Know Your Rights

Feb 6, 2007 10:44 AM

Layoffs, see Job Security.

Lead Teachers

The lead teacher position, negotiated citywide after a successful Bronx trial co-sponsored by the UFT and parent groups, creates a career ladder for teachers who wish to advance professionally without becoming administrators. It also provides a way that the system can improve struggling schools while offering additional pay to retain master teachers in our profession, with selection being based on what, not who a teacher knows.

Lead teachers teach for a portion of the school day and provide professional development for the rest. Lead teachers have an extended work year and work additional hours, and are paid more than a classroom teacher’s regular salary.

Lead teacher positions are advertised in a citywide posting. A regional committee determines the pool of candidates to be interviewed and selection is made at the school level. You may file a grievance if the regional committee does not forward your application to the school committee.

Leaves of Absence

Any regularly appointed teacher may apply for a leave of absence. Leaves of absence with partial pay include military leaves and sabbatical leaves for study and for restoration of health.

There also are leaves of absence without pay available for those who meet the criteria. If you require a leave of absence for the adjustment of personal affairs (a situation requiring your full-time attention), you can apply for a leave of up to two years. If your leave is denied, you can appeal to the Executive Director of the Division of Human Resources.

The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of paid and unpaid leave for maternity or care of a child under age 1, adoption, the start of foster care, caring for an ill family member or treating a serious personal health condition. You are eligible if you have worked for a total of at least 12 months as of the date the leave commences (the 12 months need not be consecutive) or for 1,250 hours (equivalent to one school year under DOE regs) over the previous 12 months. The leave can be intermittent or involve reducing your work schedule, such as if you need to go for medical treatments. (For further information, go to www.uft.org — click on Member Services and Publications to read “Not For Women Only.”) There is a specialist in each UFT borough office who can answer your questions regarding this leave.

Medical circumstances could lead you to apply for a “leave of absence without pay for restoration of health.” The most common reason is what is informally known as maternity or child-care leave. However, it can also be used for treatment of and recuperation from a serious illness after you have used all the days in your CAR. If your application for a medical leave is denied, you can go to arbitration.

Also see Cumulative Absence Reserve, Maternity Leave, Medical Arbitration, Sabbaticals.

Legal Assistance

If you face criminal or civil charges as a result of disciplinary actions taken against a pupil while you were doing your job, the DOE will provide you with legal representation. You should immediately contact your district representative or your UFT borough office for assistance in getting a DOE attorney.

To protect your right to representation, you must provide two agencies with copies of any legal papers with which you have been served (such as a criminal summons or a civil complaint). The first is the DOE’s Office of Legal Services (1-212-374-6888); the second is the city’s Corporation Counsel (100 Church St., New York, NY 10007; phone 1-212-788-0303). You must give each agency copies of the paperwork within 10 days of being served, although the UFT recommends doing this within five days.

There’s one additional step worth taking. At the same time that you contact the DOE and Corporation Counsel, ask your UFT borough office for an application for the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) — our statewide affiliate — Legal Defense Fund. If you are fully exonerated of all charges, this fund will reimburse you for up to $25,000 in legal fees.

Length of School Day

If you are serving in a single-session school, your school day consists of six hours 20 minutes and a 37.5-minute extended time session Monday through Thursday following student dismissal. The day must start no earlier than 8 a.m. and end no later than 3:45 p.m. Friday’s schedule is six hours and 20 minutes. There is one faculty conference and one grade/department conference each month, for up to no more than 40 minutes within those same hours, except in September and June, when conferences must be held within regular school hours.

If you’re in a multi-session school, the school day is six hours and 50 minutes. District 75 schools also have a six-hour-and-50-minute school day unless the principal and chapter agree to the single-session-school schedule.

Also see Tutoring Sessions.

Length of School Year

Teachers begin the school year on the Thursday preceding Labor Day. The two days before Labor Day (Thursday and Friday) must include time for classroom preparation. Those two days, as well as Election Day and Brooklyn-Queens Day (the first Thursday in June), are for professional development; students are not present. The school year ends on the weekday before the last two weekdays of June. In addition, there are three recesses — winter, mid-winter and spring recess as well as several holidays in the school year. Please consult the calendar as the school year can vary depending on when the holidays fall.

Lesson Plans

For many years, supervisors collected lesson plans en masse and dictated a strict format, but that is no longer permitted under the teachers’ contract as a result of contract changes in the 1990s. As the educator responsible for providing classroom instruction to your students, you are responsible for developing lesson plans and can determine their format, organization, notation and content. Your supervisor may suggest, but cannot require or insist upon, a particular format unless you have received, or are about to receive, a “U” rating. Your supervisor may enter your classroom and ask to see your lesson plan, at any time, but cannot collect them on a regular basis. If you need help perfecting your lesson plans, you should contact your mentor (if you have one); math or literacy coach or lead teacher (if your school has them); or the UFT Teacher Center (1-212-598-9500).

Letter In File

Before any letter is placed in your file, you must be given an opportunity to read it and acknowledge its receipt by signing it. If the letter is negative, you should write a response, detailing why you disagree with its contents. You should speak with your chapter leader, who can help you write an appropriate response and advise you on any other possible course of action, including procedural matters that may be grievable. The response should be attached to the original letter in your file; your supervisor cannot respond to your response.

If the letter is not used as the basis for a disciplinary procedure for three years, under a new provision you can (and should) have it removed from your file. Talk to your chapter leader about how to do this.

Also see Official School File.

Lunch Periods

You are entitled to a duty-free lunch period. This was a strike issue in the 1960s. Duty-free means just that. It’s free of any and all duty assignments.

If you teach in an elementary school, you must have a daily 50-minute duty-free lunch period. In a secondary school, you must receive a full period for duty-free lunch each day. The only exception to these time frames is when you are conducting school activities outside of the school building, such as a class trip.