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Delegates approve student-removal process resolution
Mar 13, 2008 2:30 PM
UFT Vice President Michael Mulgrew (right) introduces two who collaborated, Dionet Rodriguez (left) and Alice Hom (second from right), the chapter leader and principal of PS 124 in Manhattan and District 2 Representative Evelyn DeJesus.
Bolstering the union’s ongoing school safety campaign, UFT delegates passed a resolution pledging the union to “use any grievance or legal means necessary to mandate” that the Department of Education establish and enforce a student removal process in every school.
UFT Vice President Michael Mulgrew, who motivated the resolution, said the union took action after discovering from an online survey of chapter leaders in the fall that 333 schools did not have a student removal process even though it is required by state law.
Delegates were given an excerpt from the Jan. 15 Principals’ Weekly that spells out clearly that “a student may be removed from the classroom by the teacher when the student engages in behavior that is substantially disruptive of the educational process or substantially interferes with a teacher’s authority over the classroom.” It urged principals to “review the removal process with your teachers.” Mulgrew urged delegates to use the directive with recalcitrant administers.
Reminding delegates that the union’s philosophy is “collaborate, educate or fight,” Mulgrew introduced Dionet Rodriguez and Alice Hom, the chapter leader and principal of PS 124 in Manhattan, who cooperated on writing a student removal protocol at their school as well as two chapter leaders — Deborah Carr from PS 40 and Robin Karmel from PS 116 in Queens — who had to fight recalcitrant principals to get a student removal process in their schools.
Principal Hom, a former UFT chapter leader, talked about the need to deal with disruptive children “not punitively, but to support them and reintegrate them into the class.” She said schools need more resources to deal effectively with these kids.
An amendment to add that the union is not in favor of criminalizing student behavior was defeated by delegates after UFT Vice President Leo Casey said the amendment, while it had merit, should be a resolution of its own. Norma Perez, a bilingual science teacher at Brooklyn’s IS 296 and a former Puerto-Rico-based educator, talked to delegates about the Puerto Rican teachers strike. Some 34,000 school teachers are on strike, facing down a union-busting commonwealth government.
The FMPR, which was an AFT affiliate before going independent, is now facing decertification by the commonwealth government for violating the island’s public employee strike ban. Perez said that Puerto Rican teachers’ salaries are very low and schools are in ramshackle condition. Unlike in other situations, the union did not ask for support from the UFT, but given the ties between Puerto Rico and New York, many members have expressed concern. As a result, the body voted as a sign of solidarity to support the Puerto Rican teachers.
Delegates voted unanimously to endorse plans for the mass education rally on March 19 against the city and state budget cuts [see story on page 3]. They also endorsed the March 22 River-to-River Stand Up for Peace demonstration, where participants would form a human chain stretching the length of 14th Street in opposition to the continuing war in Iraq. It was announced that UFT members would gather at 14th Street and 4th Avenue for the 1 p.m. event.
