Know your rights

Tenure

Jun 7, 2007 5:04 PM

Tenure is a status that appointed pedagogues achieve after completing a probationary period with satisfactory service. Once you have tenure, you cannot be dismissed without being formally charged and having a hearing before an independent arbitrator on those charges. This protects you from being fired by your supervisor for personal or political reasons.
The normal probationary period is three years, although this can be reduced by prior service or extended if your performance is in doubt. To acquire tenure, you must also meet all eligibility requirements.

In January 2007, Chancellor Joel Klein announced his intention to use student test scores as part of the decision to grant tenure. In the April agreement on the reorganization that the Department of Education reached with the UFT and its coalition partners, however, the DOE agreed that it will not change tenure standards this year and will not make any unilateral changes to the criteria for granting tenure to new teachers in the future. And now, any changes must conform to the new state law, which leaves tenure intact and says that tenure must be based on principal evaluation, peer review and how teachers use data. The UFT believes using student test scores to make tenure decisions is morally, legally and contractually wrong and will fight such a policy if the DOE tries to enact it. Indeed, The Chief-Civil Service Leader quotes a spokesperson from the governor’s office agreeing that the new law doesn’t allow it.

A computer-alert system notifies principals when a teacher’s probationary period is drawing to a close and prompts them to indicate whether the teacher is on track to achieve tenure. Once you complete probation, you are granted tenure.

If the DOE intends to discontinue your service prior to your obtaining tenure, you must be given 60 calendar days’ notice prior to the end of your probationary period. If you are discontinued, call your UFT borough office immediately for assistance in preparing for an administrative hearing. An advocate will be assigned to assist you in fighting the termination.

Probationary Period
If you are newly appointed under a new license, state law requires that you serve a three-year probationary period in that license area.
You may be able to reduce your probationary period in one of the following ways:
1. Jarema Credit. This is a way that appointed teachers who worked satisfactorily as regular substitutes in the same license and at the same school level can reduce the normal three-year probationary period by up to two years. To obtain one term of credit, you must have worked as a sub for a minimum of 80 days within a period of 90 consecutive school days in the same school. For a credit of one year, you must have worked at least 160 days in a one-year period. If you have any questions, call your UFT borough office for assistance. You can find the application for Jarema Credit online by going to the DOE’s Web site, http://schools.nyc.gov, and typing “Jarema Credit” into the site’s search engine. Return the completed form to the Division of Human Resources, Office of Regional Field Services, 65 Court St., Room 811, Brooklyn, NY, 11201. Make sure to keep a copy of the application for your records, along with the “return receipt requested” notice.
2. Traveling Tenure. Each time you change your license and are reappointed, you must serve a new three-year probationary period. But if you received tenure in one license area and elect to take an appointment in a new license area, or if you were tenured in another school district in New York State, you can apply to have your probationary period reduced to two years. This is commonly known as “traveling tenure.” If this applies to you, call your UFT borough office for more information.

Job security
Although teachers are not “guaranteed a job for life,” as critics often say, it is true that, after completing a probationary period, teachers in New York State may generally not be fired except for just cause or a layoff situation. Inappropriate conduct that gives rise to dismissal is defined in state law and must be substantiated by the DOE in a due-process hearing before an independent arbitrator. A layoff or “reduction in force” happens when positions have been eliminated, usually due to funding cuts.

In the past, recently hired New York City teachers often found themselves without jobs whenever student enrollment declined, even if only temporarily. But step by step, the UFT has negotiated greater and greater protections into its contracts to provide qualified pedagogues with the reasonable expectation that their jobs will be secure.

In 2005, for example, the union negotiated a new excessing and transfer plan that effectively guaranteed every satisfactorily rated educator a position, despite school closings and funding swings. Except in the rare case of a citywide fiscal emergency (such as last occurred for teachers in 1975), teachers whose positions have been eliminated and have failed to secure another placement may remain in Absent Teacher Reserves in or near their old school at full pay until an appropriate position becomes available.