A teacher assigned position is posted on the DOE website for Teacher Assigned Vacancy Circular No 11. I want you to know that this posting came after the UFT speech chapter met with the DOE to suggest revisions to postings to allow for a wider pool of qualified applicants.

For the last several years, the work associated with these postings has been done by outside contractors.  It has been many years since speech evaluator positions have been posted and available to UFT-represented staff. We are pleased that the new administration understands the benefits of having this work done by its own employees.   

Importantly, we were successful in convincing the DOE that applicants should not need to have an SLP license. As a result, all qualified members of our chapter will have the opportunity to work outside their school building evaluating students.

However, this position may not be for everyone. This is a split position which will include two days working in a school providing mandated speech therapy and three days in a borough doing speech and language evaluations. The school work may not be in the school where you currently provide related speech therapy. This will be a position that will be assigned centrally, and you will no longer be on the payroll of the principal in your school. The DOE believes that having speech teachers who provide therapy and evaluations is a better use of staff and keeps providers more current on school policy and current practices. If you chose to apply for this position you must be willing to leave the school and district that you currently work in.

Teachers assigned have a different supervisor and rating officer than speech teachers, and this would be done on a centralized basis. Your speech supervisor and principal would give support to you in your work at a school, but neither would be your rating officer.

The work hours for a teacher assigned position in this posting are either 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but may be less on school days. You would receive a 30-minute lunch break, and since there is no preparation work for students you would not have a preparation period. There is no extra salary for this position, nor would the DOE guarantee any per session compensation. You would be paid a teacher’s salary. In addition, as a centrally assigned employee, you would be required to come to work when the DOE’s central offices are open even if schools are closed due to a snowstorm or other emergency conditions. 

Lastly, you would keep your overall seniority in case of excessing, but if you no longer wanted to keep this position after the school year, you would be returned to a district with a vacancy. You would  not necessarily return to the school that you chose to leave. The DOE is to make arrangements for vacation time, which may be different for these centrally based employees.

The DOE has told us that it will do intensive training for this evaluator position and that you would receive testing materials to support you in this new endeavor. You will find here the contractual rights for teacher assigned positions. It is suggested that you carefully read the new DOE posting and the contract before you choose to apply for this new evaluator position. I hope that this answers most of your questions.

The second posting is for a speech and language coordinator; it is one position, also centrally located and also a teacher assigned position. Eligibility and selection criteria for this position are listed in Teacher Assigned Vacancy Circular No 14.