Know Your Rights
The grievance process
If you feel your contractual rights have been violated, it’s time to speak up and seek a fair resolution. If informal measures don’t fix your issue, your chapter leader can assist you in preparing and filing a grievance, which is the formal way that members object to the Department of Education’s violation of the DOE-UFT contract or of established DOE policy and practice.
Lesson plans
The union has negotiated and advocated strongly for many years to maintain the integrity of lesson plans as a tool created by and for teachers. Here are the rights and responsibilities that teachers have vis-a-vis lesson plans.
Programs and professional activities
The provisions in the DOE-UFT contract regarding program preferences and professional activity assignments give teachers a voice about which classes they will teach the following year and which professional activities they are assigned.
Paraprofessionals’ rights and responsibilities
Paraprofessionals play an instrumental role in schools as part of a team providing educational and support services to children. Here are some of the rights and responsibilities that paraprofessionals should know about.
Preparation periods
Among the many meaningful contractual rights UFT members have is time carved out for teachers to do unassigned professional work. Whether they teach elementary, middle or high school, teachers are generally entitled to five preparation periods per week under the contract.
Parent engagement
Increasing member autonomy was a priority in the negotiations leading up to the 2023 DOE-UFT contract. That’s why in all single-session schools as well as District 75 schools that choose to use the default workday in the contract, teachers and paraprofessionals now have 55 minutes of weekly parent engagement time that is self-directed and can be conducted remotely.