The job of a New York City public school educator is demanding and exhausting, and UFT members work hard to stay on top of educating their students as well as numerous other responsibilities, including paperwork, grading and professional development, within the school day. Add to that an expansive list of mandatory annual trainings — from bloodborne pathogens to sexual harassment and diabetes — and there just aren’t enough hours in the workday. This must stop.
The webinars often come with unrealistic timelines for completion. The content is largely the same from year to year, so perhaps they shouldn’t all have to be completed annually.
Recently, the city Department of Education went even further by sending a phishing email as a surprise test for members; those who fell for it were assigned more training.
Granted, it’s not just the DOE that is requiring these trainings; they also come from the City Council and the state. The bottom line is this: Members cannot be required to complete the trainings outside of work hours for no compensation. The UFT is working to have the DOE ensure that educators are provided time to complete such trainings during appropriate professional learning time or, if needed, to be released from instructional time to do so. These trainings should not be done during preparation periods, lunch, Other Professional Work time or other professional periods.