matter (unless in a charter school); and “accountability” means it’s the principals’ fault if things go south, yet kudos to Hizzoner if things go well; and I’m saving this for last — it is the fault of TEACHERS that the dream of the civil rights movement has yet to be fully realized* (this despite the fact that NYC schools are de facto segretated, and that said segregation is EXACERBATED by a good number of DOE policies.)* I truly wish I were making this one up. See Klein on HuffPo:
http (colon) //www (dot) huffingtonpost (dot) com/joel-klein/transforming-the-teaching_b_200616 (dot) html -
June 24th, 2009 11:14 am
Ceolaf: let’s deconstruct what you surmised above:
You wrote: “Klein apparently believes all that kids come to school ready to learn and already motivated. Perhaps he did, and all his friends, and his children, and his children’s friends. If that is his personal experience, we can understand why he thinks that. Of course, distance learning can be useful for those who are already motivated and are ready to learn.”
Klein sent his (step) children to private schools where no classes were larger than 15. So did the Mayor and all the Mayor’s friends. Not one of the schools would dare suggest an educational system where children learn primarily through computers and without the close daily attention of their teachers.
Not one would focus on test prep, not one would allow conditions to exist in which there was minimal art, music and all those other untested subjects.
No, Klein and his supporters argue that this is what the schools should look like for everyone else’s children but their own.
-
June 24th, 2009 5:20 pm
Has anyone figured out who benefits here? I’m totally baffled, as baffled as I am by the rumor that one or more of the 2010 state tests are being moved to May (that’s right, May…and being moved, um, now, after schools and teaching teams have presumably mapped out their coming instructional year already).
If it’s BloomKlein, and I kind of like that name, then why in the world would the UFT agree to this? Have they been strong-armed on this one?
This is indeed going to be an unmitigated disaster for teachers, principals, parents and kids. As others have stated, teachers are going to show up early, and not “get paid” for those days. (in quotes because I don’t think anyone will actually get paid less, but I suppose BloomKlein can lord it over the UFT as a bargaining chip in the coming contract negotiations.) And this in a year when the school year is FIVE DAYS shorter than 2008-09 already.
Other than my negotiation presumption, has anyone answered, “How exactly does this save money anyway?”
-
June 24th, 2009 5:21 pm
Here’s another reflection: this idea is just plain stupid.
-
June 24th, 2009 8:57 pm
I, for one, am happy to get my 2 days back.
A few points:1. Teachers are not permitted to move furniture, climb on desks to hang decorations, or conduct any other custodial duties. If one were to be injured performing one of these duties I say “Good Luck” in getting a Line of Duty day off or even worse disability if you became that hurt. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way.
2. We are not allowed in the buildings when school is not in session without obtaining a permit. Example- If the Knitting Club is meeting on Tuesday from 3-5pm, that does not mean you can sit in your room and do lessons. That permit is for the Knitting Club, not you. This is a security measure for students and staff alike so that the Engineer knows who is in the building at all times.
3. The expectation that the “true professionals” will come in any way is an insult. Real professionals are treated as such and receive pay for work completed.
4. The issue is not with the UFT. It is now in Chancellor Klein’s hands to move the start to September 10. That gives parents over 2 months to obtain a sitter for the 2 days their child is unsupervised.
This does not mean I will not have lessons and plans made for Sept 8th. We never had time for that during those 2 days anyway. We were getting Professional Development and never receive our teaching programs and room assignments until after lunch on Friday anyway. I always spend Labor Day weekend making copies (at my expense) and writing lessons. This year will be no different.
This ‘True Professional” hopes to be at Field 6 on Jones’ Beach on September 3rd and 4th. I’ll be the one writing lessons or cutting out letters for my Bulletin Boards. See Ya There!!!
-
June 24th, 2009 9:28 pm
I’m sorry you have been treated so badly and have gotten so jaded, TShannon.
-
June 24th, 2009 9:52 pm
I’m as stunned and outraged as anyone. But no one has explained why the UFT might have done this. What leverage did the DOE have? Why did the union feel the need to sign this now? Aren’t penions a state issue? It appears that some of the givebacks, at least the TDA reduction, didn’t need union support.
-
June 25th, 2009 9:10 am
Smith:
1. All the pension issues require legislation, which in “real” politics requires the approval of the union. Probably will not actually become law until later in the year.
2. With Randi leaving and the school year ending the announcement is timely.
3. There are two PD days during the school year, Election Day and Bklyn/Queens Day, one or both could be converted to insturctional days.
4. This decision could be tied to the upcoming contract negotiations …
-
June 25th, 2009 10:55 am
The UFT agreed to give SUpport to the new Tier V pension plan.
-
June 25th, 2009 11:03 am
Kitchen Sink- I have not been treated badly, nor have I become too jaded. I actually enjoy teaching and care very deeply about the 150+ students I teach each day. Stating DOE policy is not being mistreated, nor is following it being jaded. We used to have these days off and then lost them in a poorly negotiated contract. Some years the students returned on the MONDAY after Labor Day. What is the big deal to revisit the start date for the kids??
-
September 4th, 2009 11:25 am
[...] But principals were furious with the idea that teachers and students would be showing up for the first time on the same day. Ernest Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, said the move would be very disruptive and force schools to do “15 things at the same time,” since teachers usually use the day before students arrive to set up their classroom and get basic things in order. [...]
Leave a Reply
Mapping the Budget Cuts
24 Comments
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack