Know Your Rights
Feb 6, 2007 10:44 AM
Damaged or Stolen Property
If your personal property (including your car) is damaged, destroyed or stolen while you are on duty or on a school trip and you have not been negligent, the DOE will reimburse you for up to $100 that is not covered by insurance.
Disciplinary Actions
State education law (section 3020-a) provides for the disciplining or termination of a tenured teacher for specific charges, such as incompetence, insubordination, corporal punishment, sexual misconduct, etc. Despite many attempts to undercut it, state law also requires due process so that educators cannot be terminated or disciplined unfairly.
If your principal tells you that you are being brought up on any of those charges, inform your chapter leader immediately so the union can provide you with legal representation at the 3020a hearing. If the charges are sustained, the discipline may range from fines to suspensions to the loss of your job or even your teaching license.
In some cases, teachers awaiting such charges are removed from their schools and assigned to Temporary Reassignment Centers until their cases are adjudicated. In that case, you must be formally charged within six months or returned to your school. You are paid during this time unless you have been charged with sexual misconduct with a student or minor, or a felony involving firearms, drugs, or your job, or any crime involving physical abuse of a student or minor. If you are charged with any of these, the DOE can ask for a hearing to decide whether or not you can be suspended without pay.
Also see Summons.
Discontinuance, see Probationary Period.
Discrimination
The Department of Education and its employees are prohibited from discriminating against you on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age, handicapping condition or membership in, participation in or association with the activities of any employee organization. That means that the principal cannot discriminate against you, discipline you or retaliate against you for exercising your contractual rights, e.g., filing a grievance, being a union activist or participating in a union protest. If you believe that you are being discriminated against, you should immediately contact your chapter leader and district representative. Our contract, along with state and federal laws, provides protections for you that will fight such discrimination.
Disruptive Children (Behavior Problems)
If a student in your class is very disruptive, you have the right to have that child removed for a single period, a single day or up to four days. The removal process is spelled out in Chancellor’s Regulation A-443 (Student Disciplinary Procedures), a booklet that parents, children and staff are supposed to receive at the beginning of the school year. You also can find the rules online at the DOE Web site: http://schools.nyc.gov — click on View All Tools and Resources, then on Chancellor’s Regulations and on A-443.
Before beginning the process, you should first let the student know that he or she is in danger of being removed from the class and listen to his or her version. If you are still convinced of the necessity for the removal, talk to the principal and complete a “Student Removal Form.” If the principal doesn’t help, ask your chapter leader about filing a grievance under contract Article 9 and Appendix B.
Make sure you maintain an anecdotal log of the child’s behavior for any hearings that occur. For your log you can use the student removal form, which asks you to specify the disruptive activities as well as the interventions that you have taken.
The procedure for removing disruptive students is also covered under a state law that was championed by the UFT. Among other provisions, the Safe Schools Against Violence in Education Act (SAVE) requires each school to have a removal procedure and an alternative site (i.e., SAVE room) where the child can receive instruction and other supports and interventions. You have the right to file an expedited appeal to the chancellor if you have followed the procedure and your principal refuses to remove a disruptive student from your class or returns the student sooner than what you agreed to. See your chapter leader for the details of your school plan.
As a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the procedures are different for children with disabilities who exhibit disruptive behavior. These issues should be addressed in the child’s IEP. In some cases it may be appropriate to do a re-evaluation and/or a change in the student’s placement. For children with disabilities who exhibit dangerous behavior, there are special procedures to follow; contact your district representative for assistance.
Also see Safety.
Empowerment Schools
The schools chancellor has designated hundreds of schools as “empowerment” schools. The school’s UFT chapter must be consulted before the principal applies for this designation. It frees the school from many bureaucratic rules and regulations and offers additional funding in return for strict accountability requirements, including meeting specific student performance targets.
Empowerment schools must honor all UFT-represented staff rights and protections under their contracts and under law. They are not exempt from any UFT/DOE contractual requirements, or any state or federal laws or regulations.
Environmental Safety and Health
The DOE is required, under our contract and federal and state regulations, to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards, one that is safe, secure and well maintained.
The DOE is required to provide training to protect you against hazards that you are likely to encounter, including but not limited to dealing with blood that may carry disease, spilled cleaning products and damaged insulation that may contain asbestos. Those who work in science laboratories and vocational shops also must receive training on hazards specific to their facilities.
To ensure that the DOE adheres to our contract and the law, the union’s Safety and Health Committee has experts in each borough to respond to your environmental health and safety complaints or concerns. (It’s best to have the chapter leader contact them.) These concerns can include, but are not limited to, asbestos, lead paint, mold, rodents, indoor air quality, construction and renovation, communicable diseases and ergonomic hazards like lifting and transferring students with limited mobility.
Evaluations, see Classroom Observations, Ratings.
Excessing
There are times when a school reduces the size of its faculty, such as when it experiences an unexpected drop in student enrollment, loses a budget line or pursuant to state or federal law, is being closed, redesigned or phased out. This is called “excessing.” In effect, no later than the 15th day of a school term, the least senior teacher in the license area being downsized is declared in “excess.” Under the so-called “open market” system, our contract provides excessed teachers with significant job protections. For example, if you are excessed, you have access to a current list of all vacant positions in the city (they are posted online) and can apply for any or all of them in your license area. Most important, except in the rare case of a citywide fiscal emergency, you can no longer be laid off.
If you do not get hired right away, or if you do not apply for any position, the DOE may send you for interviews within your district or region. If you are not hired, you will be assigned to the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) in your original school or district until an open position arises. There you will be available to substitute for absent teachers while continuing to receive your regular pay and benefits. Unless a layoff situation exists, the UFT and DOE agreed to stop any bumping less senior teachers from their positions.
Starting in the 2007-08 school year, the DOE may decide to offer a voluntary severance program. If it offers one, the amount must be negotiated and it must be offered to anyone excessed for a year or more. If an excessee accepts the buyout, he or she must either resign or retire.
Also see Job Security, Redesigned Schools, Transfers.
Excessive Absences/Lateness
If you are tenured and you are excessively absent or late, the DOE has the right, with sufficient notice, to summon you to a hearing about your conduct. It is critical that you alert the union as soon as you are summoned so a union lawyer can assist you at the hearing and can review the documentation the DOE must provide you. The hearing officer cannot terminate you but can levy penalties against you.
If you are not tenured and you are excessively absent or late, you may receive a letter for your official file. You also may be subject to an unsatisfactory (“U”) rating and/or discontinuance of your probation (in other words, termination). You should contact your chapter leader immediately so that you can be provided with the proper advice and representation.
Facilities, see Teacher Facilities.
False Accusations
UFT members have been falsely accused of sexual misconduct or physical abuse involving students. In another recently won right, if you are falsely accused of those or other crimes and it is determined that the allegations were knowingly false when they were made, the DOE will remove all references of the allegations from your personnel file, restore any lost pay with interest, and permanently reassign the student from your class.
Also see Corporal Punishment, Verbal Abuse.
Grades
The UFT believes that you are the best judge of a student’s achievement. Some supervisors have pressured teachers to pass undeserving students or, without the teacher’s consent, have unilaterally changed student grades. If this happens to you, immediately tell your chapter leader. To preserve the integrity of the grades you give your students, our contract requires supervisors to notify you in writing of the reason they have changed one of your students’ grades.
Grievances
Grievances are the way union-represented staffers enforce their contract and protect their rights. You cannot be disciplined or discriminated against for exercising your rights. If you believe that a supervisor has violated your contractual rights and you and your chapter leader have been unable to resolve your complaint, you should file a grievance against the DOE. Your chapter leader and district representative will help you prepare the grievance, citing the violated contract clause, and represent you at the hearing. In certain instances, your chapter leader can file a grievance on your behalf (i.e., class size, mandated consultation, postings, program deadlines). If necessary, the union will consider taking the grievance to the final appeal, arbitration in front of an independent neutral, selected jointly and paid for equally by the DOE and the UFT.
