Contract 2019-22: Functional chapter working conditions
- The procedures for summer school assignments for one-on-one paraprofessionals change. If the student that the para works with during the regular school year attends summer school, that para will be offered the opportunity to continue working with that student during summer school.
- Joint DOE-UFT guidance was issued to principals on what assignments school counselors may have during the final two days of the school year. The UFT and the DOE will also form a labor management committee to discover home visit procedures.
- School secretaries receive tuition reimbursement for the two-credit School Records and Accounts course. The Department of Education will provide vacancy lists for school secretaries twice a year, on Oct. 1 and March 1. The UFT and the DOE will form a labor management committee to discuss how to align the professional development that school secretaries receive with their job duties.
- Occupational and physical therapists have the right to return to their previous workplace when they return from leaves of less than one year. Therapists will also now have the same indemnification protections as speech teachers have. Under the tentative contract, the current obligation to represent and indemnify employees for work performed as part of their usual duties and responsibilities will be extended to ensure therapists are adequately protected for Medicaid-related actions. Therapists will also have the right to take a leave of absence without pay for study not to exceed one year to upgrade their professional knowledge and skills after a minimum of three years of full-time service provided an appropriate replacement is available.
- The annual cap for per-session activities for school social workers and psychologists increases from 270 hours to 400 hours. A labor management committee will be created to discuss the creation of a standardized rating sheet for social workers. Another labor management committee will be created to discuss issues related to the Single Shepherd program. The SESIS menu will be updated to include state-required documents. A new psychologist intern position will be created in schools.
- A new labor management committee for speech teachers was created to discuss SESIS, the blended model and creating time for parent engagement. The DOE will provide vacancy lists for speech teachers twice a year, on Oct. 1 and March 1. The speech language pathologist title was added to the collective bargaining agreement.
- For members of the Nonpublic Schools Chapter, excessing is limited to the district of superintendency of the employee’s assigned public school.
- School nurses are now paid for CPR training; going forward, this training will take place as part of the regular workday. Professional development for school nurses will be scheduled on non-attendance days. The head nurse position has been reinstated. A new process has been created to expedite payment for school nurses’ overtime work and escalate issues of delayed payment.
- 30 days’ notice must be given if teachers assigned are scheduled to work during winter or spring recesses.
- Attendance teachers have the same per-session rules as classroom teachers, and the DOE has agreed to meet once a month to discuss ways to standardize professional development for attendance teachers.
- FDNY certification for lab specialists takes place during the workday and will be reimbursable. The UFT and the DOE will also form a labor management committee to continue to address certification requirements, transfers and staffing issues that are of concern to lab specialists.
- The UFT and the Department of Education agreed to discuss with the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services the frequency of civil service exams for supervisors of nurses and therapists.
- Comp time for travel to mandatory weekend conferences is given to directors of alcohol and substance abuse programs.
- For Home Instruction Chapter members, consultation committee meetings with supervisors occurs during the work day and chapter meetings take place at the beginning or end of supervisory monthly meetings, outside the workday, in DOE-provided space.