Throughout the school year, teachers apply for “per-session” activities that are done either before or after school, on the weekend or holidays, or during the summer. If you apply for and are accepted for such an activity, you are paid at the per...

UFT members have specific rights regarding program preferences and professional activities. Here’s what you should know before you make your requests. Program preferences Each spring, teachers complete a program preference sheet where they indicate...

Elementary Schools Teachers are programmed for a school day that has either seven or eight periods per day. In seven-period schools, teachers are programmed for 25 teaching periods, a daily 50-minute duty-free lunch period and five 45-minute...

In order to assure fairness, our contract requires that classes, sessions and annex assignments be rotated among those who are qualified. This assures that if you are qualified, you will have an opportunity to get an assignment you want within a...

Middle school teachers, high school teachers and elementary teachers in eight-period schools are programmed for professional activity period(s). During the program preference process, teachers select three activities from the professional activity...

If you are assaulted, threatened, cursed at or verbally harassed on school grounds by anyone — a student, a parent, an intruder or anyone else — you should immediately notify your principal and UFT chapter leader. This applies whether or not you...

Safety is a basic prerequisite of quality education. To ensure a safe environment, your principal — in consultation with the UFT chapter — is required to develop and annually update two documents: a safety plan (routine procedures for ensuring school...

If you are the victim of a crime or are injured by a student or intruder, the UFT‘s Victim Support Program (212-598-6853) will help you on a confidential, one-to-one basis. The program offers advice, counseling and assistance with the police, the...

If a student in your class is very disruptive, you have the right to have that child removed for a single period, a single day or up to four days. The removal process is spelled out in Chancellor’s Regulation A-443 (Student Disciplinary Procedures)...

Although you are responsible for school and student property under your supervision, you are not responsible for the loss of such property if the loss is not your fault. However, if your personal property (including your car, but excluding cash) is...

All teacher salary schedules can be found in the contract or on the UFT website. Check that you have been given credit for all the educational credits you’ve earned and all the experience you have. Note that you may be able to get salary credit for...

A school-based option ("SBO") allows UFT members at a school the ability to collaboratively modify contractual articles or to create positions not automatically allowed under the DOE-UFT contract. Members can use the SBO process to change their...

Compensatory time (comp time) positions create nonteaching assignments for teachers. These assignments are in lieu of teaching, may be full-time or part-time, and are subject to the school budget. Some compensatory time positions can be created...

This term refers to teachers in elementary schools who are not assigned to the same class of students for the entire day; they usually teach classes in music, art, science, physical education or any other subject that the chapter committee and the...

Schools should have a professional development team that at a minimum includes a literacy coach and a math coach. These coaches are colleagues, deemed to have classroom expertise, who are eager to share their knowledge. They show teachers how to...

Each school year, the DOE determines the license areas where there is a citywide shortage of teachers. If your school has a vacancy in one of those license areas, and you possess that particular license and have at least three years of experience...

It is your principal’s obligation to provide basic instructional supplies and books (including textbooks, paper and testing supplies) so you can provide an effective educational program to your students. Under the 2023 contract, the DOE is now...

With the 2023 contract in place, the DOE will issue an annual reminder that schools should identify space for all staff, including paraprofessionals, for lunch in buildings where there is no dedicated staff room or lounge. And, at the beginning of...

Gaining tenure is an important milestone. Tenure is a status that appointed pedagogues achieve after completing a probationary period with satisfactory service. Having tenure means you can’t be terminated without due process and you’re entitled to a...

If you are appointed under a new license, state law requires that you serve a probationary period of four years and a day. Each time you change your license and are reappointed, you must serve a new probationary period. As of the 2023 contract, the...

As per the 2023 DOE-UFT contract, a new three-year pilot workday for teachers and paraprofessionals has been implemented for the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Both the DOE and the UFT must agree to extend it each year after that or the...

Unless modified through a School Based Option (SBO) pursuant to Article 8B, teachers and paraprofessionals in single session schools have a 6 hour, 20 minute workday, Monday-Friday with a 60-minute professional development block on Mondays...

You are entitled to a duty-free lunch period. This was a strike issue in the 1960s. Duty-free means just that. It’s free of any and all duty assignments. If you teach in an elementary school, you must have a daily 50-minute duty-free lunch period. In...

As someone who is committed to public education and who sees up close the condition in which our students learn and live, you are in a unique position to help influence public policy. Over the years, the UFT has often called upon its members to speak...

If you are required to maintain classroom or hall bulletin boards, their format is up to you. Per Article 21A of the contract, your principal cannot dictate how they look or discipline you for their format. Hallway bulletin boards are not part of a...

Since 1990, Article 8 of the DOE-UFT contract has affirmed that the organization, format, notation and other physical aspects of the lesson plans are within a teacher’s discretion. Nevertheless, many supervisors continued to require that specific...

The UFT believes that you are the best judge of a student’s achievement. Some supervisors have pressured teachers to pass undeserving students or, without the teacher’s consent, have unilaterally changed student grades. If this happens to you...

There will be one or two periods of time during the school year, based on a school's Measures of Student Learning selections, that will be designated as " MOSL windows" for the entire school district by the Department of Education. These periods will...

In 2017, the UFT filed a union-initiated grievance to ensure that all elementary schools were following fair and consistent protocols for departmentalization. To settle the arbitration case, the Department of Education agreed to the following terms...

Under the negotiated contract language which applies to all UFT-represented employees, the Department of Education is required to maintain an environment that is “free of harassment, intimidation, retaliation and discrimination.” If you are...

The operational issues resolution process in the DOE-UFT contract gives UFT-represented educators more voice at the school level to tackle workplace issues. Chapter leaders can bring issues to their principals in a one-on-one meeting, a consultation...

The DOE is obligated to provide educators in core subjects with a curriculum. Curriculum is defined as: 1) a list of content and topics; 2) scope and sequence; and 3) a list of what students are expected both to know and be able to do after studying...

All evening parent teacher conferences will be conducted remotely during the 2025-26 school year. UFT-represented staff cannot be required to attend evening conferences from the school building unless the school has agreed to a modification with a...

The 2023 DOE-UFT contract provides opportunities for remote work under certain circumstances. Also see the DOE Labor Policy guidance regarding remote work hours for school-based titles. Parent engagement time for teachers and paraprofessionals The...

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the New York State & New York City Human Rights Laws entitle people with disabilities to reasonable accommodations in order to help them perform the essential functions of their job. The United Federation...

In single session schools, parent engagement time was established with the 2014 contract which created a 40-minute block of time after school on Tuesdays for teachers and paraprofessionals. The 2023 contract increased parent engagement time to 55...