UFT: Schools no better under Klein's watch
Sep 23, 2004 6:39 AM
As educators returned to work, UFT President Weingarten said that city schools were no better than they were a year ago, when Chancellor Joel Klein launched his education reform.
“The dramatic changes in the bureaucracy have not been translated into improved services for kids,” she said at a Sept. 7 hearing sponsored by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.
But Weingarten reserved final judgment on the “Children's First" initiative, which had the UFT’s initial support.
"The report card is an incomplete,” she said. “It’s clearly still a work in progress.”
The hearing was a study in contrasts. While Deputy Chancellor for Instruction Carmen Fariña insisted that the reorganization has been an overall success, Weingarten, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Jill Levy and parent and education advocates came to the opposite conclusion.
Citying a union survey of nearly 9,000 UFT members that was conducted in June, Weingarten described schools hampered by overcrowding, discipline and safety problems, and high teacher turnover.
Problems festered, she contended, because Department of Education officials assumed a "circle-the-wagons mentality" when criticized.
“Rather than working with educators to address the problems they raised, our concerns were largely ridiculed or dismissed,” she said.
Weingarten also slammed the new top-down bureaucracy for stamping out teacher flexibility and creativity.
“Now I am not saying let a thousand flowers bloom. I’m not saying that there should be no standards or guidelines,” she said. “But teachers need to have their professional judgment respected if they are to be effective in the classroom.”
Weingarten predicted a smoother start this school year than last, pointing to recent signs that the city has started to recognize the advantages of working with - not against - the union.
She said that Mayor Bloomberg deserved credit for intervening in January to curb the violence in the most unruly schools and for organizing an effective summer program for struggling 3rd-graders.
Looking ahead, Weingarten noted with approval that, although the 1-to-17 ratio is too high, all first-year teachers have been assigned an experienced teacher as a mentor for the first time and - if school officials keep their word - will be paid promptly this fall. Last year, half of the city’s new recruits did not receive a paycheck during the first month of school because of payroll problems.
Those small achievements, Weingarten said, stemmed from collaboration. “When you work together, and you listen to educators and parents, you get results,” she said.
CSAPresident Jill Levy took the chancellor to task in a
very caustic tone.
“The only area for which I would give a grade of ‘A’ is in the administration’s skill at obfuscation,” Levy said. “There is an overwhelming disregard for openness, truthfulness and respect for the public and the professionals who are committed to serve our children.”
Contrary to Klein’s claims, Levy contended, principals have less autonomy, more nitpicking mandates, and tighter budgets now than under the previous regime. She expressed outrage that the Department of Education was planning to hire another 10 high-paid local instructional supervisors - part of a new echelon of middle management - even as principals are under pressure to cut support staff, including assistant principals.
“Principals can’t function without an AP in most schools, so they end up taking out an experienced teacher from a classroom to do administrative work,” Levy said.
United Parents Association President Robin Brown contended that the Department of Education had sidelined parent organizations.
Brown also complained that school officials, in their zeal to shake up the entire system, had harmed programs and schools that did not need revamping.
“These folks are trying to pick apart the entire school system, even in schools that were working,” she said.
The criticism did not erode Deputy Chancellor Fariña’s optimism. “With any change, you can always look at a glass as half-full or half-empty,” she said.
Fariña insisted that educators and parents were, in fact, pleased with the changes. “I would say that you have the best-prepared teachers ever going into the school system this year and you have the most energized and dedicated principals as a group ever going in,” she said.
Fariña shrugged off the unions’concerns about threatened classroom cuts this fall. “We’ve always had issues with money,” she said. “Nobody is ever totally happy with the money they have, but I am anticipating that these issues will be resolved.”
Borough President Fields said that the hearing underscored the “disconnect” between school officials and parents, teachers and principals. “The Department of Education has not been as inclusive or collaborative as it should have been,” Fields said. “We want the same thing, but we are not on the same page.”
