A Message from Rich

Dear [First_Name],

Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys may have said it best when he mused that “summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.” I hope that each and every one of you did just that — took in some sunshine, had fun and thoroughly enjoyed your well-deserved time off.

Now, we return to our all-important work of educating, nurturing and advocating for our students. We enter our classrooms and offices feeling ready for the challenges and excited to do this work in spite of all the external obstacles that can make a hard job even more difficult.

Among the challenges we face are the ongoing attacks against our profession and labor unions, including litigation against due process and collective bargaining rights. We have a retaliatory governor and some antagonistic politicians at both the state and national levels who continue to target us as public school educators. Their actions and rhetoric help to fuel the movement to privatize public education and decimate our profession and our union. Still we persevere, and more than that, we pour our hearts into our jobs and perform them well.

Most people are familiar with the movie “Rocky” (the original, not the inferior sequels), about a fighter who gets knocked down, but never out. The title character goes toe to toe with a formidable, extremely wealthy adversary. He gets knocked around but gives it right back to his opponent. That, in essence, is the current plight of the unionized teacher. It is unfortunate that the ordeal of a fictionalized pugilist is analogous to that of public educators, but such is the world we live in.

We don’t ask anyone to feel sorry for us, nor do we bemoan our profession. To the contrary, we embrace our mission and the work we do. We do not ask for much. I will go out on a limb to say that we did not decide that we wanted to become educators so that we could drive a Mercedes and buy a house in the Hamptons. We made the conscious decision to become educators because we want to help children and make a difference in the world. We need to remember what drew us to this work, feel good about our profession and celebrate the great job we do.

What we simply ask from all of those outside agitators, as Aretha Franklin so eloquently sang, is “… a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” Give us a little and “find out what it means to me.” Is that really too much to ask?

Have a great school year!

In solidarity,

Rich

Help our homeless students at our Thanksgiving luncheon

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Jonathan Fickies

School has just started but already we are planning for our Thanksgiving luncheon and winter clothing drive to be held at noon on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. Following the success of our event last year, we hope to make it an annual tradition. The UFT Middle School Division is again hosting this event in collaboration with the Coalition for the Homeless on behalf of New York City public school students living in temporary housing. Every student who attends will enjoy a Thanksgiving meal and come away with gifts and prizes donated by our sponsors.

We also have a larger focus of helping all of our public school students to better understand and appreciate the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

To support this event, we are asking that your school organize a drive to collect new winter coats and accessories, such as sweaters, scarves, mittens, gloves and hats. We can only accept new articles of clothing, and the garments may range in size from toddler to adult. These items will be distributed both at our luncheon and at shelters around the city to students in need.

Please contact Adelina at asantiago@uft.org to arrange for a pickup of clothing collected at your school.

New member information

Welcome to those of you who are new to our profession. Please know that we are here to fully support and help you grow professionally. We have an abundance of resources in addition to staff who are here to assist you in your career development. Below are links to just a few of the many resources available to you:

• UFT website for new teachers
• UFT new member handbook
• UFT new member checklist

Please also try to attend one of the upcoming meetings specifically geared to new members that will be held in each borough:

• Friday, Sept. 25, 2015
  New Teacher Meet and Greet (Manhattan)

• Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015
  New Teacher Meet and Greet (Queens)

• Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015
  New Member Informational Fair (Staten Island)

• Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015
  New Teacher Meet and Greet (Brooklyn)

• Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
  New Teacher Meet and Greet (Bronx)

Know your rights: Compensatory time positions (Article 7)

Compensatory time positions, often referred to as “comp time,” are nonteaching assignments such as lunchroom coordinator, dean, programmer, testing coordinator or grade adviser. These duties are performed in lieu of teaching periods, reducing the amount of time a person spends teaching.

Your principal and chapter committee collaboratively determine the compensatory time positions at your school. The chapter committee and the principal must meet and agree upon the qualifications for each position, and then the UFT members at your school must ratify them through a school-based option (SBO) vote. Please note that in junior high schools certain positions may be created or recreated without an SBO vote, e.g. lunchroom coordinator and dean. 

If the SBO is ratified, all the comp-time positions should be publicly posted in your school. Anyone wanting a specific position should apply by the deadline on the posting. Each posting should include the length of the term (in years) that the position will exist as well as the number of periods per day to be devoted to the position. If two or more applicants meet the qualifications for posting, the applicant with the most school seniority should be given the position. However, priority will be given to the qualified applicant who has never previously held a compensatory time position.

Middle school workshops – fall 2015

Our UFT Middle School Division offers a wide variety of workshops for our members. Here is our course catalog list of upcoming middle school workshops with the dates, times and links for registering. (Please note that you need to log on to the UFT website to view the catalog.)