It seems amazing that amidst all the clamor (and rightfully raised clamor it is) about the unprofessional treatment and disrespect that the Klein Department of Education has shown to many of its employees that one item in this contract some members have chosen to attack is the lead teacher proposal.
This was our idea–we first proposed it in a September 1999 UFT task force report, Assuring Teacher Quality, and this position, along with a more detailed career continuum for all teachers, has been included in our negotiating demands since then.
The UFT has been using collective bargaining for more than 20 years to push real reforms that improve teaching and learning and truly enhance the professional lives of members. The lead teacher position does just this. It is a particularly notable accomplishment in this round and round and round of negotiations when educators have been conspicuously absent from the other side of the bargaining table and when those present, due to their lawyerly, supervisory or budgetary backgrounds could at first only look at the proposal in terms of management prerogatives and control rather than (gasp!) education. It expands a highly praised, by both teachers and principals, pilot project in District 9 in the Bronx to the whole city, and it’s nice to know that something successful has come out of the Bronx this fall.
The union has designed this position so that it recognizes teachers for their professional knowledge, skills and leadership qualities on a consistent basis. Teachers who have objectively demonstrated these qualities to both regional and school-based committees will form a pool of eligible applicants. They will continue to teach and will also provide professional support to teachers. It’s open to any qualified applicants. And it expands opportunities for teachers to become instructional leaders without having to become administrators and supervisors or leave the profession in disgust and disappointment. Teachers will work with peers instead of in isolation; teachers will work collaboratively instead of suffering under the judgmental, factory workshop model regime so favored by the Klein DOE; teachers, will move the instructional agenda, not policy wonks and corporate types.
This is not merit pay as it’s used by Klein, his mouthpiece the New York Post,(don’t miss today’s headline story about the priest who made a Manhattan socialite gay!) or the right-wing stink tanks that twist and turn words like merit, reform, accountability, choice and equity in a way that would make Orwell proud, in an Orwellian sense, of course. No, this position is, I believe, the first step in a professional career path, just as doctors and lawyers now have, for teachers.
11 Comments:
1 Peter Goodman
· Oct 17, 2005 at 2:04 pm
For the masters at Tweed great teachers must become supervisors. For many great teachers the role of a supervisor, a rating officer, is not a career path they want to pursue. Some have gone on to work as coaches, or Teacher Center spcialists, while most remain within the confines of their own classroom.
The Lead Teacher pathway is a long time coming …! The opportunity to help your colleagues, share your experience and knowledge, and stay within the ranks of the union, is an attractive option.
Many of the new small high schools have “created” a lead instructional teacher model – this new career path within the union fits perfectly into the small high school model.
Ultimately schools succeed or fail because of the efforts and the abilities of the folk at the school site – not the mandarins at Regional ofices or at Tweed.
As the contractual issues of the moment fade the Lead Teacher concept may be what
defines this Agreement.
2 overview
· Oct 17, 2005 at 2:23 pm
The administrators at the schools throughout the five boroughs should be administering and handling the business aspects of education. The lead teacher(s) and other teachers should be working on devising the teaching methods and strategies, as well as ideally some of the content, that goes into the lesson plans and daily activities of the classrooms. The lead teacher concept is thus a step in the right direction of returning the process of education into the hands of the educators. Who better knows what works in the classroom(s) than the teachers and some of their teaching assistants.
3 Schoolgal
· Oct 17, 2005 at 6:06 pm
Not everyone is against this position, While I have issues with this new contract, I like the concept of Lead Teacher. Hopefully the Lead Teacher will not make unrealistic demands on teachers.
But more importantly, the person holding this position should be a trusted member of the staff and supportive of their needs.
4 Teacher31231
· Oct 17, 2005 at 7:35 pm
Randi is a d*mmy and the contract is bad. If you didn’t think so before just look in the post and see that she is already talking about renegotiating the “letter” part of it, before we even pass it because is “a ripe point for abuse.”
5 Educat
· Oct 17, 2005 at 8:42 pm
lead teacher is a fine idea, im all for professionalism. but, tell me, how does going back into the cafeteria, patroling the potty and hallway move the teacher towards professionalism?
6 paulrubin
· Oct 17, 2005 at 9:09 pm
Nothing wrong with the concept. It should be expanded to all schools because all schools have new teachers that could use help with classroom management, instructional technology, teaching techniques, content, etc.
7 northbrooklyn
· Oct 17, 2005 at 9:42 pm
Sigh…maybe I read it wrong-but isn’t this a position where Klein assigns the teacher to a specific school that is low performing [as in failing]? Have those of us who work or have worked in low performing schools not learned anything?
The fish stinks from the head.
The principal will have the lead teacher doing any number of things. They will be running around like a chicken without a head.
And union management will not lift a finger.
Keep it in the contract-as long as I can’t be forced to take the position-I don’t care, but buyer beware.
8 Bklynteacher
· Oct 17, 2005 at 10:10 pm
I don’t recall the details of what I read but I was not impressed with what I read (about the lead teacher position in the UFT contract newspaper) we received at home.
Trust me. I’m not usually this negative as one might think from reading my many posts on these threads.
I still say pass on this contract. We can and should do better.
9 NYC Educator
· Oct 17, 2005 at 10:11 pm
Oddly enough, in the suburbs they don’t need merit pay that isn’t merit pay, sixth classes that aren’t sixth classes, or the NY Post to endorse teacher contracts. Without any of the “benefits”
of the new proposed contract, they do very well, for the most part.
Do you want to know how much they pay?
I’ll tell you.
http://nyceducator.blogspot.com/2005/10/how-do-we-measure-up_17.html
10 CSA4U
· Oct 19, 2005 at 7:50 pm
Wow! A CSA member who cares about teachers but also concerned about their own job security. Lead teachers, sounds great. Many suburban school districts provide for lead teachers and pay them as high as the Supervisors that they work with. Umfortunately we are still far behind paying our teachers what they deserve but we lag even further behind in salaries for school supervisors. Good Supervisors makes their teachers better teachers. You can call it a Lead Teacher or a Coach, it still doesnt devalue the importance of having good leadership in our schools. I was once a teacher. I love teaching, I do it everyday in many different ways. I have been around 16 years, long enough to know where teachers have come from and recognizing how much things have changed.The oldtimers are angry ,but are tired of the fight. The young people need to be educated on how important unions are. The middle of road people have to stand together and fight the good fight. I wish all my former UFT brothers and sisters the best of luck.
Understand that we are all in the same boat and share many of the same concerns. We need to stop pointing fingers and start coming together.
11 LISA
· Oct 21, 2005 at 10:42 pm
I THINK THE IDEA OF LEAD TEACHERS IS A GREAT ONE BUT I DO NOT THINK THE REALLY EXPERIENCED MASTER TEACHERS WILL BE WILLING TO GO TO THE SCHOOLS THAT NEED THEM. AS A FORMER LEAD TEACHER AND MENTOR IN DISTRICT 19, EAST NEW YORK, I WOULDN’T GO BACK FOR $10,000 OR EVEN $20,000. I DID MY TIME IN THE TRENCHES AND THEN SUCCESSFULLY
MOVED TO A QUEENS H.S. ON AN SBO TRANSFER. I’M STAYING WHERE I AM. GOOD LUCK TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE WILLING TO SERVE. ENJOY THE EXTRA MONEY AND USE IT FOR THE VACATIONS YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE TO GET THROUGH THE YEAR.