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News stories
UFT: First-day flap chancellor’s fault
In the flap over whether schools should open on Wednesday, Sept. 8, or the following Monday, the 13, UFT President Michael Mulgrew charged Chancellor Joel Klein with misrepresenting the facts and failing to take responsibility for the school calendar.
In a letter to parents, Klein wrote that the Department of Education would be unable to change Sept. 8 to a professional development day, a change that would be “straightforward and fair to all,” blaming the union for refusing to agree to its plan.
But Mulgrew made it clear at a press conference at Shanker Hall on June 28 that the UFT has tried to ensure that the school calendar works for families and teachers, but the responsibility for the calendar is the administration’s alone.
“The chancellor,” he said, “does not need to get the union’s agreement to make Sept. 8 a professional development day.”
“Parents,” he noted, “should be enraged that Chancellor Klein has refused to exert the authority he has to properly manage the school calendar.”
Mulgrew suggested that each school make its own decision about whether or not to start on Monday, Sept. 13, as permitted under the school-based option in the UFT contract.
UFT District 26 Representative Mary Vaccaro and District 31 Rep Sean Rotkowitz noted that SBO teams in their districts, with strong parent backing, sought the change to the Monday opening earlier in the year but were denied by the Klein administration, which they said indicated such decision would be “chaotic.” Mulgrew questioned the competence of an administration that could not handle such changes, citing past years when the system operated efficiently with different school schedules for different boroughs.
Mulgrew pointed out that the union suggested the change at a May 12 meeting but was told the calendar was unchangeable.
It’s the old story of the DOE never accepting responsibility, he said. “The school calendar is wrong — the UFT made us do it,” he said.
Watch video of the press conference:
Read more: News stories
Related topics: management malfeasance, our schools, parents and community