Your political activism is making a difference. Collectively, our voices are being heard.
You jumped into action when the news broke that the State Senate was considering legislation to end seniority rules that guarantee impartiality in layoffs. The mayor tried to scare parents and teachers and divide communities by promoting a bill that would take our schools back to the days when cronyism and bias determined which teachers got to keep their jobs. We stayed united and saw the Senate bill for what it was: a direct assault on schools and collective-bargaining rights and the mayor’s attempt to make us all at-will employees.
Thousands of you sent faxes to your state senators’ offices in the past 48 hours, while 1,200 UFT members descended on Albany yesterday for Lobby Day to fight for money and more resources for our schools. More than one hundred teachers stood with me at a series of news conferences in recent days to denounce the mayor’s scare tactics.
As a result of your hard work, the mayor’s effort has stalled.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Senate bill will not be considered in the Assembly. Recognizing the need for a more objective system for evaluating teachers, Governor Cuomo wants to build on the work that we did in drafting a new statewide teacher evaluation system last spring. Cuomo understands that personnel decisions must be based on an evaluation system that truly works. Yesterday the governor announced that he would introduce legislation to accelerate the implementation of that new system.
While the current teacher evaluation system is totally subjective, the new system will be much more objective and move us forward as a profession. When the new system is completed, it will establish specific criteria that incorporate multiple measures of evaluating teacher performance, something this union has always advocated. The details need to be hammered out in collective bargaining between the union and the DOE.
But our work is far from over. Despite the city’s $3.1 billion surplus, the mayor is not backing off his threat to lay off thousands of teachers — or his push to change the seniority layoff rules. With class sizes already exploding, we need to continue to get the message out that layoffs would be an educational disaster. Bloomberg’s layoff threat is a political game and the losers in this game will be our children.
Your advocacy thus far on behalf of our schools and our students has been inspirational. UFT members are once again proving that when we work together, we can improve our schools and make a difference in our communities. Please keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew
UFT President
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