The Calculus and Rituals of Labor Contract Negotiations: Will Randi and Mike Agree to a Modest Contract, or, Spar Over Core Union Issues?

   Have you ever watched the mating rituals of exotic animals on the Discovery Channel? If so, you may be able to understand the rituals associated with labor negotiations.

 

For the Union the end product of negotiations, the contract,  must be ratified by the membership, it has to appear to be a “win.” For management, in this case the City of New York, i.e., the Mayor, the contract must be described by the New York Times, the Post and the Daily News, as a “win” for the City.

 

Both sides display their plumage, strut and pose, cackle and coo, the rituals necessary to convince their constituencies that they are doing everything possible to “win,” however win is defined.

 

The rules of negotiations are established by the Public Employee Relations Board  (PERB) and have guided public employee union-management relations since 1967. New York City maintains an Office of Collective Bargaining, however schools fall under PERB. 

 

The law that created PERB is frequently referred to as the Taylor Law, it sets forth a wide range of procedures for the resolution of labor disputes, and, most famously, prohibts strikes. If strikes do occur PERB imposes a 2:1 penalty, the forfeit of one additional days pay for each day on strike and defines a strike,

 

The Taylor Law defines a strike as “any strike or other concerted stoppage of work or slowdown by public employees.” The Board has found sick-outs, slowdowns, a refusal to work regularly scheduled overtime, concerted high absenteeism, sometimes called the “blue flu,” “work-to-rule” tactics, and teachers’ refusals to participate in field trips, faculty meetings, and parent-teacher conferences, all to be unlawful strikes in the particular circumstances presented in each case.

 

In addition to the 2:1 penalty for striking employees the law can impose a range of other penalties on striking employees and unions,

 

A public employee whose employer determines that he or she has unlawfully engaged in or consented to a strike is liable to have deducted from his or her compensation an amount equal to twice his or her daily rate of pay for each day or part of a day that it is determined that the employee violated Civil Service Law Section 210. This penalty is often referred to as the “two-for-one” penalty. In addition, an employee who unlawfully strikes may be subject to removal or other disciplinary action provided by law for misconduct. The public employer makes the strike determination and imposes these strike penalties.

 

 The last teacher strike was in 1975, as the City teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.

If the parties are unable to reach an agreement PERB assigns a mediator, and if the negotiations are at impasse PERB moves the process to fact finding. The parties submit evidence and examine expert witnesses, write briefs, and, a panel of arbitrators renders a non-binding public report. The law establishes standards and criteria that guides the decision of the panel.

The public arbitration panel “shall make a just and reasonable determination of the matters in dispute.” In arriving at such determination, the panel shall specify the basis for its findings, taking into consideration, in addition to any other relevant factors, the following:

 

 a. comparison of the wages, hours and conditions of employment of the employees involved in the arbitration proceeding with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of other employees performing similar services or requiring similar skills under similar working conditions and with other employees generally in public and private employment in comparable communities;

 

Comparability, aka, pattern bargaining, is also at play. The Union argued in 2002 that the “pattern” should be the pay scales in the surrounding suburban districts and the City argued that comparability meant with other large cities. The arbitrators agreed with the Union, however, chose Mount Vernon and Yonkers rather than Scarsdale and Great Neck. Suburban districts with inner city issues.The arbitrators considered the “interests and welfare of the public,” and came down on the side of a longer school day and a longer school year, for additional compensation.

 

Seven years later the Union faces another crossroads.

Will their support of mayoral control and pension savings for the City lead a path to a new contract? Will the City use the fiscal crisis and the Obama educational initiatives to push for substantial changes in the agreement?

Will the hiring freeze shrink the 1700 teacher ATR pool?

The District 79 Reorganization Agreement has resulted in about 100 ATRs who have not found jobs, they were interviewed by panels of five, two of whom were UFT assigned teachers, and found “not qualified,” will arbitrators support this process for all ATRs? Will the City position that ATRs who cannot find jobs in eighteen months be placed on layoff find resonance with an arbitration panel?

The 2002 panel rejected the City support of merit pay, but, now that the Union has agreed to an iteration of merit pay, will arbitrators feel differently?

Will the Union make an endorsement in the November mayoral election? or, stay on the sidelines?

Will Randi want to use changes in the UFT contract as a starting point to introduce changes in bargaining nation-wide?

These are extremely weighty issues, especially with a new leader at the helm of the UFT. For the Union will a “quick” contract with a modest salary increase satisfy the members? Will pushing for other changes, i.e., elimination of the ATR pool, the “Rubber Room,” etc., endanger core values in the contract if the process moves to fact finding?

The Union is surveying all members re bargaining demands and a many hundreds strong negotiations committee is in formation … the rituals begin.

In the backrooms of Tweed and Gracie Mansion the Mayor is running the numbers, looking at polling data, the calculus of determining the next steps in the public and private process.

Randi Weingarten has been a nimble Union president and Mike Bloomberg a strong willed Mayor.

Will they dance?

 

A public employee union that violates Civil Service Law Section 210 is liable to forfeit its right to have the public employer deduct membership dues and agency shop fees from the compensation of employees in the bargaining unit that union represents. PERB makes the strike determination and imposes any strike penalty in regard to unions.

 

 

 

 b. the interests and welfare of the public and the financial ability of the public employer to pay;

  

The 137 page 2002 Board of Education-UFT Fact Finding Report is a prime example of the risk-reward at stake for the Union.

 

Ability to pay is an issue before the arbitration panel: with the City facing huge deficits can the Union expect the panel to recommend increases? How much of the saving in the new pension agreement accrue to the Union and impact salary increases?

 

The Changing of the Guard at the UFT: Randi Passes the Orb and Scepter to Mike.

 

In the 1973 classic movie, Sleeper, Woody Allen wakes up two hundred years in the future and is told the reason is Albert Shanker.

 

 Twenty-four years later, in 1997 President Clinton eulogized Al at a Memorial Service,

 

Al Shanker once said something about Bayard Rustin that he should have said about himself. He said the great thing about Rustin was that he didn’t put up his finger to see which way the wind was blowing. He had the guts to say what he felt was right, no matter how unpopular it was.

Al Shanker would say something on one day that would delight liberals and infuriate conservatives. The next day, he would make the conservatives ecstatic and the liberals would be infuriated. He really — even though he came out of the, if you will, the left wing of our society in the sense that he was a passionate union leader, when he thought about the future, he never thought about what wing he was seeking; he thought about how he could seek the truth and synthesize the facts and move us all forward. And that too is a great gift that we will sorely miss…

And again, I say, he let no one off the hook — no one — not politicians, not administrators, not the public, not the students, and certainly not the teachers…

Al Shanker’s cause was education. And through his lifelong devotion to it, he lifted up our children, our schools, our teachers and others who work in our schools, our nation and our world. He was truly our master teacher…

Today, education is the number one priority of the American people. Al Shanker helped to make it so. His life was full of tumult and controversy, of growth and triumph. But what I think he would want to know is, does it count? You bet it does. It counts, Al; and we thank you, we love you, and we bid you Godspeed. Thank you. (Applause.)

 In the summer of 2008 at the American Federation of Teachers Convention Randi Weingarten was elected president. At the time it looked like Hillary would be president and Mike Bloomberg would be term limited. Who would have thought that a democratic president and a firmly democratic Congress would be challenging core union issues a scant year later.

 

To some, Randi, like Al, is looked upon as a union bully, threatening and using the political power of the union in spite of the detrimental impact on students and their education. Al moved from that “bully,” parodied by Woody in Sleeper, to a key advisor to the president.

 

Can Randi change the course of Obama/Duncan educational policy? Can she convince her disparate members to support Obama policies? Is the new NYC Green Dot contract the beginning of an epoch change in union negotiations?

 

At the UFT the new president, Michael Mulgrew is an relative unknown. A year ago Randi appointed Mulgrew as Chief Operating Officer and Michelle Bodden, who many felt would be the successor left her position, Elementary School Vice President.

 

Mulgrew will be endorsed by the major caucus in the union, the Unity Caucus and elected by the Unity-dominated Executive Board until the full union election takes place in early 2010.

 

Over the last few months Mulgrew has been the face of the union, on the Baruch College School Governance Panel with Joel Klein, and, last week, on the Milano Panel on Small HS/Large HS with Eric Nadelstern.

 

The “panels” that will  “evaluate” Mulgrew are the hundred thousand plus UFT members in the spring, 2010 union election and the millions of New Yorkers who have admired the highly visible Randi, who ,at times, appeared to be the leader of the school system.

 

Over the months Mulgrew’s “story” will be rolled out … see first installment here.

 

The September school opening could be chaotic with the excessing of numerous teachers and principals waiting for the “freeze” to be lifted before hiring … will Mulgrew be the collaborator and the problem solver or simply toss hand grenades over the fence at Tweed?

 

And, oh yes, the contract … speculation abounds that Randi has a deal with Bloomberg and the contract will be a ritual dance, with a 4% + 4% with no give backs and some gains …if so Mulgrew will be able to “make a name” for himself in the two years under the new contract. If there is no contract, and the negotiations lag, and move to mediation, impasse and fact finding his mettle will be tested, both by Bloomberg/Klein and his members.

Tiers or Tears: Will the Teacher Union (UFT) Trade Pension Benefits for Future Teachers for a New Contract? Randi Has Unfinished Business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article 5, §7. After July first, nineteen hundred forty, membership in any pension or retirement system of the state or of a civil division thereof shall be a contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired. (New. Adopted by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938.)

 

What is a pension Tier?

 

New York City and New York State maintain a variety of pension systems for public employees, wholly independent of each other. All public school teachers outside of New York City are members of the New York State Teachers Retirement System, public school teachers in New York City belong to the New York City Teachers Retirement System, usually referred to as the TRS.

 

Prior to 1970 the NYC teacher retirement plan was called, “Clancy 1%”  … teachers had to work till age 65 … pension plus social security plus savings provided a barely adequate pension.

 

After teachers strikes in 1967 and 1968, and a bruising battle over the decentralization law a reviled mayor negotiated Tier 1 … a 25/55 (years/age) pension plan. Politics makes strange bedfellows (and strange bedfellows make for funny politics … but that’s a topic for another blog). Lindsay wanted to run for president and didn’t want the UFT, with many retirees in a key state, Florida, campaigning against him: the result was Tier 1.

 

As Dave Wittes, the “father” of Tier 1 walked out of the signing ceremony in Governor Rockefeller’s office he leaned over and whispered to my wife, “They have no idea .. this is going to cost them a fortune.”

 

The NYS Constitution does not allow for pension benefits to be “diminished or impaired.”

 

The legislature realized the fiscal impact, and the residue of the 68 strike  resulted in upper West Side Assemblyman Jerome Kretchmer (current restaurateur) leading the charge to create Tier 2 in 1973 and Tier 3 in 1975. Tier 3 was a 30/62 plan, allowing for an age 55 retirement with a social security offset.

 

The passage of Tier 3 motivated the UFT to get involved politically, the union created the Committee on Political Education (COPE), the lobbying arm that collects voluntary contributions from members.

 

The first major positive result was Tier 4 in 1984 that created a 30/55 plan without the social security offset and included paraprofessionals in the plan.

 

Another change was the 3% contribution was terminated after ten years of service, and, last year, in a major gain, after decades of attempts, 25/55 was restored.

 

Pension benefits are not mandatory subjects of negotiations, however there is no prohibition.  If pension benefits are negotiated they require a home rule message from the governing authority, the approval by a mutually agreed upon actuary and action by the legislature/governor.

 

Attacks on public employee pension benefits are increasing, see here and here. The Empire State think tanks calls for replacing the current “defined benefits” plan with a “defined contributions” plan … explaination in detail here.

 

This year Governor Patterson called for the creation of Tier 5, a pension tier with lesser benefits for new employees, usually referred to as “newbies.”

 

The Executive Budget creates a new tier of pension benefits (Tier V) for state and local employees. Many of the requirements for Tier V would simply remove pension enhancements added in recent years to Tier IV, including restoring the minimum retirement age to 62 instead of 55, requiring employees to contribute to the pension fund after their tenth year of service, restoring the minimum years of service required to draw a pension from five to ten, and others. New requirements for Tier V include excluding overtime compensation when calculating pension benefits, which will prevent “salary spiking” in an employee’s final years of service. Under the state constitution, Tier V requirements can only apply to new employees.

  

Facing layoffs in the thousands two unions representing 120,000 employees agreed to a new pension tier in exchange for a two year “no layoff” agreement.

 

The UFT and their parent organization, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) have opposed the creation of a new pension tier.

 

The pundits have speculate that the UFT might agree to a Tier 5 in exchange for a favorable contract; the current contract ends October 31, however, under the Triborough Doctrine the existing agreement remain in full force.

 

Speculation abounds that she will agree with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with whom she has frequently been allied, despite what you may gather from some press reports, to allow a cheaper pension tier, or Tier 5, for future union members in the Department of Education.

  

Does the union position on mayoral control presage agreement on a contract? or, just wishful thinking?

 

The NY Post muses that Randi Weingraten, UFT President will finish negotiating the next contract before she leaves the UFT,

 

After she steps down, Weingarten will continue as head of the 1.4 million-member AFT, but not before finishing city business, sources said. This includes negotiating a new teachers contract — which expires in October. “She doesn’t like to leave thing undone,” said one source. “Whatever she thinks she needs to do before she leaves, she’ll get done.”  

 

If a contract is not agreed to before Election Day, can we expect a major confrontation over core union values?

 

If the parties cannot reach an agreement the Public Employee Relation Board (PERB) enters the negotiating process … from mediation to impasse to fact finding … easily a six to twelve month process.

 

Two of the key elements in negotiations over dollar issues are “pattern bargaining,” and “ability to pay.” Other unions have received two year (4% + 4%) contracts with no give backs, however, the eroding fiscal landscape may have extinguished the pattern.

 

In a full fledged fact finding the City would ask the arbitrators to muse on:

 

* should teachers in ATR pool be laid off if they cannot find a job within a reasonable period of time?

* should “merit,” however we define it, play a role in salary increases?

* should student performance play a role in teacher evaluation/tenure?

 

Weingarten may be moving on to the national union, she has a major piece of unfinished business.

 

UPDATED: (6/23) UFT negotiates changes in pension benefits for new employees.

 

New UFT-represented employees in titles where employees have been required to report to begin work on the Thursday before Labor Day will report back to work the Tuesday after Labor Day.

New UFT-represented employees will enjoy the 55/27 retirement benefit, which remains intact.

New UFT-represented employees will continue to have the same pension benefits as current members, but they will make additional contributions for these benefits. Breaking it down, under the 55/27 retirement plan, new employees will make a 4.85 percent pension contribution for 27 years and 1.85 percent thereafter, up from the current 4.85 percent contribution for 10 years and then 1.85 percent through 27 years.

New UFT-represented employees will become vested in the pension plan after 10 years of service, rather than the current five. The impact of this change is modest since most UFT-represented educators can elect to withdraw their pension contributions as a lump-sum payment if they quit during their first 10 years on the job.<!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–>
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New UFT-represented employees will be eligible for retiree health insurance coverage after 15 years instead of 10 years. That change will reward educators who choose to make teaching a career.

New UFT-represented employees will receive the 7% guaranteed annualized rate of return for the fixed investment option in the voluntary Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) programs for BERS and TRS members.

Endgame: Winners and Losers as the Mayoral Control Bill Approaches Passage.

  On Sunday night, June 14th, the long awaited mayoral control bill popped up on the Assembly website. The 38-page bill contained no surprises.  

* Mayor continues to appointed a majority of the Panel for Education Policy, fma, Central Board, without fixed terms. The Chancellor is not the chair, he serves as an ex-officio member. The proceedings of the PEP will be transparent.  

* The Comptroller and the Independent Budget Office (IBO) will have the responsibility to audit both dollars and academic achievement.The IBO testified before the Ciy Council on June 4th and raised a number of significant questions in regard to their own budget, accessibility of DOE financial and achievement data. Whether the IBO is the appropriate monitoring organization  and whether it has the budget and expertise are complex and controversial issues.  

* Re-establishes the primacy of the role and function of superintendents. Currently School Support Organizations (SSO), that are not mentioned in the 2002 law, function as de facto superintendencies. How will the Department meld these two organizational structures?  

* Six months notice before school restructuring and a detailed “educational impact report.”    

 * A section that encourages a policy to “enhance diversity and equity in recruitment and retention” of the workforce.  

* Aligns the roles of School Leadership Teams, superintendents and District Education Councils (fka CEC) in regard to school budgets and state mandated Comprehensive Education Plans (CEP).  

On Monday, June 15,  an Albany press conference hosted by the United Federation of Teachers, the Campaign for Better Schools and the Parent Commission on School Governance called for additions to the Silver/Nolan proposal,  

The focus of today’s press conference was on specific improvements that could be added to the Assembly proposal before it comes to a vote this week. Participants in the press conference called for:

• ·        fixed terms for members of the PEP in order to ensure independence;
• ·        strengthening parent and community engagement through an independent and publicly funded parent and student outreach and training initiative;
• ·        guarantees that district superintendents will have the authority to do their jobs in their assigned districts;
• ·        further protections for parents and community to have a role in decision making around school sitings, closings and insertions, and that these decisions are based upon an impact study that includes impact on English language learners, special education students, and the closing of the achievement gap; and
• ·        the Department of Education to be required to comply with all relevant State and City laws.
• ·        A two-year sunset to see if the governance changes have worked to increase and improve parent input into decision-making.

 Some of the organizations opposing mayoral control have been critical of the UFT for reversing their position and endorsing a mayoral majority on the PEP, however they stood side by side asking for additions to the proposed law.

 Is it a “done deal,” or will there be an opportunity for last minute “tweaks?”

 In the real world of Albany politics after a bill has been discussed in the conference (caucus) and introduced by the Speaker it would be rare indeed for any last minute changes. None of the power brokers are calling for thousands of faxes opposing the Silver bill and hundreds of buses are not on the way to Albany.

 The gridlock on the Senate side is unresolved, although it is possible that they will call a temporary truce of god  to pass crucial legislation that both sides of the aisle support.

 Winners and Losers:

 * Mayor Bloomberg: Retains his majority on the PEP without fixed terms, he will claim victory, however, the other changes substantially change the law, unless Klein figures out ways to avoid implementing. The voters will have an opportunity in November to comment at the polls.

 * Joel Klein: The loss of total control of the PEP and the new, enhanced role of the superintendents are real changes … the School Support Organization/Integrated Service Center/Children First Network model is not mentioned in the law, superintendents, currently meaningless appendages, apparently have their prior role restored. Will Klein reorganize to recognize the requirements of the law or try and finesse? If he tries to finesse will this impact the November election?

 * Randi Weingarten: By the next union election, spring of 2010 she will probably have moved on and the heir apparent, Michael Mulgrew will be leading the UFT, union members will have their chance to express their support/opposition to the new law, and whatever behind the scene deals were made,  if any, at the union polls.

 * Cathy Nolan: As Chair of the Assembly Ed Committee she sponsored  Committee meetings in all five boroughs. Nolan, the Committee members and the vast majority of speakers opposed the law, especially the Bloomberg majority on the PEP. The Silver/Nolan bill ignores the voices of the communities, will parents in Nolan’s district make her pay a price? We’ll find out in the September, 2010 primary …

 * the bill Co-Sponsors: Will hopping on the band wagon as co-sponsors gain the support of Silver and Bloomberg or alienate grassroots voters? If the bill is a disaster the co-sponsors may face the wraith of parent and teacher voters in their districts? Micah Kellner and Jonathan Bing are co-sponsors in districts that have been sharply critical of Bloomberg/Klein policies re: lack of seats, gifted programs and zoning.

 * Alan Maisel: An Assembly member, a retired teacher/supervisor and former School Board and CEC member has been supporting legislation for a year calling for six months notice before school restructuring … it ended up in the law. Persistence counts.

 The 2009-10 school year will be the most difficult in many years, drastic cuts in personnel and services and substantial changes in the law. Will the Department will able to begin to implement these changes or seek ways to continue “business as usual.”

 An interesting summer at Tweed.

The Data Revolution: “Informing” Classroom Instruction, or, Using Faux Science to Manipulate Scores and Attack Teacher Union Contracts?

 

 

School systems, schools and teachers are drowning in data.

 

From Arne Duncan and his hundreds of millions in federal dollars, to the Department with ARIS and Maximus, to the foundations, all calling for the establishment of data systems.

 

Numbers, the appearance of a scientific method, gives credence to the call for merit pay and data driven teacher evaluation/dismissal.

 

Numbers, properly controlled and manipulated allow for predetermined “success.”

 

From graded Progress Reports and Quality Reviews, to State tests, to predicative assessments, to Acuity, bits of data after bits of data.

 

Teachers sit in PDs, faculty conferences and listen to lectures, “data-driven instruction,” “data informing classroom practice,” on and on.

 

An unanswered question: does the use of “formal data systems” make teachers more effective? How do we know it?

 

The Department keeps track of ARIS usage, lets call it, “clicks per school.” Are “high click” schools more effective schools as measured by pupil achievement?

 

Rumor has it that ARIS usage is, for the Department’s $85 investment, distressingly low.

 

Data is not unique to the field of education: horse racing and baseball are heavy users of data.

 

Every  horse race and every workout are timed by quarter mile segments, the track (dirt, turf or poly), the condition of the track (firm, sloppy), the sire and dam of the horse and their records, the jockey and his/her record. Do you know a “rich” better? In each of the Triple Crown races a long shot won, so much for data!

 

In baseball the use of data has a name, sabermetrics , and a classic book about Oakland General Manager Billy Beane’s use of baseball data called, “Moneyball.” Is Bill James, the leading baseball data analyst the reason why the Red Sox have won 2003 and 2007 World Series? Or, is it their payroll, second highest in baseball? Does data make players better?

 

The use of enormous datum sets are commonly used to determine policy in government, called “Super Crunching.”

 

Third grade teachers were sitting in a PD, the topic was reviewing the ELA test data in NYSTART, identifying skills on which the students did not do well and creating lesson plans to address the problem. The third grade teachers were using a proprietary program, with workbooks, texts and teacher guides. The lesson plans they created consisted of the pages in the teacher guide and the workbooks that addressed the skills. The instructor asked, “If the students didn’t learn the skill the first time you taught what makes you think they will learn it the second time … do you have to adjust your approach?” He received blank stares, you couldn’t “adjust” what you taught, the “program” was the gospel.

 

Data may inform school systems, does the use of data make for better teachers?

 

How do we identify an excellent teacher? We can ask the principal, colleagues and parents. and, look at the data. What practices make the teacher “excellent”? If we carefully observe her, in the classroom and out of the classroom what do we observe? In fact, a Department of Education initiative called “low inference teacher observations” is  an excellent tool to parse instruction. While data inquiry teams are mandated in every school their partner, low inference observation is ignored.  Too time consuming, say principals. The main instructional compliance tool is the supervisory observation report … a totally inadequate method of improving instruction.

 

Data is useful to school districts and school leaders, it can inform the distribution of dollars, or, be used as a weapon to drive teacher contract negotiations. For the classroom teacher data only re-enforces what experienced teachers know … in my first teaching job, lo those many years ago, we used Regents exam items on classroom tests, analyzed the results, and altered our lessons. What used to take hours typing on those purple rexo stencils now takes minutes.

 

Teachers have always used data … access to data and the disaggregation of data has been faciltated.

 

Teaching is more art than science.

 

If Arne continues to use data to drive policies that are viewed by teachers as attacks on pay and evaluation systems he will erode teacher support for the president.

 

It would be a sad irony if in 2012 the impact of the Duncan education polices  not only did not change the face of education but drove teachers into the camps of other candidates.

 

 

Et Tu Pedro: the Albany Coup and Mayoral Control: Power, Money and Politics as Usual.

 

 Didn’t I watch this on the HBO presentation of Rome? Claudius Maximus Espada seizing power, with the lights out on the ornate floor of the New York State Senate.

 

Is it about gay marriage? or, reforming the rules of the Senate?

 

Nope … it’s about what it’s always about … power, money and respect.

 

State legislators make $79,500 plus extras for committee chairmanships and expenses for days in session.  Some have law practices or run another business, many live on their legislative salary. The legislature is in session from January till June, communities offices are open year round and legislators routinely attend endless community meetings.

 

Included in each budget are what are euphemistically called, member items. Sums of money distributed by the leadership in each house for community organizations; some legislators distribute the funds to schools, or the Little League, etc., some to not-for-profit organizations that support them, and some to organizations that are shells solely set up to receive funding.

 

Malcolm Smith, with a background as a small businessman was eaten up by the corrosive politics of Albany. He was elected speaker when he brokered a deal with the “gang of four,” and it was that same gang that deposed him.

 

Apparently the plot was brokered by Tom Golisano, the billionaire Buffalo businessman who funded the democratic victory in the Senate, and, was disillusioned by the “business as usual” attitude of Smith, or was it Smith playing with his blackberry during a meeting with Golisano?

 

The major item for Golisano is taxes, and a key tax issue is a cap on property taxes, an idea that is strongly opposed by the New York State United Teachers, property taxes fund schools and teacher contract negotiations/salaries.

 

So, what happens if the Senate stumbles for the next two weeks and adjourns without doing anything about, lets randomly select an issue, how about mayoral control. Randi and Joel are equally concerned.

 

If the Senate is in gridlock, and nothing becomes law, the mayoral control law sunsets and reverts to the previous law.

 

I do not think that the legislature will allow it to happen … more likely that the current law would be extended … for 90 days, until the end of the year, for another year or two.

 

If it does expire we would return to a central board, one member appointed by each borough president and two by the mayor, to serve at the will of the appointing authority.  The pre 2002 mayoral central board was controlled by the mayor, every chancellor was hired and fired by the mayor, who never had trouble finding two borough president appointee votes.

 

Community School Board elections, by statute, are held in May …

 

Would anything change? would Joel Klein still be chancellor? Would the chaos in Albany bring chaos to the school system?

 

The current budget cuts are far worse than the Tweed spin, school budgets are due next week and I expect more than a thousand teacher cuts, in addition to the thousand plus teachers in the ATR pool.

 

The motto of Rome is ‘Senatus Populus Que Romanus,’  the Senate and the People of Rome … remember Romulus and Remus suckling at the teat of a wolf …  appropriate, don’t you think?

 

Sausages, Laws and Conspiracy Theorists: Did Randi Trade Off Mayoral Control for …..? Is a Mayoral Control “Deal” Afoot?

   

  To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.

Otto von Bismarck.

 

  It’s in those waning hours as the crisis is immanent that great leaders negotiate that key item.

 

After a forty day 1968 teachers strike and months of bruising negotiations over school governance/decentralization Al Shanker negotiated Tier 1 of the pension system … that governor after governor has attempted to roll back. Lindsay wanted to be President, and Al made him “pay a price.”

 

How will Randi fare?

 

After eighteen months, borough-wide hearings with 1200 participants, dozens of committee meetings, the UFT bi-partisan Task Force on School Governance presented their Report to the Delegate Assembly in February, 2009. The Report supported the continuation of mayoral control, however, the mayor would not appoint a majority of the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP).

 

According to the NY Post Randi had an epiphany, while endorsing the Task Force recommendations, backed away from composition of the PEP position, instead averring  that the mayor should continue to appoint a majority, in a May 21 op ed.

 

For many teacher activists Klein is the modern day Barabbas, a terrorist.

 

The conspiracy theorists immediately cried, “She made a deal … she traded for mayoral control for …” See here and here and here.

 

Some postulate: a “deal” on the contract, Klein’s “head,” an early retirement incentive, a permanent no lay off contract clause … a power hitting first baseman for the Mets …??

 

Ah, if life were so easy ….

 

For all the angst created by Klein, the Mayor has negotiated two teacher contracts with 44% in raises, a six figure salary at the top of the scale, and a 25-55 pension tier. And let’s not forget a rich health and welfare package, for active teachers and retirees. Retirement benefits are not guaranteed by contract.

 

In Chicago, if a teacher from a “closed” school doesn’t find a job in ten months they are placed in layoff, in Los Angeles a combination of the impact of Proposition 13 and an elected bitterly divided school board, teachers face devastating layoffs and their salaries lag well behind New York.

 

We rapidly forget that twelve years of Koch, four very disappointing years of Dinkins and eight years of Guiliani: twenty-four years of dismal contracts and a dysfunctional school leadership. How fast we forget District 16 (Bed-Stuy), with revolving superintendents and a corrupt school board, District 5 (Central Harlem) where everything was for sale under the protection of Charlie Rangel, District 12 (Bronx) a patronage pool for the electeds. And, Norm, remember Mario, the district union rep selected himself as superintendent and ruled as a byzantine suzerain.

 

Randi’s success is her greatest liability: teachers expect never ending success.

 

In September we will see the worst budget situation since 1975. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of teachers will be excessed, many, many thousands of oversize classes, the elimination of after school programs (per session), dire lack of supplies, and perhaps further cuts during the school year. FY 11, the 2010-11 school year will see another rounds of cuts as salaries grow and revenues lag.

 

In FY 12 the stimulus dollars end … will the President/Congress authorize another stimulus package? Will State revenues rebound? Or, will we face a 1975-like catastrophe?

 

Will it  be “better” having a mayor responsible for the school system, or, an independent board with no budgetary authority?

 

What has happened to strong, dynamic, forward thinking  union leadership? In DC, and Baltimore and Chicago and LA, participation in union elections is minimal and union leadership appears overmatched.  Will Randi’s successor in NYC have her skills?

 

Did Randi make a deal? I hope so.

 

FLASH: What’s the impact of the coup d’etat in the New York State Senate?  Is mayoral control in trouble? Ah … to be in those smoke filled rooms …

Malo Periculosam Libertatem Quam Quietam Servitutem (“I Prefer Perilous Liberty to Quiet Servitude”): Is Mayoral Control and the Role of Parents and Communities Irreconcilable?

 

 

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on free principles but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectively checked and restrained by the others…. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them …The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they should gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.

 

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787.

 

Forty years ago, in the wake of a devastating, lengthy strike, a republican mayor with presidential ambitions fought to reconstruct the governance of the New York City school system. In the Spring, 1967 the NYS Legislature authorized the appointment of a panel, that, in November, 1967 issued their report entitled, Reconnection for Learning: A Community School System for New York City.  The report proffers,

 

No school system is free of shortcoming, but in New York the malaise of parents is heightened by their inability to obtain redress or response to concerns. Teachers and administrators are caught in a system that has grown so complex and stiff as to overwhelm its human and social purpose. (Report, p 2)

  

After a bruising battle much of the report was accepted and a decentralized school system was created. Mayor Lindsay and the liberal establishment lauded their efforts.

 

Once again, in 2009, the legislature is debating changing the face of education for children, parents and teachers. Unfortunately the Klein regency is as tone deaf to parents as was the central administration of the sixties.

 

The recent affaire 278 is a classic example. The Department was seeking space for the Hebrew Language Charter School in the Marine Park/Mill Basin area of Brooklyn, for two years, until permanent space can be constructed. A young and inexperienced Tweed staffer mishandled the discussions and the mandated public hearing on the placement of the school was a disaster. The overt anti-Semitic comments are disturbing, the elected officials “playing to the crowd,” the all white audience/mob in a school that is sixty percent Afro-American and Hispanic, all captured on video.

 

In the seventies the District 22 School Board, after months of consultations with parents, community leaders and electeds approved a busing program in which Afro-American students from overcrowded schools in the northern end of the district were bused to fourteen underutilized all white schools in the southern end. At the time it was, I believe, the largest voluntary busing program in the nation.

 

Top down, clumsy actions by an autocratic, insensitive bureaucracy antagonizes and frustrates local communities. Bottom up plans created by parents and elected school boards were able to implant highly controversial initiatives, that benefited all.

 

While the structure of the Panel for Education Policy (PEP), fma, the Central Board, has dominated the conversation the role of communities is a vital element in the Albany discussions. How do you frame a meaningful role for parents and their communities?

 

Manhattan Boro President Scott Stringer supports a bill that would create independent Community Engagement Panels based on the Community Planning Board model. The Parent Commission on School Governance and Mayoral Control would delegate specific, enumerated powers to the District Community Education Councils.

 

Although the Klein lead Department announced a 3.7% budget cut across the system at the school level the cuts are more in 5-10% range. The City Council is on the verge of reaching a budget agreement with the Mayor. Next year we may very well see another around of cuts, and, the stimulus dollars are exhausted after two years.

 

What is the role of parents and their communities in creating policies to respond to these dire cuts?

 

The claims of success coming out of Tweed, and the Bloomberg supported press are rebuked in a new book featuring critical essays by a range of scholars and reporters.

 

The legislature is scheduled to adjourn on June 22nd, and, while a total overhaul is unlikely, the members of the legislature, the folks who face parents, their constituents, will have the opportunity to demand changes that will give parents and communities a significant role.

 

Will the legislators, to quote Jefferson, … keep the wolf out of the fold, or, will we continue to, trust his teeth and talons …

 

 

What is Tenure? A Just Cause Discipline Standard, or, a Protection for Inept Teachers? and Why Isn’t It Working?

What’s the difference between tenure and love? Tenure is forever….

  

In March President Obama, before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce challenged states and school districts,

 

“We need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. That means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. Let me be clear: if a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high,” Obama said.

  

And, at an April Town Hall meeting, he engaged an experienced teacher, again, on the issue of bad teachers,

 

And it can’t be impossible to move out bad teachers, because that brings — that makes everybody depressed in a school, if there are some folks — and it makes it harder for the teachers who are inheriting these kids the next year for doing their job.

  

We constantly hear the rant that teacher unions and their contracts prevent principals and schools from removing the “bad teachers.”

 

What do contracts and laws say about teacher dismissal?

 

What is referred to as tenure in New York State is a “just cause” standard for dismissal. In school districts and states that work under collective bargaining agreements the procedures are embedded in contract and law and require a hearing before an arbitrator. “Just cause” is simply defined as fairness, “Two principles that are central to just cause are employed by all arbitrators, due process and progressive discipline.” (See Norman Brand, Editor, Discipline and Discharge in Arbitration, 1998, BNA Books)

 

Section 3020  and 3020a of the NYS Education Law establishes the procedures,

 

    § 3020. Discipline of  teachers. 1. No person enjoying the benefits of
  tenure shall be disciplined or  removed  during  a  term  of  employment
  except for just cause and in accordance with the procedures specified in
  section  three  thousand  twenty-a of this article or in accordance with
  alternate disciplinary procedures contained in a  collective  bargaining
  agreement  covering  his  or her terms and conditions of employment

  

The current NYC teacher contract contains a number of provisions to expedite the process. “Time and Attendance” cases have a speedy procedure. Teachers who are arrested for specific serious felonies may be suspended without pay pending the adjudication of their case, if found “not guilty” back pay is provided.

 

All dismissals cases must be completed within a time frame specified in the contract,

 

… as delineated in Education Law §3020-a the final hearing shall be completed no later than 60 days from the pre-hearing conference and the written decision must be rendered within 30 days from the final hearing date.

  

Well, you might say, the time frames are expedited but it’s impossible to fire someone due to the limited charges that can be brought against teacher.

 

The By Laws of the Board of Education, in Section 105.2* provide

 

Charges may be preferred against any member  … for

(a) Unauthorized absence from duty or excessive lateness;

(b) Neglect of duty;

(c) Conduct unbecoming his position, or conduct prejudicial to the good order, efficiency or discipline of the service;

(d) Incompetent or inefficient service;

(e) (section dealing the incurring of indebtedness while subject to a judgement shall be deemed conduct unbecoming … see (c) above)

(f) Violation of the Bylaws, rules or regulations of the Board of Education; or

(g) Any substantial cause that renders the member unfit to perform his obligations to the service

  

(* not online … my pale green frayed copy is dated, June 30, 1964)

  

There have been many, many hundreds of cases over the years, and they have been well studied.

 

If the reasons for bringing charges allow wide discretion on the part of management the problem must be that the arbitrator is limited in the penalties he may employ.

 

 The written decision shall include the hearing officer’s findings
  of  fact  on  each  charge,  his  or her conclusions with regard to each
  charge based on said findings and shall  state  what  penalty  or  other
  action, if any, shall be taken by the employing board. At the request of
  the employee, in determining what, if any, penalty or other action shall
  be  imposed,  the hearing officer shall consider the extent to which the
  employing board made efforts towards  correcting  the  behavior  of  the
  employee  which  resulted  in  charges  being brought under this section
  through  means  including  but  not  limited   to:   remediation,   peer
  intervention  or  an  employee  assistance  plan. In those cases where a
  penalty is imposed, such penalty may be a  written  reprimand,  a  fine,
  suspension for a fixed time without pay, or dismissal. In addition to or
  in  lieu  of the aforementioned penalties, the hearing officer, where he
  or she deems appropriate, may impose upon the employee  remedial  action
  including  but  not  limited  to  leaves of absence with or without pay,
  continuing education and/or study, a requirement that the employee  seek
  counseling or medical treatment or that the employee engage in any other
  remedial or combination of remedial actions.

 
 

Doesn’t the law seem to include all those complaints that Obama threw in the face of teacher unions? In New York State, over the years, the UFT contract and the law has evolved to balance the rights of teachers with the obligation of schools and school districts to provide an appropriate education for children.

 

Why then, you may ask, are hundreds of teachers sitting in Teacher Reassignment Centers, aka, “rubber rooms,” for months, and sometimes for years?

 

The Department argues it is short of staff, investigators and lawyers. Wouldn’t it be less expensive to hire the staff in lieu of paying full salaries to teachers who are awaiting Department actions?

 

The problem is clearly not the contract or the law.

 

Could it be possible that we are talking about politics? (Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!)

 

 

Is the Department wasting tens of millions of dollars in order to use the “rubber room” catastrophe as a bargaining chip in future contract negotiations, or, as a piece of the Education Equality Project agenda, and, as part of their fight to retain mayoral control?

 

Is Bloomberg/Klein opposition to unionized charter schools “just cause” dismissal clauses (see LA Green Dot contract Teacher Evaluation System provision) because of the “fairness” of these provisions?

 

I was meeting with a group of teachers in an elementary school, one teacher introduced herself as the “gifted teacher,” I responded, “No, you are the teacher of gifted children, your giftedness is a matter for discussion.”

 

Teachers have an obligation to grow, to increase their skills as they gain experience. I’ve heard too many teachers say, “I’m experienced, I know what I’m doing, why can’t the principal leave me alone.” Experience alone does not define competence or success. School leaders have an obligation to be in classrooms, and, I believe teachers should be in colleagues’ classrooms. School must become learning organizations for the professionals as well as for children.

 

And yes, in spite of help and assistance, that by statute should be offered by the rating officer, some employees are terminated. Unions have a duty of “fair representation,”  and defends members. As I used to remind my superintendent, the union doesn’t hire teachers, he does, and unions don’t select their clients.

 

In a mature labor-management relationship, that is sorely lacking in New York City, unions can defend members and at the same time members can be involved in the hiring process as well as peer review, working closely with management on a collaborative basis.

 

We want the best teachers for children, we realize that incompetent teachers should be dismissed, within a “just cause” standard environment, what we don’t need is ”using” children and teachers to achieve crass, self aggrandizing ideological goals.