In the first test of the new standards on paperwork reduction, an arbitrator has ordered the principal of John Dewey HS in Gravesend, Brooklyn, to stop burdening the teachers with unnecessary paperwork.

At issue was whether requiring teachers to grade and record students’ responses each day to required “Do Now” assignments constituted excessive paperwork under the first set of standards that were finalized by the UFT and the Department of Education in October per the paperwork-reduction clause in the 2014 contract.

Arbitrator Martin Scheinman agreed with the union that the principal’s requirement was in violation of the standards. It “falls within the type of excessive and unnecessary paperwork the parties determined in their Agreement to reduce,” he wrote in his decision.

Scheinman further wrote that it should be up to the teacher to decide how results of the “Do Nows” should be used to inform instruction.

Chapter Leader Michael Solo said the Dewey staff were grateful to the union for freeing them from the “painful and absolutely excessive burden” of grading and entering the grades for 180 students every day. “The decision frees up an enormous amount of time for our other responsibilities,” he said. “Teachers keep coming up and thanking me for how much that means to them.”

Ellen Gallin Procida, the director of the UFT Grievance Department, said the decision shows that under the paperwork clause in the contract, staff have a mechanism that brings them relief from unnecessary, duplicative paperwork.

“The union has successfully stopped a principal from requiring more than the new standards allow,” she said.

Principal Kathleen Elvin ignored the arbitrator’s April 3 order until continued pressure by UFT representatives finally forced her to meet with teachers and rescind the “Do Now” requirements on April 21, said UFT officials.

Under the new contract, school-specific paperwork issues that can’t be resolved at the school level can be brought by a chapter leader to the UFT district representative who may bring them to the district paperwork committee. If the issue is not resolved there, the union may bring it to the central paperwork committee for adjudication.

If the issue remains unresolved at that level, the UFT can proceed directly to arbitration. The district and central paperwork committees are both made up of equal numbers of DOE and UFT representatives. The Dewey issue went through each step of that process before heading to arbitration.

BASIS High School District Representative William Kalogeras applauded Solo for “standing his ground” during the long process to protect the rights of his colleagues.