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Members sent to ‘rubber rooms’ will receive fairer, more timely treatment

Aug 7, 2008 12:20 PM

In an important victory for members languishing unfairly in Department of Education temporary reassignment centers, the UFT and DOE reached an agreement on July 2 that will reduce the backlog of teachers sent to a “rubber room” for alleged misconduct.

The agreement also makes the process fairer, as principals will be prohibited from removing a member from a school for allegations being investigated by principals without DOE review and approval unless there are unusual circumstances.

“We were focusing on timelines — not just fairness — for two reasons: first, justice delayed is justice denied, and second, the experience in the rubber rooms is so dehumanizing for most that the sooner the stay is over, the better,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten.

The agreement caps months of negotiations between the DOE and the union. Those negotiations started after the union made TRC-reassigned members a priority this year, sending staff to the rubber rooms initially to listen to their concerns. Then, last October, Weingarten met with members assigned to TRCs and set out a 10-point plan that included the need for more arbitrators and other issues covered by the agreement. She also visited some of the centers herself to hear complaints.

Under the terms of the agreement, there will be an increase in the number of 3020-a arbitration panel members — 28, instead of 20 — and as many as half of the panelists will deal solely with cases of alleged incompetence.

And, as there has been a backlog in contract grievances for years, there will be an increase of arbitration dates to 175 per year from the 140-date schedule that has existed for the past 20 years.

In another measure aimed at speeding the process, principals may testify under oath by phone in contract arbitrations —provided that a UFT district representative (or designee) is in the room to make sure the principal isn’t referring to written material or being assisted by anyone during their testimony.

The DOE pledged to provide any UFT member who is being reassigned a letter listing the general grounds for reassignment, and those already reassigned but not yet charged received letters listing the general grounds for their reassignment.

Timelines set

Effective immediately, the DOE must adhere to the following timelines, from the date of the reassignment, for affected employees:

• The amount of time for the chancellor’s Office of Special Investigations to conduct an investigation will be 90 days.
• The amount of time to transfer a criminal case to the Administrative Trials Unit will be 30 days.
• The amount of time for the DOE to draft 3020-a charges will be 40 days.

Each year, a DOE-UFT committee will meet to discuss whether these timelines are being followed.

The DOE will have a central review process for reassignments and will provide the UFT with a list of reassignments weekly. If the UFT disagrees with any reassignment decisions, it can present objections to the city Office of Labor Relations.

The UFT will also get a quarterly report of all reassignments so that it can tell whether the DOE is adhering to its own guidelines.

The DOE has already conducted a central review of currently reassigned members and some members have been sent back to their schools.

Penalties for principals

If a principal reassigns a member without proper approval and doesn’t follow DOE procedures for doing so, central DOE will return the member to the school and the principal’s budget will be charged for the salary that the member earned while reassigned.

Reassignments should never be used to retaliate against whistle-blowers or for any other illegal reason. Any employee, including a principal, who is found to have knowingly made false allegations against a member will face disciplinary action.

Under the agreement, wherever possible, members who are reassigned will be placed in the borough where they work.

While in a temporary reassignment center, members who wish to do so will be permitted to perform duties or activities subject to the approval of a DOE supervisor, and each member will be provided workspace. The DOE also promised to work with the UFT to comply with the Public Employee Safety and Health Act.

The DOE pledged to evaluate cases of tenured teachers who receive U-ratings for poor performance and will, where it deems appropriate, refer those case to PIP Plus, the peer review process that provides an independent assessment of whether a teacher is satisfactory.

3020-a improvements

In addition to expanding the 3020-a arbitration panel by 40 percent, the UFT and DOE agreed to explore ways to speed up the process of getting transcripts of hearings in order to shorten the hearing time.

The pre-hearing conference will facilitate more fairness for those preparing their cases, with members and their lawyers receiving evidence against them listed in the agreement one week prior to the conference. Every effort will be made to make sure the member attends the pre-hearing conference. The DOE will also attempt to have a representative authorized to settle the case present.