GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The city’s decision to release teacher evaluation data this week represents a departure from an agreement officials made with the teachers union two years ago.

In a deal made in 2008 between then-president of the United Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten and Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Christopher Cerf, the city and union agreed to keep the reports private. The reports assign scores to teachers based on how much they improve their students’ test scores.

“It is the DOEs’ [sic] firm position and expectation that Teacher Data reports will not and should not be disclosed or shared outside of the school community, defined to include administrators, coaches, mentors and other professional colleagues authorized by the teacher in question,” Cerf wrote.

“In the event a FOIL request for such documents is made, we will work with the UFT to craft the best legal arguments available to the effect that such documents fall within an exemption,” he wrote.

DOE spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said the city’s decision to release the scores doesn’t violate the agreement.

“We do not believe that any of the exemptions under FOIL apply in this matter, which is what we told the UFT.  But that will be for a judge to decide,” she wrote in an email. (more…)