Chapter Leader UpdateSept 6, 2023

This Week's Focus

A new school year and a new contract

We ended the 2022-23 school year with the ratification of a new contract that will provide more money and will lead to significant improvements in our working conditions. Now we must exercise our new contractual rights and use our collective voice to speak out if the new contract is ever ignored. Respect for the contract should become the norm in every school. Contract enforcement starts with understanding what the new agreement entails. Please look at this contract implementation presentation and consider going over it with your members at your next chapter meeting. If the DOE and school administrators know that we know what this contract says, they will think twice before trying to work around it. Know that you have the support of your district rep, your UFT borough office staff and the entire union as you do this important work in your school.

See the 2023 contract section »

Money associated with 2023 contract is on the way

This September and October, UFT members will start to receive the money negotiated in the new DOE-UFT contract. The ratification bonus will come in a separate check, while the retroactive payment will be included in the regular paycheck.

The DOE committed to the following schedule:

$3,000 ratification bonus:

Q-Bank employees*: Sept. 25
H-Bank employees*: Sept. 28
F-status employees*: Oct. 4 (pro-rated)

* Had to be on payroll on June 27, 2023

Retroactive payment associated with 3% raise effective Sept. 14, 2022:

School nurses, OT/PTs, audiologists and supervisors of nurses and therapists: Oct. 13
All other full-time employees: Sept. 29
Per-diem employees: Oct. 18
Inactive employees: late October
All per-session work: Nov. 1

3% raise reflected in paychecks:

Q-Bank employees: Starting with the Sept. 29 paycheck
School nurses, OT/PTs, audiologists and supervisors of nurses and therapists: Starting with the Oct. 13 paycheck
All other H-Bank employees: Starting with the Sept. 29 paycheck
Per-diem employees: Starting with the Oct. 18 paycheck

See the pay increase FAQs for answers to common questions about eligibility, pensionability and taxes related to this money.

Report class-size issues to your district rep on Sept. 7

We negotiated powerful new provisions in the 2018 DOE-UFT contract that have since provided teachers and their students much faster relief if classes exceed contractual class-size limits at the start of the school year. Chapter leaders continue to play a central role in the process. We need you to report class size data in your school to your UFT district representative on Day 1 (Thursday, Sept. 7), Day 6 (Thursday, Sept. 14), Day 10 (Wednesday, Sept. 20), Day 14 (Wednesday, Sept. 27) and Day 19 (Wednesday, Oct. 4). Please obtain your school's RACL (elementary or middle schools) or Master Schedule Final (high schools), which indicates class sizes on these dates. You have 10 school days to try to come to an informal resolution with your principal. But instead of going directly to arbitration after that, most unresolved cases now go to your district representative and superintendent to tackle. On the 21st day, unresolved cases escalate a step higher to the citywide Class Size Labor-Management Committee.

The 2018 contract created a special additional step for schools that are Chronically Out of Compliance, defined as having oversized classes for four of the past six school years. These schools are escalated to the Class Size Labor-Management Committee once the overages are reported to the union. If the Class Size Labor-Management Committee cannot resolve the issue, the case is scheduled for expedited arbitration as soon as 10 days later — and no later than the 34th school day of the term. The arbitrator can issue a binding remedy within five school days that the DOE must implement in five school days.

Please reach out to your district rep if you have any questions. Please note that this process is guided by the DOE-UFT contract and is separate and apart from the state class-size law.

March in the Labor Parade this Saturday

Bring a group of members from your chapter to join the UFT contingent on Saturday, Sept. 9, as we march with other city unions in a demonstration of the vitality and importance of the labor movement in New York City. Starting at 9 a.m., at our assembly point on East 45th Street between 5th and Madison avenues, we'll enjoy music from a DJ and complimentary breakfast from food trucks. Then, around 11:15 a.m., we'll begin to march up 5th Avenue to East 66th Street. You must pre-register. Each registrant will receive a wristband, access to free food and drink, and a UFT T-shirt. If you plan to bring guests with you, please add their information when you register. Please use the hashtags #LDP2023 and #UnionProud when you post photos to social media. We hope to see you there!

Create a team for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Every October, thousands of UFT members come together to walk in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in all five boroughs and on Long Island. Chapter leaders can create teams for their chapter members to fundraise and support each other. To form a team, select a walk and then click Sign Up. When it's time to name your team, be sure to include "UFT" in the name. Let your chapter know your team's name so they can select it when they sign up to walk. This year, the walks in Manhattan (Central Park), Queens (Flushing Meadows Corona Park) and Long Island (Jones Beach State Park) will take place on Sunday, Oct. 15. The walks in Brooklyn (Coney Island), the Bronx (Bay Plaza Shopping Center) and Staten Island (Midland Beach) will take place on Sunday, Oct. 22. More details, including the online registration form and each walk's UFT coordinator, can be found on the UFT website.

Set up your team

Chapter Leader Checklist

To Do #1
Register for the citywide chapter leader meeting
We'll focus on contract implementation at the citywide chapter leader meeting next Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 4:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. Chapter leaders may attend in person at UFT headquarters or remotely, but everyone must register in advance. Look out for the email invitation.

To Do #2
Enroll new hires in the UFT
Take a moment to welcome new staff in your building. Nearly 1,800 new hires enrolled the UFT in August, including more than 1,500 at the opening day of the DOE’s New Teacher Week, but we weren’t able to make contact with every single new hire. Please extend a personal invitation to join the UFT to every new hire in your building who is not yet a member and collect their union enrollment card. You can see the list of nonmembers in your chapter in the Chapter Leader Hub.

To Do #3
Grievance process opened on Sept. 5
After a summer hiatus, the grievance process reopened on Tuesday, Sept. 5, the first day educators reported back to work. That commencement date applies to reorganization grievances, which need to be filed by chapter leaders within two school days of knowledge of the violation. View detailed information about the grievance process on the UFT website.

To Do #4
Organize your consultation committee
Make sure that you have a UFT consultation committee that meets monthly with the principal. This committee has a critical purpose: to discuss and attempt to resolve issues at the school level. When an issue cannot be resolved by the consultation committee, bring it to the attention of your UFT district representative. After each meeting, please file an online consultation committee report. Find out more about the role and responsibilities of the UFT consultation committee.

To Do #5
Form your MOSL committee
Chapter leaders should form their Measures of Student Learning (MOSL) committee with their principal by Friday, Oct. 13. The chapter leader should select half the committee members, and the principal should select the other half. Be mindful to include a variety of perspectives on the committee. The DOE shared this MOSL guidance for the 2023-24 school year with principals. Your school's MOSL committee will decide on the measures of student learning for each grade and subject in your school. It will also choose the assessments, the target population and the measure. State assessments are not required for any teacher's measure of student learning, which gives the committee more latitude to choose measures that align with your school's instructional program. In addition, individual measures are no longer required so consider using grade and school-wide measures.

To Do #6
Start thinking about a new school-based special education committee
Under the 2023 contract, each school will have a special education committee selected by the UFT chapter leader. The committee will meet with the principal at least once in the fall and again in the spring and more as needed to discuss special education compliance issues, including teacher and paraprofessional programming, with the goal of resolving issues at the school level. District 75 special education committees will tackle additional topics specific to their district. You should start to identify members of your chapter who are familiar with special education and might be willing to serve on this new committee. More information will be shared about the work of this committee in the coming weeks.

To Do #7
Are you a new chapter leader? Training begins in mid-October
New chapter leaders should save the dates for UFT chapter leader training, part 1, at the Sleepy Hollow Conference Center on Saturday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15. This weekend training session, the first in a three-part series, is designed to give newly elected chapter leaders the tools and resources they need to effectively lead their school chapters. An email invitation to eligible chapter leaders will be sent later this month.

To Do #8
Fliers to share with your members
Here are fliers you can print and distribute in member mailboxes or post on your school's UFT bulletin board.

Hub Highlights

Answers to all your questions Chapter leaders have access to our Knowledge Base, a deep and extensive repository of information in the Chapter Leader Hub. This searchable database will provide answers to many of the questions your members ask about their rights and benefits as UFT members. Whether it's the process for obtaining a health benefit provided by the UFT Welfare Fund or accessing accurate information about retention rights, the Knowledge Base has the answers. Remember: You access the hub using your UFT website username and password.

Enter the hub

Work in progress

The UFT is working on the following issues with the DOE and other city, state and federal entities as appropriate:

Talking with the DOE about how it can improve its pre-service and in-service training for substitute paraprofessionals.
Creating new labor-management committees established in the 2023 contract.
Working with the DOE to update the paperwork standards and guidance as agreed to in the 2023 contract.

You Should Know

Contract Empowerment & Enforcement

Schools can conduct SBO votes through Oct. 16

School chapter leaders may initiate fall school-based options (SBOs) for the 2023-24 school year from Wednesday, Sept. 6, to Monday, Oct. 16, as long as the SBO does not change the times of the students' school day. These SBO votes will be conducted online through Election Buddy. Follow the regular SBO process, including meeting with your chapter and your principal to discuss possible modifications. If there is agreement, an SBO ballot should be created. Your UFT district representative must approve the ballot prior to the vote being set up in Election Buddy.

Here are a couple of caveats relating to these fall SBOs:

Prior to creating compensatory time positions for a special education/IEP coordinator, make sure that your school is in compliance and there are no special education vacancies.
The only SBO-permitted calendar change is to move the afternoon parent-teacher conference to a different day. In addition to an approved SBO, all calendar changes must be approved in writing by the DOE, which will inform your principal in writing. If your principal does not receive approval, the SBO cannot be implemented.

Learn more

Enforcing new elementary school program rights

The 2023 contract provides elementary school teachers with the same contractual rights related to their programs that high school teachers have had since 1962 and middle school teachers obtained in 1975: "Wherever administratively possible, elementary teacher programs should have no more than three consecutive teaching assignments and no more than four consecutive working assignments (including professional activities)." This new right is not a blanket prohibition on the assignment of four consecutive teaching assignments (or five consecutive working assignments), but it does require the administration to show that it was not possible to avoid such an assignment. If teachers in your elementary school have received programs with four consecutive teaching assignments (or five consecutive working assignments), raise the issue as soon as possible with your principal to discuss reprogramming.

Parent-teacher conferences are remote

In accordance with the 2023 Memorandum of Agreement, all parent-teacher conferences will again be conducted remotely. UFT-represented staff are not required to attend evening conferences at the school building and may conduct the afternoon conferences remotely if their commute allows. Parents and caregivers may request an in-person conference at a time other than the scheduled parent-teacher conference dates. These in-person conferences are to be arranged on a mutually agreed-upon date and time. Single-session schools have four three-hour evening conferences a year in September, November, March and May and two two-hour afternoon conferences a year in November and March. Multisession, District 75 and District 79 schools have two 2.5-hour evening parent-teacher conferences and two two-hour afternoon parent-teacher conference dates in November and March. These schools do not have parent-teacher conferences in September or May.

See all conference dates for 2023-24 »

Health and Safety

DOE issues health and safety protocols for 2022-23

The DOE has released its health and safety protocols for the 2023-24 school year that align with current CDC guidelines. They are similar to the policies in place the previous school year.

Key components include:

COVID-19 positive: 

Students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for five days and can return to school on Day 6 if they have no symptoms or symptoms are improving. They should wear a mask until Day 10.
Personnel Memo No. 1 has been updated and extended for this school year. Staff who test positive will receive five days' pay without drawing down their sick bank. If they are still sick, they may continue to be paid for up to two weeks, but they may be asked for medical documentation.
COVID-19 excused leave at full pay may not exceed a total of two calendar weeks over the school year.

Close contact exposure: 

There is no quarantine for close contact exposure, but wearing a mask and taking an at-home rapid test are strongly encouraged for anyone recently exposed to someone who tested positive.

Vaccination:

Vaccination is strongly encouraged. Staff are still allotted four hours of paid release time per booster. A new booster will be released in September. 
Vaccination is no longer a requirement for entering a school building or working for the DOE.

Ventilation:

Air purifiers will still be present in schools.

Masks and test

The DOE will be providing schools with supplies of at-home rapid tests and masks.

See 2023-24 COVID guidance on the UFT website for an FAQ and more details.

Instruction

APPR rating delay has no impact on this year's process

K-12 teachers will not receive their final APPR rating for the 2022-23 school year until later this fall. The ratings, which normally are sent by Sept. 1, were not ready due to a delay in the city receiving results on the state ELA and math tests for Grades 3 to 8 used to calculate the Measures of Student Learning (MOSL) for many teachers. The DOE will send teachers their final APPR rating to their DOE email address when it becomes available. The delay does not affect this year's evaluation process or observation windows (half in the fall semester and half in the winter). Teachers should have an initial planning conference between the first day of school and the last Friday in October. The observation option will be listed as forthcoming pending the release of last year's final APPR ratings. Teachers should not have a Teacher Improvement Plan meeting based on a rating of Ineffective or Developing for Measures of Teacher Practice (MOTP) alone. The UFT is holding a virtual meeting for all members on Wednesday, Sept. 20, to go over all aspects of the teacher evaluation process for this school year.

Medical and Wellness

Open enrollment through Oct. 13 for catastrophic major medical insurance

Anyone, regardless of age or type of medical insurance, can be left with extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses if they experience a serious medical issue or require convalescent, custodial or home health care. The Catastrophe Major Medical Plan, sponsored by NYSUT Member Benefits, offers additional coverage for expenses that a basic health plan might not. The plan is open to all in-service UFT members (along with their eligible family members) who are dues-paying members of NYSUT. There is no longer a New York State residency requirement to enroll. Limited open enrollment runs from Sept. 8 to Oct. 13, 2023. Coverage will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. This is an in-demand plan with an infrequent (not annual) open-enrollment period for accepting new members. The open-enrollment period also provides the opportunity to add dependents, so those who currently have this benefit can add a spouse or child. To learn more, attend an informational webinar. For more information about the plan and the enrollment form (which goes live on Sept. 8), visit the NYSUT Member Benefits website. For questions about the plan, call NYSUT at 800-626-8101.

Open enrollment through Oct. 15 to change dental plans

The UFT Welfare Fund provides dental benefits through two programs: the Scheduled Benefit Plan, which provides services through a participating panelist or by direct reimbursement (when using a non-participating dentist); and Dentcare, a no-cost dental HMO. The open enrollment period to change plans is Sept. 1 to Oct. 15 each year, with changes taking effect on Nov. 1. To change plans, fill out the Welfare Fund's Dental Transfer Form. For more information, see the Know Your Benefits column on dental care.

Salary & Personell

New pedagogues and paraprofessionals: their first paycheck explained

Please tell your new pedagogues and paraprofessionals this important information about their pay:

If they started working on Sept. 5, the first day of school, the first check they receive on Sept. 15 will be lower than the amount they will receive in following paychecks. This is because the first pay period includes Sept. 1 through Sept. 4, days on which they did not work. These non-working days will appear in their paychecks as a negative adjustment. Their second paychecks will reflect a full pay period.
Because the DOE system isn't updated yet to reflect the first 3% pay raise from the 2023 contract, new pedagogues and paraprofessionals' starting salaries are based on the May 14, 2021, rate for their first paycheck. On Sept. 29, they will receive their pay based on the Sept. 14, 2022, rate and will receive back pay going back to the first day of school.

Setting up digital classrooms

Under the 2023 contract, school-based teachers and mandated service providers are required each year to set up a digital classroom by Sept. 30. The union made sure that members would continue to be appropriately compensated for that work. If you are on payroll as of Sept. 30, you will be paid $225. If you come on payroll after Sept. 30, you may submit for this payment. Members will receive $225 on or about Oct. 31 for completing this task.

Applying for salary steps and differentials

All pedagogues and paraprofessionals who are eligible to apply for salary steps, differentials and upgrades must use the online Salary Application Portal for DOE employees. Pedagogues have two applications: one for salary steps (outside and inside experience credit) and one for education (differentials). New DOE employees applying for outside experience credit must also use the portal. The union recommends that new employees apply for salary-step placement even if they do not have prior experience because they need a date from which future steps can be computed. Without such a date, employees will only go up one step each year instead of two. The portal gets busy so it may slow down or freeze. Transcripts must be original, and a watermark must be visible.

Everything Else

Teacher's Choice amounts to remain steady

The DOE has not yet released the precise allotments for Teacher's Choice for the 2023–24 school year, but the amounts are expected to be about the same as the previous school year. The city budget passed in late June contained $20 million for the program, the same level of funding as the previous two years. Here are last school year's Teacher's Choice allotments: teachers ($250), school psychologists ($110), school social workers ($110), school counselors ($110), universal literacy coaches ($110), single shepherds ($110), occupational and physical therapists ($95), school nurses ($95), lab specialists ($85) and school secretaries ($60). The money will appear in paychecks in late November or early December. The purchasing period began on Aug. 1, 2023, and continues through mid-January. Members should save their receipts and submit them along with a DOE Statement of Purpose/Accountability form in early 2023.

Join the march to fight climate change on Sunday, Sept. 17

Join your fellow UFT members, members from other city unions and thousands of climate activists to demand bold action on climate change at the NYC climate march on Sunday, Sept. 17. The UFT contingent will gather at the northeast corner of West 53rd Street and Broadway at noon and then head towards the United Nations Plaza for the rally. The march and rally coincide with the United Nations' 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit, when President Biden is in town to address the General Assembly session on climate.

Celebrate Teacher Union Day on Oct. 29

Mark Sunday, Oct. 29, on your calendar! Teacher Union Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate the recent accomplishments of UFT members while remembering the brave educators who founded our union more than 60 years ago. At this year's ceremony at the New York Hilton, we will pay tribute to George Altomare, an important UFT founder who died in August. Each year, we honor UFT members with awards, including Trachtenberg Awards for outstanding chapter leaders. Registration will open soon.

Recent Guidance and Agreements

DOE Personnel Memo, No. 1 2023-24 (July 2023)
DOE Health Guidance 2023-24 (Sept. 2023)
DOE-UFT Memorandum of Agreement (June 2023)

Contact the UFT

DOE members, call 212-331-6311.
DOE functional chapter members, call 212-331-6312.
A health benefit question? Call the Welfare Fund at 212-539-0500.

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