ICT and ENL teachers can grieve unreasonable number of different courses or room assignments

Co-teachers in integrated co-teaching classes and English as a new language teachers who provide standalone and/or integrated instruction have the right to file reorganization grievances if they are programmed to have an unreasonable number of different courses — each requiring preparation — or multiple rooms in which they teach. Reorganization grievances must be filed within two days of receiving the program through the chapter leader.   

When filing the grievance, the teacher should indicate the contract article that was violated and provide a description of how it was violated. Relevant articles in the DOE-UFT contract are 7A (high schools) and 7B (intermediate and junior high schools).

You or your chapter leader should make sure that the UFT district representative receives a copy of the program in dispute. Reorganization grievances are eligible for expedited arbitration at the end of June through the first week of October. 

Below are the contractual articles that can be grieved in high schools and junior high schools if a teacher’s program is too onerous. Please note that each different course and grade level represent a different lesson preparation. The same course with a different co-teacher could also be considered a different prep as the planning will be different with each teacher. 

The following is an example of how a reorganization grievance can be written:

A: Article 7A2c was violated because I was given four different lesson preparations each day. I am a special education teacher who co-teaches ICT classes with four different subject-area teachers. I co-teach two global history 1 classes, one U.S. history 1 class, 1 ELA 1 class and 1 ELA 2 class. I would like to reduce my preparations to two by teaching two global history 1 classes and 2 U.S. history 1 classes.  Additionally, Article 7A2b was violated because I teach in four different rooms every day.

Contract articles regarding program guidelines:

Article 7A (High Schools)

2. Program Guidelines

Wherever administratively possible, teacher programs should follow these guidelines:

a. There should be no more than three consecutive teaching assignments and no more than four consecutive working assignments (including professional activities)

b. The number of different rooms in which assignments occur should be held to the absolute minimum administratively possible.

c. The number of lesson preparations should be kept at the minimum consistent with the nature of the subject, the size of the department, the special offerings of the department, and special requests of teachers. Honor classes and modified classes should be considered as separate preparations. Within a department, teachers with a full teaching program should be given preference in the assignment of the number of preparations.

Article 7B (Intermediate and Junior High Schools)

2. Program Guidelines

Wherever administratively possible, teacher programs should follow these guidelines:

a. Teachers should have at least one unassigned period each day.

b. There should be no more than three consecutive teaching assignments, except for teachers of subjects normally programmed for double periods.

c. There should be no more than four consecutive working assignments (including professional activities).

d. The number of different rooms in which assignments occur should be held to the absolute minimum administratively possible.

e. The number of lesson preparations should be kept at the minimum consistent with the nature of the subject, the size of the department, the special offerings of the department, and special requests of teachers. Classes for gifted, bright, average and difficult pupils should be considered as separate preparations. Within a department, teachers with a full teaching program should be given preference in the assignment of the number of preparations.