Know Your Rights

Feb 6, 2007 10:44 AM

Absences

If you are absent from school because of illness, you will be paid for up to 10 days in any school year without needing to submit a doctor’s note. These are known as “self-treated days.” If you take more than 10 self-treated days in any school year, you will not be paid for those additional absences unless you submit a doctor’s note, even if you have accumulated days in your Cumulative Absence Reserve (CAR). Wherever possible, you should submit medical certification for each day you are absent to preserve as many of your self-treated days as possible.

You can use three of those 10 days for personal business, provided that you give reasonable notice to your principal. Personal business is officially defined as something that cannot be done at any time other than a school day, during school hours. Two of these three personal business days may be used to care for family members who are ill.

If you have exhausted all the days in your CAR (commonly known as your “sick bank”) and you are regularly appointed, you may borrow up to 20 additional sick days. Regardless of the nature of your absences, it is most important that you call your school each day and notify the principal that you will be absent.

Absences due to childhood illnesses that are listed in our contract (German measles, mumps and chicken pox), for the death of a member of your immediate family or to appear in court as a juror or witness are considered “non-attendance” days and are not deducted from your CAR. Your chapter leader can advise you about the forms you must file for these days.

Also see Attendance Procedures; Cumulative Absence Reserve; Excessive Absences, Lateness.

Academic Freedom

As someone committed to public education who sees close up the conditions in which our students learn and live, you are in a unique position to help influence public policy. Over the years, the UFT has often called upon its members to speak their minds and tell the truth in lobbying visits, at legislative hearings, public forums and print and broadcast interviews. You can do this without fear of retribution. You have the right to comment on Department of Education policies publicly, but you should make it clear that you are speaking for yourself only. If any official should attempt to pressure you against speaking your mind or retaliate against you for doing so, the UFT will stand with you. However, the union strongly advises you to consult with your UFT district representative before taking such action.

Administrative Assignments

With certain explicit exceptions, administrative assignments are prohibited unless the school chapter votes to create them through an approved school-based option [see SBO].The exceptions are cafeteria duty, yard duty, hall patrol, AM/PM bus duty and homeroom. If you wish to be assigned one of those activities, you should rank it in priority order on your professional period preference sheet. If you are given an administrative assignment, you cannot be involuntarily assigned to another administrative assignment the following school year.

Also see Professional Activity Options; Professional Activity Procedures; Program Preference.

Arrests

If the police should arrest you in school for any reason — work-related or not — you or your chapter leader should call the UFT borough office immediately for assistance. You should give the UFT representative the name and precinct of the arresting officer along with any other details you have regarding the arrest. If you are arrested, you must notify your principal and the Office of Personnel Investigations in writing (Chancellor’s Regulation C-105). The UFT will provide legal assistance if you are arraigned. If you are arrested for any actions arising out of the disciplining of a student, you should immediately apply to both the DOE and the city Corporation Counsel for representation.

Also see Legal Assistance.

Assaults

If you are assaulted, threatened, cursed at or verbally harassed on school grounds by anyone — a student, a parent, an intruder or anyone else — you should immediately notify your principal and UFT chapter leader. This applies whether or not you suffer any physical injuries. You must file an Occurrence Report and Comprehensive Injury Report within 24 hours of the assault detailing what transpired. If you are unable to fill out the reports due to injuries, your chapter leader and/or a colleague can do that for you. If you are unsure whether what happened to you constitutes an assault, you should still fill out both reports.

You also should file a UFT Safety/Incident Report online, at www.uft.org — click on Safety/Discipline report on the home page. You can also get the form from your chapter leader. Once you’ve completed it, fax it to the UFT Safety Department (1-212-677-6612). If your injuries prevent you from filling out the UFT Safety/Incident Report, you or your chapter leader should call your UFT borough office. In an emergency, you can get immediate union assistance by calling the UFT Safety and Health hotline at 1-212-707-9407 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Your chapter leader will notify your UFT district representative and the union’s Victim Support Program (1-212-598-6853) of the incident. If you need or want help, the Victim Support Program will provide you with counseling, legal advice, help dealing with medical matters and violence-prevention training. You might also consider pressing charges against the assailant.

Your principal is required to investigate what happened to you and write a full report, which should include statements by all the witnesses who were present during the incident. You must sign the report to acknowledge that you have seen it, but you can attach a statement of your own if you don’t believe it adequately states the facts. Finally, you or your chapter leader should make sure that your principal has notified the DOE’s Office of Legal Services (1-212-374-6888) and the Director of School Safety (1-718-730-8800) within 24 hours.

Also see Court Appearances, Injury in the line of Duty, School Safety, Victim Support Program.

Attendance Procedures

Teachers were once required to punch in and out with a time clock, but the UFT won the elimination of that vestige of factory-model teaching in the 1990s. Today, the principal must consult with the UFT chapter committee and many have jointly established procedures for keeping track of staff attendance and lateness.

Also see Absences, Excessive Absences/Lateness

Budget, see School Budget.

Bulletin Boards

If you are required to do classroom or hall bulletin boards, their format is up to you. In a right won recently, your principal cannot dictate how they look or discipline you for their format.

Also see Micromanagement.