Know your rights
Per-session summer work for social workers and psychologists
May 22, 2008 1:20 PM
As we head into the summer season, many UFT members apply for per-session positions. For school psychologists and social workers, Article 7 of the Department of Education contract covers, among other things, the rules governing the selection and retention of all per-session assignments, including after-school, weekend and summer work.
For psychologists and social workers applying for these positions, several criteria must be considered. First, appointed psychologists and social workers have to be hired for all per-session positions before a substitute can be hired. Second, all DOE-employed full-time psychologists and social workers who have been rated “Satisfactory” for the preceding school year must be offered posted per-session positions before any non-full-time psychologists or social workers can be hired. Further, the DOE cannot give a per-session assignment to any non-DOE employee or to a psychologist or social worker rated “Unsatisfactory” if full-time psychologists and social workers with “Satisfactory” ratings have applied for the work.
These rules apply to all per-session work regardless of whether it is after-school, weekend or summer work. However, there are specific mandates for each type of per-session assignment. For example, for those applying for summer per-session, those school psychologists and social workers who claim retention rights to the activity get priority for positions before those who have not claimed retention rights. Some psychologists and social workers achieved retention rights by completing the equivalent of 20 days of satisfactory service for the Committee for Special Education during the 1997 and 1998 summer sessions. For all others, retention rights are achieved when you have completed at least two years of continuous service in a particular activity. In order to claim retention rights to a particular superintendency, you must fill out form OP-175 by an agreed-upon date. If there are still summer positions available in a superintendency after all those with retention rights have been assigned, priority is given to staff assigned to the superintendency in seniority order and then to staff from other superintendencies in seniority order.
Although per-session postings have a starting and ending date, the superintendent may schedule per-session work for psychologists and social workers to meet the needs of the students. In doing so, the superintendent may reduce or eliminate per-session assignments, as long as the psychologists and social workers receive five days notice of the change. In the event that the number of positions is reduced, retention is secured in reverse seniority order.
