From the Chair

Dear Colleague,

Do you find yourself in that midyear state of mind where September is a faint memory and June seems so far down the road that you feel that you’ll never get there? Well, rest assured, June will be here before you know it.

A sure sign of summer for me is making plans for our annual School Secretary Summer Institute. The Institute is a four-day training event in August sponsored by the UFT for which secretaries receive credits towards their differentials. It’s a great opportunity for secretaries to hone their professional skills and to network with colleagues from across the city. Secretaries hired during the 2004-05 school year are automatically invited to attend. Our more experienced colleagues, who will have new job responsibilities in the fall, may request to attend at the end of the school year. I’ll have more details for you in the months ahead which I’ll post on our Web site.

Over the past several months, I have been a member of a task force dedicated to exploring the creation of a union-initiated charter school. The UFT has always maintained that there are many reasons why city schools fail, such as poor management practices and lack of sufficient and appropriate resources, but belonging to a union certainly isn’t one of them. Starting a charter school will demonstrate that the UFT contract is not an obstacle to a student’s academic achievement and personal excellence, as City Hall maintains. In fact, running a charter school will provide us with an opportunity to show that a school can operate where everyone is valued and respected and where a collaborative labor-management relationship can exist under the provisions of our contract. Did you know that Al Shanker proposed the idea of a charter school decades ago?

A UFT charter school is our stand against the current trends of privatization and union-busting in education. The UFT is proposing two schools: kindergarten through grade 5 (elementary) to open in September and grades 6 through 12 (secondary) to open in September 2006. And, yes, there will be school secretaries in our charter schools. The February 9th Delegate Assembly voted overwhelmingly to have the UFT proceed with applying to SUNY for the Charter. Stay tuned for more details on this exciting new adventure!

Everyone is asking, “Do we have a new contract yet?” Unfortunately, the answer is no. The city is relentlessly pursuing the destruction of our contract with demands for an end to tenure and insisting on managerial prerogative to excess staff at will. In fact, we are so far from a contract that the UFT petitioned New York State’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) for impasse, which they granted in December. If you recall from our last contract negotiations, the next step is mediation and then we go to fact finding. An independent panel of arbitrators will listen to both sides in a court-like setting and then make recommendations for a contract. Their recommendations are not binding. If the recommendations do not move the parties to an agreement we could still be in the same situation — no contract. Keep in mind that our negotiating committee will do everything in its power to bring us a contract. But if the city will not cooperate, get ready to s t . . . . (stand up and be counted), if you know what I mean!

Look for an invitation in the mail to an upcoming “Meet the President” at the Brooklyn Marriott for all school secretaries in April. Make sure you respond so that we can accommodate everyone. You will have an opportunity to hear directly from our union president, Randi Weingarten, and to ask her your questions.

Randi has asked for a way to communicate with all UFT members quickly, both to relay breaking news and as a call to action. I urge all secretaries to accessclick onto the Let Your Voice Be Heard box on the home page to register your personal (not your nycboe) e-mail address. Be sure to fill out your name as it appears on the DOE’s payroll. You will be notified along with your UFT colleagues of the latest developments in the fight for our contractual lives. Let’s do our part to make sure that the voices of more than 3,500 School Secretaries are heard!

In this issue of the Relay you will find the names of the winners of the School Secretary of the Year awards. Kudos to these wonderful professionals for a job well done! We can’t wait to celebrate your achievements at the Award Luncheon on Saturday, June 4.

Also in this Relay, you will find the application for our chapter’s Tuition Reimbursement Award application. I urge all of you who have taken or are taking the mandated six credits this school year to apply. Read the instructions and mail in your entry as soon as possible. We can’t wait to give you some money to help with tuition or books. You’ll also get two free tickets to the Award Luncheon where you will be presented with a check. Good luck!

Our chapter has selected a “Secretary’s Day” gift for you in appreciation of the great job you do each day to service the students, staff and parents in your school. The gifts will be mailed in one package to all the UFT secretaries in each school. Please be on the lookout for the package, and make sure that every secretary in the school receives his or her gift.

All excessed secretaries this school year have been placed in vacant positions. Therefore, the freeze on hiring secretaries has been lifted. In order to hire a school secretary, your school must have a vacancy posted in the GALAXY system. Let me know if you are experiencing problems with the process.

Those of you who are looking to make a change can peruse the two transfer plans that will come into the schools in the months ahead. The first is the School-Based Option (SBO) Transfer and Staffing Plan that should be available in April. Both substitute and appointed secretaries may apply directly to the schools listed in the plan. The Selection Committee of the SBO school sets the criteria for jobs but it must accept the most senior secretary who is qualified, unless a less senior applicant has extraordinary qualifications. An SBO transfer includes the right of appeal within five days of your being notified of your appeal rights when you are not selected for the position. If, in your opinion, the selection criteria were inappropriate or the selection process unfair or if you were retested on skills, such as essay writing or typing, that were part of your examination for your license, you have the right to appeal. Contact your borough’s UFT office to begin the appeal process.

Your second opportunity is through the Seniority Transfer plan that should be available in June. Only appointed secretaries can apply and there is no years-of-service-in-the-school requirement. Both plans include instructions and an application. Read Article 13 of your contract for more information.

Keep abreast of union events and up-to-date information about school secretaries by accessing our Web site regularly. Continue to e-mail me at mjeuft@aol.com. But most importantly, stay informed and involved. Remember, it’s all about education and we’re all in it together.

In Solidarity,
Jackie