As we prepare for the end of the school year, I hope you are doing well and getting ready for summer!

I'm extremely proud of the work you have done this school year. As school counselors, we wear different hats and take on different roles to guide our students, especially those of us who work with students in Districts 75 or 79. While we may get bogged down with excessive paperwork and administrative tasks, we never stop supporting our students and helping them cultivate their paths to success.

I hope the information below is helpful to you as you conclude this school year. If you have any questions, please email them to me. I will intermittently look at my email during the vacation. I hope you have a safe and restful summer.

In solidarity,

Rosemarie Thompson
RThompson@uft.org
 

A tentative agreement has been reached

We are proud of the contract we negotiated. In this tentative contract, school counselors can create their own schedules based on students’ instructional programs, subject to supervisory approval. Schedules must include adequate time for school counselors to complete administrative tasks. We will have up to 55 minutes of remote work per week to complete administrative and paperwork.

UFT members will make the final decision on ratifying the contract. Teachers, paraprofessionals, school secretaries, school counselors and lab specialists who work at one school will vote on the agreement at their school. Itinerant employees in those five job titles plus UFT members in all other functional chapters will vote by mail ballot. Before voting, read and review the following materials:

• Full Memorandum of Agreement for UFT-represented DOE employees
• Salary schedules for school counselors
• Per diem and per session rates

School-based options (SBOs)

UFT members at schools can collaboratively modify contractual articles or to create positions not automatically allowed under the DOE-UFT contract in what is called a school-based option (SBO). These are active for one year and have to be renewed annually.

If your school has an SBO in place, please discuss it with your building's chapter leader before the next school year. If an SBO affects teachers' schedules, be mindful of how those changes affect your own work hours, especially during professional development or parent engagement time for teachers. Ask your chapter leaders relevant questions about these hours to determine the best use of your time.

Last work day for school counselors

The last day of school for school counselors is Friday, June 30.

Excessing

When a school reduces the size of its faculty for any reason, staff in a particular title or license area may be excessed. According to the UFT-DOE contract, you must be informed in writing by June 15 that you have been excessed.

If you have been excessed, pay close attention to support staffing among school counselors and social workers at your site. Our existing arbitration agreement ensures that full-time school counselors will not be excessed first. If excessing takes place at your school, please review the arbitration agreement to ensure that it happens properly across titles.

You must also register on the Open Market System to provide updated contact information, access a list of current vacancies throughout the city and apply to any or all of them in your license area.

If you have any questions or feel that you have been wrongly excessed, please email me. For more information, you can read the UFT's frequently asked questions about excessing.

Annual performance review for all school counselors

This year, we'll continue to be rated "S" or "U" in our evaluations. Your payroll secretary should access the EIS Web Rating Form System to update online rating forms for school counselors. The EIS rating system will close on Friday, June 30.

If you receive a "U" rating, you must contact the UFT at 212-331-6311 to file an appeal.

Protecting personally identifiable information of students

As the end of the school year approaches, you may receive requests from individuals outside the DOE, such as elected officials or their offices, for personally identifiable information (PII) about students, including the names of students who are graduating. Pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), such requests must not be honored unless you first obtain written consent from a parent or, if the student is age 18 or over, written consent from the student.

As a general reminder, you may not disclose student PII from education records to parties outside the DOE, unless you first obtain consent. PII includes a student’s name, OSIS number, contact information, and other information when linked or linkable to PII such as grade level, grades, test scores, and graduation status. Exceptions do exist to this rule, but they are not universal. Please contact your principal before you proceed. You can share PII with other DOE employees, when necessary, for the DOE employees to perform their jobs.

Please consult Chancellor’s Regulation A-820 or your principal to learn more about rules for disclosing PII and obtaining consent. In addition, note that outside parties with whom PII generally cannot be shared without consent include:

• New York Police Department employees;
• School PTAs at your home school or another school;
• Elected officials (lists of graduates cannot be disclosed without individual consent);
• Labor union officials;
• Vendors with whom the DOE has no agreement protecting the confidentiality and data security of education records.

20th annual UFT School Counselors Conference

Our annual conference, now in its twentieth year, is a great opportunity to network with colleagues, listen to guest speakers and develop your skills as school counselors. Please take advantage of this exciting opportunity to participate. I will email members when registration opens, but please save the date.