May 24, 2007 3:15 PM
The UFT and the Department of Education settled an important arbitration in early May that gives former education evaluators the right to transfer to a school where they can become an IEP teacher.
The union filed the grievance because despite an agreement with the UFT the DOE had repeatedly failed to make such transfers available.
After the DOE unilaterally eliminated the position of education evaluator in 2003, the union and the DOE negotiated an agreement creating the position of IEP teacher. Former ed evaluators were supposed to have the right to a one-time transfer to a school where they could get that position if it was not available in their current school. But the DOE did not give former ed evaluators this opportunity in the spring of 2004 and did not make all the positions not filled by former ed evaluators available in the spring of 2005, so the UFT filed a union-initiated grievance.
Under the terms of the settlement, the DOE agrees to provide a one-time limited transfer opportunity to anyone who was an ed evaluator during the 2002-03 school year (or who was on leave or sabbatical for any part of that year) who was not assigned to an IEP teacher position for the 2006-07 school year for one of the following reasons: there was no IEP teacher position at his or her school for the 2006-07 school year; or a more senior former education evaluator serving at his or her school received the IEP teacher assignment; or he or she lacked required bilingual skills, and who was not awarded an IEP teacher assignment under the 2004-05 transfer plan.
Any former ed evaluator who holds a New York State Certificate in Special Education or a New York City Special Education license and meets those criteria will be permitted to take an IEP teacher assignment by either transferring to a school where the IEP teacher position is not filled or by transferring to a school with an unfilled special education teacher vacancy in the 2007-08 school year where there is an approved allocation and the IEP position is not assigned to a former ed evaluator. The UFT is currently working with the DOE to make sure the plan includes all of these positions.
Consistent with the transfer provisions that existed in 2003, these transfers will be granted based on seniority. Principals will not interview or be able to reject applicants.
In addition to this opportunity, former ed evaluators who want to change schools may also apply through the Open Market Transfer Plan. Open Market transfers, however, are to teaching positions and do not guarantee that the teacher will get the IEP teacher position in the new school. The IEP teacher position is assigned by the principal as a program preference in any school where a former ed evaluator is not occupying the position.
Eligible applicants who transfer under this plan will not need a release from their current principal. If two or more eligible former ed evaluators seek the same position under the transfer plan, the most senior of them will get the transfer. Eligible applicants transferred under this plan will have a preference for the IEP teacher assignment, as defined by the Special Education Memorandum of Agreement dated Oct. 28, 2003, for as long as and in whatever form it exists.
The text of the entire agreement is available on the UFT Web site, www.uft.org, under My Chapter/IEP Teachers.
UPDATED: The transfer opportunity is posted on the DOE Web site and there is a Thursday, June 7th deadline for applications. Teachers who apply will have to certify that they meet the eligibility requirements.