NEA Screws Students

Union: Give teachers a pass on bad antics
By YOAV GONEN
It's like a "Get out of jail free" card for everyone.
The teachers' union is set to seek a free pass for all its misbehaving members in ongoing contract talks with the city, bargaining documents show.
Among the items contained in the teachers' six-page wish list is a provision that would prohibit teachers from being written up for misconduct unless they had already received a counseling memo -- akin to a warning -- about their behavior.
Written documentation, by contrast, can be used as evidence against teachers in disciplinary hearings.
But a Queens elementary-school principal, who insisted on anonymity, said adding the extra padding was "simply ludicrous."
"As instructional leaders, principals need to devote more time to supporting teaching and learning -- not on formatting counseling memorandums for adults with masters' degrees," she said.
Another provision being sought by the United Federation of Teachers would effectively relieve teachers from having to do any computer work -- including checking e-mails -- outside of the school day.
A third contract goal would prohibit teachers out sick with the swine flu from being docked any sick days.
Several principals objected to the computer-work provision. They said that in the new data-heavy world of education, where parents can access information about their kids' performance and behavior at the click of a mouse, pulling the computer plug after 3 p.m. wasn't an option.
"This is data that only teachers have, and it has to be made available to parents," said a Bronx high-school principal. "If they're not willing to do it after hours, then there would have to be a way to negotiate a time they can do it in the school day."
Officials with the teachers' union declined to comment on the contract talks.
But a UFT source said the counseling memo was simply a bid to keep tiny infractions from marking a teacher's permanent record.
The source also said that the computer requirement was meant to ensure that schools provide teachers with time and equipment during the day to do their data work.
Several principals said the real problem with the time issue was that the contract broke down the workday into minutes, rather than having a more generally defined workday.
By contrast, most charter schools-- even those with teachers' contracts -- have managed to lengthen the school day by not documenting duties to the minute.
Not surprising, the first item on the UFT's wish list is a "substantial" salary hike in each year of the agreement.
The Post broke the news that the city has already budgeted enough money to grant the union two years of 4 percent pay raises -- in line with the pattern established by other unions.
Many observers said that, in this economy, maintaining that pattern would be a big win for the union but would likely also rule out other significant concessions from the city.
The union's wish list is mum on several prominent issues -- including what to do with a pool of more than 1,500 unassigned teachers who are costing the city an average of $100 million per school year.