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...

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...

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 contract is an agreement between the UFT and the Department of Education. A grievance is a complaint about the violation, improper implementation or misinterpretation of the contract. Union-represented staff members may enforce their contract and...

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...

Counseling memos are not disciplinary. A counseling memo may only be written to an employee to make him/her aware of a rule, policy, procedure, practice or expectation. A counseling memo cannot include any disciplinary action or threat of...

An incident, which has not been reduced to writing within three months of occurrence, excluding summer vacation, may not later be added to the file later on. No material derogatory to a teacher’s conduct, service, character or personality shall be...

There are two parts to UFT members’ health coverage. As an employee with a regular assignment in the Department of Education, you are entitled to a choice of several health plans offered by the City of New York. Your choice will provide you and your...

When a teacher is absent, the principal should always attempt to cover that class, preferably with a substitute teacher. When a substitute is not available, the principal should first ask for volunteers to cover the class and, if that doesn’t work...

If you are summoned for an interview for the record that may lead to disciplinary action by your principal, you are entitled to be represented by your chapter leader or their designee. If you are summoned to an interview by the DOE’s Office of...