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Topics in the News:
special ed
The New York City Department of Education recently filed a claim seeking reimbursement of $2.5 million for OT and PT services rendered to Medicaid-eligible students. This comes after the DOE had filed no claims as of the end of December 2012. The $2.5 million claim will not be paid until state Medicaid authorities are satisfied that the DOE has complied with all of the program requirements.
I would like to thank Vice President Carmen Alvarez, Michael Mulgrew and my chapter chairperson, Vanessa Pressley, for giving us the tools — like Carmen Alvarez’s article in the New York Teacher, “The Time Is Now” [May 2] — and the guidance to fight back and win the SESIS debacle.
An airport replete with planes, a harbor with boats and a baseball stadium, too. These were just a few of the models constructed by PS 188 students at their Coney Island school’s LEGO Education Showcase Event on April 20.
What was truly on display at an April 27 conference about technical advances geared for special education students was pride of accomplishment and the resiliency, adaptability and spirit of young learners.
Thirty thousand UFT members forced to spend hundreds of hours beyond the school day logging student data onto the Department of Education’s Special Education Student Information System got a total of more than $38 million in back pay in April.
The UFT created the following Q&A to answer questions that SESIS users may have about the DOE's payment in April for time spent during SESIS work after school hours.
The way that the special education reform has been implemented at the school level has hijacked good decision-making for students with disabilities. As high season for annual reviews approaches, now is the time to make sure that the students you serve have strong IEPs with solid program and service recommendations.
A special education achievement coach and a member of the Teachers Assigned Chapter, Debra Tasioudis is one of about 400 UFT members who are former classroom teachers based at DOE offices, where they work in a support capacity for schools.
Thanks to the UFT’s victory in arbitration, more than 31,000 members should be receiving back pay in April for the Special Education Student Information System work that they did after work hours between September 2011 and Dec. 31, 2012.
The UFT delegates voted overwhelmingly on March 20 to support the 60-member UFT Task Force on School Governance’s recommendations to scale back mayoral control of the school system. “We are telling the city what parents already know: what we have doesn’t work,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.
These questions and answers were created to address issues arising from this next chapter of the SESIS fight.
Henry Winkler, who is best known for his role as “Fonzie” in the hit TV show “Happy Days,” will receive the UFT’s most prestigious honor, the John Dewey Award, at the union's annual Spring Education Conference this year for his advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities.
The UFT has won another round in its ongoing fight with the Department of Education to provide members with the time they need to complete their work on SESIS. An arbitrator on March 13 issued a clarification of his original ruling, finding that the DOE had ignored his award when it carved out specific time in the work day to do SESIS work for some titles but not others without first negotiating with the UFT.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the Districts 3 and 4 members who turned out for a Meet the President gathering at an East Harlem restaurant on March 13, “We want the best education system in the country.”
Everyone’s talking about the breakdown in the teacher evaluation talks between the mayor and the union as if it were the only chance to fix public education in New York City. Do we need an evaluation system? Absolutely. Is it a cure-all for our educational ills? Absolutely not.
Since 1982, Edelstein has been a preschool teacher for special needs children at the private, nonprofit Block Institute in Brooklyn.
UFT Vice President for Special Education Carmen Alvarez testified before the New York City Council Committees on Education and Finance.
The UFT on Jan. 3 prevailed in its grievance charging that the Department of Education’s implementation of the Special Education Student Information System required members to work beyond their regular workday. Read this Q&A to find out what that means for you.
The city’s protracted yellow school bus strike has left both parents and teachers increasingly frustrated with Mayor Bloomberg for his failure to negotiate with the union that represents the approximately 9,000 striking drivers and matrons.
Working in the city’s public schools as a speech therapist for 29 years, Robinson has spent the last eight at PS 92 in Harlem.
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